“In Moscow they met like Gagarin”: Borzakovsky - about the legendary victory in 800 meters at the Olympics in Athens

"Preparing for the Athens Olympics in a pioneer camp"

- You were not surprised by such an occasion for a meeting - 15 years since the victory at the Olympic Games?

- No, many asked about this. Still, a significant date, a mini-anniversary.

- Did you celebrate the fifth anniversary and decade since the golden race in Athens?

- I didn’t celebrate five years, but ten - I succeeded. That year I ended my sports career and didn’t train specialized for any competitions anymore, I just went out to run cross-country. Therefore, he arranged a long race for himself, overcame about 23 km, if his memory serves. I decided to just run half, thus marking a decade of victory.

- And what events are planned for next Wednesday?

- I did not think about it yet (the conversation took place on August 26. - RT ). Perhaps friends will gather, many have already called and wondered: "You have another anniversary in a couple of days." I think we’ll just get together, sit down, relive those pleasant moments again.

- How was your season before the Athens Olympics?

- In my opinion, everything went very well. My trainer Vyacheslav Evstratov very competently laid out the preparation of not just one calendar year, but the whole cycle - from 2000 to 2004. The coach made a huge layout of training events and the approach to the competition. The peak was to fall at the Olympic Games, and we did it. I went to Athens in the role of a "dark horse", no one put on me. But I went for a gold medal.

- How was the preparation built that summer? Did you take into account the August heat in the Greek capital?

- Everything went traditionally. We trained in different places. The main gathering took place in Cheboksary, in the pioneer camp "Rosinka" on the opposite bank of the Volga. The main part of the training before the Olympic Games I spent there. And before that they were preparing in Kyrgyzstan, Kislovodsk, and there was still a gathering in Tula just before flying to Athens. Everything turned out perfectly, we came to a one hundred percent peak form.

- At that time you said that the main goal is to reach the final of the 800 meters race, although you already achieved this four years earlier in Sydney ...

- Probably, any athlete first of all sets himself this task, and then we’ll figure it out. To fight for prizes, you still need to qualify for the top eight, which will lead the showdown among themselves.

- In 2002, you ran a lot of 400 meters. Many even thought that you were running at the Olympics and in the relay race. The sprinting skills you earned helped a lot in the gold finals?

- That was the essence of the four-year training. After the Games in Sydney, we made conclusions and made adjustments to the plan. One year had to be devoted to sprinting, another to endurance, and some to direct speed endurance with an emphasis on 800 meters.

In 2001, winter was my priority, and then I won the World Cup. We missed the summer, focused only on one-time starts, and not on the official with three races. Thus they gave the body a rest. Then the emphasis was on the sprint, I ran 400 meters, became the silver medalist in the relay at the European Championships. And in 2003, I played a lot already at 1,500 meters, but at the World Championships in Paris I already ran my crown distance. I needed a kind of rehearsal. We did it for good reason, I had a tactical mistake then, which I took into account a year later.

• Borzakovsky - on preparations for the Athens Olympic Games

“A virtual walk with my son helped to fall asleep before the finals”

- How did Athens meet you, what impression did the organization of the competition make?

- Then it was really hot in the daytime, but in the evening the temperature dropped to 23-25 ​​degrees. I don’t complain about the weather, we all fled under the same conditions, and not in different places. Everything was perfect in the Olympic village, conditions and living were good. A training stadium in the village also suited me. I did not see any disadvantages in the organization, some advantages.

- Then you arrived quite late, directly to the first race. What was the reason for this?

- Probably 80% of athletes do the same. I have my own acclimatization period - on the fifth day, wherever I fly, the most disastrous results are achieved. I can’t concentrate on the finish line, normally run in a straight line. As a rule, we made a schedule so that the fifth day would be between the semifinals and the finals. And just on the sixth day, the final one, I felt great, I could go out and fight for medals.

- In the run for 800 meters, the semi-finals are considered the most insidious stage. Sometimes a third place in it is not enough to continue the struggle. Worried then?

- Everyone had excitement, I had it before the preliminary run. Each time, the simple goal was to go to the next round, be one of the two best at the finish line or win.

- How much do you remember the events of August 28, 2004?

- I remember very well everything that was before the start. The day before, I did not sleep well because of the hurricane. I’m a weather dependent person and I turned around all night. I thought that I would sleep off during the day, all the same the final was planned for late evening. But again it was hard to fall asleep, because the pre-launch jerk began. All day I tried to find a position and relax, but one thing helped me - these are thoughts about my son. I then imagined that I was walking with him somewhere in the forest, and instantly disconnected. I slept for three hours, got up without an alarm clock, slept enough and went to the stadium with full confidence that I could realize myself.

- The favorite of the race was Kenyan Wilson Kipketer, who played for Denmark, who by that time had won everything except the Olympic Games. Waiting for a meeting with him?

- Of course. My entire four-year training period was built, including around overcoming the psychological barrier to my idol. Since childhood, I admired his 800 meter run. It was hard for me to beat Kipketer psychologically. When we fled to the 2000 Olympic finals, I probably burned out. Only three years ago I watched with his mouth open as he was breaking world records, and now I am standing on the same track with him. I managed to overcome this psychological stampede, and in Athens I already felt Wilson as my rival, who can be fought and beaten. This is what I did to him.

• Borzakovsky - on August 28, 2004 in detail

“120 meters before the finish I realized that it’s real to win”

- Did he take offense at you because you prevented him from winning Olympic gold?

- Not at all. In 2014, he came to the Znamensky memorial as an ambassador, and it so happened that it was not long before the tenth anniversary of our race. I took the opportunity and invited him to my home, we had dinner and just remembered that moment on the finish line. He joked that he had succumbed to me on purpose, and ten years later it was already possible to admit it. (Laughs) But in reality, of course, everything was serious.

- Kipketer admitted that with other runners he too early to finish, and in fact you took advantage of this?

- Yes, it was their biggest tactical mistake. At the World Championships in 2003, I made it - I pulled with all my strength and lost two hundredths of a second. This time, 300 meters to the finish line, Wilson Kipketer, Wilfred Bungei, Mbulaeni Mulaoudzi and Jabir Said-Gurney rushed to the fullest. I understood that if I followed them at the same speeds, it would be hard at the finish. And they really had a hard time, and at the last hundred meters I turned on my entire reserve. For 20-30 meters to the finish line, I covered them.

“How great was the temptation to start a chase after them?”

- I completely controlled that run, approached him with a cold head. I even caught myself thinking at the start of the final.

I looked back at the guys, forward, and thought: “But in principle, what is this race different from all the others? Yes, nothing. I won against each of them. Yes, this is the Olympics, it takes place every four years, but there is no need to go in cycles in it. You just need to do your job, seize the chance and win the way I did before. ”

Such a psychological attitude helped me very much.

- Did you realize before the finish line that you would outrun all rivals?

- In the “cells” I understood only that I would definitely be in the first three. But 120 meters before the finish he realized that it was real to win a gold medal, and when he reached the finish line he turned on at full power.

“You have triumphantly raised your hands before the finish ...”

- This happened involuntarily, although I saw with lateral vision that I was overtaking rivals. This moment is beyond words. There was a feeling that someone was pushing in the back - so many emotions, so much adrenaline. I just "carried" in a good way.

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• © Ruben Sprich AW / AA

“When the flag was handed, I was in a fainting state”

- Have you ever wondered how many meters actually ran in that final?

- Yes, I had to overtake on the second track. But I never went in cycles in it. Always built tactics to run so as not to stray from his rhythm. I could run 810 or 815 meters. The main thing is to have an even rhythm. This is much better than running 801 meters, but at a torn pace, because it affects the finish line a lot.

- When was the last time you reviewed the race?

“More recently, last week.” I periodically show the running technique to the guys, my son Yaroslav. He is slowly following in my footsteps. So often I see that ending.

- Previously, you did not revise it, you said that it interferes with training ...

- Now I’m not training, I’m running only for myself, to keep fit, so it’s already possible. In the end, these are pleasant memories.

- Did you realize what event your victory was? Perhaps you, as a fan, could only experience this when Sergey Shubenkov won the World Cup in 2015 ...

- After about a month, I felt what I did then. Winning the Olympics was my dream, which I have been following since 1997. So it came true, and awareness came a month later, when he returned home, and met at Sheremetyevo, it might be said loudly, but like Yuri Gagarin, who also did something for the first time, which no one had ever done before. The sensations were just that.

- What happened that day after the finale, how did you fall asleep?

- I passed the doping control, I also had a blood test, and the next day I went to workouts by lunch, because there were more starts. But a day later he returned home and realized that there was no more sense in making starts. I was at a break at the TV companies, I had to be present everywhere. Then he refused to compete in order to give everyone the opportunity to talk freely and devote their victory to the country.

- Whose congratulation was the most unexpected or pleasant, which is most remembered?

- There were a lot of messages from friends, but first of all, my mentor congratulated me. When I finished, our head coach ran onto the track and handed me the flag while I was in a half-fainting state. I went to make a circle of honor and found Evstratov, received congratulations from him. After the doping control, the whole coaching staff of the team still congratulated me, and only then there were thousands of calls from relatives and friends. It was nice.

• Borzakovsky - about the sensations of triumph and the return to Russia

“Maybe somewhere in the outback lives the one who runs faster than me”

- The final race at the Olympics turned out to be tactical. And with a certain time, have you ever wanted to win?

- My trainer and I never set the task to show high results. The main goal for 16 years was to remain in the sport for a long time and win as many starts as possible, regardless of the seconds shown. I have no obvious races on the result, although I was able to show strong seconds - in the summer I have a personal record of 1: 42.47, and in the winter of 1: 44.15. More recently, I was reviewing my winter race, and there it was clear that I was running 25 meters away from second place and left at the end. It was the same with the summer record, relaxed when I realized that I was winning.

- You own the third result in history among Europeans at a crown distance for yourself. Is this a matter of pride or not?

- Of course, it is insanely pleasant to be one of the best. Especially considering the fact that the other two belong to the greatest athletes of their eras - Sebastian Coe and the idol of my childhood - Kipketer. If Wilson had not been a naturalized Dane, I would have become the second on the continent after the British. But the current status suits me, that is - that is.

- Will anyone ever run 800 meters out of 100 seconds?

- I think that everything is real. David Rudish showed this, his world record is 1: 40.91. This is very cool because he did not have pacemakers. With them, the result would be higher, but he himself took and ran.

In general, we once worked with a trainer on a tactics of running along a 200-meter track with four circles of 25 seconds, just the total would be 1:40. We thought that one of the strongest runners would appear and would have to fight at this level. But in the end, they did not realize that idea.

- In your four-year training cycle, there was a point on how to prepare for your own victory? Where after her to get motivation, then how to continue to run?

- In no case there were such questions, I did not catch the "star". When I stood on a pedestal, I first of all thought about my son, how I dreamed about him. When I arrived home, I even hung a medal on it. At that moment, I understood that sports life does not end and I need to prepare for the next Olympics.

- It was then, after the victory, that you infected him with a run, or did this happen later?

- Looking at me, he enjoys our sport and runs 800 meters in a good way. As a baby he was constantly present at the stadium. Apparently, this is how he got infected and thanks to this he is now training.

- Did you imagine that you would infect other children with athletics?

- Then there really was an influx of children to schools. There was statistics that at the championships and championships of Russia immediately appeared more people at medium distances. It's nice to be aware of your involvement.

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• © FRANCK FIFE

- What should happen for another runner like you to appear in Russia?

- Many factors must converge. I am sure that there are such people, we just cannot purposefully find them. Maybe someone lives in the outback who could run faster than me, I would only be glad. We will be engaged in the search. The second important factor is the trainer with whom a successful tandem of the student and teacher will develop and there will be full confidence.

- Where is your Olympic gold medal now stored?

- She is at home, I always keep it with me and periodically show at various lessons and meetings. Recently there was a presentation of new sneakers, young runners gathered there, and the guys were pleased to see the award.