“We are starting preparations for the Olympics now”: Chepik about training camps against the backdrop of a pandemic, the form of Russian swimmers and their victim

- How in a cyclic sport can a team be prepared for a competition when there is no clarity when exactly these competitions will take place?

- Of the tournaments that we plan to prepare for, I can name the Cup of Russia, two national championships - on “long” and “short” water, the championship of the federal districts and the Salnikov Cup. This tournament series should begin just 12-16 weeks after the resumption of training in the pool.

- How much does a high-class swimmer need to reach the level of a competitive form from scratch?

- 12 weeks, that is, almost three months.

- If this time is at your disposal, it turns out that the pandemic did not cause much damage to your team?

- I didn’t inflict in the sense that the virus did not appear to any of the athletes and coaches, as far as I know - everyone is healthy. Everyone practiced how they could, tried to maintain their tone. How well this turned out will be visible after the first collection.

- I believe that many fans who are not too much involved in sports will now mentally ask themselves the question: why train all year round if you can start working only 12 weeks before the main start and limit yourself to this?

- Not so simple. The final level of the result directly depends on the conditions in which the athlete is located, starting this set-up cycle. How high these conditions are among our athletes, I can’t say right now - it was impossible to follow this on the phone, as you know, although we all called up regularly. From the very first day of isolation, one of our specialists began uploading videos of recommended physical training exercises to the network.

Now the ninth week of these classes is already underway, the load has become very serious, and I can say for sure: those athletes who faithfully completed the entire course must now be in very good physical shape. It is clear that such trainings cannot replace or somehow compensate people for work in the water, but I expect that at the end of the training everyone will reach a level of fairly good results. The maximum possible for this period of time.

- To achieve a really high result, an elite athlete should always have a sufficiently high beacon. It is unlikely that the Russian Championship or the Salnikov Cup could become such a beacon.

- The lighthouse, however, exists, it’s just not so much sports as material. At the Russian championship, the athlete confirms his class, his qualifications.

- In other words, if you swim badly, will you lose money?

- You could say that. Roughly speaking, in order to maintain a scholarship, a person must be in the "eight." If it flies out - he must lose the bet. It is clear that force majeure has now arisen in a sense, so each specific situation should be considered and discussed. But I know that during the national championships, athletes are quite worried about future funding.

- Regarding further summer camps, does any clarity already exist?

- The gathering, which was planned to be held in May in Turkey, has so far been postponed to September, but it will most likely have to be canceled. Like another September gathering in Spain. We will not risk and at any cost rush into training outside of Russia. Of course, I would like to transfer the money spent on preparation for the next season, but this is not my competence.

- Do you plan to hold the gathering at Krugly as usual?

“Not really.” Previously, I tried to give athletes the opportunity to come to the training camp with their personal trainers, and at each of these training camps I recruited up to 60 people, and in general there were about two hundred on centralized training, including young men. Now they gave us a hard quota of 40 seats. 25 athletes plus 15 specialists. For this reason, I myself was forced to withdraw my candidacy from the first meeting, so that I could take my extra doctor or massage therapist in my place.

• Head coach of the Russian national swimming team Sergey Chepik
• © Nina Zotina / RIA News

- I know that after the Olympic Games in Tokyo, a number of age-related athletes were going to finish their careers. Did you have a problem persuading people to leave with care for another year or two?

- No, I did not have to persuade anyone - everyone continues to train. And then, what does it mean "were about to complete"? This is what we think, and the athlete himself may still be eager to perform at a high level.

- Do you know the dates of at least one of the upcoming major starts?

“They are not known to anyone right now.” Information is constantly changing, and not only in relation to competitions. For example, we were originally preparing to call on Krugloye on May 28. The second training camp for 50 people was planned at the same time in Volgograd, but there is no clarity yet - the base is ready, repaired, but not open.

- Should you conduct the training in full compliance with quarantine measures?

- In the first three days, these measures will be especially harsh: immediately upon arrival at the base, everyone will be tested for the presence of coronavirus, and until the results are ready, people should not leave the hotel rooms. Well, the collection itself will be held behind closed doors.

- Why did you set such strict quotas for the number of athletes?

- Because we must provide each athlete with a separate hotel room, the number of which is limited.

- I heard that during the period of self-isolation, some of the swimmers managed to find the opportunity to continue swimming.

“I heard about that too.” I can only be glad if they really succeeded.

- You have no fear that athletes will become depressed due to a lack of understanding of what awaits them in the near future?

- I constantly remind everyone: now there is such a period that we have no choice but to live today. Do what is planned for this day.

Another question is that I, as a coach, should have several plans for a variety of scenarios. These plans are there. We were told that the Olympics will be in a year, we are starting preparations for it now. But we don’t think about whether it will be in a year, or will be canceled again.

- The fact that you have formed an additional year of preparation for the Games, do you see a minus or a plus?

- There are no pluses here. The team was ready to start this year. A number of successful starts at the European Championships, the World Championships that existed before, gave us reason to believe that everything will work out well in Tokyo. During the last world championship in Gwangju, where our athletes won 13 medals, I confess that I even superstitiously thought that everything went so well for us, not to jinx success ... The same Anton Chupkov was ready for the Olympic Games absolutely amazing . Now this flight is cut off. And getting into the top ten twice in a row can be quite difficult. Therefore, I see nothing good in transferring the Tokyo Games.