“Nagorny and Lasitskene should be superstars”: Guberniev about athletes of the year, criticism in social networks and attitude to rap

- November 1, Match TV will be four years old. Will there be any special holiday broadcast on this occasion?

- I will congratulate the channel, we are great fellows. I am very grateful to “Match” and all my colleagues, we have a team of great professionals, we got a bunch of TEFI. And I really like how the program “Everything for the Match” has grown over the years.

- That is, dances and productions from you like the Mannequin Challenge are not expected ...

- Not this time.

- In general, you often dance, including at the end of broadcasts ...

- Yes, I just do what I like. I dance all the time. I was once asked why I was doing this after the broadcasts, and then I saw my steps during a presentation for advertisers. Here you are, please: for this I am dancing. To attract advertisers.

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Publication by Dmitry Guberniev (@guberniev_dmitry) Oct 31, 2019 at 3:37 pm PDT

- Many perceive you as a showman. Have you ever wanted to make a serious documentary?

- Did not want. Firstly, I have made enough such sports programs. Maybe not so serious, but I'm content with what I have. I get great pleasure from work and I’m not going to do documentary work yet. We have someone to make such a movie, but I work as a commentator and presenter.

- Do you really have no desire to go beyond sports? Or are you ready to do the same and at 70?

- I will not anger God. I have everything, but I want to work more and more. But in sports, in principle, it can’t be boring, only people who are far from sports can think differently. And if I manage to do my job at the age of 70, I will only be glad. We have recently been calling for longevity, so retirement is clearly not for me soon. Look at the actor Alexander Shirvindt. He is 85, and in what form!

- Is there a person with whom you would like to talk, of those who are no longer alive?

- There are many such people. Of course, I would have dreamed of talking with Lev Yashin, with Vsevolod Bobrov, with Yuri Gagarin, with the rower Alexander Dolgushin who died in the war. But, it’s pointless to grieve that one can’t talk to them anymore. Our task, for journalists and commentators, is to talk about these people. To keep their stories alive.

- If you could ask one of them three questions, then to whom and which ones?

- Here we are talking about Vsevolod Bobrov. I would ask him why he still did not fly on the plane that crashed near Sverdlovsk. Why did our team lose the Canadians super series in 1972. And if he survived to this day, I would ask who is behind him. Here is Bobrov, and who is behind him in hockey? I wish I talked to him about Vasily Stalin.

- What have you heard most offensively about your work lately?

- Any hype is a huge joy. I have a great attitude to both fans and haters. They don’t even know what happiness they give me with their comments, because irritation is a pleasant emotion. If we annoy someone so much that people write comments, then we are in our place. But I would still like people to finally start discussing biathlon, and not a biathlon commentator. Because it will mean that our athletes are successful. Then they will stop discussing the commentator. But! They won’t stop me. So gentlemen, keep discussing, I get high. The main thing is that the comments are witty.

- Did you go for such a calm attitude to criticism for a long time or have you always been like that?

- Of course, for this it was necessary that the era of the Internet came, so that I started Instagram, to read all these comments. Yes, at first I was a little perplexed, but this is only due to the lack of habit, and now I think that you need to be thick-skinned. Now let's open a biathlon branch on one popular site right now. Here, look, comments: 5 pieces, 17, 9, and here 148. Do you know who? I have. And here are the comments on the news: 15, 7, 4, and here 240. This is news about the anti-doping organization. So I lost to them. Therefore, guys, write comments, write!

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- Tennis player Marat Safin recently commented on the US Open final . What do you say about his work? Would you like to do a tennis program with him?

- I did not see that finale, so I can not say anything about his work. As for the tennis program, my colleague Sofya Tartakova would have dealt with this best of all. And in general, why are two men in the frame when a beautiful girl can flaunt next to Marat?

- A martial arts would agree to comment?

- I worked in the studio more than once during the fighting, and not so long ago did an interview with Habib. He himself asked me to interview him. I regret that I could not talk recently with Conor, but this was done by my colleague Ilya Trifonov. And my other colleague Dmitry Zanin gave me the famous Conor whiskey. I tried. Would put him a solid "four." Conor himself is also generally sympathetic. Of course, he often goes too far and becomes personal, and I do not like it. But, on the other hand, without shocking nowhere, everyone is shocking.

- How do you relax with your super-dense schedule?

- Alcohol does not help, I can immediately say. Although I’m not a hypocrite, and I try different drinks. But now I am fond of Nordic walking. I go with sticks a lot.

- You are a famous rock fan. At whose concert were you last?

- At Kiss, at Dynamo, when they were two hours late. Now I’m going to go to the Secret. By the way, here you are talking about success. Once, I remember, I got on a plane, and the Secret Service group was following me, only I was in business class, and they were in economy class. “This is the level,” then thought.

- And what about rap?

- Someone said that rappers are new rockers. They bathe in money, women are always with them. I also have a favorite song with recitative, but it is from the 1990s, this is Jump from Kris Kross.

- Who is the best athlete in Russia right now?

- Nikita Nagorny and Maria Lasitskene. Moreover, if now they ask me to choose the best athletes of the year, I would choose them. Because to win the world championship in gymnastics and athletics is an extraordinary event.

- And who is the most underrated athlete in Russia?

- Nikita Nagorny and Maria Lasitskene. Because we, unfortunately, are not a country that is a fan of gymnastics and athletics. And I am for these people to be superstars. And not only in sports, but also in the broadest sense.