Artur Dalaloyan talked to Sport Express about recovering after the lockdown and preparing for the first competition in a long time. He will compete at the Friendship and Solidarity competition in Tokyo in November.
A: I am preparing all events for Tokyo and plan on competing on all of them. Generally, it’s really nice that such a competition will take place. They took representatives of the four strongest countries and specifically all-arounders. This was facilitated by the President of the FIG and the local organizers. They want to show that everything is possible and that the Olympic Games can also happen. Of course, all coronavirus safety measures will be taken there.
Q: Were you able to get to your normal level after a long break between competitions?
A: I feel great. Yes, there was a long break but I managed to recover and even prepare new routines on some events. For now, the plan after Tokyo is the European Championships which are supposed to take place in Turkey in the middle of December due to the postponement. So, after coming back to Moscow, I’ll rest for three days or so and then go back to the training center and continue training.
Q: Was the lockdown hard for you mentally and physically?
A: It was quite hard. But I wasn’t sitting still on my butt at home and I continued working on my conditioning. Most of the [conditioning] gymnastics exercises can easily be done at home. I got special parallel bars and push up bars and kept working. But overall, this time at home was even useful in some sense. I started seeing many things differently, I finally spent time with my family. Covid took some things but also opened my eyes. Seeing how your child grows and participating in it is something else. Because when you’re at the training center, you basically participate in your family’s life very little. You leave early in the morning and come back late at night.
Q: Almost all artistic gymnasts are actively posting on Instagram. Is there competition on the team – who has more subscribers, who came up with a more creative challenge?
A: No, I don’t really come up with challenges and stuff. But I started being more active on social media and showing my life more during the lockdown. Before, all that was not among my priorities. But now I understood I was wrong about it. And thanks to working with the media, I was able to achieve the result I wanted.
Q: That is, to find a sponsor?
A: Of course. It’s important for any athlete – to find such support. I’ll tell more about it soon.
Q: Aren’t you afraid of flying to Japan during the pandemic?
A: This competition is being organized at the highest level, even the Japanese government is taking part. So, I don’t even doubt that there will be the highest level of safety there. And during the flight, I’ll be as careful as possible. I’ll avoid masses of people and wear a mask and gloves at all times – [do] everything I’m supposed to.
Q: So, you won’t even go to duty free shops?
A: Haha, we’ll see.
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
