“People remember it like it was yesterday. But still, ten years is a long time, I feel it myself,” Zakharov told . “Plus, so much happened during that time. Deep down, I’m not a fan of living in the past, so yes, that was in the past, ten years ago.
– During the kids’ autograph session, you said you wanted to end your career right after Rio and that was the main critical moment.
– I was in a terrible state then and I remember with horror the outdoor swimming pool. The wind that blew in Rio in the outdoor pool stayed in my ears for a long time, and I’m a stress-resistant person! But this pool is in Rio! I try not to even think about that time.
– Did you miss a lot after Rio in terms of training?
– Maybe a month. Not much, really.
– At that time there was no feeling that Zhenya (Kuznetsov, silver medalist of the 2012 Olympics in synchronization with Zakharov – “”) could end and your synchronization would collapse?
– Not. But we were both very upset. Everything was bad, even though he and I were in great shape. I went for another medal. The day before my competition, the weather was normal. I wake up the day of my competitions, and the wind is blowing, the sun is burning. They say that everyone is in the same conditions, when in fact no, not in the same. One has the wind blowing over the jump, the other doesn’t. It was all terrifying.
– Is the gold of the World Championship in Budapest a special moment?
– Soak! This gold has proven that it is important to be able to get out of such stressful conditions, to achieve your goal. It’s a very important victory that closes the personal story of my career.
“Would the collection be complete without this gold?”
– Not. It was important to become world champions.
Do you regret trying to come back?
– No way. When he was disqualified, he wasn’t going to prove anything to anyone, as the term put it, it made it seem like there was no chance for the Tokyo Games. And then fate gave me such a chance – the Olympics were postponed. You have to be a nerd not to seize the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics.
– With what heart did you look at it?
— Watched with pleasure.
– How did you take the mistake that cost the Kuznetsov and Nikita Schleicher medals in synchronism?
– Many people have asked this question: “You saw, didn’t you? You better go!” I explained, “Guys, Nikita was selected for good reason.” Maybe somewhere we made a tactical mistake with my performance, maybe before the selection it was worth taking me to training camp but what does Nikita have to do with it Guys it’s the olympics It could happen to anyone After London and before Rio I played very stable, and now in Rio my legs are giving out, I’m jumping to zero points. It’s a sport!
At that time, I just thought the guys didn’t medal 100%. It was available in theory. I had no bad thoughts at that time. It was possible to fight for a medal, it was possible for gold.
I was upset that they lost that chance. The top athlete is out of the circuit, Zhenya wanted this medal so badly. They went so long to her, endured so much, the pandemic, all these tolerances… It was just a shame for them.
– This week you made your debut as a commentator on . Dmitry Guberniev was advised to kill the athlete himself. How does all this happen?
– I have not yet fully understood how to extinguish it in me and how it should manifest itself specifically, but I can say with certainty: working on the air is much more difficult than it seems from the outside . On the other side of the screen, people sit and criticize, “What’s he saying there, there’s nothing to say, or something.” But sometimes there is nothing! I am preparing for the show with Svetlana Borisovna (Moiseeva) about each athlete, collecting information. It’s a big workflow. The work is not easy and a very interesting experience, I will try to develop.
“Your gold medal was a very special event in the aquatic field. Do you regret that it did not have a media effect, that the audience for this event could not be enlarged?
– Yes, but the weather was a little different – there was no such effect of social networks. It all started in 2013. There were correspondents who still practiced water sports. We gave interviews to the written press, on television, and that’s it. And then began the boom of social networks, which help to keep the attention of viewers. If anyone had told me at the time how to use this situation to increase media coverage, I would appreciate it.
Now we have the press secretary Sergey Sargsyan, who is working on this. It is important for us to teach people to understand the sport, to win over our audience. If we get one out of forty million, that’ll be cool enough.
Your sport is not too difficult to understand? So far, for many, it’s “splash or no splash”.
– Exactly. You have to learn to understand jumps. You need to teach to understand how jumps are rated, so it will be interesting.
– So nobody understands the refereeing system in synchronized swimming.
– And I don’t understand. You have to explain, tell, for it to be interesting to watch.
— It is also important to talk about the people and the team. Zhenya Kuznetsov got closer to Nirvana.
– Of course it’s important! I think we are now at a point where we can reverse this situation. We have already competed with dignity in the Cup of Eurasian countries, the Russian championship took place at a very high level. If we work well, we will get a very good result. I believe in it and I do it with great pleasure.
Do you like water sports? Subscribe and follow the news in our theme telegram channel !
Source : MatchTV
