Valeri Liukin has been a de-facto head coach for the Brazilian team for over a year now, even though he said in the past that he did not not have an official contract with the federation and does not know until for how long the arrangement will last. He accompanied the junior Brazilian WAG team to the World Championships and talked to Denis Kosinov of R-Sport about his career goals.
Among other things, he reiterated that he had nothing to do with the abuse scandal in US gymnastics and was unfairly treated as a result, despite the fact that several of his former gymnasts, including Katelyn Ohashi and Vanessa Atler, accused him of employing abusive coaching practices.
Liukin said that at the moment, he is more interested in pursuing a career of a national team head coach, although he might not continue coaching in Brazil in the long run.
Q: For how long have you been working with the Brazilian team and how did this come about?
A: Well, of course, you are aware that I resigned from the position of the US WAG national team coordinator a year and half ago. And I just started helping the Brazilians, they asked me to. I worked on the technique and, mostly, with their coaches. And it somehow happened that they offered me to continue helping them. We’ve been collaborating for a year now.
Q: Was the resignation from the US national team coordinator position inevitable? With your experience managing the club and, generally, groups of people, it’s not so hard to manage [the team], right?
A: No, the managing part isn’t hard, I’d say it’s actually very interesting. I really liked what I was doing. I loved and still love it. But there’s a very complicated situation in America. You and the whole world know about it. I had to resign because there’s a lot of negativity surrounding gymnastics in the USA now. And for me, the work that has been accomplished by my daughter is very important. And I’ve worked in that country quite a lot, so for someone to start suddenly dragging our name through the mud because of some made-up reason… Only because of that I had to resign from managing the national team.
Q: How much time do you have to spend in Brazil? You have your family, house, gym, and business in back in the US.
A: Yes, it’s hard in this aspect. The flights are long. I travel to Brazil once a month, conduct camps and come back. It’s not easy, of course, but what can I do? For now, I decided to determine what I want to do next. I really like working as a coach. I wouldn’t want to finish my career like that but until I determine [what to do next], I decided I’d work with Brazil.
Q: And what prevents you from being both a coach and the owner of WOGA business?
A: Nothing.
Q: But you’re saying that you don’t want to finish your coaching career – as if someone or something is pushing you towards retirement.
A: I mean the career of a head national team coach. I’ve realized that I truly can do it. We’ve done a huge job in US, we’ve brought many young gymnasts to the highest level. Unfortunately, what I wanted didn’t happen. And for now, I’m thinking about where and what [to do]…
Q: What is happening at your gym now? For two quads, your gym had been producing all-around Olympic champions. Then other American gymnasts started being successful in this endeavour. What’s wrong with WOGA?
A: Everything’s right. [smiles] Of course, such pretty decent coaches as Yevgeny Marchenko and Valeri Liukin aren’t working as coaches anymore. I’d say this is a big disadvantage for the gym. But, same as we used to raise young gymnasts, we are now raising young coaches. We’ve started working from scratch. We have some pretty good coaches, we have kids on the national team. A gymnast from WOGA, Skye Blakely, competed at the Junior World Championships.
Q: Let me clarify. First, you want to work as a coach. Second – you’re not working as a coach even at your own club. Why’s that?
A: No, I work as a coach. As the head coach in Brazil. I really like it.
Q: But why not in your own gym which you built with blood, sweat, and sleepless nights?
A: I’ll repeat, I really wanted to work as a head coach. And when working as a head coach, it’s really hard to be a regular coach.
Q: So, you can’t serve two gods at the same time?
A: Not at all. I’ve tried, it didn’t work. So, I’ve stopped working as a regular coach.
Q: What’s your next goal? To raise the third all-around Olympic champion? To achieve your return to the US national team coordinator? To bring the Brazilian team to a completely new level? As a businessman you think in business plans. What’s your business plan?
A: It’s a secret. [smiles] For now, I took on the work with the Brazilian team to figure out what to do next. And I’m thinking about it for now, I don’t just want to sit in the backseat. I won’t say anything bad about the Brazilian team, they’re working a lot and trying really hard. I really respect them. But this job is for the near future, while my serious plans haven’t been formed yet.
Q: In Gyor, on the US team, two out of three gymnasts were African Americans, which is understandable after the success of Gabby Douglas and especially Simone Biles. It would be logical to suppose that in US, there’s a gymnastics boom among Black girls. Is this right?
A: I don’t think it’s completely right. But yes, gymnastics is changing. In the Code of Points, difficulty is very valued now. Of course, this suits African Americans. They’re very explosive – look at the NBA, who’s playing and jumping there?
Q: Well, the NBA has been three quarters Black for a very long time. In gymnastics, though, Black stars have only started to appear. Why?
A: Again, I’ll go back to the change in the rules of gymnastics. They’ve changed a while ago but the kids grow up slower than that. And the coaching vision is changing slower than the Code of Points. In US, there are many talented kids of this nature, time was needed in order to change. And now we’re seeing results.
Q: Lately, in Russia, the topic of youth sports has been discussed often. In our country, the system is set up in such a way, that young athletes are drained very fast because a coach needs results here and now. It leads to an athlete not wanting anything when they barely reached adulthood. And they stay in the sport only because they don’t know how to do anything else. And a question arises – are those children’s and youth competitions even needed? And on the background of this discussion, the first Junior World Championships in artistic gymnastics took place. Russian gymnasts are ok, they won everything, that’s great. But, in your opinion, isn’t it too early to compete at World Championships at such an age? Perhaps, they need some time to stay kids?
A: Well, they are kids. If they like it, why not? It doesn’t seem too hard for them. The girls are very talented, very beautiful. I’m completely sure that junior competitions should exist. You can’t come to the senior World Championships and start competing well right away.
Q: But I remember a few gymnasts who managed to do just that. Valeri Liukin, for example.
A: Well, I don’t think it’s the best example. I remember myself like that, only a meter tall, competing at my native Kazakhstan at children’s competitions. I would take first places there. [smiles] At 13, I made the espoir USSR national team coached by Andrey Fyodorovich Rodionenko, and the junior team. That’s how my career was building up – I did not make made the senior team right from the start. And at 18, I wasn’t the youngest on the team. Dima Bilozerchev became a World champion at 16. You can say, I’m a gymnast who developed later.
Q: Let me clarify – the fact that the Junior World Championships finally exist is good?
A: I like it much more than the Youth Olympic Games. In Gyor, you could see developing talents at different levels. At the Youth Olympics, there was only one age. It’s ridiculous to be called an Olympic champion among the 15-year-olds – not younger or older. What kind of an Olympic champion is that? To me, it’s just ridiculous.
Q: During many years that passed since the day you had decided to move to America, have you ever thought that, perhaps, it would be better to stay home and build your life here?
A: Of course, I have. Everyone has such thought sometimes when they leave their country. But at the time, it was not realistic to live at home. Back then people, including coaches, earned $50 or even $25 a month. How can you imagine a life of a young family on that kind of money? But it’s not just about money. We loved gymnastics then, do you understand? And I really wanted to work as a coach. My father-in-law and I had started earning decent money then, but in a different field. Basically, buying and selling stuff, that was our business, back in the USSR. We would sell computers and other stuff. We had money, but that was not what I wanted to do. Some time passed until I realized that I wasn’t interested in that. Money was not the ultimate goal. And in the US, you can combine these things.
Q: Yes, but many people came back. Of course, the majority of those who did had not been able to build such a successful business. Your gym started working. Maybe not in the first or the second year, but it started bringing results, both in terms of gymnastics and in terms of money. But our coaches didn’t start coming because because they weren’t earning enough anymore in USA, Canada, Great Britain, or Germany. They started coming back because Russia started spending a lot of money on sports. It would be quite useful to bring a specialist of Valeri Liukin’s level to Round Lake, would it not?
A: I’ll answer your question directly – no one offered. It’s a very simple answer to all the questions.
Q: And if you were offered, would you give it some thought even for a little bit?
A: Of course, I would. Why not?
Q: Because everything’s fine! Your gym is working and everything’s great.
A: I’m not saying I would move. But I would think hard about it. Of course, our gym was working well in the past and is working great now. But I would just think about it because it’s my motherland.
Q: But for Nastia, Russia is not motherland anymore, right?
A: I’d say it’s not because she grew up in the US and she hasn’t spoken Russian much in her life. Everything happened for her there.
Q: What is she doing now?
A: I think it’s easier to say what she’s not doing. [laughs] She’s a very busy young lady. She’s traveling all over the country and the world. She’s still on TV, works for NBC Olympics, she has a lot of endorsements, she prepares speeches and conducts meetings. In addition to that, she has a technology business, Nastia’s also working in the technology field.
Q: Does she know a lot about that?
A: Yes, of course.
Q: What are you more proud of – your medals or your daughter’s?
A: Nastia’s medals, of course!
Q: Why “of course”? You’re not some nobody, you’re a two-time Olympic champion!
A: Well, when a person grows up, he starts thinking differently. Everything a coach does is much more difficult than what a gymnast does. I was on both sides of gymnasts and you start understanding and appreciating this later in life. I’ve competed at one Olympics and I’ve been a coach at several. And I realized that training an Olympic champion is much harder than becoming an Olympic champion.
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Are they not aware they are being racist AF? I mean really? What does the color of skin have anything to do with anything in Gymnastics. Sounds like another very poor excuse, when RUS doesn’t even need one. In figure skating a certain russian coach ‘cough cough’ think the ‘asians’ have an unfair advantage because she thinks their genetic makeup gives them an unfair advantage citing extra fiberous tendons and flexors from a 50 year old medical report that has been debunked for 45 years. Now they blame people of color because they are somehow more athletic in the NBA? Literally makes no sense and as a Ortho surgeon of 20 years who specializes in sport rehabilitation of shoulder/knees/hips, I’m truly gobsmacked. No wonder Russian Athletes go to the West for medical intervention.
This is gross. In the words of Spencer, “Nastia, get your dad.”
Are you the author or is this someone else’s article that you translated?
As stated in the beginning of the post, the interview was published in Russian by R-Sport, there is a link to it. I just translated the interview to make it accessible to people who don’t speak Russian.
But you say it is “by liubov” and list yourself as the author. Author implies ownership 🤷♀️
I’m the author of the post in English meaning the translation from Russian and the preceding text.
Also ‘by liubov’ just means that I uploaded the post. I do it for all the posts, including those written by other authors of our website and in those cases the author of the article is clearly stated.
” for someone to start suddenly dragging our name through the mud because of some made-up reason” …. ok, stopped right there.