Oleg Verniaiev is only recovering from his surgeries, so the World Championships were not the greatest experience for him in the all-around competition. However, he managed to grab a silver medal on p-bars which was the only medal Ukraine won at this competition. Unfortunately, the injuries keep following him and at the moment, between a recovering shoulder and two injured legs, he only has one healthy limb. Verniaiev injured both his legs in Switzerland – he twisted his right ankle while stepping off the bus and then injured his left leg on a bad landing on vault at Artur Gander Memorial last night.
On Instagram, Verniaiev said he is supposed to get an MRI to check how serious the injury is but for now he does not plan on withdrawing from any competitions. Verniaiev is listed to compete at Swiss Cup, Cottbus World Cup, and Bundesliga until the end of the year.
Verniaiev talked to xSport.ua about competing at Worlds.
Q: Qatar is hardly a gymnastics country. How did they manage the organization of the World Championships?
A: The gyms were fine. The equipment was not comfortable for the athletes though. But that was the fault of the manufacturer and not the organizers. The biggest issue was that the arena where the competition was held was too huge and there were drafts there all the time because of it. And, of course, there weren’t many spectators, in the beginning, it was basically just the gymnasts in the seats, and only on the last day, many people came.
Otherwise, everything was fine, I didn’t hear about any competitors having any issues. The commute between the arena and the hotel was about half an hour, it’s not short but it wasn’t a big deal. You can say that the championships were organized at a high level.
Q: During Worlds, your personal coach and the national team coach Gennady Sartynsky celebrated his birthday. How did you congratulate him?
A: I shook his hand, said a few words, thanked him and went to train. We didn’t have a team celebration, all thoughts were about the finals. It seemed like he didn’t really think about his birthday either. I think that the best gift for him was our medals.
Q: For you, the silver from Qatar became your first Worlds medal overall and the third silver, but considering the past year, I assume it will take a special place in your collection, right?
A: All medals are special in their own way and, at the same time, they are simple and usual. I don’t pay any extra attention to all that stuff. Yes, of course, I’m crazy happy about the medal because I came back in such a short time. It was a certain challenge for me. I showed that it’s too early to discount me, that I’m fine. It’s such a nice check mark for myself. I guess I could compare the emotions here with how I won my first Worlds medal.
Q: Tell me, when you first approached the apparatuses after such a long break, did your body remember everything right away or was there a feeling that you have to start everything from scratch?
A: Honestly, I expected a five hundred percent worse situation. In fact, if my shoulder were well recovered and conditioned, I think that in those three months, I would be able to get into good enough shape for the all-around, because in training I felt much better than I could’ve imagined. It’s just that my shoulder didn’t allow me to do the required training load and certain elements. Otherwise, in general, everything came back to me fast. Even though half a month before coming back to the gym, I couldn’t even visualize some of the elements in my head. Just imagine how distanced from gymnastics I was at that time! But then boom – everything came into motion.
Q: You said your shoulder didn’t allow you to work at full strength. Was it hurting?
A: Yes, it still hurts. I still have lots of work to do, to strengthen it. I think that it’ll keep bothering me quite a bit for about half a year.
Q: Did you realize before or during the World Championships that you would not be competitive in the all-around?
A: Before, of course. Basically, we weren’t preparing the all-around, I put the emphasis on pommels, vault and parallel bars and I also trained two events just for the team. On floor, I had a downgraded routine because I just couldn’t physically do my full difficulty. I only did the minimum on high bar, just to have a routine in store. I only did rings for the first time five days before leaving for Doha. I didn’t even do rings in podium training. Gennady Lyudvigovich and I decided that he would sign me up for the all-around, but we would decide whether to do it during the qualifications. The rings were our fifth event, by that time it would be clear whether it would make sense to do rings. If the team had really good results and was getting into the top-8 for sure or if I did poorly on other events and wouldn’t make the all-around final, I could skip rings. But we looked at the results and it could help the team a bit, help my all-around a bit, so we decided to try.
Q: If you evaluate your current shape in percentages compared to your optimal shape, how is it?
A: Actually, I’m at about 30% now, not more than that. My pommel horse routine is ok now, vault and p-bars are good, floor is more or less fine. On rings, it was a one-time routine with the help of painkillers, emotions, and adrenaline. And it was about the same on high bar. The most important thing during the routine is not to shake because otherwise, the breath becomes uneven and you’re done, that’s what happened in the final. I was fine until the first mistake but then I physically couldn’t save it. Overall, I feel fine on half the events. But the last step in the all-around is the hardest one. I need about half a year in order to get in shape, so I’ll be completely ready by the European Championships.
Q: When you were first after the first three events of the all-around final, were you thinking that miracles can happen?
A: I believed, I tried, I gave it my all. That’s why we decided to do all-around, because, you know, it’s win or lose there. If I did my high bar routine well, I would be able to do floor and pommels, I would be in a completely different mood. But I made a mistake, I couldn’t physically save it. I realized that there was no point to keep fighting after such a score. Honestly, I thought about withdrawing from the all-around during the warm-up because my shoulder hurt really bad. But then, as usual, my friend from the Israeli team, Adam, came. I call him the wizard of sports medicine. He massaged my shoulder a bit and things got moving. During the high bar routine, of course, the shoulder started hurting. But I decided to continue. Gennady Lyudvigovich who first offered to stop supported me: “Yes, you’re right, let’s go till the end just for us”. And I didn’t want to hear later that I made a mistake and then withdrew. It was better to finish the two last events and make a checkmark: “I did it, I could, I endured”.
Q: I may be saying the wrong thing, but, considering your state of health, perhaps, it was for the better that the team didn’t make the final. It would be hard to fight for a top-3 placement that gave an Olympic spot and the specialists were able to see that the Ukrainian team is competitive anyway.
A: If we made the final, we could put our alternate on the team, we had the sixth athlete, a young guy Vladyslav Hrynevich. He would’ve competed in the final. And, if needed, I could do some of my events – pommels, bars, vault, I had no issues with those. So, it’s a pity we missed the top-8 by a bit.
Q: What happened to Igor Radivilov on vault – was is something unexpected that could happen to anyone or was it his mistake?
A: Yes, it’s just a matter of bad luck, one chance in a hundred or even a thousand. This could happen to practically anyone and I’m not an exception. Last time, this happened to me in 2015, at a World Cup. But it was in the warm-up, not in competition. Although the situation was even worse because I landed on my neck and for half an hour my head felt lost, I was seeing stars. I’ll repeat, this was bad luck in Doha. And the apparatus was a bit uncomfortable. Igor didn’t have time to chalk it and his hand slipped far. It’s good that he managed to get into the proper body position, to finish the twists and to land safely, but it looked scary from the outside.
Q: Judging by the results of our team and of other teams, what do you think about the chances to qualify a team to Tokyo next year?
A: Many other teams actually did badly. Out of the teams of our level, only the Dutch did well in the qualification, while the Swiss didn’t do so well. The Germans, the Koreans, and the French all made mistakes. And we, even with such depth issues and not at full strength, managed to be equal to them. When Zhenya Yudenkov comes back and Petya Pakhniuk recovers from his leg injury, I think we’ll make the top-8. And if the team will be well prepared, we should fight for the top-5. At least, that’s in our plans and goals.
Q: We’re used to seeing you in multiple event finals but here you only competed on parallel bars. Is it harder mentally because there’s only one chance for a medal or is it easier because you don’t need to spread your attention?
A: It’s much harder because it’s just one attempt, one routine, one minute. A small imprecise movement and that’s it, you’re out.
Q: What were your first thoughts after you finished your p-bars routine in the final and stepped away from the podium?
A: In the first seconds, I thought about not sticking the dismount, but, generally, it was clear that I would get a medal. The only dangerous competitors left were Zou Jingyuan and Artur Dalaloyan. I was just happy that I managed to do it because, during the training, I wasn’t able to finish a single bars routine. And if you noticed, at the very end, before the dismount, I went down off one bar. It was not a planned element, I don’t have it in my routine. And I couldn’t do it in verifications even once because I have to be really stretched on it. And when I started doing it, my whole life flashed before my eyes because I didn’t know whether I would make it back up again, I was honestly really scared.
Q: Zou Jingyuan was competing right after you. Did you realize that he became the World Champion right after his dismount?
A: It was clear even before the dismount, he has a really high difficulty and a very good execution.
Q: In an interview to FIG, Zou Jingyuan said that he feels like he’s a little bit of a genius, do you agree? Or he’s just a regular person and you can beat him?
A: You can beat any genius. But yeah, he’s really strong, he’s one step ahead of everyone else at the moment.
Q: Do you have ideas how to upgrade your routine in order to compete with Zou Jingyuan as equals?
A: I have ideas, but these would be very difficult elements, I need time for time. Not a month or two, but a year or two.
Q: Who got the idea to exchange t-shirts with Zou Jingyuan?
A: We have a really good relationship, he messages me a lot, he was worried about my shoulder, came up to me, congratulated me, he’s a pretty nice guy. I decided to give him my t-shirt after the competition and he did the same in response and we took a picture.
Q: Have you ever wanted to exchange t-shirts with Uchimura or his highness is not interested in such mundane matters?
A: No one exchanges t-shirts before the competition and afterward we somehow never crossed paths. The Japanese gymnasts don’t speak English, so you can’t really talk to them.
Q: Do you think we’ll still see him in the all-around?
A: It’s hard to say, thirty years old is a bit old for the all-around. But personally, I would like to compete with him more.
Q: If we’re talking about the level of the World Championships in general, who or what were you most impressed with?
A: Zou Jingyuan really impressed me on bars, and also Artur Dalaloyan. He came to these championships in great shape, as, in general, did the whole Russian team. They improved significantly. The Chinese are back. After the failure in Rio, they completely changed everything right away and right now they have a well-oiled team. The Japanese, on the other hand, weren’t in their best shape. Eleftherios Petrounias is, as always, on top. I really like his work on rings – he went out, he did it and he left – just amazing.
Q: If we’re talking about the women’s competition, who surprises you more – Simone Biles who keeps winning as confidently after taking a year off or Oksana Chusovitina who stays competitive at 43 and made the final in Doha.
A: Actually, neither of them surprises me anymore. Everyone’s already used to the fact that Simone is from a different planet and two steps ahead of everyone else. Everyone is also used to the fact that Chusovitina is a gymnastics monster and keeps showing the same level. We just keep being quietly amazed and cheering for her.
Q: And what can you say about the Ukrainian women’s team’s performance in Doha?
A: We didn’t really discuss it among ourselves. The girls qualified to the next year’s Worlds, unlike the last time, so that’s good, it means there’s progress.
Q: How much time did you allow yourself for rest after coming back from Qatar? And when’s the next competition?
A: We came home on Sunday, and on Monday I was already in the gym. This week, I’m competing in Bundesliga, next week – two competitions in Switzerland, then a World Cup in Cottbus, and at the end of the month – a competition in Spain. So, I will compete every week until December.
Q: Will your shoulder withstand this?
A: We’ll see.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
