– Why did you decide to come to the Spartakiad? It’s expensive, difficult, plus you’re not in optimal conditions after the covid.
– Money does not play the most important role here, it is more important for me to be at home, with my family, in my country and to participate in competitions of this level, to support sports in Russia . I haven’t seen my family for a long time and I miss them very much. Extremely happy to be home.
As everyone has already understood, I’m not at my best in these competitions because of all the circumstances. I’m a maximalist, and there was an option to come and not play, but I’m doing it for my friends, my fans, my family. Seeing how the kids come up and say, “It doesn’t matter what place you take, we’ve come to cheer you on,” that’s worth a lot. This is the main motivation and driving force for me today.
– Going back to the previous interview – have you ever eaten cheesecakes?
– The first three days, as soon as I arrived, I had breakfast, dinner and lunch with cheesecakes.
– How did you manage to organize the flight? You said there were difficulties.
– A week before the Spartakiad, they sent me documents. There are no problems getting out, there are problems getting in. But the documents were sent, and by post, which was unexpected. Summer term was over, and the next day I was already on the plane, waving my pen from San Francisco.
– How do you like competition in your native St. Petersburg? Your colleagues say that compared to Kazan, it is sad and lacks entourage.
“Most likely, I can’t help but agree with them. There is not enough element of spectacle, bright colors. But comparing Kazan with St. Petersburg in terms of organizing Swimming competitions are like comparing two swimmers with a huge difference in experience at the highest level.
In Kazan, they already know how to organize such departures, and they are always ready for it. In the Neva Wave, competitions of this level are held for the first time in a long time. I won’t say it’s terrible. Everything is at the level, we are competitive, but there is something to work on.
– Yes, and sometimes you have to change the location of the competition – start in other regions so that people have the opportunity to see the team leaders.
– I agree. We have beautiful pools all over the country.
“Except Moscow.”
– We are waiting for the completion of the reconstruction of the “Olympic”! But I, for example, had the experience of playing in the championship in Saransk – a wonderful pool. So there is a starting point.
– We have already discussed your physical preparation for these competitions. Now you can tell exactly how covid has affected your preparedness – it affects everyone differently.
– Covid was asymptomatic – a stuffy nose at most, but physically it was very difficult. Even during the warm-up on land, it was hot, muscles were burning out, body and mind existed separately. After the work done, it was strange to see that elementary things require a lot of strength.
– How is your work with the coaches going? Who works with you?
– First of all, here is Nikita Valeryevich Lugovkin and Elena Anatolyevna Karpeeva – we are still in touch, every day. They know me better, 100%. In the United States we have three coaches – Dan Schemell, Neil Caskey and Alex Scott – who work with the team. They are very open in their communications with our coaches. After all, the team is made up of clubs from the United States and other countries, so it takes time to get to know the athletes, to adapt. First of all, they will find out who is from what plan, who is made of what, in order to eliminate the possibility of failure.
The main program is written by an American coach, Nikita Valeryevich corrects the technique – I often send him a video of how I swim. He already knows all the nuances – in what position the pelvis, legs, top should be.
In the hall, I work with Anthony Trent. He was very open to discussing the workout when I arrived and said I didn’t need to do much in the gym as I had already built up some muscle mass. So sometimes in the gym I trained completely on a different schedule. In general, Americans sometimes put the gym higher than swimming itself, but it seems to me that we should not lose our heads here and understand what gives the maximum result, because there is no there is no universal recipe. Almost all guys who come from other countries do not make such a charge in the room, like Americans.
– The main discussion today in American swimming is about transgender people and their participation in competitions. What is your position on this issue?
“The whole men’s team thinks it’s unfair. They say: “So we will all transfer now and participate in the women’s competitions.”
I am very tolerant of this. If a person positions himself as a person of the opposite sex – it’s his choice, you can’t blame him. But the point here is in sport, in professional performance. It is a matter of sporting fairness.
For example, my wisdom teeth hurt in the spring and my Stanford insurance didn’t cover it. Tooth extraction costs about 500 dollars, they were ready to give a big discount – a maximum of 50%. But if you want to change sex, all surgeries and recoveries are sponsored. That’s what I think is wrong. Vital things must come first.
What does the team say about it?
What is the difference between sex and gender. You cannot argue against the biology and development of two different organisms.
– How are your studies going? Have you chosen a specialty?
— Declared STS (Science, Technology, Society) with a bias in Communication & Media. When asked to specifically and briefly clarify the essence of my degree, it is a digital product developer. My priority task will be to work with a large audience, current trends and the development of those media products that will be in demand both in sports and in everyday life.
It is very important to develop, promote and promote sport in our country in the media – which, by the way, I plan to do at the highest level. Practical application: federal and sports channels, such as Channel One, . And now I am first and foremost an active athlete of the Russian national team, ready to represent my city and country in competitions of all levels for a very long time.
— What would you like to see on our sports television?
– In Russia, it is developing at such a speed that it seems that yesterday a detail was missing, and tomorrow it is present. Let’s say a teleport to a studio in Moscow, here in Spartakiad. The development is therefore going in the right direction.
Are our athletes ready for a new level of media coverage? Many still think about the format “I’m going to swim and not mess up, give interviews, the coach will also be happy about that.”
– I am sure that all this must be combined, because for development it is not enough to train and perform. Even if you are already at the top of world swimming, it is important to develop a personal brand, to work on your image, so that you are known and seen as someone who has achieved a lot in the sport.
For a year in 2017-18, I was still a bit stuck communicating with the media, then it was easier. Maybe our athletes don’t always have enough experience to communicate with the media.
— And media education in general.
– I agree. The swimming does not stop. Yes, the main thing is training, performance at competitions, but things related to the work of top athletes are also important, shooting, interviews – all this is important for a career. It has to be done, even if you don’t always like it.
– In Russia there is absolutely no category of athletes who do not yet have prestigious titles, but at the same time they are quite media-friendly and open. In Europe, there are many well-known figures with tens of thousands of subscribers in their sports.
“We have isolated cases. But in Europe and the United States, people know from an early age that they must monetize their sporting success to develop their careers.
What were your priorities?
— Sports and studies. I wanted to accomplish a lot in sports, but still go to a good university. I sincerely believe that when a person strives to acquire knowledge, his personality will develop more harmoniously. Yes, so there is less time to rest, but with age you realize that you can’t make up for lost time and you should have done it earlier.
– Did the coaches understand your situation in terms of priorities?
– Yes. We understand that personal development at a young age is important. My first coach Andrei Kapralov every week – we were in elementary school – checked the logs, and if there were bad grades he took us out of swimming, emphasizing the importance of personal development and education.
– An athlete told me that as a Russian athlete it is difficult to develop a personal brand.
— But in the Russian domestic market, nobody cares about doing that, nobody cares about creating interesting content. In the end, it is simply important to be yourself, to be open to communication, to development. In this case, you will be interested. Abroad, many athletes find local sponsors. But, again, it’s a difference in mentality.
— And they also have local sponsors, but often there is no state support.
– Yes. And I want to thank you for this support. Such support simply does not exist in most countries. It is clear that if in Singapore an athlete wins all the Olympics, he is immediately a superhero and receives all possible honors from his wealthy country. I’m talking about training support, dues from our federation and the Ministry of Sports. We have more support for this than in European countries.
Why are you going to the Russian Short Course Championship? Is it necessary? After all, there are departures to the United States.
– I want to come home more often, develop my sport here.
– Do you have any questions about participating in the American championship?
– Not. These competitions are not under the auspices of FINA. We swim for clubs, you have a registered swimmer card with the right to compete in the USA. No one can forbid it.
— How many times have you already been asked to change your nationality?
– I adhere to my position: I will not change sporting citizenship. I think it’s wrong to leave your country, your family, your friends, it shouldn’t be like that. Someone will say that I say this, but I myself live in the United States … But for me the question of citizenship is important. And I don’t care how many times they give me the wrong look at the border when I get my Russian passport.
Source : MatchTV
