Maria Filatova represented the Soviet Union at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, she won bronze on uneven bars at the Moscow Games and was also the silver all-around medalist at the 1981 World Championships. Filatova moved abroad (first to Ireland, then to the US) when the Soviet Union broke up. In 2015, Filatova moved back to Russia and started coaching in her native city Leninsk-Kuznetsky where Anastasia Ilyankova trains. Filatova talked to Sport Express about Russian team’s performance in Tokyo and the future of artistic gymnastics in Russia.
Q: The Tokyo Olympics were difficult and controversial but, for artistic gymnastics, the Games were rather successful. Do you agree with it?
A: The Tokyo Olympics made me very happy, not just for the girls, but for the boys as well. It’s a huge success. The truly fateful Games that will define the director of artistic gymnastics’ development [in Russia].
Q: Whose victory surprised you the most and made you the happiest?
A: It think that of the girls. It was unexpected and because of that, a lot sweeter. But, at the same time, for the boys, the victory wasn’t easy at all either. If the Olympics took place in 2020, we could have been 90% sure in their victory. This year, the situation was different already. When Artur Dalaloyan got injured, I became scared for the guys.
Q: Competing with an injury and such a brilliant performance from Artur are, essentially, true heroism.
A: Absolutely. As they said in the Soviet Times, “For the Homeland, while overcoming pain” – that’s how he competed for the country in Tokyo. For the team, the coaches, everyone who rooted for him. And he did brilliantly.
Q: How did you react to the situation when Simone Biles withdrew? Here it is, the chance for Russian gymnasts?
A: It was a dramatic moment. On the first day of the competition, Russia was in the first place, our girls won the qualification. Then the final starts and Simone makes a mistake on the first vault. Although it’s a mistake compared to her her level and abilities. For most gymnasts in the world, such a performance would’ve been completely fine. But for such a star like Biles, it was a failure. It became clear that she was off her game. But, at the same time, it’s wrong to celebrate her misfortunes. For me, she’s not just an American but, first of all, an athlete. A star, an icon, an idol. Gymnastics is a very difficult sport, first of all, mentally, and her situation is understandable. So, I consider the decision to withdraw Simone from the final right. Not in the view of the competition with Russia – we could have won without it as well. We were already first. It was the right step in the view of treating one of the symbols of artistic gymnastics humanely.
Q: Not everyone understood the withdrawal due to psychological reasons. Do you think that trying to deal with the issues and continuing to compete would be a mistake?
A: We don’t know how a race to compete no matter what would end. When I was inducted to the International Hall of Fame in 2019, I made a speech at the ceremony together with my daughter. She helped me with the English version. I know the language but she helped me to deal with my emotions. For me, gymnastics isn’t split into countries and languages. It’s a big international family, an international brotherhood. Even when I competed, I remember, how I would look at my rival and, sometimes, admire her, notice the details. And if she fell, I would feel sincere pity. Because you know how much labor and energy everyone invested in their work. For me, it was obvious – had Simone had even one chance to compete, she would have used it. For the team, for the country, and for herself. If they made the decision to withdraw, then they had very serious reasons for that.
Q: I’m not talking about the gloating of pseudo-patriots but about the doubts about the seriousness of the psychological issues. Physical injuries are visual and obvious but how do you understand the effect of mental issues on the ability to compete at the Olympics?
A: Psychological issues are much more serious than physical ones. I know many girls and guys who had to compete after an injury and I’ve also been in a situation like that. With still open wounds, with unhealed breaks. With a dislocated foot. You forget about the pain, go out, and win at the European and World Championships, at the Olympic Games. It’s hard and scary but you can’t let the team down. But it’s physical pain which you can calm down and force yourself to overcome it. With psychology, it’s different. I saw how Biles did dismounts on bars in training. She lander on her back or her face, she was being torn and twisted in different directions. Why would she compete in this case – to crash? Anything could have happened, from a break to a hospitalization. She strived to compete and did whatever she could. It’s great that she was able to partially overcome her difficulties by the end of the competition and to compete on the last day.
Q: Will we see Simone Biles at the 2024 Games in Paris?
A: I don’t think so. Perhaps, at a gala show but not at the competition. Everything has its time limit. Biles has always competed with love for her work, passion, and fire. She showed such incredible tricks which even men can hardly repeat. Or at least, not as beautifully and elegantly. So, we can only be grateful to Simone for her incredible career and her contribution to the international sport. And to wish her good luck in her future life.
Q: You noted that the Russian team grew in their level. In what aspects did they grow specifically?
A: I’ll say it straight, the women’s team was very lucky that the Olympics were postponed until 2021. Thanks to this postponement, young girls made the team. And the older ones followed in improvement. In 2020, they would have not been able to compete due to their age, but in 2021, they became eligible. The more experienced ones, looking at the strong youngsters, livened up, got leaner, and, under competition, started getting noticeably better results. The growth was seen with a naked eye and I’m very happy that we won deservedly.
Q: It felt like the teams, especially the men’s, gave all their energy and emotions in the team competition and weren’t able to give a push in individual finals. Do you agree with it?
A: Rather yes than no. We expected more. Perhaps, the coaches should’ve acted differently as well. I remember how many fans of artistic gymnastics including me suggested to give Vika Listunova another chance [in the all-around]. I gave the opinions of fans to the coach, and I love her so much that I stop being objective. She’s an incredible fighter, watch again how she fought for the team in the team final. By the floor final, unfortunately, she was burnt emotionally. She didn’t make the all-around final and waited for the next competition for a long time, so she lost the vigor and wasn’t able to get into the right mindset. In my opinion, she would have medalled in the all-around.
Q: Nikita Nagorny, despite his victory in the team final, says he wasn’t able to fully realize his potential.
A: He’s surely kicking himself. It’s ok and normal. But on the other hand, he had a kidney stone. It can be so hellishly painful that you can’t move, not even talking about tumbling. In addition, it was fate – it was meant for the guys to compete perfectly in the team competition, and for Nikita to become third in the all-around. In truth, he wasn’t the best, the others were stronger. Sports are unpredictable, you can be a favorite all you want but until the competition happens, almost anyone can win. For example, I definitely didn’t think that I would miss out on the all-around final at the 1980 Games. I was first on all the events and then on beam, my favorite event, I made a stupid mistake and landed on my neck. I knew that had I had another attempt, I would have beaten everyone. But it’s not how it works, the final was without me, and I was left without an Olympic medal. It often happens that an athlete wins all the competitions before the Games and then loses on the most important day of their life. It’s upsetting but there’s nothing to do.
Q: There was another rare situation when two athletes had the same scores in the final, up to the hundredths. In you opinion, was the decision to award victory to the Korean gymnast over Denis Abliazin fair?
A: It was a very ugly situation, not in the spirit of the sport, of gymnastics. Two days before that, everyone so how high jumpers got two golds. Supposedly, the athletes decided it between themselves and I’m sure that in this case, no one would be against it either. It was possible before. But now they decided to choose one, moreover, to change rules on the way.* The first place was always given to the one who had the higher execution score. Here it was decided in the favor of the one with the higher difficulty. Why? Who decided it? There are many questions. I don’t know how such decisions were made and what the people who affected them were guided by.
Q: Can we then talk about the failure in the defending of our athletes’ rights?
A: Perhaps, you’re right. We have to make major changes to the system of the training of coaches and judges. In Russia, judges are in a horrible situation, they weep [in frustration]. For example, they might not be allowed to go on a judging assignment by their main job. Judging artistic gymnastics did not become a job here. It’s a community service. Judging is a very difficult job that has to be paid well and the judges have to trained separately. Even being an athlete in the past doesn’t help to learn all the nuances of judging, you have to study the methods of calculating, evaluating the routine. There are people who want to learn all these nuances and develop the sport – they should be given a platform for that instead of being hindered. At the same time, any sports official should know all the rights of the athletes. If you go to a competition, you have to bring a list of all the possible inquires for every gymnast. Whenever necessary, you should submit them and demand them to be considered right away. You have to know the rules better than the judges, know the most minute details. Another problem is the knowledge of English. I know that the gymnastics federation invites teachers and tutors but encounter laziness from the athletes. It’s wrong. How can one defend their rights if they are unable to calmly talk to their foreign opponent?
Q: While preparing for the World Championships, there were changes on both the men’s and the women’s team – major changes. Do you think taking a risk and testing the reserve after the Olympics is the right thing to do?
A: The Olympic Games are over and that means the preparation for the next ones has started. In such a situation, the coaches just have to try other names, other boys and girls. So that in a year or two they will assemble the core of the team that will compete in Paris. After all, we don’t have much time – three years instead of four. I’d like to believe that the current national team members will not daydream after their triumph in Tokyo and will be able to at least repeat the same result in France.
Q: And can we expect improvement in Paris?
A: It will be hard. I’d be happy if we had the exact repeat of Tokyo. It would be a triumph – team victories are higher than individual ones. They immediately demonstrate the level of gymnastics in the country.
Q: In your opinion, what should be done in the country for the successful development of artistic gymnastics?
A: I’d like for gymnastics in Russia to come back to the school and university sports. After the war, there was an explosion of student gymnastics and propelled by that wave, Soviet gymnasts started conquering the world. In America, we see this explosion now. There are so many girls that that the whole world can be supplied with American gymnasts. They’re at a high level but far from everyone want to be in the elite gymnastics, on the national team. But everyone wants to study at universities and colleges for free. And this is a powerful push to develop the sport. I would really like to see something similar here. We need not just the elites but the reserves and the mass sport. It’s the foundation of big victories. Sometimes, you get the desire to do the sport at 14 years old but you won’t be accepted by any sports school. So, why not provide an opportunity to develop in the sport at school or university? I don’t understand why we have such strict age limitations. Medals and diplomas are not so expensive, it’s absolutely possible to organize competitions for amateur athletes. Sometimes, it can be hard to qualify to the next level after the junior level. If we keep the strict age limitations, we will continue losing a large number of potential talents. But if we give them a large window of a couple of years and add extra levels, kids will not quit. That’s how reserves are created.
*The rule according to which the vault ties are broken by the highest single vault score existed for a while, it is not new and it was not invented at the Tokyo Olympics.
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