All of them from Ilia unless noted differently.

Worlds 2003

FD press conference
Of course, we are not happy about the result. We skated well and are happy about that. Everybody wanted the Canadians to win. I think public tried hard not to clap for us dispite having chosen a Rock'n'Roll, music American public normally likes.
On the question, if judgement was unfair tonight:
In ice dance every couple that looses says judging was not good. This is the same thing every year. (Big laughter by the press). Canadians are a good couple and skated for a long time for gold, too. We have a world title and an Olympic silver medal and are happy about that. Noone can take that away.
On the question, if they really want to retire now from amateur skating, like announced all season:
All year I said, we will quit after this season, but now I am not sure. I would have liked to stop on a high. We will think about it. Irina did not attend the presse conference. She came late but gave a lot of time to press after the official portion.

After FD
"Of course, the Canadian couple is very popular here in America, and the audience has waited a long time for them to win this gold medal. But in spite of the antagonism, I think we were able to draw part of the audience on our side with our performance. I'm happy with the performance. We are not happy with the result, obviously. It was a political decision. It was like a reward for a long career. We lost today. For us, it was important to come here and to overcome ourselves. We did not want to run away from it."

After OD
"It was difficult for us to skate. The audiance knows the Canadian couple better than us and received them better. We are on "enemy ground". Among the 14 judges on the panel, there was no Russian judge, and that made us nervous. We were happy the audience didn't whistle when our marks came up and we were in first. Tomorrow is the last day of our (ISU) career. We will do our Rock'n'Roll and will try to do our best, but it will be hard without the crowd support. But we are ready for that."
(On doing the OD for the last time)"Actually we are glad that it is over and one day nearer to the end. We are physically and emotionally tired."

After CD
"We did this dance for the first time in competition. It's a new dance that was never done at Worlds. It was new to everybody. Frankly, we didn't have much time to prepare it. We learned the steps during the summer, but then we didn't have this dance in our Grand Prix events, and we prepared another dance for Europeans. Then we had to prepare the second free dance for the Grand Prix Final and didn't have time for the Waltz. We really started to work on it only two weeks ago. Considering that, we are very pleased with this performance. Of course, it could have been better. It's a good dance, and there should be many more new compulsories."

Grand Prix Final 2003

After OD
"It was very hard to go out and skate today. This is a very difficult competition, almost a torture. Preparing the second Free Dance is affecting our preparation for Worlds. We only had one week to prepare for this event, as Irina has been sick with the flu.

After FD
"It was harder to skate than at Europeans, so I think the program at Europeans was better. The 6.0s we received there felt a bit better, because we knew that the Russian judge wasn't on the panel and couldn't have awarded one of them. Actually, since the judging is anonymous, there are more 6.0s. This was a tough competition, but a good practice for Worlds."

Europeans 2003

After CD
"It was tough to skate first. It never had happened to us before that we skated first in European or World Championships. Some of our marks were a bit low, because we skated early. I think we would have had some higher marks if we had skated later. But the competition just started."
(On skating one Compulsory Dance) "We like that. Before, we had two Compulsories, but the result never changed."
(On entering the competition as favorites) "We hope for the first place here, but there are many other strong couples. But this is what competition is about."

After OD
"I think we really progressed from our first competitions. We're very happy with our marks. There were a lot of 5.9s. One 6.0 can come from our (Russian) judge maybe, but not all these 5.9s. The Waltz is a very good dance for Irina, and she took part in putting it together."

Irina (On the choice of music) "We were listening to many Waltzes, and I liked this one. Many people can associate something with it and feel it in their souls."

After FD
"It was wonderful. The audience carried us throughout the whole program. We worked a lot, because we didn't skate so well in our last two competitions. We still have a lot to improve. We want to have more speed and to skate cleaner. It's hard to do all these steps at high speed. As World Champions, we're the leaders of the sport. We want ice dancing to be more dancing again. Ice dancers should do things that single skaters can't do. Of course, it's a risk for us to change our style. But we think it's important to do something different every year."

NHK 2002

After CD
"Considering we had a couple of problems, we are quite happy with the dance. We have a sort of double jet lag - first we went from the USA to Russia and now to Japan. For the last time, we skated the Tango in practice two weeks ago, as we were at the Cup of Russia (where another Compulsory Dance was skated), and the ice here was very hard. But we didn't make any mistakes, and I'm especially pleased with the second mark that went up to 5.8. The Tango is a good dance for us."

After OD
"I think this was already better than at Cup of Russia last week. Of course, it wasn't yet as good as it should be. We know that we need to improve if we want to win Europeans and Worlds. We want to skate like champions. We are very critical of ourselves. We regard this like a practice; it's a step forward for us and a good preparation for the competitions to come."

After FD
"Something like this (lost hair band) never happened to us before! It was a shock. I didn’t know that to do. The audience really helped us a lot getting back into the program. I think the incident maybe affected our first mark."

Cup of Russia 2002

After CD
"We are very glad to be here in Moscow.The audience was great. It was wonderful to have such a support in the Compulsory Dance. Our first competition makes us still nervous. For the first time, we're entering the season as the leaders of our discipline."

After OD
"We were nervous, because we presented our dance for the first time to the audience and to the judges. I think it wasn't bad for the first time though."

After FD
Irina: "We aren't yet in top shape, there were some imperfections in our performance, and I hope they won't happen again. The pressure of being leader of the discipline is huge."

Worlds 2002

Before competition:
Regarding the absence of Anissina & Peizerat:
We are used to fight against them and wanted to beat them. Actually, it is more difficult, when the opponents are missing.
Irina: The adrenaline is missing a bit.

After CDs
For the first time in our career, we are World Champions in the compulsory dances! We are not used to the role of the leaders yet. We never even won a Grand Prix event, we always were second or so. We were second in the GP Final but never first.
One thing is bothering here. That is the unfavourable training- and competition time. We had late night training yesterday at 22:30 and had to get up at four o'clock again today. We only had 3 hours of sleep.

After OD
We felt pressure because we were in the lead after the compulsories so it was difficult. But we did try to do well. But it is a good feeling going into the free dance in the lead.

post competition
Our first world championships was in Makuhari, Japan eight years ago. It has been a long road. Before this competition we thought it could be our last but now we are not sure.
We have a dance coach off the ice so we train dance as well as skating.
It feels wonderful! Eight years ago we competed in our first World Championships and we finished 14th. Now, eight years later we win the World Championships. It was a long trip, and we are happy to win the gold. It was difficult to skate as we felt the pressure of being in the lead.

Olympics 2002

After CDs
"We are very happy. We are placed second for the first time in a competition at this level, and it's a progress for us. We missed half the season because of (Irina's) injury, and that was almost a catastrophe for us. Today, the fight has just begun. We were not happy with our starting numebrs. We always skated late, when the ice is the worst. Our competitors skated on the freshest ice and this makes a difference in the compulsory dances."
Irina: "The knee is not bothering me at the moment, thanks to the good care of our team doctor and our physiotherapist. Unfortunaly, I've got now a problem with my eye, it's inflamed. But our doctor was able to help me."

After OD
"I think it was the best performance of our lives. Now we are ready for good skating. Now we are ready for competition. Today is one of the best days of our lives. We skated much, much better than at the European Championships. After Europeans, we saw our mistakes, we were a little bit paralyzed."

After FD
"We're happy, because the silver medal was a dream. One month ago, we were just in third place at the European Championships. But today, the gold medal was very near for us, four judges gave us first place... But we think our performance was strong today. The audience was wonderful. (On Irina's knee injury) The injury was very serious, but we didn't have the time to heal it properly. The problem was with the kneecap, the meniscus. We would like to have doctors to have a serious look at the problem. At this point, the injury doesn't bother us, but it affects us psychologically, and there is fear. To be on the safe side, Irina wears a knee pad to protect it."
"We are very happy to have won the silver tonight. We lost the gold only by one judge. It was a 5-4 decision. Each athlete is dreaming about the gold. The audience was wonderful, but it was ward to skate. I don't really know why. At the very end, I thought: Thanks, God. We made it through."
Irina: "I want to congratulate my friends and competitors. Fate and destiny made us rivals, but I want to congratulate them on some great performances tonight."

Europeans 2002

After CDs
"The compulsory dances are a joy for us, because the Russian school of figure skating always distinguished itself in this aspect of skating. It was difficult for us to skate, because it's our first international competition, and you are always nervous in the first competition. But we coped well with our nerves, especially in the second dance (Blues). We are prepared and ready to fight. We hope that everything is still ahead. We regard the Europeans as a preparation for the Olympics. No matter what the result here will be, everything will be possible at the Olympics."

After CDs Press Conference
"This is our first international competition. Maybe we were a little bit more nervous. We couldn't skate (compete) half the season. We were a bit nervous in the Waltz, the Blues was much better. We'll do better and better in the OD and FD. (On Lobacheva's knee injury) She is feeling much better now. We lost one and a half month (of training time). It's bad not to have any competitions. That's not a normal situation. Some people think maybe that we are not injured and just don't want to compete. We were sad that we were not able to compete."

After OD Press Conference
Irina: "(On her knee injury) It is a lot better now than it was before. I still have problems, there is fluid in the knee that needs to be extracted. Doctors said I possibly need surgery later, but right now there is no time to do it, obviously."

After FD
"It's only the second time in my life that I got a standing ovation. That's like a victory for us. The first time was long ago, in Canada, when we did the Rock 'n' Roll, but in Canada the audience often gives a standing ovation. It was easy to skate, the audience was behind us and applauded for the elements, and that gave us strength."

After FD Press Conference
"We are very happy, because we got the second standing ovation in our life. We are happy that the audience understood our program. Now we'll have a lor of strength for the Olympics. These European Championships have opened a door for us and we believe that we can win a medal. Our program is dedicated to the events of September 11th in the USA. We want to show the angst, the terror of life being taken, of loosing loved ones. But we also want to show that there is love. The words of the song emphasize that love eventually will prevail."

Worlds 2001

After CDs Qualifying
Irina: "We had to skate the first dance, the Rhumba, very early, but it didn't make any difference for us. We've a lot of experience from all season long. You could wake us up at night, and we could skate the compulsories. (On the qualifying round in ice dancing) It takes away from the competition. The real competition between all couples only begins in the OD now."
Ilia: "Everybody considers the Rhumba an easier dance, and that makes it difficult. We are pleased with our performances in both dances. Of course, we are not so happy with the result of the first dance. We lost by one vote (to Bourne & Kraatz). The clear victory in the second dance feels good, it was a 6 to 1 decision. I don't like the qualifying round for ice dancing. You are not up against everyone, it's not really objective, because the groups aren't equal. For example, the Lithuanians probably will be higher in the compulsories in their group than we are here, although they lost to us all season."

After OD
"The pressure to skate last was high. We knew we had to skate "vabanque", and we did. Psychologically, it is the hardest competition for us. Canada is the host country, and we knew it would be difficult to beat the Canadians on their home turf. Additionally, we don't have luck with the judges. There was no Russian judge on any of the dance panels so far. This makes it really hard. Today is a very great victory for us. It was hard to go out and to skate."

Press Conference after OD
" We are very happy today. We got a small medal today, and it's our first one at Worlds. We had a big battle with the Canadian couple. It was difficult for us. The competition isn't over yet, and there will be a big battle of the top five couples tomorrow. We are glad that the pressure of the audience didn't get to the judges. (On changes in their free dance) Since we changed our free dance last season so often, had so many new programs we decided not to change anything this time, and we didn't change a step."

Press Conference after FD
"We are happy so so much. I can't say how skated, just soooo happy".
He went on, that they tried so many times and got 4th place. It is so hard being so close to the podium and then stay in the locker room for the medal ceremony.
It was difficult skating in Canada because the public is so much for Bourne & Kraatz. At the medal ceremony though, even Canadians congratulated him and he thanked the public for that.
To the question what the difference between this and last season is: Last season they lost but through it they learned a lot and got stronger for this season. After CoR many said that their programs are very good and they just kept working very hard to improve those.
Tonights perfomance was not the best in this season, maybe it was better at Euros. They were very nervous.

Grand Prix Final 2001

After OD
"We are satisfied with the performance although our best competition so far was at the Europeans."
"It's now about 4 o'clock am in the USA (where they train). Imagine, someone wakes you up at that time and you have to dance!"

After second FD
"We didn't have another strong program. We decided to do this one because we won the bronze medal with it (at Euopeans in 1999), and we've never lost to couples behind us with it. This competition and the result does a lot for our confidence heading into Worlds. We had to come a long way after last year's unsuccessful season."

European Championships 2001

After CDs
"We are very pleased with both our compulsories today. Usually one is a bit better than the other, but today the Waltz and the Samba both went really well. We are not so happy about our marks. The judging doesn't seem impartial to me. We saw other couples doing mistakes."

After OD
"We are in great spirits after the OD. Well, I had hoped for some higher marks and for a higher placement. We went out today with the intention to fight until the very end. For tomorrow, we hope that nothing bad will happen."

After FD
"We gave everything we had. I'll say more in the press conference, if we will be in the top three."

Press Conference
"We are glad, because last year people said that Russia has lost its medal position in ice dancing. We are glad that we were able to come back, because that's not easy in ice dancing. When we went out into the arena, we felt like gladiators. It was so loud and hectic out there. We would have liked to finish even higher today, but that's difficult in ice dancing. It's different from tennis where you still can win after loosing two sets. We only have four minutes and have to pay for each mistake. (On the program) It is an experiment for us, although you can't say that the music of Bach never has been used or is new. There is a certain tendency in ice dance. Last year, we went into a different direction, but it didn't work. Now we are going into the 'traditional' direction, doing what is en vogue in ice dancing."

Russian Nationals 2001

After OD
"It was the first 6.0 in our career, and I hope not the last one!"

After FD
"It was the first time that we got so many 6.0s. That's very nice! However, we are perfectly aware that this is more sort of a psychological support for us, and we hardly will see such marks at the upcoming championships." "We improved. In this past year, we learned to skate with anger. Before, we often did well in practice but then we had shaky legs in competition."

Lalique 2000

After OD
"The most important thing to us was not winning tonight. The most important thing is that we were able to come back on the top.It is much more difficult to come back in Ice Dancing than in the other categories. The last season was very difficult for us since two couples passed us. It was hard to regroup after that."

After FD
"We did better than in St.Petersburg (at Cup of Russia last week), and we are happy to be second. In our dance, I’m meeting fate Irina is the fate. I want to cheat fate, to overcome it, but it prevails in the end."

Cup of Russia 2000

After CD
"This is our first competition, and the first one is always very difficult. All our competitors have already competed and presented themselves to the judges, while we had to cancel Skate Canada. So it is difficult for us to get into it now. We were very nervous because of that."

After OD
"We are pleased. We didn't do so well in practice this morning, but tonight it was good. Again, we were nervous, but we are happy with how we've skated."

Worlds 2000

After CD
"We are happy with our waltz, but unfortunately we couldn't show what we can do in the Tango, because the quality of the ice is really bad. It's impossible, and the organizers should do something about it. The ice is very hard, and the tracings are getting deeper with each couple. You want to move in one direction, but the tracing goes in the other. There is nothing you can do."

After OD
"Irina: We gave everything we had today. Ilia: It`s a though competition, there are many strong couples. This season has been difficult for us so far. We lost to other couples, then we won again, this is hard psychologically. (On limping) I`ve new boots, and it hurts. But this will take only two days."
"We are very pleased with today`s performance. The ice was much better than the day before yesterday. We really appreciated the support of the audience, and we want to thank especially our Fan Club from Germany. It was our goal to show the dance without thinking of marks or placements, and think it worked out. It was the last OD this season, and we are glad that we finished it on a high note. (On changing something in the dance since Skate America) We only did small changes. We listen to the advice of the judges. Our big problem at Skate America was that we weren`t ready yet, and that`s why we didn`t skate so well. We now just skated better."

European Championships 2000

Following FD
"The performance was good, but the marks were low. I think, we'll lose the third place."

Following OD
" The OD is our favourite part of the competition this year. We were pleased with the reaction of the audience. We even have a fan club from Germany that came here. It was bad that we skated so early. Also the panel of judges is to our disadvantage, so that we probably will lose to the Lithuanian couple."
" We are really pleased (to be in 3rd), because we had a bad draw. I hope we skated well and the audience liked it. The Latin Combination is an interesting idea. The required elements like the step sequences make it easier to compare the couples."

Following CDs
Irina: " We are pleased with our performance. The Tango felt better. This season has been very difficult for us, but we keep going and don't give up. Next year everything starts from the beginning."
Ilia: "We liked to skate in Vienna, and we felt the support of the audience. We are pleased with the way we skated today."

Russian Nationals 99/00

About their new FD
"Natalia Vladimirovna (Linichuk) suggested this music in July. But, as it sometimes happens, we didn't understand it and didn't want it." They had chosen their own music: "Well, but it didn't pass" (Skate America), so they went with the first choice of their coach: "It was an extreme situation. There wasn't much time."

NHK Trophy 99/00

After competition
" This is a good result for us. This year isn't easy for us, since we were only second at Skate America (with their FD) and this was not good. The result at NHK Trophy now helps us psychologically."

Skate America 99/00

Following FD
" Of course we are sad today. We think the spectators did not get our program... We tried something new because in the past we usually have done folk dances."

Following OD
" It's a Latin dance - a hot temperament, a sexy dance...a hot man and a hot woman."

On altitude:
" It's difficult. Everybody wakes up at 4 a.m. to have practice and we have two events in one day. It's not normal for us, but we all skate very well."

On the new dance format:
" As long as the spectators like it, we're ready to do it."

Worlds 99

After Compulsory Dances: ( Paso Doble & Tango Romantica)
" We are happy with our skating, but not so happy with the marks. We hope to move up, we just have to skate well. Our original dance has received positive reactions so far. The tango was definitely the more difficult dance, but actually I felt more relaxed in it. The first dance is always the hardest."

After Original Dance: ( Waltz)
" As usually, we are not so happy with our marks but we are happy with our skating. Well, we won't make it on the podium this time, but we still have all possibilities in the future."

After Free Dance: (now it is Irina talking)
" We came close to beat the Canadians, but close isn't enough. But, well, we'll take it from there and we'll try again next year."

Fall 98:

About the relationship between Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh:
" We feel for each other, we understand each other and we support each other."

About the rule changes in ice dancing:
" We are very pleased about the new rules. Since the Russian school is very strong technically, the fact that there are now technical criteria is better for us."

About the difference between Krylova & Ovsiannikov and them:
" Our style is lighter, smoother and I would say, more unique. We try to pick music that has never been heard on the ice."

About the move from Moscow to Delaware:
" In the beginning it was very hard. Our entire family, Irina's parents and my parents, stayed behind in Russia."

About Marina Anissina:
" We never expected things to happen this way, but I think it makes it more interesting for everybody. I respect Anissina, she works hard. We get along fine now. We're just regular competitors like everybody else."

About the USA:
" We would like to say thank you to the American people. They have really supported us. We feel at home here now."

Cup of Russia season 97/98:

On their new free dance (Jesus Christ Superstar):
" Our trainer suggested to change our style. We always had funny, happy themes and she thought we should do something completely different."

Worlds 97:
"Our style combines classical and modern elements. We now wish to become more modern. We work on more difficult technical elements and on quicker rhythms. Our goal is to please the audience and the jury, and to get mental strength. The results will then come by themselves and we dream, of course, to be the best one day."