"We will fight for the highest awards": the head of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation on the Olympic track, quarantine in the PRC and German technology

- A few days ago you returned from a country that, due to the pandemic, has a reputation as the most closed in the world.

What is China in 2021 and what should those who go there be prepared for?

- I have had a special relationship with China since the time when Alexander Zhukov was the president of the ROC. As part of his work at the International Olympic Committee, he headed an evaluation committee that decided whether to give the 2022 Games to Beijing or Almaty. And it so happened that I accompanied him on all these trips and watched how the Chinese are fighting for the right to host the Winter Olympics. Even then, it was clear that China is a very highly organized country, which if it takes up something, it does everything within the framework of the approved rules and instructions.

But, if you go beyond this framework, you must be prepared for the fact that you run into a wall, and all subsequent issues are resolved very hard.

This has become especially relevant now, in the context of a pandemic ... Despite the fact that China recognizes our Sputnik and Vector vaccines, according to the country's rules, if you have not served three weeks of quarantine, you are considered potentially infectious.

Accordingly, we were treated like people capable of infecting the entire country.

And this attitude begins to be felt already upon boarding the plane.

- How?

“You get on an Air China plane and there are people in spacesuits around you.

As if you are in some kind of horror movie: there is radiation, infection and it is not clear what to expect next.

At the same time, there was a feeling of pity: not only are people sitting in overalls with tight hoods, glasses, a mask, a protective screen, rubber gloves, which are tied to their bodies with adhesive tape, are worn over them.

And so nine hours of flight.

- What happens to foreign passengers after arriving in the country?

- Everything is fenced at the airport, escorts in special clothes lead each of the arrivals to different stands, at the same time making sure that the distance between people is strictly maintained.

They take pictures, check all papers, QR codes, and the last resort is a PCR test.

• Elena Anikina - on quarantine in China

- As one of your athletes figuratively put it, you sit down in a chair, and they stick a probe directly into your brain.

- It really was very painful and deep.

Many had nosebleeds, and all of them, without exception, had tears.

The most severe test.

At the same time, I was terribly worried that one of our guys would turn out to be a positive result.

Therefore, in addition to those testing points that were indicated on the website of the Chinese embassy, ​​a week before departure we passed the PCR test in one laboratory, and a few days later in another.

In addition, doctors from the FMBA came to Novogorsk, who tested all athletes and took blood for antibodies.

One of the team members, by the way, tested positive, and we were forced to leave the person at home.

But the most important thing is that we flew to Beijing and no one was found to have anything.

- What does quarantine look like in Chinese?

- You arrive at the hotel, you are settled in the room.

Everything is already there, everything is very clear within the framework of what should be.

You don't stand anywhere, don't wait, no queues, everything is very civil.

Until the result of the test passed at the airport, everyone sits in their rooms, then you can go out for lunch or dinner.

At the same time, you have dry rations in your room, some buns, a banana.

But there is no coffee or tea.

The first five days at the hotel, we drank only warm water with lemon.

Can you imagine China without tea?

I still can't figure out how this is possible.

Plus, delivery to the hotel was prohibited.

The entire hotel was surrounded by the police, and no one could leave the territory.

- And so - all the time that the competition was going on?

- By the end of the second week, some softening went.

The hotel opened something like a shop where you could buy hygiene products, water, Coca-Cola, some chips and even beer.

Only credit card purchases were allowed.

I tried to change money at the hotel, they shied away from me.

Apparently, it is forbidden to take money into your hands.

- The Olympic test event implies that this is a dress rehearsal for the Games. 

- Yes it is.

I spoke with one representative of the organizing committee, who helped us in many issues during the trip, and he confirmed that everything will be exactly the same at the Games.

The same bubble system, the same impossibility to cheer for your team in other competitions.

And quarantine for three weeks with daily testing.

True, not as painful as at the airport.

- Now there is a lot of talk about the fact that the sports facilities of the 2022 Olympics are inaccessible to most of those who will compete on them.

Your charges have tested these tracks.

What did you think of it?

- Each bobsleigh track is a separate facility with its own characteristics.

The Beijing track, as the coaches explained to me, differs in that, firstly, there is a circle on which the pilot must drive.

This is a pretty dangerous place where you can lose a lot of speed.

And secondly, at the end of the track there are sections when you go almost up.

The speed in these areas drops terribly.

At the same time, all athletes unanimously say that the track is interesting.

The main thing is to adapt to it.

• Elena Anikina - about the sports facilities of the 2022 Olympics

- Were not interested in why bobsleigh and skeleton were more fortunate than those sports where test competitions were canceled?

- It seems to me that the main reason here is that bobsleigh and skeleton, like sledges, are sports where driving on a new track without first studying it is simply life threatening. 

- To what extent are we on an equal footing with the leaders in terms of technical equipment? 

- We buy definitely the best and the most expensive.

But this, unfortunately, is not a guarantee of success.

One cannot be sure, for example, that the Germans are not doing something special for their athletes.

- Is there any reason to believe what they are doing?

- Quite possible.

For example, technicians and engineers who make beans and skeletons came to China from Germany along with athletes and coaches.

We placed all the cars in special garages, where no one was allowed, after each arrival, something was finalized there.

We cannot afford that.

Although we now have a German coach (Dirk Matshens -

).

- What is the advantage of such a specialist over domestic ones?

- Firstly, it has its own skeletons. And he invites our athletes to use his technique, which is made taking into account all the official requirements. That is, Dirk is not only a coach, but to some extent an engineer: at competitions he knows exactly how to put the skates on, adjust the handle, do something else at the request of the athletes. Lena Nikitina last year won bronze on his skeleton at the World Championships. In any case, I am very pleased with Dirk's work and am grateful to the ROC for funding it for us.

In general, this year the Ministry of Sports and the CSP helped us a lot.

After all, what does it mean to get to China?

It's not just buying tickets.

And bring the equipment?

These are insane costs.

Crazy.

I very much asked that we be given the opportunity to send the maximum possible number of athletes and coaches to test competitions.

The charter to Beijing was organized by an international federation, and we got a huge bill for each athlete.

In addition, all the equipment had to be sent to Europe, and from there by transport plane to China.

In special containers.

It's not that easy to load those beans.

- Two years ago you entered a sport where there were always tough men in leadership positions.

How hard was it to gain authority?

- It depends on what goals you set.

I understood perfectly well that my primary task was to act not as a specialist, but as a kind of crisis manager.

Find funding to maintain the federation, build relationships with all structures, with the international federation, and raise your reputation to the proper level.

I have coped with this task more than once in my life, and in this regard it was not difficult for me.

Along the way, I delved into all the nuances, talked a lot with coaches, with athletes.

I try not to get involved in the training process - there is a coaching advice for this.

- What, in your opinion, is more significant in purely technical sports: a person or is it a technique? 

- When at the finish line the score goes to hundredths of a second, a lot depends on the technique.

But I still think that it is a man.

Because the speed at the start is of the utmost importance.

And it does not depend on a bob or a skeleton, but on how you accelerated.

Plus a pilot who must be able to control the same bob.

To be honest, I do not understand at all how the pilots manage to sit upright and at the same time keep all their actions under control.

When I dared to ride in a bob for the first time, I naively thought that I would look around like a roller coaster.

And I was pressed as if they had put several tons on my back - I could not raise my head.

And each track is like a separate art.

You have to move out a certain number of times in order to have a chance for a high result.

- In other words, can the advantage of the Chinese athletes' own field be significant?

- It will certainly be.

The Chinese have been training on their track for the second year and know exactly all its nuances, including the state of the ice.

This is important in our sport.

For example, now at the skeleton competition I was told that everyone was preparing for cold, hard ice.

But for some reason the Chinese began to somehow freeze this ice, and it was soft.

It immediately became clear that the skates were not the right ones, the speed was not the same, and the turns on soft ice had to be entered differently.

• Elena Anikina - about the technical component of skeleton and bobsleigh

- Against the background of all the difficulties of preparing for the Games in a pandemic, I read with great interest that an athlete from Ghana has been training with the Russian national team for some time. And I had a question: what kind of skeleton can there be in Ghana, and most importantly, why do you need this cooperation?

- Let's start with the fact that our plans did not include teaching Africa to ride.

This boy came to the Intercup, which was held in Sochi, came up to me at the competition and said that he is the first representative of an African country that is going to participate in the Games in our sport, that he has good sponsors, and accordingly, there are no financial problems.

And he is looking for a country that would allow him to take part in the training of a strong team.

It struck me so much by the very idea that I thought: why not?

Why don't we really expand the geography of our sport?

There was also an example of Prince Albert in bobsled.

And the team in his country has always been strong, despite the absence of winter and snow in Monaco.

- Do you at least mentally picture to yourself a version of the team's performances in Beijing, which would suit you in terms of the result?

- I don't like to make predictions.

But, to be honest, I don't really believe in medals in bobsleigh.

Our youth has not yet rolled out.

Only Rostislav Gaityukevich can fight for getting to the podium, and, both in the two and in the four.

All the rest are the top ten.

Although I always remember that there are miracles, there is luck, I believe in it.

Of course, I would like to have luck on our side, so that we are lucky, but we cannot base our calculations on this.

But in the skeleton, I think Lena Nikitina and Sasha Tretyakov can compete for the highest awards.

- With regard to the skeleton, these two names have been heard for many years.

Does the federation have plans to promote Nikitina and Tretyakov as people defining the face of the sport, as role models for very young boys and girls?

- They are already the most popular with us. They take part in some programs, contests, are active on Instagram, give a lot of interviews. In this regard, I do not interfere in any way: I am afraid to distract people from the training process. But in general, the topic is interesting. At one of our congresses, a report was made by the marketing company Infrant, which works with the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Skeleton - according to the popularity of athletes in social networks. And I just laughed, because, according to their data, the leading positions are occupied not by the Dukurs brothers, who have been favorites of almost all tournaments for many years, but by our Julia Kanakina. Because she's beautiful and she's from ballet. 

- Don't you think, at least sometimes, that the big Olympic sport is becoming obsolete?

The heroes in it are increasingly becoming people who have not won anything, but are maximally promoted in social networks, like the same Daria Klishina in athletics.

It turns out that self-sacrifice and going beyond human capabilities are no longer in demand.

And the question is about to arise: who needs it at all?

- It seems to me that no artificially promoted star will ever compare with the popularity of those who actually win Olympic gold.

Therefore, sports achievements - they will always arouse admiration, in any sport. 

- And the final question.

When you have grandchildren and grow up, give them to bobsleigh or skeleton?

- Children's bobsleigh does not exist.

And those who start practicing at a more adult age come from a variety of fields, like the skeleton.

This, I think, is the uniqueness of our sports.

The same Julia Kanakina, as I said, came to the skeleton from ballet.

Lena Nikitina is from women's football.

Alexey Voevoda at one time came to bobsleigh from arm wrestling.

There are guys from basketball, from athletics and weightlifting, from everywhere.

That is, any athlete who went wrong somewhere has a chance to come to us and show a super result.

Of course, I would not give mine to such a tough sport, rather, to ballroom dancing.

Although, if they want, then as a democratic mother and grandmother, I will only help.