Ukrainian artistic gymnastics national team gymnasts are quarantined at home like most gymnasts around the world and that might be the only way to force Oleg Verniaiev to take some rest (Verniaiev is notorious for not taking breaks and competing a lot).
Looks like he’s doing the quarantine life right. He described his routine to Tribuna.ua:
“It is not possible to train while quarantined. Our training center was closed. I try not to leave the apartment if possible. I only go to the store, the pharmacy, or to visit my parents – they live next door. If I go out, I wear a mask and gloves. At home, I eat, watch movies, scroll through Instagram, then again – eat, watch movies, Instagram. Sometimes, I sleep.”
Verniaiev is not too upset about the Olympics being postponed but thinks it can be a problem for some older athletes:
“This decision [to postpone] is 100% obvious. I’m going to do what I’m told. Nothing depends on me anyway. Even if I’m told the Olympics are in a week, I’ll be preparing for them. It is what it is. There’s no point in being angry with someone or offended. The situation has two sides. Let’s say, I don’t care much if the Olympics take place this year or the next one. My age allows for this. Yesterday, I talked to Alexander Shatilov who competes for Israel. He says: “I’ll be 35 next year but I’ll hang on for a bit more, even though it’s really not easy for me even now”. But Oksana Chusovitina will be 45 years old. To wait another year is really hard. On the other hand, it’s the matter of the health of the humanity, it’s not just about sports anymore.”
“Another advantage of the postponement is extra time for preparation. How can I prepare for the Olympic Games if I haven’t been training for 9 days already. Our sport isn’t the kind where you can just condition at home and not forget gymnastics. Ours is completely different. Muscle memory is important for us. Believe me, it’s very hard. I’ve been recovering after surgery for two years. If the quarantine will last until April or May, it will be extremely hard to recover. You can’t get back in shape in a month. So, in that regard, perhaps, it’s better that the Olympics have been postponed until next year because there will be lots of competitions [before that].”
“Another issue is that the Olympic qualification via World Cups hasn’t ended yet. If the Olympics remained in July-August, the World Cups would have to take place in June. it’s really difficult for a gymnast to peak in a way that would help to qualify, since there is a high level of competition, and then compete at the Games right away. The postponement is 51% good and 49% bad, but, again, it’s different for everyone, they all are different ages and have different ideas. It’s bad for some and good for others.”
The FIG has announced that the gymnasts who will turn senior in 2021 will be allowed to compete at the Olympics. On the women’s side, there might be dramatic changes on some teams but on the men’s side, it’s less expected as male gymnasts usually take longer to become competitive on the senior level. However, for Ukraine adding new seniors might be a game changer. Last year, when their two strong all-arounders, Verniaiev and Pakhniuk, were rested in the team final at Worlds, the team which placed 4th in the qualification, finished last in the final. This year, they would’ve gotten a third strong all-arounder, a new senior Nazar Chepurnyi, but that still left a gap on a four-person team. However, next year, two more strong gymnasts will turn senior and this will finally give Ukraine a bit of depth:
“We have three young guys – Nazar Chepurnyi, Vova Kostiuk, and Illia Kovtun. They have great prospects. If they’ll work hard, they have good chances of getting on the team.”
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
Buy cool gymnastics-themed t-shirts, hoodies, pillows, phone cases, and more at our store on Teepublic!
One of my first thoughts was at least Oleg will finally be forced to rest and truly fully heal. I also think Ukraine becomes an immediate medal sleeper in the OTF with the 3 additional age eligible guys and the ability to qualify a 5th Olympic member in a nomintive spot at Euros. This leaves them the ability to travel and train their 6th man alternative (since it looks like their 4, 5, and 6 guys are all close in ability) like a team member and pick the best 4 to complete and 5th as their nomintive choice at the games. 6th guy could come in handy if one of the 4 gets hurt in podium and depending on who, the alternate could give a better team score than the nomintive. So instead of a 6 teams in the medal hunt add a 7th; Russia, Japan, China, Great Britain, United States, Ukraine and maybe Brazil. I think it will be overall the most entertaining team final in my lifetime so far.