Paradox on paradox: does Efimova have a chance to return from the Olympic Games in Tokyo with a medal

As soon as the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games ended in Kazan, the head coach of the Russian national team Sergei Chepik made an interesting statement about Yulia Efimova.

“When in 2019 we made an exception for Yulia (she went to the world championship despite the fact that she did not qualify. -

RT

), I heard a lot of negative statements about myself: they say, it was necessary to take a younger athlete to Gwangju - Evgeny Chikunov. Efimova's victory at the planetary championship removed all questions, but the Olympic Games is a completely different story. They are held every four years, athletes prepare for them in a very special way, and it would be fundamentally wrong to allow someone to join the team for their old merits. I have no moral right to take away the opportunity to go to the Games from those who have won this right, ”the specialist explained.

Then Chepik added, referring to the words of Efimova herself, said in an interview, that the athlete's father and mentor persuaded her to train 200 meters in the Olympic season, but she did not want to.

“Agree, a swimmer of this level will not just give up the distance at which he could qualify for the Olympic Games.

Probably, Yulia knows something about herself that we do not know, "Chepik summed up.

After in early June Efimova won several starts in the traditional summer tournament Mare Nostrum and ended this series with a victory in the 200m breaststroke in Barcelona with a score of 2.21.86, it became obvious that the crown distance was still in her plans, and talk about the "shortsightedness" of selection flared up with renewed vigor.

It was a great moment for the team leadership to change their minds regarding Yuli's participation in Tokyo at his main distance. Moreover, perhaps the head coach turned out to be latently ready to satisfy the request of Efimova's headquarters and give Yulia a chance to start at 200 m.I expected that the titled breaststroke would at least voice her own desire in this regard, but no matter how paradoxical it may seem , no requests were received from either her or her coach. And the question of Yulia's participation in the most advantageous form for herself was finally closed.

It's a paradox, but even this decision can be considered relative. Sports history knows many examples when athletes negotiated with each other directly, bypassing any obstacles. You can recall, for example, the gymnastic final of the 2000 Games in the vault, where Svetlana Khorkina was selected for the coveted eight according to the results of qualification and Elena Zamolodchikova was not selected. But the latter became an Olympic champion after Khorkina gave her teammate her place in the final. How disinterested that gesture was, history is silent, but this is not the main thing.

Therefore, theoretically, Efimova may well try to get the right to participate in a swim that is more advantageous for herself. Now they like to oppose Yulia to Maria Temnikova (it is she who will make up Evgenia Chikunova's company at the 200-meter breaststroke, who qualified for the Games at both distances). But why not admit that an athlete, who has a rather scanty chance of medal success, will not agree to give up her place to a teammate who is able to take the award?

To what extent Efimova is ready to climb the podium is another question. Analyzing the Olympic path, which began for her in 2008, fourth in the hundred-meter race and fifth in the 200-meter distance, European champion Igor Marchenko noticed that he did not really believe that she would be able to compete for a medal in Tokyo. The ex-swimmer explained: it's not only about age and rating (at the moment, the most titled Russian breaststroke woman holds seventh position at the 100-meter distance, and fourth at a distance of 200 m). And the fact that the Olympic success is, first of all, the accuracy of the athlete's approach to the competition, that is, the work of a coach.

And for many years Yulia has been making all decisions about her preparation on her own.

Itself determines which competitions to take part in, where exactly to go to the training camp, often for the sake of a single commercial start flies away for eight hours in one direction, comes back and immediately flies in the opposite direction, crossing five or six time zones.

With age, such stresses are tolerated by the athlete's body worse and worse.

In addition, Julia does not like to start at the same distance three times in a row.

This applies to a lot of athletes - no one wants to swim at full strength already in the preliminary swim.

But in Tokyo, you have to do exactly that and show the maximum in all three cases.

Ideally - improving your result from start to start.

Marchenko, who at one time sailed with Efimova with David Salo in the USA, noticed another important detail that no one ever spoke about in relation to Yulia.

“By nature, Julia is a phlegmatic.

It is very important for such athletes to get themselves well before the start.

As it was before the Games in Rio, when an unthinkable amount of all kinds of troubles fell on Julia.

I am sure that this is why she went to the start with absolutely animal eyes, ready to tear everyone apart ... ”, - the European champion recalled.

These words are very similar to the truth. In Beijing, where at the age of 16 Yulia made her debut at two distances breaststroke, she, according to the then mentor Irina Vyatchanina, simply did not have enough experience, although it was assumed that in both types the athlete would probably be among the prize-winners. in 2012 in London, the start of Efimova at 200 meters was preceded by a grand scandal: due to a sudden and very strong allergic reaction threatening Quincke's edema, the athlete needed an injection of the prohibited drug dexamethasone, for which she could not get permission from the IOC Anti-Doping Committee (International Olympic Committee) , and it was only through the incredible efforts of the head of the Russian medical center, Sergei Arkhipov, that all the necessary papers came out to be received, and the necessary injections were made.

Well, then there were the Games in Rio, where everyone vied with each other describing the difficulties that Efimova faced at the final stage of preparation, although in fact it was they who made the athlete focus as much as possible on the burning desire to win.

Therefore, now it remains only to dream that Yulia will have another and very strong irritant in Tokyo.

Which would make her forget about her own age and rivals, about the fact that it was at the Olympics that she somehow had no Jesuit luck: after all, even the double silver of four years ago was not at all the result that Efimova dreamed of all her adult life and, possibly, continues to dream now.

Will it cope? I would like to believe that yes. After all, the main paradox of Efimova is that for the second decade now, neither her fans nor her rivals have been able to understand what this athlete can actually be capable of. Perhaps even she herself does not know this yet.