In the name of the moon, Evgenia Medvedeva will win gold! The Russian figure skating champion is an anime fan so get to know about her.
It’s quite possible that Evgenia Medvedeva, 18, will win her country’s first gold medal on Feb. 22. The “Olympic Athlete From Russia” will compete in the free skate portion of the women’s figure skating event of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Her friend and fellow countrywoman, Alina Zagitova, 15, are favored to win gold and silver, so get to know about her before she hits the ice.
1. She’s a second-generation superstar. Call it the family business. Evgenia got interest in figure skating when she was three, thanks to her mother. Her mother brought her “to the figure skating section,” according to a Google-translated ABOUT ME section of Evgenia’s website. She began her trek to the top of the figure skating world, training with Lyubov Yakovleva, then Elena Selivanova, before joining coach Eteri Tutberidze at age 8. Zhenya, her nickname, was still “raw” at that age, but “figuratively speaking, the diamond could be turned into a diamond.”
2. She’s a diamond now. Someone call Rihanna, because Zhenya is shining like a diamond. She’s a two-time World Champion, going back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. She’s a two-time European champion, a two-time Grand Prix final Champion and a two-time national champion. She’s also won the 2015 World Junior championships, the 2014 Junior Grand Prix Final, and the 2015 Russian Junior Championships.
She’s also the first woman skater to win senior Worlds the year after winning Junior Worlds and the first female skater to win two consecutive world titles since Michelle Kwan did it in 2000-01. “I won’t realize quickly I won today because one year ago, I was still skating juniors,” she told reporters through a translator, per Reuters . “ Actually I don’t really have any emotions right now… I left everything on the ice.”
3. She once did a Sailor Moon -inspired routine… If there are two things people know about Evgenia it’s that she’s really, really good at ice skating and she’s a huge anime fan. Sailor Moon is one of her favorites, according to Buzzfeed. She’s been seen awaiting scores while holding a plush toy of Luna, Sailor Moon’s cat and companion. She also performed a Sailor Moon -inspired routine at the 2017 ISU World Team Trophy, a figure skating team competition.
Needless to say, it was crazy good and pretty amazing. It also set the ISU best scores in short program, free skate and total score during the event. It wasn’t the first time she cosplayed as Usagi Tsukino, as she dressed up as Sailor Moon while skating at the 2016 Dreams on Ice event in Nagaoka, Japan.
4.…and she’s also a fan of other anime and manga. Being that she’s a figure skater, it should be no surprise that she’s a fan of Yuri!!! On Ice, a show based around figure skating. She told BuzzFeed News that she loves the show because “it reminder her of real life.” Her Twitter account, which has remained dormant since June 2017, is full of her reacting to anime and manga. Hopefully, after the Olympics, she’ll get some downtime to catch up on all the shows she’s missed out as she trained for the Winter Games.
5. She’s a fan of K-Pop. Being that she’s in the land of BTS, EXO, NCT 127, Monsta X and more, it’s a good thing that Zhenya is a big fan of K-Pop, according to the Washington Post. She has autographs and letters from EXO. “It’s unreal inspiration and it really improved my mood,” she said. “I feel more confident because of them.” Considering EXO is performing at the closing ceremony, perhaps they’ll make time to meet their biggest fan? Perhaps they can autograph her gold or silver medal?
HollywoodLifers, are you rooting for Evgenia to win gold?
