“There are enough synchronicas for any number of starts”: Danchenko's trainer on coronavirus, preparation for Olympic Games and cancellation of tournaments

- What are you most afraid of when you watch how the list of international tournaments postponed or canceled due to coronavirus is constantly growing?

“This is not fear, but rather anxiety.” Of course, I would like the Olympics 2020 to take place this year nevertheless.

- Was your participation in the May European Championships in Budapest included in the plans of your leading athletes?

- Initially, it was assumed that Sveta Romashin and Sveta Kolesnichenko will perform in four stages of the World Series in order to qualify for the super final and win it - there is no such title in their collection yet. To this end, we planned to visit Paris and Hurghada in March, and in April Budapest and Kazan. If these starts took place, only Varvara Subbotina would go to Budapest for the European Championship, but now we have to change plans - we will prepare the main athletes for this start.

- You decided to complete the entire World Series this season for the first time. What for? Not enough competition?

- Rather, I wanted to try something new. When we planned the calendar, we proceeded from the fact that there was time between the super finals and the Olympic Games to allow us a short rest, and the girls assured me that they would cope with all the starts. In addition, the World Series would give us an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that we are still in the cage, have not gone anywhere and are not afraid of anyone.

- Russian synchronized synchronists have often been reproached for the fact that for very many years they have performed at a really high level only once a year.

- So we wanted to show that this is not so. That we have enough strength for any number of starts at any time of the season.

- It seems that such readiness is now coming to the fore in world sports. If events begin to develop according to the worst-case scenario for athletes - in the sense that the Olympics will be postponed for two years and the European Championships moved to fall, will you be able to properly rebuild the training of your wards without losing quality?

- In this regard, everything is changing so quickly and so strongly that it is simply pointless to make plans without any clear and concrete information. As soon as such information arrives, we will change the scheme of work, it is possible to make new productions. But now it’s too early to talk about it.

- Nevertheless, you can probably answer that it’s more difficult: when the main start is postponed for a year, leaving the opportunity to start the season again and spend it according to the usual scheme, or when the tournament is postponed for a couple of months and the athletes have to essentially maintain the already established form ?

- The first option is simpler, but the second is not critical. If the same European Championships are postponed to the fall, we will just go on vacation earlier, and then let the girls start again. It is clear that this will break the usual schemes and destroy many plans. For example, mine. I planned to perform in the next regatta this fall. In the same way, the girls themselves will have to adjust their summer vacation plans. But what can we do? Only adapt to a changing reality.

- How long does it take for the level athletes Romashina and Kolesnichenko to reach their peak?

- In the standard training mode, when there is no force majeure, this process goes like steps in our country. If preparation starts from scratch, as usually happens at the beginning of the season after a vacation, you need two months to get to a good working level. Then, as a rule, I give the athletes a short rest, and work begins again - in order to reach a higher degree of readiness. And so several times. All of these schemes are already so reliable and tested so many times that in any extreme situation we will definitely find an option to solve a problem of any complexity. For me, as a coach, there is even a certain challenge in this.

- If the dates of the European Championship are changed, but the Olympics still take place, will you have the opportunity to preliminarily show the Olympic programs in public before heading to Tokyo?

- Yes. We are going to play in the championship of Russia, which will be held in Kazan in mid-April. This is not entirely “in public”, since these competitions will be held in closed stands, but better than nothing. Nobody canceled demonstrative runs of programs, such as control trainings, which allow athletes to give additional psychological stress. We can do all this, and our girls are very experienced. By the way, we already had some demonstrations that we held on the basis of Lake Round instead of starting at the first stage of the World Series in Paris. They invited friends, relatives, first coaches, and judges to the pool. It was March 8, and the president of the synchronized swimming federation, Aleksey Vlasenko, came to us specially to see everyone. He very warmly congratulated everyone, it was very nice. So I do not consider the lack of competition a problem at all.

- Is it difficult to perform without spectators in synchronized swimming?

- It's not the same for everybody. Sveta Kolesnichenko, for example, does not like at all when someone else is present in the stands. For Romashina, on the contrary, the audience is very important, she gives her motivation. But both are perfectly able to accept any reality and not make discounts on it.

- Do you take any preventive measures against coronavirus?

- When I let the girls go home from the training base, of course, I remind them that they should avoid crowded places, be careful, but I do this more likely by inertia: athletes of this level do not have to talk about anything again, they themselves They know very well how to protect themselves from unnecessary risk. To sacrifice some entertainment for the sake of the result is not a problem for them.

- Romashina was about to leave the sport after the Olympics in Tokyo. Could it be a problem for her to continue her career for another two years, if she suddenly needed to?

- According to its physical data and the technical readiness of the Light, it can successfully perform for a much longer time. But psychologically, it will certainly not be easy for her. So far we have not raised this topic. Yes, and too early to talk about it. Now we are much more focused on preparing well for a performance in Kazan. Do you have to show yourself to the world? For the same purpose, we will post some pieces of programs and training on the Internet. But in general, nothing has changed for us. Ahead is the main start and we are doing everything in our power to win it.