“It’s more pleasant to breathe air in a country house than on a balcony”: Repilov on self-isolation, Chinese sleigh riders and the Olympic curse

- Where do you quarantine?

- Together with his family, in his country house. We are located as conveniently as possible.

- Is it more convenient in the country than in the apartment?

- Yes, you can go for a walk, for example. This is now starting to allow walks, and a month and a half ago, people because of passes did not want to get out of the house once again. I can calmly go out with the child, run on the grass. Just getting out of the air is nicer than breathing on the balcony. I can’t imagine how life went on for those who were in the apartment.

- How do you keep fit?

- Of course, from the very beginning of self-isolation I try to do it, I constantly communicate with coaches. They brought in various shells, pancakes, balls, TRX, and threw off a plan that they should deal with. We train with our brother (Pavel Repilov, sleigh of the junior national team of Russia. - RT). It’s good that I have it, it’s convenient for us to work together, we help each other.

- Can you do something other than general physical training?

- There are no other exercises, we still do it at home. But now we still have such a time, May and early June, when we are engaged in basic preparations for the next season. Even if there was no self-isolation, they would do the same, only in the mountains, not at home. It’s just that the training has been modified.

- Are any further plans for the summer known?

- There is some information, but it is still quite relative. It seems like they want to make training camps as quickly as possible so that we already begin to train normally. The longer all this happens, the worse for us, for athletes. Judging by the Instagram of foreigners, they seem to have nothing, everyone goes somewhere, trains. The Ministry of Sports is interested in us already starting work, and we also want this. Maybe by the end of June or early July, we’ll start to do something.

- Is it possible to get to the track in Paramonovo near Moscow and train there?

“They are just working on it.” With a snap, it doesn’t work out there. I would be very happy to be there. If they give this base, I'll be in chocolate. I have to go to her 15 minutes, and there is everything that is needed. I can train all summer without getting anywhere. Of course, in Sochi I would also like to go roller-skating on the highway. But they would give at least Paramonovo.

- In May, a competition was held in which the prize was training with you. How did that story end and what are your impressions of working as a coach?

- It was unusual. In such conditions it’s hard to surprise people with something. When self-isolation began, then everyone had some kind of training, I was attracted to this 20 times. It’s not easy to diversify and surprise yourself, but it was at least some kind of entertainment. Maybe someone helped. But in general, for training, doing the same thing is the worst thing that can be.

- Before the Olympics in Beijing, less than two years. Looking forward to it?

- I’m thinking, but I’m not directly burning that I already want to go there. Everything has its time. We had to test the track at the end of the season, but because of the coronavirus, nothing happened and it is not known whether this year will work out at all. Some countries have closed very tightly, and it is not clear when the borders will open. Probably no one understands what will happen next. We need to perform, fly to other countries, but so far this is not expected.

- How long does it take to get comfortable on a completely new track?

- But they are all different, some need a lot of time, others less. If this is a convenient route for me, as in Altenberg or Lake Placid, then in two or three camps I will already begin to understand how to drive. And if as in Pyeongchang, then there had to be more time to devote to some acute moments. I also rode it normally, won almost all the Olympic training, but one bend knocked me down. In general, two or three weeks of skiing, and in Beijing everything will be fine.

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Publication from Russian national team🇷🇺 (@ roman.repilov) Jun 1, 2020 at 10:59 PDT

- There is a so-called curse in luge, when the one who won the Olympic track a year before the Games themselves cannot then win gold. Believe it?

- If everything is fine with your head, then you can not think about it, you just win both the World Cups and the Olympic Games. Everything happens in the head. If she is ready to win, then everything turns out, but if you think that now you don’t need to win ... I heard about this curse before, the coach told me, but he said that it wasn’t necessary to worry that it was all nonsense. Personally, I just didn’t have enough moral strength at the last Olympics, I was ready incorrectly. But now, I think, everything will be different, the jokes will end.

- In Pyeongchang, a local athlete won a skeleton victory. In the sleigh, the owners of the next Olympics will not repeat this story?

- Chinese athletes ride, and I had a video on Instagram on which their deuce fell and the person lost consciousness. If in bobsleigh and skeleton you can take some kind of athlete and teach him how to ride, then with us it is almost impossible. 90% success depends on the roll, and not on the start. In other sports, the equipment is different, both speed and start.

In their disciplines, the Chinese take places in the top three or are near it, but in our sport they are not even close, even they are not selected to the World Cup. If you gather all the best trainers and mechanics eight or ten years before the Olympics, then maybe one or two people will show something. But in a short period of time, this is unlikely.

- You took part in the “ CS : GO Tournament of Sports Stars” . What place do video games have in your life?

- I have no experience. I played the new Counter Strike maybe a couple of times, and that was a very long time ago. Now they offered to play, and I decided why not? I got a call from a friend who organizes the tournament, well advertised, and I agreed. For me, this is entertainment, not more.

- Before the tournament, trained, developed skills?

- Yes, I tried, of course, but for this you need to spend all day at the computer, feel the guys with whom at the same time. In general, we have an individual sport, it’s hard to work in a team. The reaction can and does help, but it is not only in it. Little children, whose head works in a completely different way than adults, achieve much greater success.

- Frustrated by the results?

- It turned out how it happened. Two times we got 1:10 each, the rivals played very powerfully (the Good Night sled team took the last place in their group and could not get into the playoffs.  - RT ).

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Publication from Russian Team🇷🇺 (@ roman.repilov) Aug 9, 2019 at 3:00 PDT