“I could qualify for the Olympics, but my personal position is not to go to Paris.” Interview with Sofia Pozdniakova

For Sofia Pozdniakova This spring has not been entirely successful. At the end of March, failure at the Moscow Saber: the double Tokyo champion lost to Anna Smirnova with the 14th place in the country in the 1/16 finals. In April, at the Russian Championship in Perm, Pozdnyakova again did not make the top 16 in the personal competition, losing to 17-year-old Alexandra Mikhailova, and although she won bronze in the team competition , she gave the right to the final fight against her partner during the tournament.

A correspondent tried to find out what happened to one of the most famous and successful swordsmen in Russia.

“IT’S NOT A CRISIS, JUST A LITTLE STORM”

— Sonya, the Russian championship in Perm was not the most successful. In the individual competition you were far from winning medals, but in the team competition you lost in the semi-finals, and for bronze you were not put in the final fight. For what?

— The decision not to finish the fight for 3rd place was taken by the latter herself. However, I am unstable now, and it seemed to me that it would be fairer for the team to change the formation. I don’t think it’s a weakness or some kind of fear of ending, no. I just realized I had to do just that. After all, there are four of us and we are all one team. As the result showed, the decision was correct.

— Why did it happen in the semi-final?

“I could have won that fight, but it didn’t work out.” Somewhere I was in a hurry, elsewhere something else. Sport…

— We are already accustomed to seeing Sofia Pozdnyakova on the pedestal. But even at the Moscow Saber in March, she finished far from winning any prizes. All this can be described as a kind of recession?

“I don’t know if it’s a crisis or a recession.” But I prefer to call it creative research. Throughout my career, I have been very stormy at times. It’s clear that it’s unpleasant; every athlete wants to win every day. But… for some reason, such things happen in our lives, and we don’t always win. I view defeat as a stepping stone to victory. And I’m sure I’ll still achieve my victory.

— Don’t you think this is all a bit boring? Every day, we find the same faces, both in training and in competition. Your “creative research”, as you said, is not related to this?

– No, that’s definitely not the case. You have to understand that each new fight, even with the same person, is a completely different fight. Again, when you win medals, how can it get boring? Like everyone else, no doubt, in times of weakness, he can slip through the cracks: “That’s it, I’ll stop now!” But then the emotion passes, and you understand: you won’t give up, because it’s what you love. I certainly have no plans to stop.

—And suspend it for a while too? At least for the duration of the suspension of international competitions?

– Of course not. Suspend, so what? The season is progressing, systematic work is underway. To put your career on hold, you need to understand why exactly. For example, girls go on maternity leave. In this matter, of course, anything can happen, God has it in hand (laughs), but for the moment I am not going on maternity leave.

“MY POSITION AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES IS NOT LINKED TO LAST NAME”

– If we consider our fence to be the best in the world…

-…Why “if”? It’s already the best in the world! We know this very well and we have proven it several times.

– But unfortunately we can’t verify it now. So… new names appear during our internal competitions, particularly in women’s sabre. It turns out that even in current conditions talented young people are growing up to replace you?

– Yes, it seems. Despite the fact that all our Olympic champions are in the ranks and will not finish. Just look at Sonya the Great! In fact, it’s good to be an example, but a truly strong generation is growing up alongside us. I am sure that these girls still have everything ahead of them, even if times are difficult. For some, winning the Russian Championship is a confirmation of one’s own level, like Olya [Никитина] won for the third time. And for some, becoming the best in the country is a new status, an immense motivation. It’s more and more difficult to fence with young girls, it’s just great that there is competition.

— Is their level increasing? Or is yours falling?

— The overall level within the team increases. We train, we work, we shape ourselves. I think we are growing as a single organism and in the future we will be able to prove it.

— Nowadays there is a very sensitive attitude towards those who go to the Olympics. Some talk about foreign agents, others talk about the right to choose. What do you think?

“I think it’s everyone’s choice.” In principle, in life, everyone must constantly make choices. Some go to another country, others stay there. Someone chooses: buy a car or buy a house, keep their old job or change jobs. It’s the same here: everyone must make their own choice.

– Remarks…

“I made my choice: for me, in the current conditions, a trip to the Olympics is unacceptable. I had the technical opportunity to go to the qualifying tournament for the Games, to my knowledge it should take place in mid-April, I was on the list. If I won it, I would go to Paris. But my personal position is not to go there, nor to perform. This may sound a bit loud, but I am a patriot of my country and my personal position is not to travel in such conditions. But what others will do is the position of other athletes. It’s difficult for me to judge, after all, I have the status of an Olympic champion, I realized this myself, but many guys have not yet had the Olympic Games in their career.

— Is your position linked to your last name? Or is it some kind of inner feeling, education, etc.? ?

– It’s more of an education. Of course, you can link my opinion with my father, now there is a lot of talk about him, the media are simply torn. But dad once said: “Sonya is a person, she is no longer Stanislav Pozdnyakov’s daughter, she is Sofia Pozdnyakova. Therefore, it is more about education and a kind of inner voice that tells me: now I have to do this.

“But in Tokyo, you said: ‘I also want to be a four-time Olympic champion, to catch up with my father.’ Now you no longer have such a desire?

— The dream is not about the number of medals, but about reliving those feelings. At least in the format that was in Tokyo. After all, the Olympics are a vacation; these are athletes who compete under the same conditions. And when such a holiday ends on a good note, it is usually a fireworks display of emotions. You know… the world is changing, sooner or later something will happen in terms of international competitions, I’m sure. Now the phase is just too acute, in time it will end and we will get somewhere. I’m always hungry for medals: Russian or international competitions, it doesn’t matter, I want to win. I love fencing, in fact, I started promoting it in Russia, I run my own Youtube blog.

— I watched: interesting episodes, quality production. Isn’t it a shame that it only has a thousand views?

– It depends what you compare it to. Because initially, when this thousand reached, I was completely delighted: “Wow! A thousand people looked at me! Appetite comes with eating, we want more and more. But we are taking small steps, our plans are to visit the cities of our great country, to film fencing in each region and to share how the sport is developing in the cities.

– Who helps you with this? And then the media write different things…

“I can confirm that the two-time Russian climbing champion, Stanislav Kokorin, helps a lot; he is responsible for all editing of the videos.