Tatiana Pokrovskaya: “Everyone is already looking at us under a microscope, so we can’t lower the bar”

Head coach of the Russian synchronized swimming team Tatiana Pokrovskaya in an interview with , she said that young athletes of the national team must work hard at national competitions and not give rise to speculation about a reduction in the level of programs.

The Russian synchronized swimming team will not be able to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Russian athletes can only compete in the Olympics in individual neutral status, and solo is not an Olympic-style program.

— Which competitions in 2024 do you consider the main ones for the Russian team?

– BRICS games and friendship games. The main thing for us is that more interesting countries come to us. But it turns out that strong countries will not participate in the BRICS Games, because they will take place just before the Olympics. And the strongest who competed in Paris 2024 will not go to the Friendship Games, because they are in the rest phase.

—Have strangers asked you about the Friendship Games? Are they interested in this competition? Large prize fund, you can compete with Russia.

– Nowadays, the Internet is a good thing. Everyone is already looking at us under a microscope and discussing what we have become. So we absolutely cannot lower the bar.

But we do not follow the principle: “Despite the difficulties, we will show everyone!” No, we lowered it a little and the reasoning began: “Oh, the Russians have such easy compositions.” Note that they don’t say they’re ugly. Why should we show all the hardest things in internal competitions, revealing our strengths? We are gradually moving towards this.

— How to motivate athletes? What can we expect from synchronized swimmers at the Friendship Games?

— We now have a young team. They have to work hard to be at a good level. Take them to the World Cup now – they’ll give them a reason to rush them so you don’t go out later. That’s why everyone works hard to really look good,” Pokrovskaya told .

The BRICS Games will be held from June 12 to 23 in Kazan, the Friendship Games will be held from September 15 to 29 in Moscow and Yekaterinburg.