“I accepted the fact that athletes are not known in our country.” Shishkina – on reality without the Olympics and the status of sports

Alla Chichkina After finishing her sports career, she changed her intensive training schedule to devote herself to a crazy workload in the media.

Alla spoke about the unpopularity of Russian athletes, admission to the Paris Games, Alina Zagitova and Lolita Milyavskaya in an interview with . But we started with the fact that in June she managed to comment on the channels “Match!”. as well as the European Championships and the BRICS Games, which took place at about the same time.

– How did you enjoy this experience?

— Despite the fact that it was quite a serious load, I just had a blast, especially because this time I was not in the frame. No makeup and no control over how you sit on the chair. In general, I like this whole atmosphere, the TV center, so I felt good. Many professionals asked me: “How can you withstand such a load?!”, But I managed. In general, after ten hours of training with the national team, I am not afraid of anything at all.

— You have a lot of media activities, aren’t you disappointed in terms of the return on sports content? Or is it already at the stage of “do what you have to do and come what may”?

– That’s very rightly said. But there was definitely a period of disappointment at the beginning. It seemed to me that I had interviewed nice guys, award-winning, and even from a sport about which nothing was written, and it would go down – their coaches, friends, acquaintances would share everything and watch it. But no miracle happened. I was disappointed. Now I have accepted this reality. I’m just trying to create a high-quality product that will be pleasant to watch and listen to. So the stage of acceptance, yes, has come.

— Do you think that the trend of athletes’ attitude towards social networks is gradually changing?

“Many people have become more active, I know that I, too, have pushed someone to do it. I see how Vladlena Bobrovnikova has now actively started to manage social networks, does a great job of promoting her cafe account, makes collaborations and gets involved in everything. I came across the social networks of rower Maxim Oseledko – I like him, he is great.

In general, in our country, sports have become more popular from the point of view of physical education, people began to monitor their fitness, health, but professional athletes, if they are not from football, hockey or figure skating, are not popular. However, I also approach this with acceptance.

Recently, when I was speaking to an audience, they asked me how many magazine covers I have. I have one or two all the time – it’s funny. Now, before the Paris Games, I see how many covers synchronized swimmers from other teams have, including in the biggest glossy magazines. We didn’t have such invitations before the Games. In Russia, there is not yet such a culture that athletes are invited everywhere.

— Let’s go back to the BRICS Games… Wasn’t it a pity that Sasha Maltsev at one point became a meme simply because he had no one to compete with?

“This mockery was unpleasant to me.” He has absolutely nothing to do with it. It is not Sasha’s fault that competitors from other countries did not come. He is an athlete who did his job. And write about the fact that Maltsev is usually alone…

“Whoever came there, we understand that they would have won.”

– Here! I say that if there were ten people, Sasha would be on the pedestal anyway. It’s a pity they made a meme out of it. He played very well, there should be no complaints against him.

— In two weeks, you have watched a lot of programs organized according to the new rules. How do you like this reality?

– Terrible. My mother says that before it was more interesting for an ordinary viewer who did not understand the rules to watch, but now it is the same. “Not interested!” And I agree with her. Initially, the rules were changed in order to preserve the sport in the Olympic Games program, but now it can be removed from it simply because it is unwatchable. Previously, even if the team was weak, it was a performance on the water, some ideas of the coach were visible. Now teams of different levels play essentially the same thing, but to different music.

At the same time, at the BRICS Games, I felt that our coaches were doing everything they could to make the programs interesting. I was able to compare all this in real time with the European Championship. Something extraordinary was happening there: the height of the elements was below the knee, the legs were not straight, and the same movements. Our coaches did their best and added a choreography that now costs nothing. I know that Tatiana Nikolaevna (Pokrovskaya, head coach of the national team. – Note from ) added a link, for which they will not give anything, just to make the program more eventful. And I know that the whole world saw it.

— Weren’t you criticized on social media by your foreign colleagues for criticizing the European Championship?

– No. But they wrote on social networks how sorry it was that our team was not at the Olympics. I saw that foreign accounts publish our programs from the Rio Olympics, from the World Championships in Gwangju, and in the comments they write that “it was real synchronized swimming”, that “the Russians are real goddesses in the water”, and how they miss such programs.

— The story of refusal to travel in neutral status is currently being actively discussed. Chikunova is criticized for refusing to go, Efimova for trying to qualify. Somov is criticized simply because he lives in the United States. How do you perceive all this? Maybe we should leave everyone alone?

— Well, then, let’s get back to the fact that no one is interested in athletes. Let them write at least as part of the admission. In any case, no one knows our athletes. Show a photo of Svetlana Romashina on the street and few people will say her name, even though she is, after Latynina, the most decorated athlete in our history – seven-time Olympic champion! They talk about sports – and thank God. Even in the situation with Maltsev, which we have already discussed … they say: so be it. But at least they wrote about synchronized swimming.

— What do you think about the story of your performance under neutral status?

— Everyone must decide for themselves, but I can say that I was furious about the situation in taekwondo, when guys passed the selection, got licenses and were rejected by the IOC. I am just shocked.

— Have you followed the situation with Yulia Efimova?

“I saw that Dima Guberniev said, I saw that he wrote “Water Match”, that Zhenya Korotyshkin helped Yulia. But I didn’t look at it that closely. I was not surprised that Yulia performed in the Bahamas. This is exactly what she likes, judging by social networks.

“But that’s exactly the case when Yulia preferred to skip the flight to the Bahamas, it was just that it was the only tournament left for qualification.

– And here, too, they will argue: someone does not want to fly to the Bahamas, but someone else… There will always be a reason to argue.

— How do you perceive the discussion around Zhenya Chikunova?

— Zhenya is a very thoughtful and intelligent person. I am sure she weighed the pros and cons when making this decision.

— Are you going to watch the Olympic Games?

— I’ll watch synchronized swimming if I can find any shows. If I watched species that include ours, I’d get sick.

— Do you think there will be the first male Olympic champion in synchronized swimming at these Olympic Games?

– Maybe. I think he will definitely be the first male Olympic medalist in synchronized swimming. The US team even has two men on its roster. I don’t rule out that they can perform well. They have grown a lot technically and improved in terms of images. Moreover, remembering the 2015 World Championships, where Bill May simply received this gold medal in mixed duet because he is the first synchronized swimmer in the history of our sport, I don’t rule out that this could again become a factor in their victory.

In addition, the Chinese team also has a strong team, and there are strong male athletes, even if it is not Bill May.

— Do you regret entering the media after sports? Many athletes choose a political career.

“I have not been invited to politics – I know, some are. In principle, I did not have such offers. The media has always been interesting to me and I enjoy what I do now. I like working on the set, I learned to switch gears and work with a prompter. I like everything. The only thing is that I would like to be invited more as a presenter of programs. Just being invited to the studio no longer interests me. I like to be the creator of this whole process. Therefore, I like to develop a YouTube channel, where I am involved in the work at all stages of the process – from preparing interviews to editing.

— What do you think about the criticism of Alina Zagitova regarding her experience of working on television?

“Once I spoke out and immediately understood: Alina will never come to my interview. Even though I spoke correctly: “I still need to study. And what? In general, we study all our lives, no matter what field we work in. Alina, do not be offended! I am calling you for an interview! Come!

— The interview before that worried you the most? Were you worried, for example, before Lolita arrived?

– Yes, because I didn’t know what kind of person she was. But when she came, as soon as she started talking, I relaxed. She’s a real star! The biggest stars are normal people. As a rule, bloated people with a crown on their head are worthless. Big stars address everyone as an equal – it doesn’t matter whether it’s a saleswoman or the president.

More sports news in our telegram channel .