Artur Dalaloyan is leading the qualification at the Russian Championships. However, he told R-Sport that like Nikita Nagornyy he also fell sick. He decided to compete anyway because he didn’t want Moscow team to lose another gymnast:
“It’s horrible what the trip to Penza prepared for us. I can say that this morning I also had to fight an illness, I got a sore throat. Somehow I managed to get myself in order. I always buy lemons at competitions and drink lemon water. I woke up this morning, squeezed a whole lemon into a glass, added a bit of water, drank it, then went to the doctor and got medicine. So, by lunch I managed to feel better. Because Nikita is the main figure on Moscow’s team and if I also withdrew, it would be… I couldn’t let them down. I tried to fight this situation in all the possible ways. Even though I couldn’t breath deeply at the competition, but I still managed to compete and quite well. I hope that I’ll get a bit better by the all-around final and it will all be better.”
Nikita Nagornyy who is sick with strep throat said he cannot have COVID-19 because he has antibodies. Dalaloyan says that unlike Nikita he doesn’t have antibodies:
“I actually don’t have [COVID-19 antibodies]. From 2020, when this whole pandemic situation started, I have never been sick, at all. No matter how many times I was tested for antibodies, it always showed nothing.”
It is not clear if either Nagornyy or Dalaloyan were tested for COVID-19 following their symptoms here.
Dalaloyan says national team gymnasts haven’t been vaccinated yet even though the vaccine (Russian-developed Sputnik) is available to young people in Moscow:
“There are some movements towards the vaccination. Because it’s very hard to always live and train at the training center without an opportunity to go home. Now, a policy came out that vaccinated people and those with antibodies will be able to leave the training center. I don’t know, perhaps, there will be some general vaccination for all of us, perhaps there will be some relaxation of the rules, but so far it’s not decided yet.”
Dalaloyan was excited to compete again after a long break:
“The emotions are just unreal, they were over the top on the first event. I was nervous as if it was my first time. This break, this year without competitions affects me. But I managed to get myself together on most events, I got a grip on my emotions and managed to get them back on track. I made a small mistake on pommel horse but it was on such a fine, delicate element. This all comes with competitions, with competition experience. I don’t think it was an unfortunate mistake. I expected to have a mistake somewhere in such fine details. It’s just not possible to not compete for a year and then go out and do everything perfectly. Generally, everything was as expected and I’m happy.”
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