Evgenia Chikunova: “I don’t care about money. They should not be the first priority.”

South Africa’s Tatyana Smith won gold at the Paris Olympics on Monday in the 100m breaststroke in 1 minute 5.28 seconds. That’s two hundredths of a second worse than swimming. Evgenia Chikunova in Yekaterinburg three days earlier. The All-Russian Swimming Federation made the Russian Cup final the main tournament of the season. For a victory by correspondence over the Olympic champion, a bonus of two million rubles was announced. And Chikunova secured these bonuses.

Interestingly, Zhenya herself was not happy with herself after the final. She said that she made mistakes and that with such a time it would have been impossible to win the Olympics, let alone a world record.

“My result will definitely not be the champion’s time,” Chikunova said confidently.

Three days later we found out that she was not mistaken. Her result did not become a champion time – it turned out to be better.

“I don’t really care about money”

— You got an excellent result in Yekaterinburg, but you don’t think you did everything perfectly. Why?

— I can’t answer this question yet. And it’s really strange, because I’ve never had problems with functional training and endurance. And not now either. So it’s most likely a technical problem. Maybe I started doing it often or my leg flew in the wrong direction when jumping out of the water.

– Have you changed the equipment?

— The hand has changed a little, but I’ll keep the rest a secret. But the technology has changed a little.

— Maybe there is some “slow” water in this pool?

— Well, yes, we all know that the water is very fast in Kazan and we are starting for the first time from Yekaterinburg. But I will not say that there is slow water here. It is fine.

— Did you expect to set a world record?

“I’m rather waiting for the best moment from myself.” Of course, I understood that if we are talking about a hundred, then I am not ready for a world record yet. I need to improve the first fifty dollars, that’s 100%. No matter how good my second part is, the first half is very important in a hundred. I am still working on my speed and for me the world record in 100 meters remains a dream.

– But you made a personal best of fifty dollars, and it’s going well.

— The 50m and 100m distances are different things. The technique changes a little bit, and I can’t start as hard at the maximum. I can’t do 30.44 seconds in the 100m, then turn around and swim 33 or something. It’s not possible yet, but we believe in it.

— With a result like yours in Yekaterinburg, what could happen at the Olympic Games?

– I think we’ll know soon.

— Are you counting on two million rubles?

“I don’t care about money, to be honest. They shouldn’t be the first priority.

— Do you think your result will not become a champion time?

– No, this one definitely won’t.

“What’s my peak? It’s always ahead”

— This is the second time you tell me in an interview that you don’t care about money, but how is that possible? After all, it’s professional sports. You have to focus on your constant monetization. And you can’t have $100 million contracts in swimming like you can in hockey.

— Well, yes, monetization is important. But we are talking about two million rubles of prize money from the federation. At the same time, a very, very popular athlete earns money mainly from advertising contracts. Look at Michael Phelps.

Secondly, I had such an upbringing that I was always told from childhood: “Money is not the main thing. If you like your job, do it and have fun. And you will have everything.”

— How do you set a world record under suspension conditions? Which stars must align? One day, you did it.

— We need to work and understand the situation, that at the moment the main starts are Russian. And these two simple nuances helped me set a world record in the 200m breaststroke. And I will not say that in April 2023 I was psychologically preparing for a world record. I never imagine how long I will swim. Because every time I imagined it before, I did much worse.

Therefore, I admit the possibility and believe in the best, but I try to be realistic. For me, the main thing is to do my best so as not to regret anything at all. That she took a wrong turn, that something went wrong. Swimming must be perfect.

Of course, I expected the Yekaterinburg hundred to be faster. And then I might have had at least a one percent chance of setting a world record here. But at the moment, this chance probably does not exist.

But I still work to the maximum – in the morning and in the evening. So I will be interested to know what time will be broadcast on 100 in Paris.

— Do you want to get neutral status after the Olympics to get into the World Cup stages and kick your competitors’ ass? Or are you going to wait for the “big guys” at the top to sort everything out?

— The fact that I miss international competitions is true. We recently went to Bosnia and I realized it again. Yes, I really miss it.

But I don’t even know how to answer your question. I haven’t applied for neutral status yet. And I can’t be sure they’ll give it to me.

I have to think again first whether I want this. And if I have a little confidence, then I will approach the coach with this, we will approach the management of the federation together and see what options are available.

First of all, it all depends on my desire. And whether I approach someone and ask them questions or not.

– You have crazy possibilities, you will demolish everyone on the track. You are at the peak of your career!

– To peak?

– Isn’t it? The youngest years broke the world record.

– I’m 19. What peak? I don’t agree. It’s still early, I want to believe it. Look at Smith: she won the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 24.

– And Ruta Meilutyte – at the age of 15.

—And I came back to the big sport. It’s like she had two careers in one.

“Vaitsekhovskaya does not want to support me, which means that others will support me”

— How much do questions about why you didn’t go to the Olympics bother you? Many people have spoken out, starting with Dmitry Guberniev. I especially remember Elena Vaitsekhovskaya’s phrase: “You stop supporting Chikunova so much that your heart breaks.” Does this bother you?

— Now it affects me much less than at the Tokyo Olympics. Much less!

Of course, one way or another, the information reaches me anyway. I am subscribed to the Telegram channels of Vaitsekhovskaya and Guberniev. It is impossible not to notice their exhaustive statements addressed to me. I watch and read. But what can you do? This is another person’s opinion.

— The Olympic champion says she doesn’t want to support you. Aren’t you boiling?

– Why boil? That’s her opinion. Elena Sergeevna doesn’t want to get sick, which means that those who have emotions towards me will get sick. I’m not going to force her to be enthusiastic about my career. She formed this opinion based on various factors. I respect that.

She is an adult and can decide who to support: me or someone else. I see nothing wrong with that. Vaitsekhovskaya is a thought leader and has a popular channel. She can post whatever she wants there. The main thing is that she doesn’t get personal. That’s more important to me. She logically justified her position – no problem.

— What happened to you in Tokyo? Yes, we didn’t win a medal, but that’s sport.

— I didn’t communicate with journalists at that time. Because as soon as I beat Yulia Efimova in 2019, I was faced with hatred in the form of doping accusations and the fact that this was my only victory in my career.

But I was only 14 years old. I give an interview and I see that the audience’s reaction is not at all happy. And even, in a certain sense, inadequate. It was as if everyone hated me, and some even resorted to insults. These are social networks, you can find anything there. Everyone can leave comments.

And now I understand that I don’t want to give interviews anymore. Because I’m afraid that hatred will fall on me again. That they will again disagree with me so much, whatever my opinion, that they will again accuse me of something.

I was scared, that’s exactly how I feel. I withdrew into myself and, to a certain extent, doubted myself. Could I really swim like that again? It had a huge impact on my confidence. Again, I was 14.

My environment was wonderful. Everyone always supported me. My parents were always happy for me, even if I was a bad swimmer, they were always by my side. But at that time, public opinion played a big role in my life. And I just protected myself from it.

— What prompted you to resume communication?

“I realized that hiding like this all the time was also not an option.” And somehow I already started to communicate a little with journalists. We had a very good press officer then, Yana Novikova, she helped me in this. I changed my attitude towards this, the situation calmed down and self-confidence returned. After that, I won a lot in junior and all-Russian competitions and improved my times.

— In 2019, you beat Efimova in the 200m breaststroke, but Yulia was taken to the World Championships in Gwangju, and you were sent to less important tournaments. So you were not offended by the federation’s decision?

—The only thing that upset me at that time was that I would not go to Korea. I wanted to go to this country, just to visit.

But it was the sadness of one day: “Damn it, I will not visit South Korea.” Then I talked with coach Vitta Vladimirovna Novozhilova. She explained clearly and calmly: “Zhen, you and I will have a lot of junior starts.” I participated in the European Championships, the Olympic Festival in Baku and the World Championships in Budapest. I won everything, I do not regret anything at all.

I think it was the right decision of the federation. Because I stayed in the dark and Yulia won gold in Korea. It was worth it.

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