Artur Dalaloyan came back to his first training camp at Round Lake after a long break last month. Before the return to training, he gave a long interview to Sportcast.
Q: The training is going ahead full steam but you seem to still be on vacation. How come?
A: I have injuries. Had injuries. After the New Year, I started recovery, and during this process, all sorts of injuries pop up right away. For half a year, I’ve had pain in my wrist and ankle on and off. The coaches and I decided that it would be better to heal and enter the fight fully ready.
Q: You posted a photo from Kyshtym on Instagram. What were you doing there?
A: My wife is from Yekaterinburg. Her parents live there. 4th of June was her birthday and I was there. Because the quarantine rules were still on, I decided, in order not to cause risks, to stay with parents until everything’s over.
Q: You jump and flip in videos but you’re saying you’re injured and getting treatment.
A: I can probably do jumping push-ups in any condition. Wake me up at night – I’ll do it. But twisting my wrist on a pommel horse and getting into a handstand is a bit of a different kind of effort and load. Especially with two practices a day. So, a proper training routine is completely different.
Q: Still, most of the guys are training and you’re basically resting. Aren’t you afraid of competing with them next season?
A: I’m thinking about it! I worry that by the start of the season they’ll be in shape and I won’t. But I think it will give me more motivation. Now, because of the pain, I have to skip some events. To slack off. And in order not to slack off, I need to deal with the injuries. I still have strict discipline. I do conditioning at home. After all, I’ve been doing gymnastics for 18 years. The mind remembers. The vestibular system works. The most important thing is to get the physical shape back. I feel good in that sense. I didn’t get fat. I guess, I do 15-20% of regular training intensity at home. That’s exactly the level where you could hang on in order to come back fast. Routines will be the hardest to get back. That’s generally the hardest thing to perfect. But it’s normal.
Q: How many pull-ups can you do?
A: Well, if I’ll be offered new wheel rims for a Mercedes, for that… I guess, maybe, 150 pull-ups. Without new rims – 50-70 pull-ups. Depends on the preparation. It’s important. For example, I have to pay a lot of attention to my weight and have a custom nutrition plan.
Q: This summer, the Olympics were supposed to take place where you were supposed to compete and fight for gold.
A: I think that if the Olympics took place this summer, it would be a farce. Because it was scheduled for 1.5 months from now. Everyone had different preparation conditions…
Q: And you’re also injured.
A: I think few athletes compete without a single injury. You always have something, some minor problem. It’s a complicated issue for athletes.
Q: It’s the second Olympics that didn’t happen for you. You didn’t make the Rio team because of a knee injury, and now there are issues with Tokyo. You don’t have an Olympic gold.
A: Yes, first I didn’t make it, then the Tokyo Olympics didn’t make it. I have a positive attitude. I’m at my best now. In gymnastics, the peak is at 25 years old. You can do what you couldn’t do all that time before. This peak is over at 27.
Q: You lost the all-around gold to Nikita Nagornyy at the 2019 Worlds. Were you not at your peak then?
A: I was. But I knew that I could win only if Nikita had errors and I didn’t. And I knew that I’d have errors. Because I upgraded the difficulty of my routines significantly that year in order to progress towards the Olympics. It was impossible for me to do everything perfectly. But I never refuse to upgrade my routines if I see that I can do it. With errors, but I can. I will never turn away from my full difficulty. But that’s in the all-around. In the team competition, it’s different. There, I can downgrade for the team in order to get the scores confidently.
Our friendship with Nikita has been going on for more than 10 years. We have a brotherly connection, we got into a good relationship right away. I think there’s no way we could have a fight if one of us wins gold in Tokyo and another one – silver. It’s hard to be friends when you’re competing against this person, when he’s your rival in the gym. But artistic gymnastics is the kind of sport where everything depends only on you. Everything depends on how much you invest in yourself, how correct the approach you find for yourself is, how much correct and necessary work you do in order to get to a competition and show your strength. It doesn’t depend on Nikita Nagornyy and David Belyavskiy. Our sport is not about who will beat who but who’s smarter and more inventive and works harder. There used to be issues in national teams before us; in those generations, there were all sorts of stories. But, thankfully, we don’t practice that, everything’s fair.
Q: Olympic medals or friendship with Nikita?
A: Definitely medals, the sport isn’t just for fun. I started gymnastics before I met Nikita Nagornyy, gymnastics gave me more in life than Nikita Nagornyy. Gymnastics is the reason I have a family and I feed that family, it’s how I earn my living.
Q: And if you’re given a choice – individual or team Olympic gold?
A: Team gold, for sure. If we’re talking about the team we have now, I choose the team.
Q: Who’s the unofficial leader of the Russian men’s team?
A: David Belyavskiy. I said it many times in interviews before. He brought discipline to the team. This discipline helped me and Nikita Nagornyy to get to the new level. You might allow yourself something at home, but you cannot allow yourself any weaknesses at work. David pushes us towards good results.
Q: Why were you kicked off the national team when you were 15?
A: I covered for a lot of people, that’s it. That was why I was punished this way. I was even asked about it on Evening Urgant, it was really unpleasant for me to talk about it, I tried to joke my way out of it, but I’ll say it now. I covered for many people that evening and ended up taking all the blame. They couldn’t kick everyone out who were present, who organized it and so on. Yes, it was my room, the party took place there, but I was the only one kicked out because of it. But I handled it like a real gentleman and didn’t snitch on anyone. I spent a year off the team, drew my conclusions, and continued training and working.
Q: Why we have gold medals in gymnastics and don’t have doping scandals?
A: I guess it’s because we have the best coaches, the best training conditions, and the most correct system that’s been developed over the years. Doping will give 0% benefit in gymnastics. Your hard work and talent and what’s given you by nature work in gymnastics. Yes, there are rings where you need muscle mass. But you can’t become successful in gymnastics thanks to drugs. You can eat a ton of pills but it won’t help, you won’t achieve anything without training and work. Therapeutic exemptions? You can see what Biles does and what other girls do. It’s not fair. If you’re on drugs, compete at the Paralympics.
Q: There is now a Dalaloyan skill in artistic gymnastics, you made your last name famous. What do your parents think about it?
A: Unfortunately, we haven’t lived with my father since I was nine, I haven’t been in touch with him since then. I don’t know what’s going on with him now. I’m actually curious how would he react to me making his last name famous. But… that’s how it is. I’m not in touch either with my father or with other relatives on his side.
Q: Do you and Nikita Nagornyy do challenges on Instagram? You’re both active users of the app.
A: There are often [social media] challenges in artistic gymnastics. Guys from other countries, for example, from Germany, start a challenge and it’s picked up around the world. But challenges among the two of us – no, that rarely happens. Of course, I want to develop [my social media], but I’m more drawn to my family, my own cozy corner of life. I’m less interested in spreading my attention on social media and life around me.
Q: Could it be because of your father leaving?
A: I don’t know for sure, but I have such thoughts, too. When I was growing up, perhaps, I didn’t get enough love from my father. I had a coach at the gym. He was like a father to me. He was tough with me. Now my wife often tells me I’m too rough. I got enough of that real manly roughness. But I guess I didn’t get enough fatherly support.
Q: On whose neck will you put your Olympic medal when you’ll take it off? Your mom, friend, or coach?
A: I’ll leave it here [beats his chest with a first]. I’ll give everything to my mom. I’m incredibly grateful to my family. But not the Olympic medal – it will stay with me. I’ll give it to my daughter to play with. But it has to hang around my neck.
Q: You were one of the first gymnasts who started winning over Chinese and Japanese gymnasts who dominated in the 21st century. What did you and your coach come up with? How did you manage to do it?
A: Consistency, quality, and less difficulty for the sake of artistry. I have natural artistry that not everyone has. You need to win by using your strong sides. We discussed it with the coach and drew our conclusions. Perhaps, we won’t show crazy difficulty, but we’ll show a crisp routine made of perfected elements.
Q: You were born in Tiraspol but spent little time there. Do you miss it?
A: I often remember the summer in Moldova, when everything is covered by black and red grapes. My grandma had a cherry tree in her yard, on which I basically lived. I would eat kilos of it. Farm animals… My favorite dish when I was a kid was pig cracklings. I don’t know if I’d eat it now but I could munch on it all day long as a kid.
Q: Are Moldovan wines the best?
A: I mostly drink French ones. Moldovan are the sweetest ones.
Q: With which person you’d want to sit on the porch and spend time?
A: With my wife. She’s my best friend. I’m always the real me with her. I’m never afraid to show my true self.
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