Nikita Nagorny talked to Izvestia about how it felt to compete in Tokyo and what his plans for the near future are.
Q: What emotions do you feel after the end of the Tokyo Olympics?
A: Sadness, of course. After all, for us, it’s a celebration that we wait for, you could say, our whole life. Even though I came back a while ago, I continued watching our athletes until the moment the women’s handball team added the last medal to Russia’s collection. Unfortunately, it wasn’t gold. But we rooted hard for them. They were Olympics champions in Rio but missed by a bit this time. I started realizing that it’s time to turn the page over. Three years of training for the next Olympics in Paris are ahead of us. I am actually very happy with the result. Perhaps, I didn’t do enough somewhere, didn’t show my maximum. In the all-around final, I could’ve fought for gold. Or rather, I was fighting for gold but made mistakes. But my main dream have come true – that was the team gold, what we’ve been working towards our whole life.
Q: How much pressure did you feel from the responsibility in the team final when you competed last?
A: Overall, I’m used to it. Throughout this quad, when we competed as a team, I was the last to compete. It’s always a lot of pressure on the person who competes last. But I’ve proven again and again that I can manage it. So, for me, it was the same work as usual. It’s hard to describe those emotions when you stand there before your routine and know that any mistake, and little thing, and this gold medal can leave us. When you manage to deal with it… I guess you could see it in the emotions I’ve felt when we saw our score.
Q: Are you talking about the tears of joy in that moment? What were you feeling?
A: I guess something tore inside me. Something exploded. I couldn’t contain my emotions. There were tears of joy but also some sort of anger, and I was screaming. It was just incredible. I don’t think I’ll ever experience such emotions in the sport again. Because, as I said, it was my dream. It was what our team had worked towards for our whole lives.
Q: You became third in the all-around but on the stream, they showed how angry you were when Hashimoto Daiki’s score was announced and the Japanese gymnast became first.
A: I wasn’t angry because the Japanese gymnast became first. It was because I made a mistake on the landing. That is, I was doing my routine, everything was going well, and in the end, I just needed to stick the landing and I would have won. But because I didn’t stick it, started taking steps, bent, and lost my balance, I ended up third. The Japanese gymnast won deservingly. I don’t have any complaints. I didn’t do what I needed to.
Q: What do you think about your bronze on horizontal bar?
A: Here, I’m absolutely happy with my performance. I even said the day before the final that I had no chances [on HB], only if everyone would fall and I would do well. That’s basically, what happened. Four people out of eight fell and one made a major mistake. And the three of us did our routines well and shared the medal podium.
Q: How were you preparing for the Olympics?
A: Very emotionally, waiting for it. This waiting actually takes a lot of energy. That’s why we didn’t go [to Tokyo] a week or two early for acclimation as many other teams but instead came right for the competition. Because it takes a lot of energy to stay home and wait, but when you are also far from your family at that moment, I can’t imagine how much energy people spend on just waiting for the competition. I would say every day: when will the competition finally start?
Q: What did you mean when you said at one of the press conferences in Tokyo: “My main rival is me”?
A: I meant what happened in the all-around final when I couldn’t handle my emotions. I just made a mistake. And that mistake cost me the gold medal. I always try to find some imperfections in my and fight myself in order to get to the competition in a perfect condition and show my maximum. I couldn’t do it here. Perhaps, the fact that we spent all our energy in the team final played a role. There, I managed to give my maximum.
Q: Another one of your phrases: “During preparation [for competitions], my main enemy is food”.
A: Yes, I have issues with constantly wanting to eat. Perhaps, because of the training load, I rarely can deprive myself, or not finish the food, or eat small portions. Generally, only such big competitions like the Olympics or World Championships can get me in order and I can restrain myself a bit. Otherwise it’s very hard. Especially when the preparation for the competition starts and I need to lose 3-4 kilos in the first two weeks. That’s the hardest thing for me in the sport.
Q: How hard was it to be in Japan without the flag or anthem?
A: I already said that when we won and stood on the medal podium, the emotions we felt because of the victory overrode the lack of the pride you feel when you hear the anthem. We stood there and knew that the whole country knows where we’re from. But when I placed third in the all-around and the anthem of Japan was played for Hashimoto and the soldiers saluted him, it was upsetting – I realized that we were deprived of the thing most dear to us.
Q: During the medal ceremony, you managed to touch gold and silver medals as well.
A: I just seized the chance to touch these medals. [laughs]
Q: Why does your wife watch your competitions while covered by a blanket?
A: She’s nervous. And she thinks that if she watches me, it affects my performance. Dasha watched me only two times. And both those times I fell. I don’t know whether it’s a coincidence but it’s what happened. And after the second time, she stopped watching me.
Q: There are only three years until the next Olympics instead of four.
A: I think it’s only playing in our favor. In any case, in the past five years, we gave more of ourselves than during the regular quads. We gave our nerves and emotions. All the constant waiting I talked about. The three years here are like a reward. Same as the team World Championships that will take place in a year. So, it’s the same. The three years until Paris will pass very fast. Now we’ll rest for half a year. And it’ll only be 2.5 years. And the last half a year until the Olympics doesn’t count, we will be busy preparing. So, it’s only two years left.
Q: Do you plan on going to the World Championships in October in Japan?
A: I don’t know whether it’ll really take place. I think that due to the Japanese residents’ opposition, the World Championships might be canceled. But in any case, I took a break of one or two weeks because I need to recover. I have health issues that need to be dealth with. I’ll need a couple of months for rehabilitation. Only then, with my new strong health I will come back to the gym. If I’ll manage to prepare in time, then yes, I’ll go to Worlds.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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