Nikita Nagornyy had a great return to competition at the Friendship and Solidarity competition in Tokyo where he unofficially won the all-around. He hoped for this competition to be a step towards the European Championships but it ended up his only international competition of the year. He talked to R-Sport about competing again after a long break and how one of the highlights of the competition was to get Kohei Uchimura, his inspiration, to sign a t-shirt for him.
Q: On your Instagram a few days before the competition, you posted a photo of departure from Vnukovo-3 and wrote about a refuelling stop in Irkutsk. As I understand, the team took a special charter flight. How did it feel compared to regular flights you took in the past?
A: Great conditions. We didn’t need to go anywhere to change planes. There was a stop for an hour to refuel and we went on. The seats were like in business class on regular planes. And everyone had their own row of seats, the seats next to them were free. The food was just amazing! That is, we got the best conditions to fly to Tokyo and back.
Q: Were there any requirements for the competition participants regarding what to do before flying to Japan?
A: Of course. Two weeks in advance, we started the tests. We had to do three tests, for antibodies and such. In addition, we had to send daily reports about the state of our health – body temperature, how we were feeling and so on.
Q: How meticulous was the the testing when you came to Japan? What was the process?
A: Right after the landing, we did the tests and we’ve never done ones like that. Let’s say, our saliva was taken. The results were ready in an hour, it’s considered an express-test in Japan. Then, every day, we were tested at the hotel, so there was maximum oversight.
Q: How detailed were the instructions regarding how to behave in Tokyo? Were there many requirements like a ban on handshakes? Was there close oversight?
A: Yes, there were special conditions. At the hotel, every country had their own floor which was only accessible to that country’s delegation and also an interpreter and a person who kept the order and checked that no one left the floor. And no one did. For four days, everyone stayed in their rooms. We were allowed to visit each other in our rooms but everyone stayed in their own rooms because we came to compete and not to hang out.
Q: And no outings in the city?
A: Of course not. We only had two routes – to the dining hall and to the arena. We would get down in the elevator that was just for us – that is, we were given a whole separate section of the hotel. The corridors would be emptied so that we wouldn’t be in contact with anyone while leaving [the hotel], then we would board a bus and come to the arena. There, we were also met and escorted in order not to be in contact with anyone. At the entrance to the arena, there were special machines that measured your body temperature and then sprayed your whole body with a special disinfectant. At the arena, there were strict rules about wearing masks and a ban on handshakes. Elbow or shoulder bumps were allowed but not handshakes. Of course, few people put on masks right after doing their routines, it’s a kind of a difficult moment when you need to catch your breath. But everyone wore masks while rotating from one event to another and while talking to others. Of course, all the athletes were clean, everyone was tested daily, so I think it’s impossible to get infected in such conditions. But, nevertheless, everyone followed the rules.
Q: Before the pandemics, you competed at least once a month. Now the break lasted almost a year. Does it feel differently? After all, when you compete once of twice a month, it becomes routine in part, doesn’t it?
A: I can’t call it routine. There are always emotions at competitions that are incomparable to the training process. We still enjoy it and you can’t call it routine. But now the difference with the past years was that we were accumulating those emotions and could not release them. As soon as we entered the arena and started training with athletes from other countries, it caused new emotions. Of course, we really missed competitions and I enjoyed it immensely, I don’t even know how to describe it. I really want to compete more and not stop at just one competition this year, but, unfortunately, this is not possible.
Q: Did the emotions that you said came rushing at the arena interfere with a calm, clean performance?
A: It all depends on experience. We all know well how to control our bodies, our mood and so on. I’m talking now about the emotions that I felt outside of the competition floor, when I just entered the arena. I saw the Japanese team warming up and last year’s memories from the World championships came rushing. This gave me additional strength and, I guess, just brought a lot of joy.
Q: There weren’t that many spectators in the audience and there were empty seats between them. How unusual did this look?
A: I can’t say that there were few spectators. Especially considering that competitions take place without spectators nowadays. As far as I know, there were three thousand people in the audience during the competition. I think that’s quite a lot for a competition during the pandemic. The spectators created the complete atmosphere of a competition. Especially since they were Japanese, they’re big gymnastics fans. They always cheer not just for their own but for the rest of the athletes as well. The support was really good. Not worse than in 2018, at the World Championships in Doha with three-four times fewer spectators than here.
Q: The management of the International Gymnastics Federation insisted that they hosted a very important competition – the first international competition in Tokyo since the start of the pandemic. But this was in essence a friendly meet. Did you feel any sort of competition pressure?
A: I guess the main task of this competition was to show that even in the situation that the world is now in it’s possible to organize a competition like that. And to host it in Tokyo, which is important, too, because that’s where the Olympic Games are supposed to happen next year and I hope they will happen. So it was demonstrated that it’s possible to have a competition without any negative consequences and that even in this situation, you can create good conditions for the athletes.
Q: No one’s arguing that it’s a big accomplishment that you’ve achieved all together – the international federation, the organizers, and the athletes. But I doubt it can be compared to the competition pressure at World Championships.
A: I’ll tell you this – from the start, we didn’t plan to go there to overdo it and show everything we are capable of. I guess we treated it like the first competition of the year and we just needed to get there and compete. To feel all that. That’s why the preparation wasn’t like for a World or European Championships. We only started preparing for the competition two weeks in advance and generally saw it as one of the stages of the preparation for the European Championships. We were supposed to compete at the Russian Championships, then go to Japan, and then to the European Championships. But when we withdrew from the Russian Championships, we knew we needed to focus on the European Championships and the competition in Tokyo was seen as something to pass through. And then the Russian team withdrew from the European Championships as well. So, there was only this competition in Tokyo left and we prepared what we could. Of course, compared to the World Championships, the fight was not as emotional. Nevertheless, there was a little bit of competition since we were divided into two teams. I can’t say that I didn’t look at the scoreboard and didn’t compare the scores of the two teams. There was some sort of a competition spirit, we wanted to win. But, of course, it didn’t matter much. I think we’ve accomplished our main mission.
Q: Well, the most important thing is not winning but taking part. How happy were you with your performance?
A: I am happy with how I did, with my routines. I’ll say it again – I wasn’t set on giving it my all. My goal was to feel the competition, to get those emotions. So, I didn’t just hit the minimum target, I was somewhere in the middle. Of course, I could have done much better but I didn’t see it necessary. After all, I was doing all six events unlike many competitors who did just two or three. I knew that I had a long break between competitions and if I tried to give everything from the start, I might have not had enough energy for the last events. Plus the acclimating. The warmup before the competition started at 3 am Moscow time. Your body feels it, whether you want it to or not. During the competition, I was even getting sleepy. Nevertheless, I accomplished my goal to do all six events from start to finish.
Q: Can you say that in terms of the routine composition what you showed in Tokyo will be what you will perform at the Olympics? Or will you upgrade more in the time that’s left?
A: Taking the lockdown and the pandemic into account, I wanted to spend the whole year on adding in both difficulty and quality. But in Tokyo, the goal was to just go through the competition from start to finish and not to show everything we are capable of. In this sense, of course, I didn’t show a lot of things. I planned to surprise gymnastics fans this year but, unfortunately, that didn’t happen because I planned it for the European Championships. But I hope that competitions will start in February and I’ll be able to show what I worked on during the lockdown. So, in Tokyo, if we’re talking about the all-around, I downgraded on three events in order to get through the competition.
Q: And on which events are you planning to surprise the fans?
A: Let it stay a mystery for now. For people who are far removed from gymnastics, my answer wouldn’t matter anyway. And for people who are close to gymnastics, if I answered now, it wouldn’t be such a surprise in competitions. But, as I think, it’s supposed to be a big deal. I’ll hint a bit. It’s kind of similar to what I did after the last Olympics.
Q: As I understood, in Tokyo, the plan was to use robot judges on vault. All the competitors went through a procedure of creating a graphic model of them. How did it work?
A: Our anthropometric data were taken. We had to stand in the middle of a special room and do a specific pose that was requested by the computer. The robot read that information and was supposed to calculate execution deductions during the competition. The Japanese proposed this system two years ago but it wasn’t approved then, unfortunately. Or, perhaps, fortunately, I don’t know. Now we first had been told that only a robot would judge but at the end, there were human judges as well. As I understand, they don’t trust the robots yet. No one is confident that there won’t be any malfunction in the software which would lead to pauses in the competition. And how would you submit appeals if the robot calculates something incorrectly? But if all this will be solved, I guess one day we will be able to achieve objective judging, fair for all the athletes.
Q: So, you weren’t able to go into the city and weren’t so eager to go either. But you traveled from the hotel to the arena by bus. Did you happen to see any Olympic imagery on the way? Does Tokyo resemble a city that will host the Olympics?
A: You asked this and I suddenly realized that it does not. There was no [Olympic] imagery at all. I don’t know why. Perhaps, it is being changed? Our interpreter said that there were some special taxis made for the Olympics and we saw those taxis but without any symbols at all. Or, perhaps, I was so self-absorbed that I didn’t notice anything.
Q: On the stream, your dialogue with Kohei Uchimura was shown. What did you talk about?
A: It all started back in 2017. All in all, this person means a lot to me. When I made the national team, Uchimura had already been unbeatable for four years. And during my career, he kept winning the all-around for another five years and everyone looked at him like an idol. Like now the girls are looking at Simone Biles who’s winning everything. So, in 2015, I took my first picture with Uchimura. In 2017, at the World Championships, our teams hung out together at the hotel and exchanged t-shirts. Since then, I’ve had Uchimura’s t-shirt at home. And now I want to create a small home museum with items autographed by the athletes who gave me motivation in the sport and in life, so I took that t-shirt to Tokyo with me for him to autograph. I really wanted to thank him for everything he gave me in terms of motivation and I told him about my museum idea. Uchimura signed the t-shirt and then suddenly said he had another gift for me. And took out the t-shirt in which he won the all-around in Rio. He also signed it and now I have two of his shirts, so I’m not sure what to do. Perhaps, I should do a giveaway? Or give it as a gift to someone? Anyway, I have these two t-shirts and I think it all means something. For example, I dreamt of being on the same medal podium with Uchimura. Unfortunately, at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships he was plagued by injuries already and that didn’t happen. But, perhaps, it will happen some day. So, I think the fact that we met in Tokyo now and he signed a t-shirt for me meant something.
Q: Of course, it did. Don’t you think that Kohei Uchimura relayed the all-around Olympic title to Nikita Nagornyy this way?
A: When something like this happens, anyone can think of any explanation. If someone wants to think that, let them. For me, this meeting was something really big because Uchimura did a lot for my motivation and my victories with his gymnastics. And now we cemented it with this gift. I will say it again – this is very important for me, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about some kind of a relay. I still have a long way to get to where he is. To stay the all-around leader for 11 years! I’d have to compete until 35 to repeat that. I don’t think it’s possible.
Q: Ok, we won’t compare the weight of Uchimura’s and Nagornyy’s medals. But don’t you want to believe that he symbolically gave you his title You said that anyone can see this gift as they want to. Wouldn’t you want to see what happened as the transfer of the main title?
A: Of course I would! If the motivation, even imagined, helps, it’s great. I’ll believe it, if you want me to.
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