Artur Dalaloyan shocked the fans when he competed on vault and floor in the qualification at the Tokyo Olympics despite being only 3.5 months after Achilles surgery. His scores counted towards the team as his teammate David Belyavskiy has a lower scoring potential on these events. But the news that Dalaloyan intends to compete on six events in the team final again and then in the all-around final (which he made over Belyavskiy) are even more shocking. The head coach Valeri Alfosov said the coaches didn’t want to take Dalaloyan’s chance of fully experiencing the Olympics away and the athlete believes he will be able to help the team more if he competes all six events. In an interview to RT, he talked about what the Olympics mean to him.
Q: How are you feeling after experiencing such serious physical stress at the competition?
A: Quite well. The first day ended up making me feeling emotional, even too much, but overall I’m happy with everything – with my own performance and with the team’s performance, and the coaches are also quite happy with how we competed in the qualification. Now we need to refuel emotionally, recover and get back on the horse.
Q: You’ve already said that it was you who made the decision to compete on all six events. Could you talk more about the reasons for this? Did you decide that your chances of making the all-around final were better than for event finals or were you only thinking about the team’s interests?
A: First of all, I don’t think and never thought that my chances [of making finals and medaling] on individual events are not high enough. But I like the all-around more. This format is comfortable for me, especially when I have enough energy for all six events. I have it now. That’s why I decided that it would be wrong to give up on the chance to compete in the all-around at the Olympic Games. Many people never get that chance in their whole career. And, of course, I knew that me competing on all events in the qualification would strengthen the team’s scores.
Q: That is, if you didn’t do floor and vault, like the coaches planned…
A: Our score would have been lower by a point or, perhaps, even more. See for yourself – I got a higher score than David Belyavskiy on vault even though he did his full difficulty. And on floor my score was higher.
Q: Is the difficulty that you showed on these two events the maximum you are capable of doing at the moment?
A: Not at all. I did my vault well but could’ve done it better. And on floor, I wasn’t able to do the full difficulty and lost about 0.4 on it. And my execution wasn’t so clean – I’m usually much cleaner. Although I guess the fact that I competed on floor for the first time in a long while could be taken into account. When you don’t tumble for three months and don’t train a specific event at all, it’s a bit hard to start. But I’ll do my full difficulty in the team final. I’ve been moving towards this decision carefully and purposefully and I hope that our team result will be higher in the final.
Q: The Tokyo Games are the first Olympics for you. How is competing at the Olympics different from fighting for medals at World Championships?
A: In terms of the competition, there isn’t much of a difference – the same podium, the same competitors. But the whole environment around it – living at the Olympic village, a huge number of athletes from different sports – all that adds more emotions, of course, and the unusual environment entrances you. You know right away that it’s something different.
Q: Did the empty stands affect you negatively?
A: Honestly? For me, at every competition, the most important thing is to focus on my routines and on how I feel. Not to pay attention to any external factors including what’s going on in the stands. The important thing is to do my job. After that, I can discuss things, talk to journalists, give interviews, and react to what happens around me.
Q: I remember what you said at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart about what an amazing feeling it is to be on the best team in the world. But only a couple years before that, Beijing-2008 bronze medalist Anton Golotsutskov said that, in his opinion, Russia doesn’t have a team.
A: I would say that the team we have now has been long in the making. But it exists. It has a core. And, the most important, there is a feeling that we are one. I see how every guy gives his all for the team. We cherish this.
Q: Is your personal coach Aleksandr Kalinin here in Tokyo?
A: Unfortunately, no. There’s a limit on coaches at the Olympics, so my coach is cheering for me from home.
Q: Is it hard for you to be here without him?
A: Well, we are adults and we understand that the results shouldn’t depend on whether the coach is by your side or not. It’s important to know what and how you should do in order to not let yourself or your coach down. The rest is secondary. And it shouldn’t shake your confidence, that’s for sure.
Q: For some athletes, the absence of their coaches is motivating – they want it even more to not to let the coach down.
A: I always have this thought in the back of my mind – not to let the coach, the guys, the team down. And who would want to flush their work down the drain?
Q: During the pandemic, for the first time in a while, you spent a long time at home and not at the training center. Did you think about how much you are deprived of when you don’t see your family for months?
A: I rethought a lot of things, let’s say. I started understanding what is home and what is family much better. That it’s not just the regular video calls in the evening when you’re at the training center. I don’t even know how to put it in words. But family is the most dear and important to me.
Q: One of your colleagues said that after he had kids, he understood why he trains and competes. And since he has to sacrifice family time in order todo the sport, he needs to compete well to make his family proud.
A: I agree with every word. It’s really true and I constantly remember this.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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