Russian MAG national team arrived at Round Lake yesterday for the second training camp of the year. The gold-winning Tokyo team reunited for the first time at the previous camp that ended on January 22nd and all four came to the current camp. However, there appears to be discontent regarding the training center’s COVID measures and today, Artur Dalaloyan made a post on Instagram that lead many fans and media conclude he’s announced his retirement from the sport.
Dalaloyan wrote:
“The time to make a decision always comes, you can’t sit on two chairs [Russian idiom, meaning “can’t have your cake and eat it too”]. The sport gave me the feeling of light that can’t be compared to anything, these were unforgettable years! But, I guess it’s time to land, I guess it’s time to think about [someone] other than myself. My family is my life meaning, my soul, my universe! Family comes first! I want to dedicate myself to them.”
Many took it as a retirement announcement, including several major Russian sports news portals. However, it is not immediately clear what exactly Dalaloyan is saying in the post and the media have not been able to reach him for commentary.
Valentina Rodionenko clarified the situation to MatchTV. She believes Dalaloyan wrote the post in exasperation after his requests to be able to go home occasionally during the camp were rejected:
“So far, this [retirement] hasn’t been on the table. Artur finished the last camp with the team on January 22nd and came to the next one on 29th. For now we’re quarantined and being tested. You’ve really surprised me with this [news].”
“The situation is as follows: we come to Round Lake for a camp and stay quarantined until the test results arrive. It’s absolutely forbidden to leave the training center because the pandemic is gaining momentum and it’s expected to become even scarier. Artur made a request to go home – that is, to come here and leave the training center to go home sometimes, but the training center’s director absolutely forbids it. And I think he wrote it influenced by this talk. He had three kids, he said that the nanny didn’t come, there was no one to leave them with. That’s the issue he has right now, you understand.”
“But it’s just this mood, that’s why he wrote it. There’s nothing serious there, believe me. The guy is at the peak [of his career], everything’s still ahead of him. Retirement? Oh, come on! He’s not raising this issue now. But he has one question – they used to be able to go home for the night and then come back [in the morning]. And now it’s forbidden, which makes the guys depressed. But that’s the situation in the world. No one can change anything, we just need to get through this.”
When Round Lake originally reopened after the initial closure in the spring of 2020, all camps started taking place in lockdown conditions. Gymnasts would arrive at the center, be tested for COVID, and stay quarantined in their rooms until a negative result arrived. Then they would be confined to the premises of the training center for the duration of the camp. However, in the beginning of 2021, new rules came into effect which allowed vaccinated and those who already had COVID in the past to leave the center on weekends. Gymnasts went on lockdown again in the 1.5 months leading up to the Olympic Games. It appears that the rules were somewhat relaxed after the Games but the omicron wave lead to additional restrictions again.
Dalaloyan has three children and it is understandable that the lockdown makes the situation incredibly hard on him and his family. However, it is very unlikely that the training center director has much say on the matter The training center hosts several national teams including the freestyle skiing team training for the Beijing Games and thus, the latest Ministry of Sports’ COVID regulations likely apply to it. According to the regulations, all training centers that host athletes training for the Winter Games are under lockdown.
Round Lake’s current director is Aleksandr Polukhin, a former judoka. He replaced Olga Domuladzhanova who died of COVID in May 2021.
UPDATE
The head coach of the MAG national team Valeri Alfosov told TASS that Dalaloyan asked to leave Round Lake because of the restrictions, however, there was no talk of retirement:
“Why would you think Artur is retiring? It’s just that we are under a strict lockdown at the training center again because of the COVID situation getting worse and Artur who has three young kids asked to leave to see them. I allowed it because there’s still time to prepare for the major competitions. That’s it.”
Dalaloyan who lives in Moscow has access to a well-equipped gym and has been training at this gym after coming back from the Olympics.
Dalaloyan’s personal coach Aleksandr Kalinin said Dalaloyan will be training with him in Moscow for the time being:
“This [rumor] is some nonsense. We haven’t event talked about it [retirement] lately at all, on the contrary. Artur left the camp early with the national team coaches’ permission, nothing more. I talked to him 1.5 hours ago, we didn’t talk about retirement at all. We’ll meet tomorrow at the practice.”
Andrey Rodionenko told RSport that the media should ask Dalaloyan himself for further elaborations:
“I guess he’s having certain problems, difficulties, he’s got fed up with something. Perhaps, there are family issues. He gets stirred-up easily, he blurted something out. What, are we supposed to react to every [Instagram] post now? That’s not how you raise Olympic champions. Let him explain what’s going on.”
Dalaloyan deleted the Instagram post in question a few hours after posting.
UPDATE #2
Artur Dalaloyan published a new post on Instagram clarifying that he is not retiring and that his original post was about spending more time with the family and less at training camps, if possible:
“A number of media sources wrote that I have retired. This is not true. My words were misinterpreted. I wrote that between the sport and my family, I choose family. But I didn’t mean that I’m retiring. I meant that there are no competitions now and some camps can be skipped but, of course, I’m still an athlete and there are many competitions ahead of us. P.S. I would like to ask the media to reach out to me or my representative for clarifications before publishing [news about me].”
LOL.
Well then don’t post vague/cryptic Instagram updates then!
Also I didn’t know that he has 3 children, and at age 25 WOW.
If I’m remembering correctly, his wife already had 1 child when they got together & then married, & then they’ve had 2 children together.