00:04It was an impressive showing for Toronto figure skater Steven Gogolev, who was competing for the first time at the
00:11Winter Games.
00:11He delivered the second best free skate in the men's singles event and clinched his fifth place overall in his
00:18Olympic debut.
00:19Steven Gogolev has returned home to Toronto, joins us now.
00:23Thank you so much for joining us. Congratulations.
00:25Tell us what the experience was like, especially as a first-timer at the Olympics.
00:30Yeah, it was quite a new experience for me.
00:32And it was very amazing to be here or to be there in Italy for the Olympic Games.
00:37It is much different from all the different competitions I've been to.
00:43And it was very exciting just to see all the different athletes from all the different disciplines.
00:48How do you compare to some of the other competitions?
00:50Obviously, this is literally the biggest sporting event on the planet.
00:54And I've always wondered how athletes not only deal with the physical challenges,
00:58but the mental challenges as well.
01:01Yeah, it is very, very interesting the way you're able to see other athletes from all the other sports in
01:08the village as well.
01:08Although we are separated by different villages, I was able to see some of the very top NHL players in
01:15the village.
01:15So that was very interesting.
01:19And to be honest, it did not really feel much of a different competition pressure-wise.
01:24I came in there and I did the best that I can.
01:27Steven, can you tell us a little bit about your journey?
01:29I understand that you've got athletes in your family.
01:32What brought you to the Olympics?
01:34How did you start and how did you get here?
01:37Well, my parents put me in the figure skating section when I was around six years old.
01:41And from there on, I began to enjoy it more and more.
01:45And eventually it became the sport I decided to pursue.
01:49I also understand you're a political science student at U of T.
01:53How do you manage, you know, trying to be an athlete competing at the highest level and at the same
01:59time trying to get your education?
02:01Yeah, obviously it takes a lot of time management and I guess organization to be able to do both at
02:07the same time.
02:09And yeah, although I don't get much free time to spend on my hobbies, I think the last couple of
02:16weeks I will need to catch up in school.
02:19So, yeah.
02:20You gave one of the best performances in men's figure skating, from what I understand, pretty much since Patrick Chan.
02:27How does that feel and where do you go from here?
02:30What's next for you?
02:32I think it is a very special moment, especially hearing those words being compared to Patrick Chan.
02:37And yeah, I think the next thing for me will be the world championships will be at the end of
02:42March.
02:43In terms of training, can you tell us a little bit more about what goes into it?
02:48And where do you train?
02:50Who's involved in that?
02:51And how are they helping you, I guess, you know, reach the top of the podium the next time around?
02:57Yeah.
02:58Well, I train at the Granite Club with Lee Barkel and Beno Richo, who is my choreographer and coach at
03:04the pace at the same time.
03:06And yeah, Benoit has done a lot for me in the past year.
03:10And yeah, just excited to see what's happening next.
03:13I'm curious, Stephen, have you looked back at your performance?
03:17And if so, what were your thoughts?
03:19And is there anything that you want to tweak and maybe do better and work on moving forward?
03:25Yeah, I have rewatched the free program and short program from both of the events, the individual and team event.
03:32And overall, I'm really happy with the way I've improved over the past season.
03:36And the whole goal is just to continue improving and not many major tweaks that will be happening for the
03:44world championships.
03:45And Stephen, last question before I let you go.
03:48You know, for a lot of people watching the Olympics, they're heavily inspired by what they see from these incredible
03:54athletes like yourself, especially the younger generation, the younger generation of figure skaters.
03:59What's the message you would send to someone who's five, six, seven years old, who's watching, they're falling in love
04:04with the sport, and they want to get to where you made it to?
04:08What advice would you give them?
04:10I think continue pursuing what you love and not let any challenges stand in your way.
04:17Stephen Gogolev, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate your time and congratulations.
04:22Thank you very much.
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