training under eteri

before moving

- 2023-
it is about a year after beijing, and seven years of being with Team Tutberidze. i want to share my story of how i became an olympic gold medalist, and youngest girl to win a medal at the olympics but, i'm getting ahead of myself. this is how it all started...

in january of 2012, Daniil Gleikhengauz and Sergei Dudakov came to the states to teach a master class in Los Angeles.
(this did not happen irl)
my parents suprised me with a vacation to LA and to attend the class. my parents never told me the cost, but i can only imagine it wasn't cheap. there was a wide range of ages, and skill levels. at the time i was 8 years old. i was the only person in the class who spoke and understand russian.

a little backstory:
my mother was born in Kazan, Russia ( Казань). she lived in Kazan until she was 22 years old, she then moved to Moscow and met my father who was studying medicine at Moscow state university. my parents met at АндерСон, ( AnderSon) a coffee shop in Moscow. as a child my parents told me about AnderSon's constantly, i tuned them out, after the 5th time or so. my mother is very passionate about her russian heritage. before moving back to Moscow to train with Tutberidze, we had gone to Moscow 2-3 times a year to visit my dieda and babunya. for some reason i gave my grand parents theses names when i was a toddler....
okay enough about my family, back to the story.

my family mostly communicates in Russian because it's cool, and most people don't understand what we are saying.
during the master class, due to the language barrier there was a translator who translated Gleikhengauz and Dudakov's russian into english, but because i understand russian, i got the corrections quicker and could communicate with both coaches. after the class was over, Gleik and Dudakov had a conversation with my parents. i wasn't allowed to listen sadly, but my mom and dad told me that i was extremely talented for 8 years old, being able to jump 3+3 combos and 3+3+2's. ( 3=triples, 2=doubles). i also had a very solid and consistent double axels (2A), at the time, this was very rare.

Gleik and Dudakov took a video of my long and short program and sent it to Eteri Tutberizde back in Russia. they also took videos of my jumps, spins and overall skating aswell. once it was send, they informed my parents that they would reach out to my parents or coaches with any further information.

my coaches finally received an email a month later, which felt like 20 years later. the email read:

"Родителям и тренерам Анастасии Родителям и тренерам Анастасии Александровской. От имени команды Тутберидзе и Федерации фигурного катания России мы хотели бы предоставить госпоже Панкова возможность тренироваться с командой Тутберидзе на испытательном сроке. Испытания продлятся с 1 мая по 1 июня. После 1 июня команда Тутберидзе и Федерация фигурного катания на коньках России обсудят, хотим ли мы пригласить госпожу Панкова в команду на постоянной основе или нет. Спасибо.
Если у вас есть какие-либо вопросы или проблемы, пожалуйста, не стесняйтесь обращаться по адресу...."
( To the parents and coaches of Anastasia Pankova. On behalf of Team Tutberidze and Russian Figure Skating Federation we would like to allow Ms. Pankova to train with Team Tutberidze on probation. Probation period will last from May 1st to June 1st. After June 1st, -the team of Tutberidze and Russian Figure Skating Federation will discuss if we want to invite Pankova to the team permanently or not. Thank you.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact ......")

i've never been so happy!!! my coaches always knew i would move on from them, that was their goal actually. my coaches,
Polina Kuznetsova
and
Oksana Litvinénko.
are russian, and love to scream at me in russian during practice.
polina and oksana always knew one day i would find a new coach who would push me to new levels. when my parents told them that Gleik and Dudakov had expressed interest in me, they were very excited and encouraging.
" вы никогда не вырастете, если не будет дождя или бури"
( you will never grow unless it rains or storms)
is it a good metaphor? no, but i got the point.

i received the letter in march which didn't leave much time for family to figure out plans in Moscow.