Titov: We proved that gymnastics is at a very high level in Russia

Vassily Titov is a Russian banker who sits on the board of VTB Bank, one of the sponsors of the International Gymnastics Federation. Titov was elected as the President of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation in 2014 and has been working in that role ever since. Since 2018, he is one of the vice-presidents of the Russian Olympic Committee. He is also one of the vice-presidents of the FIG and is running for re-election. While he has been working as an official in the sport for many years, Titov is not an ex-gymnast and is not related to famous Soviet gymnast and sports official Yuri Titov – they simply share a common Russian last name.

In an interview with R Sport, Titov talked about the Russian team’s performance in Tokyo and what is expected next.

Q: Vassily Nikolayevich, the team won eight medals, two of them gold. Are you happy?

A: Overall, we’ve achieved what we promised – to bring 8 medals home from the Olympics. Of course, we’ve fallen a bit short in the quality of the medals, unfortunately. If we could have gotten another gold or two, it would’ve represented the state in which the team is now. But everything happened the way it happened. The athletes proved themselves. I think the coaching team did a really good job. Team gold is, of course, the result of everyone’s combined efforts. These two medals are special, they reflect the level of the sport’s development in our country. Because few countries can send such strong, mighty, and consistent team. It means that gymnastics has to be an industry in terms of searching for candidates, preparing them, working with them and so on. In this sense, we proved that gymnastics is at a very decent, very high level in Russia.

Q: Many things didn’t work out in the all-around and event finals.

A: Of course, we expected more, especially in the all-around finals. But whatever happened happened. I’m used to talking about the reality. Everything that happened at the Olympics was, on one hand, what they were capable of and, on other hand, was the result of how they performed. It doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have done better. They could have but if they didn’t, then they didn’t. I want to swipe away any discussions about unfair judging, about underscoring someone. It’s complete nonsense. All such talks lead nowhere. You need to not fall and perform in the way that no one could have a reason to deduct you. You know how judging in artistic gymnastics works, right? It’s built on deductions, that is, the score is deducted down from your maximum. So, if gymnasts won’t have minor mistakes, small steps, or imprecise landings, then the scores will be high. It’s the only rule that works. No one will underscore you in any sport if you did everything perfectly. If you look at the parallel bars final, the way that the Chinese gymnasts perform their routines is the example of how to do it. It’s high difficulty and absolute precision of execution, that’s why they have crazy-high scores. The winner [Zou Jingyuan] got 16.233!

Q: Can we offer something to compete with that in three years?

A: Of course, we can! We have the potential, we have the strongest men’s team. There are things to work on, the team is not young anymore, but, nevertheless, three years are not long, I think many will be able to stay. We need to work and raise the difficulty or find young ones who can do such difficulty. You have to understand that many things changed in modern gymnastics. There are athletes specifically training high difficulty on individual events. It’s very hard to find universal gymnasts now who can do everything evenly the whole quad. So, we need to take the path of preparing event specialists.

Q: You started talking about judging. How did you react to the discussions of Denis Abliazin’s silver on vault? Were you surprised by that?

A: Not surprised at all. I was upset for Denis but I looked it up myself – everything’s clearly written in the rules. Each vault is scored according to two parameters – execution and difficulty and the combination of these two numbers gives the score for the vault. Then the scores of two vaults are averaged and that’s the final score. So, the rules say that if the final scores are tied, then the gymnasts with a highest single vault score wins. The winner from South Korea [Shin Jea-hwan] had this score higher than Abliazin’s vault by 0.033, which is why he placed higher. It’s in the rules and it’s nothing new. Denis rightly said that his task was to vault and not to think about how scores are formed. But I was very upset, honestly. Subjectively, putting aside the fact that I’m a representative of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation and can be biased, I will note that Denis had a better, more beautiful vault. But judging, technique, looking for small flaws, what can you do here… It was extremely upsetting. But I am still disinclined and don’t want to speculate that we were robbed, that the victory was stolen. If you look at Denis’s vault again with attention and without bias, you can notice the imprecise landing. If he landed differently, there would be no questions there.

Q: Everything was decided by minor details.

A: Yes, minor, that’s why it’s upsetting. It seems minor but it decides everything, it’s sad.

Q: Nikita Nagorny talked about issues with a kidney stone. It’s basically a heroic feat.

A: I understand that such heroism happens sometimes but, first of all, we pay a lot of attention to the gymnasts’ health. No one will force anyone to compete if there are serious health problems. The federation does everything for the national team to have the best medical care – both the day-to-day care and, if surgeries are necessary, we send athletes abroad or invite the best doctors. In that regard, the federation will pay as much as needed so that the athletes will have everything. That was first of all. Second, Nikita started feeling unwell on August 1st. He came to the gym while feeling unwell. I guess it’s hard to focus and do perform perfectly in such a situation. Regarding his floor routine, he changed it throughout the competition, he added his named element in the floor final but didn’t land quite precisely. He brought the triple pike on purpose in order to have the maximum difficulty and the maximum score. He took a risk but, unfortunately, it didn’t work out. He competed first and knew that he needed to do everything.

Q: Yes, it’s hard to compete first in the final.

A: If you noticed, these finals are special. There isn’t even a one-touch warm-up. Obviously, there are the same apparatuses in the warm-up gym but still, you need to try out the apparatuses on which you’ll compete with your own hands. By the way, I will propose to make changes at the FIG’s Executive Committee meeting and add a very short warm-up. I don’t think that 5 or 10 minutes will seriously add to the time the finals take. So, athletes will go out and get a feel for the apparatus on which they’ll compete – I believe it’s very important and necessary for them.

Q: Will Artur Dalaloyan get another medical check-up in Moscow for his Achilles injury?

A: I think we’ll generally look [at athletes’ health]. We’ll definitely look at Artur, I think he needs to continue his recovery. You need to understand that there are no miracles. It’s impossible to recover after such a serious injury in such a short period. Obviously, he was competing by hanging onto it with his teeth. We’ll see. If it will be necessary to do something, there are recovery specialists. Everyone will get some rest now and the fall training camp will start in August, we’ll start working on everything there.

Q: Vlada Urazova and Vika Listunova – are they the future of our women’s artistic gymnastics? Or already the present?

A: Both, you know. I’m really glad that it all happened this way. Last year, we wouldn’t have been able to take them to the Games, they wouldn’t have made the team because of their age and it would have been a big problem for us. You can see it for yourself – they are amazing girls. Of course, they’re still young, 16 years old, they were under enormous mental pressure, not everyone can handle it. But, generally, Urazova has one of the best routines on beam. It’s had low difficulty, it needs to be upgraded. But just look at how beautiful and elegant she looks, how beautifully and elegantly she does everything. Believe me, everything will go great for her. If the girls will continue working and improving, they actually have bright prospects.

Q: Will the change in generations of athletes go painlessly? After all, there are only three years left until Paris.

A: We have some generational problems now. Both on the men’s and women’s teams but we will work on solving them. I think that three years are not a long time, we’ll try to be as rational as possible when deciding on the team’s composition.

Q: You’ve already said that you are happy with the work of the coaching team. Do I understand it correctly that Andrey Fyodorovich and Valentina Aleksandrovna Rodionenko will prepare the national team for the next Olympics as well?

A: You know, I wouldn’t want to say something prematurely. They did a great job, they’re just heroes. All these questions will be decided by the federation, we’ll discuss how they are feeling. I know that they’re fighters. If people are willing to work, why not?

Q: When will the federation have a concluding meeting regarding the team’s performance in Tokyo?

A: We don’t have a specific date yet. We need to give the athletes a few days to rest, then, as I understand, there will be a few events held by the government. We have an exact date – 16th of August – when the team starts the fall training camp. I think, we’ll gather after that. I want to visit them at Round Lake, I need to talk to the coaches and definitely thank everyone. To talk to everyone eye to eye, so to say. I’m talking not only about athletes and coaches but our whole team – doctors, masseuses, and other specialists. Everyone was working towards these victories. It’s a very important and uniting moment, it lets everyone feel like they’re a part of the team. We definitely know we have a real team. Everything will come through work.

Q: Last, I want to ask you about Simone Biles. What do you think about what happened to her at these Games?

A: I think she’s a great gymnast and she had every right to withdraw, not to participate, if she didn’t feel right. You need to understand that if a person felt uncomfortable, they are at risk of getting injured if they continue. She got lost on vault and it’s a colossal risk. If a person realizes during their vault that they’re lost, they will eventually land on their head. So, she made the right, very brave, and responsible decision. I don’t want to discuss therapeutic use exemptions and the rest now, it doesn’t matter. In any case, life puts everything in the right place, you know? So, here, I also suppose that the state of her health is a reflection of taking the medicine and so one. But it doesn’t cancel the fact that she’s a great gymnast and professional. And the fact that she managed to deal with everything and get a bronze says a lot. When I was giving her the award, I told her directly that she’s a great gymnast. She smiled at me and thanked me, but we didn’t have a lot of time to talk.

Titov also said the federation will pay bonuses to the teams in addition to what they will get from the federal and regional governments:

“Will we give bonuses to the team? Absolutely. We have prize money that we planned. I don’t know now if the budget we planned will be enough because we didn’t quite expect two team golds. [laughs] I’m joking, of course. We made provisions for paying bonuses and will do that. As far as I understand, there will be bonuses and awards from the government as well.”

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