Valeri Alfosov, the head coach of the Russian MAG team, gave an interview to TASS, in which he talked about the prospects of Russian men in the upcoming competitions.
Q: The first time we talked to you in detail was in 2013, at the World Championships in Antwerp. That competition didn’t go very well for your team.
A: The 2013 World Championships indeed didn’t go well for us.
Q: Back then, did you believe that you could bring back the greatness to the men’s team? Season after season, your guys were chasing the top teams and sometimes it seemed that the gap was getting bigger. But right now, I think, they’ve caught up.
A: The World Championships in Antwerp are really ingrained in my memory. It was the year after the London Olympics. At the 2012 Games, our team was ready to fight for the medals in terms of the level of their routines and their physical condition. But the mental preparedness wasn’t there. I want to note that the team was the youngest in the world. When we lost at the London Olympics, we focused on upgrading routines after coming back, In a year after the Games, we made a huge leap forward. Denis Abliazin, Emin Garibov, David Belyavskiy, and Sasha Balandin had very difficult routines. But we overloaded them with difficulty which we understood only after the World Championships. The guys just weren’t able to manage it and show what they actually could do. Thankfully, Sasha Balandin saved us a bit and sweetened the pill by winning silver on rings. But those World Championships became a really good lesson for the future. We realized that all the changes have to be balanced. You can’t upgrade routines if an athlete doesn’t have the required physical conditioning and mental resilience.
Q: You came a very long way as the head coach of the Russian men’s team: from an average team to the silver medalist of the Rio Olympics and the last World Championships. Now, when there’s only one step left to the top, aren’t you afraid that something unfortunate can prevent you from achieving that goal? Like a torn grip or an apparatus that was set up incorrectly?
A: I’m not thinking about such things. But we’re doing everything to make the athletes comfortable. You have to plan every little thing at competitions. An athlete has to wake up on time, eat and go to the arena on time, to check the grips in advance and so on. If there’s something wrong with one step, it can affect the final result.
Q: Can we be sure in the bright future of Russian men’s gymnastics now?
A: No. We have a serious problem with the young generation. Russian doesn’t have enough gyms and gymnasts schools and those that exist often produce not what the national team needs.
Q: The men’s team will have another training camp now, even though only a week ago, they came back from Poland where they won five out of seven possible gold medals. Are you happy with the results?
A: I think that our team competed successfully there, the results speak for themselves.
Q: Was the competition in Szczecin easy for our team?
A: On the contrary, these European Championships were hard for us, first of all, mentally. I’ll explain why. Our team won silver at the World Championships last year and after that competition, we had some worries about the guys becoming too full of themselves and not improving anymore. We told the guys not to be content with what they have now and to work even harder. But all our worries had no ground. In Szczecin, we have achieved the goals we set earlier and I’m happy with all the guys.
Q: Even with Ivan Stretovich who fell in the high bar final and ended up without a medal?
A: For Vanya Stretovich who missed a lot of competitions because of a serious hand injury, it was really important to participate at such major competition as the European Championships. After winning a silver medal in Rio, he spent a long time recovering from his injury. Now, he went through a very good test and proved that he can be on the team. We’re considering him as one of the candidates for the Tokyo Olympics.
Q: Do you have any criticism for the team leaders Artur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagornyy regarding their performance at the European Championships?
A: We’re happy with what they showed in Szczecin. Currently, Nagornyy’s routines are among the most difficult in the world. Dalaloyan is a bit behind on pommel horse. So, Artur is now trying to find an event on which he would be able to catch up in the all-around. His solution was to upgrade on vault.
Q: What can you say about the two golds of the team veteran Denis Abliazin?
A: We’re very happy that Denis managed to win two gold medals in Szczecin. He was out of the spotlight for a little while even though he kept training with the team at Round Lake. He had many misfortunes but he managed to deal with all of them and now, in my opinion, he is again becoming the same Denis Abliazin that was shining before the Games in Rio and at the Games. Considering Denis’s shape right now, we had to downgrade his routines on rings and vault for the moment. It was a conscious decision in order to avoid injuries. Right after the competition, riding on the high of his success, he came up to me and said that he’ll soon upgrade his routines on these events again.
Q: In two months, the European Games start in Minsk. Do you already have an idea of which of you gymnasts will compete there?
A: I can already name two guys that I’d like to see at the European Games. The first is David Belyavskiy, he definitely has to compete in Minsk, this competition is in his training plan. After the 2018 World Championships, David spent a long time recovering, he’s now completely recovered and performing well in training. We need to test him in the all-around. The second gymnast I would really like to see on the team is Dmitri Lankin. It’s important for him to compete there as an all-arounder. Dima really wants to go to the 2020 Olympics but in order to fulfill this dream, he has to be a good all-arounder. Regarding the third spot, we’ll decide it later. The person that will go to Minsk will be the one who needs this competition the most.
Q: So, it’s not a given that the third spot will go to Dalaloyan or Nagornyy?
A: Not at all. While making all the decisions, we are only guided by one main task – to prepare the best for the Tokyo Olympics.
Q: Nikita Ignatyev lost an opportunity to compete at the 2016 Olympics at the last moment and didn’t make the team for the Euros in Szczecin. Do you keep counting on him?
A: Of course. Just recently, Nikita took fourth place at the World Cup in Japan, losing less than 0.1 to Kenzo Shirai. Ignatyev is improving from competition to competition and we’re not discounting him. He’s on our team and is preparing for the Olympics.
Q: What about another veteran – Nikolai Kuksenkov? Did he retire?
A: He’s still training. After undergoing treatment, Nikolai cannot yet do the full training load, he had some health issues. And if, after the recovery is complete, he will be able to bear the full training load and compete with the other guys, the doors to the national team will always be open for him.
Q: The Russian team qualified to Tokyo last year, at the World Championships in Qatar. At the upcoming Worlds in Stuttgart, will you try to experiment and maybe even sacrifice the results for the future successful performance at the Olympics?
A: We’re definitely not sacrificing the results since it’s the World Championships. We really want to perform well in Stuttgart. But there will be some experiments, the competition format, unlike the Olympics, will allow us that. Although, of course, we won’t be fooling around in Germany. Our goal is to compete most successfully in both the team competition and the individual finals.
Q: Our leaders, Dalaloyan and Nagornyy, are both 22 years old now. The Tokyo Games will likely not be the final competition in which they can fulfill their main goal and become Olympic champions. Will you also rely on these guys in 2024 in Paris?
A: In Tokyo, these guys will compete at the perfect age for gymnastics, but in the next Olympic quad, they will be considered veterans. They have to give their all in 2020 without thinking about the next Olympics in the back of their head. It’s not a guarantee that they’ll manage to continue until the next Olympics.
Q: But are you thinking about 2024 already?
A: Of course. We have some promising athletes but it’s hard to tell now what we can expect from these young gymnasts in the future.
Photo: E. Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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