As three-time Olympic champion Alexandra Patskevich ended her career, she handed over the “keys” of Team TikTok to the new team. New realities forced the team to switch to Telegram and open the “Emergency Exit” channel (now the official Telegram channel of the Russian national team).
We spoke about it with Varvara Kreopalova, one of the main characters of the “reboot” of the national team, especially on social networks.
“At first we thought about creating our own channel, where everyone would talk about something different – one about funny stories, the other, basically, about relationships, the third – about something else.” But then we decided it was better to do it in a team chat format, where we added everyone. We got involved slowly, although we didn’t always have enough time – sometimes they directed it, sometimes not,” Varvara admits.
— Does all this take a lot of time?
“It distracts us from our training in a good way.” It is sometimes difficult to offer posts and competitions in our schedule. Sometimes we sit so sad that I say “let’s write a circle” and everyone immediately starts smiling. We don’t hesitate to show the good times and the hard ones, although we always try not to overload.
— After Tokyo, a situation arose when most of the athletes from the gold team have left, and a wide circle of spectators does not yet know you. And there are no international competitions that could attract more attention. Isn’t that offensive?
— The situation is such that our competitions are rarely broadcast, broadcasts are only beginning to appear. Skateboarders have a lot of shows, divers have a lot of shows, but we don’t have a lot yet.
If we talk about being known individually, in the case of a group it is generally ten times more difficult. They especially know the acrobat! They usually don’t even talk about the people pushing from below in the shows.
– Just “group evenings”. And you are all so different!
– Yes! When there is time between training, everyone does what they want. Elizaveta Minaeva is a makeup artist. Ekaterina Kossova is engaged in sewing – knitting baskets. Someone draws, someone plays guitar.
It’s a shame? I don’t know. In sport, the first thing is not whether they know you or not. The main thing is moral satisfaction. And for this moral satisfaction, it is important for me to progress and achieve good results.
— When you were older, did you play in a duo?
— With Alena Matvienko. At the European Cup, as the second duo of the national team, they took third place. Svetlana Romashina and Svetlana Kolesnichenko won. For us at that time, third place was a very good result.
— How was the group selection process, the one that everyone talks about, but at the same time doesn’t reveal any secrets?
— My first selection was in 2016. I got sick before that – the temperature was 38 in two days of selection! I was generally out of shape, couldn’t smell the water, nothing. The results of the selection appear the next day, and what a surprise I was to find myself among those selected. The coaches are shocked, I’m shocked.
— What is more difficult: joining the national team or training?
— Everything is complicated in its own way. It’s hard to train, but you already have it. If your health is good and you work well, you will get through this. But during the selection process, you don’t have the right to make a mistake: you can’t change it. So for the moment, the selection is more difficult. But at the same time you still have to confirm your level every year, every year you have to prove that you are on the team for a reason.
— Was last year’s legacy Quadrille, given that the girls from the gold team were sitting in the stands, a terrible moment?
— The girls helped and supported us a lot. They said, “Come on, you can do anything.” » We communicate very well with them. I stood in place of Alla Shishkina, she told me: “Everything was fine, don’t worry.” She mentioned a few mistakes, but calmed me down. It was very serious support.
As for the programs that were transferred to us, I was already in reserve for those programs, so it was a little easier. The difficulty was that the composition was new, but we managed to work together in a short time and feel each other.
— Have the new rules entered your head or is their internal acceptance still at the level of sad jokes?
– Of course we are sad. It’s hard to get used to it. What we have been doing for many years has changed dramatically. I can say that we have already participated, although physically it is different work.
— Have you watched the World Cup? How was it? Breaking the trend according to estimates?
— The judging is completely different, but depending on the programs, they are simply all the same. Why were we constantly copied before? We found something that others couldn’t do. But if we come up with something like this now, it will cost “zero” according to estimates. These days, what’s “expensive” is what everyone can do. And this “what everyone can do” must be put on the program three hundred times. Three hundred 360 screws. It’s just ridiculous.
– Can we make three hundred 360 screws better than anyone else?
– Yes. But we want to make the program as complex as possible and at the same time unique.
— Are you interested in the acrobatic program?
— As Tatiana Nikolaevna says, this is the only program in which you can create. From the template, you just need to create supports. I think this is the one that will interest the viewer the most.
— What made you stay in synchronized swimming when others went to the Olympics and you were in the reserves?
— There were “I’m letting it all go, I’m finishing it, what’s the point of all this” moments, but my heart didn’t give in… And it didn’t. Our goal now is that Russian synchronized swimming is not forgotten. So that even in current realities it is the best. To watch and regret not being there. We will try to prove it.
—How do you motivate yourself now?
— Because they’re trying to make a good start for us. The “Friendship Games” in Kazan and the Spartakiad of the Strongest in Moscow took place at an excellent level. Next year will be the World Friendship Games and the BRICS Games.
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
