- Congratulations on the excellent result, and in this regard, the question is: why do Russian coaches who leave Russia often begin to achieve much better results, working with other national teams? And is it a paradox?
- I would not call it a paradox, although the question is not easy, and I myself often ask myself.
- Do you find the answer?
- Not always.
I don't think the reason lies in some kind of coaching mistakes.
Rather, it is that athletes of not so large countries as Russia are more eager to learn something, to show results.
Accordingly, they listen to the coach in a slightly different way, much more executive.
And the process itself is going much more calmly.
When there is no excessively tough competition in the team, it liberates people, makes them more benevolent towards each other, towards others.
There is no nervousness at all.
In a word, there are so many advantages that it is difficult to single out any one aspect.
- Do you, as a coach, feel that the return on the part of athletes in the training process is maximum?
- Oh sure.
When I worked in Russia, this feeling was also there, just there it came from individual athletes, and not from the whole team, as it happens in my work now.
When a coach feels this kind of feedback, when he realizes that people are really determined to work and not be capricious, he works differently.
Much stronger interest arises.
You discuss any mistakes with athletes primarily in terms of work, and not mutual grievances.
And it turns out that these mistakes give impetus to development, and not to regression.
- Do you want to say that in Russia any mistake entails a search for the guilty?
- It's hard to admit mistakes in general, it doesn't matter if you are a coach or an athlete.
If all this happens in an atmosphere of nervousness, the situation only gets worse.
You have asked a difficult question.
I'm not sure if I'm ready to answer it exhaustively.
- Surprising indeed. A coach who travels to a foreign country is, it seems to me, in a much more difficult situation.
- On a personal level, this is so.
But it's more comfortable to work.
Because you are invited as a specialist of a certain level, they trust a certain area of work, and it never even occurs to anyone to start telling you how this work should be done.
That is, they provide complete freedom of action.
The federation makes sure that the athletes are healthy, somewhere they can suggest something, ask if there are problems, help in something, but at the same time no one stands over the coach with a whip and does not publicly discuss his actions.
- But some criticism surely happens?
- As in any other country.
When a work implies a certain public result, it is always accompanied in one way or another by external evaluation.
It's just that it's too hypertrophied in Russia.
- Not so long ago I talked with one of the Russian coaches, and he said: they say, our athletes sometimes do not think at all about how many not the worst specialists they ruined their lives with their complaints and whims.
- I agree with this entirely.
- You, it turns out, too, broke?
- Partly possible.
It’s such an unpleasant feeling that I don’t even want to talk about it now.
The coach is always highly dependent on the athletes.
To stay in Russia for a long time in this post, you must constantly monitor your every word, please everyone, and God forbid offending one of the athletes.
I could not get.
- Is the result of your Belarusian players in the sprint a happy coincidence or a natural success?
- Together.
We have done a very big and good job this year, and I am very pleased with its result.
Anton Smolsky's third place is generally a phenomenal result for our team, but success can be considered a regularity only when it is not one-off.
So let's see how things go next.
- Is it a blessing as sunny as it was on the first day of the race in Hochfilzen?
- It's very comfortable.
I would compare this weather with that that happens in Russia in February, when frost is felt in the morning, then it gets a little warmer and there is no wind.
Ideal for biathlon.
There are no obstacles to shooting as efficiently as possible.
Plus a good ski track.
- Ricco Gross called the conditions ideal in the sense that there is no difference in which group to start.
- There is still a difference.
A later start is a longer wait.
Most of the leaders showed up in the middle of the race, in the second and third groups, and in the fourth there were leaders, but weaker athletes traditionally gather there.
It is always difficult to show a high result focusing on weak opponents.
Success lies where the rivalry is hot.
- You ran the race, standing on the shooting range and tracking the shooting of your athletes. To what extent did the situation allow you to monitor the overall situation in the race?
- On the stock exchange, the coach sees everything.
Behind the direction of the wind, at the work of the leaders.
After all, it is necessary to promptly transmit information to those who are on the track, so that they understand how to lead the athlete.
I don't even know what you focus on more: on the actions of your guys or on your opponents.
- What are the three top impressions left by the sprint race?
- First of all, I am deeply satisfied with the performance of my athletes.
When two at once shoot to zero and both are in the top ten, this is a very high achievement.
The second thing that made me happy was the guys' eyes.
In them I saw a frenzied excitement and at the same time absolute composure.
Well, now I can say that both Smolsky and Dmitry Lazovsky turned out to be better prepared for the sprint than I myself.
Because before the race, in my wildest predictions, I drew myself one place in the top ten and another one in the top 20.
- Frankly, I first saw how the coach, after tracking the shooting at the turn, jumps over two fences, shouts something furiously to the athlete, and then just as swiftly returns back to the observation position. What was it? Overwhelmed by emotions?
- I was very worried about standing shooting, and when Smolsky passed the line cleanly and left as a leader, no one, except me, could give the athlete instant information.
It was important that a person, starting the final circle, understood from the very beginning that he was a leader.
Unfortunately, the finishing circle was a little difficult for Anton: he endured to the last, but did not have enough speed.
I think Smolsky himself did not expect that the race would turn out for him in this way.