"Nastya does not know how to swim calmly": Kozlova on the motivation, pain and fears of Fesikova, who qualified for the fourth Olympics

- At what point did you decide to qualify for the Olympics only at the hundred-meter distance?

- When we were just going to go to Kazan, we showed up not only at the “hundred” on the back, but also at the two-hundred-meter distance, although we did not prepare this distance: the injured shoulder simply does not hold the power stroke.

Well, after Nastya became the second in the 100-meter race and completed the Olympic standard, she told me that, most likely, she would not be able to swim 200 meters.

- Didn't even want to try?

- What's the point?

I would really not want to jump into the water and get off after the first hundred meters.

Therefore, we decided to end the Russian championship on a good note.

- 59.51 is the result that meets your expectations?

- Both Nastya and I understand perfectly well that with such a time in Tokyo it will be possible to fight only for getting into the final.

Although for the current stage, the result is not so bad.

- In other words, do you expect to increase speed by July, if everything is normal with the shoulder?

- It's normal, that is, so as not to think about the injury, we, unfortunately, will never be.

A year ago, when we did not yet know that the Olympics would be postponed to 2021, we were preparing very seriously.

Nastya even went to see Dr. Khom Garavi, who has been treating her for many years, despite the fact that he then moved from Germany to China - he went there at the invitation of a clinic in Wuhan.

Then we had a training camp in Tsakhkadzor, where we prepared both distances on the back.

And then there was a pandemic, and we were left without water for a long time, since the swimming pools were closed.

- Was the injury happened at that moment?

- Yes.

As I later found out, older swimmers are not recommended to work a lot in the gym, if this load is not compensated by work in the water.

Nastya, apparently, already had a minor injury, possibly a microfracture of muscle fibers, so the trouble happened.

- Were you offered to solve the problem promptly?

- At first we had no opportunity to go somewhere.

As soon as it became possible, they turned to Professor Arkhipov in Moscow, at the same time sent the pictures to Germany and received the answer: in order to continue swimming, an operation is needed.

But the operation requires six months of rehabilitation, and we simply did not have this time.

So we decided to try to cope with the problem differently.

We did blockades, physiotherapy procedures, and special exercises.

Slowly they began to swim again.

First on my feet, then crawl.

We walked by touch, having no idea where we could get.

Along the way, another difficulty arose: as soon as we removed the load from the left shoulder, the right one began to hurt.

At the training camp in Tsakhkadzor before the Russian Championship in Kazan, we had to spend eight days without training: the injury first spread to the right shoulder, and then suddenly provoked a very strong inflammation of the jaw bones.

I had to urgently descend from the mountains, go to Yerevan to see a facial surgeon.

Nastya couldn't even eat for several days.

- Do you understand what motivates your student?

Why doesn't she stop trying to overcome new obstacles?

- Sometimes it really seems to me that I cease to understand this.

And sometimes I think that athletes of this level are simply arranged that way and cannot do otherwise.

Nastya didn't leave on time.

- What does “on time” mean in your understanding?

- I didn't put it very well.

I meant that we had a very good European Championship in Glasgow in 2018, where Nastya won two golds and a silver, but the World Championship next year turned out to be completely unsuccessful.

We still haven't found the reason, to be honest.

By no means should Nastya have had such a bad swim in Gwangju.

Perhaps she just didn't want to leave with the feeling that her career ended this way.

Although I, as a coach, constantly keep in mind that my athlete has been in sports for many years, that perhaps she would like to have a second child, and, in addition, we both are aware of the fact that to work and achieve results it gets harder every year.

- You have given enough arguments in favor of ending your career, but not one to continue it.

- After all, we expected that the Olympics would take place a year ago, we purposefully went to these Games, but it turned out that they were postponed for a year.

That is, it is more correct to talk not about continuing a career, but about the fact that now we simply have nowhere to go: if you want it or not, you need to try to endure it to the end.

Although I cannot guarantee that after Tokyo Nastya will leave the sport.

- Why do you think so?

- After all, for some reason, after the Games in Rio de Janeiro, she decided that she needed to perform at the fourth Olympics?

It means that there is still a desire to swim.

Not to mention the fact that it is prestigious for any athlete to attend four Olympics.

- Do you have the feeling that your athlete is simply scared to put an end to her career and leave the sport for another life?

She is not the first to face this fear, and because it is really strong.

- May be so.

It's like a drug.

And not only for athletes, but also for coaches.

We are constantly crying to each other: if only we could finally take a break from all this, not see the pool, paths, not smell chlorine.

And there was a pandemic, because all the coaches did not find a place for themselves, being left without work.

- Sorry for the tough question, but I will ask him.

You perfectly understand that Fesikova has not so many chances to win a medal in Tokyo.

If we assume that she wants to continue swimming and sets a goal to qualify for the fifth Olympics, it will become even more difficult to talk about high places.

It turns out that by continuing to work with Nastya, you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to train someone else.

To grow out of someone a new Fesikova, relatively speaking.

- You see, what's the matter: I had other students before who swam with Nastya, but I saw that none of them was able to stand next to her.

In other words, I don't need to remove Nastya from the group in order to bring another athlete to her level.

Moreover, in training, she is an absolute ideal, a reference point to be equal to.

And now there is simply no real replacement for her in my group.

And I never enticed other people's athletes to myself.

- Working with Fesikova, do you continue to grow as a coach?

Or is there enough experience to develop a certain standard training algorithm and adhere to it?

- So there is no standard.

We prepared for each of our four Olympics in different ways.

They were constantly looking for something new, especially since Nastya does not like repetition and monotony at all.

Now I had to once again rebuild all the training from behind.

For two months, for example, we only swam on our feet, and I can honestly say that I would never have thought of coming up with such a series of various exercises before.

- Have you finally said goodbye to a distance of 200 meters, at which your athlete still holds a European record?

- I'm afraid so.

Nastya explained very well about this: she does not know how to swim calmly at competitions.

If she made the decision to start, it means she is working at the maximum.

She physically cannot stand 200 meters with this approach.

Therefore, our Olympic plan boils down to swimming the hundred-meter distance and providing the team with all possible assistance in the combined relay.

- If Fesikova breaks through to the personal final at the Games, will you be satisfied or still keep a pedestal in your thoughts?

- On the one hand, the leaders have already gone ahead a lot.

I mean, first of all, the American Regan Smith, who set a world record in Gwangju in 2019 (Smith swam her stage in the combined relay in 57.57 -

RT

).

On the other hand, this season we were forced to leave the maximum speed in the first half of the distance to make it easier to swim, but despite this, I did not like Nastya at all in the semifinals of the 100-meter race in Kazan: she finished very hard.

And somehow I suddenly got ready for the final so that, returning to the hotel, I caught myself that I really want to review the swim - I liked it to such an extent.

I played the video several times and was finally convinced that now Nastya is able to swim easier and more beautiful than a few years ago.

By the way, she eventually swam faster than two years ago.

Yes, in order to finish first, she lacked 15 meters.

But this is developed by competition.

- Which you didn't have?

- Exactly.

We missed the "short" championship in the 25-meter pool in October, in December we began to blur at the very least and now we are just returning to the previous state.

Therefore, I would not like to wonder how everything will turn out further.

For now, we plan to take part in the European Championship in May.

No other competitions are foreseen before the Games, the summer series of Mare Nostrum was canceled, like all other tournaments, so you need to grab any opportunity to go to the start.

But everything will depend on how the hand will behave under certain loads.

- Is it really painful for Nastya to swim on her back?

- Painfully.

She has a high pain threshold, and yet she has to constantly take painkillers.

- What is more difficult: to prepare an athlete for the first Olympics or for the fourth?

- By the fourth.

We both went to the first Olympics in 2008 without having any experience at all.

Therefore, everything was easy.

I just didn't have enough inner confidence.

For the next four years, we worked much harder.

Including in order for this confidence to appear.

- Although Sergey Fesikov did not manage to qualify for the Games, he plays very successfully in tournaments of the ISL professional swimming league.

Does Nastya plan to join her husband?

- So far, all our plans are related to the Games, but I really like the idea of ​​ISL tournaments.

I know that not all of our leaders approve of such participation, they believe that making money distracts, interferes with focusing on training, and it seems to me that such competitions are the best training for professionals.

Nowhere else can you do such cool speed-strength work with a completely fresh head.

There you think differently, and in general you don’t think too much - you don’t need to be selected anywhere, the starts go one after another, practically without rest.

It seems to me that you can only dream of participating in such a series.

- And if Fesikova tells you after the Games in Tokyo that she would like to stay in sports for another three years, will you try to dissuade her?

- Not.

I'll just stand by my side.