“Like a stone fell from the soul”: Zakharov - about the end of his career, the “funnel” with personnel and jumping into the water from the yachts of the oligarchs

In the last days of February, Ilya Zakharov officially announced his retirement.

The famous athlete arrived in Saransk in a different capacity for the first Cup of Eurasian countries in diving.

- What kind of feeling is it to finally burn the bridges that connected you with active performances?

- I would call it differently.

Do not burn bridges, but put an end to it.

In fact, when I announced my decision officially, it fell like a stone from my soul.

I experienced tremendous relief.

The decision was final, considered from all sides, which is probably why I accepted it without regret.

This is exactly how I imagined my retirement from the sport.

Do you regret anything now, looking back?

- Nothing at all.

And I wouldn't want to change anything.

But now I don't look back.

Only forward.

- You almost immediately started working in the Russian Diving Federation as a coordinator of the Volga Federal District.

Are diving in your native Saratov also included in your area of ​​responsibility?

- Certainly.

Saratov is the capital of the Volga region, so I will always have a direct relationship with my city.

- I didn’t have the opportunity to come to your farewell and attend the February Cup of Russia, but I heard that the level of organization of these competitions was very different from all previous ones.

Is it really true?

- Yes.

We have put a lot of effort into this.

Actually, the main task was to bring the tournament to a new level in all respects.

In my lifetime, it was definitely the best Russian Cup that I have ever participated in and that I have ever seen.

- What changed?

- First of all, the organization of competitions in general.

She was very clear, well-coordinated, as is not always the case even at larger and more significant competitions.

The prize fund was added, which has never happened in our sport at all.

To be honest, the very word "check" in relation to Russian competitions still sounds a little strange to me.

The point here is not about money as such, but about the fact that, at last, diving into the water is acquiring some real significance and weight at the domestic Russian level.

- While you yourself competed, did you often encounter the feeling that our sport, among many others, looks like a poor relative?

— I think that you, too, have come across this, — you can feel the question, you understand exactly what I mean.

Of course, this happened, and I always really wanted to correct this attitude.

Personally, I never understood at all why neither the Cup of Russia nor even the championship in our country is covered by almost anyone.

No one, as a rule, knows about these competitions, no matter who participates in them, everything is perceived as a kind of purely internal, very intimate stage of selection for certain international tournaments.

Although if you look globally, the national championship in a country like ours is a very serious start, where famous athletes take part, show good results, sometimes outstanding, and demonstrate unique jumps.

But it turns out that nobody cares.

A man won the championship of Russia five times - well, okay, think about it, an achievement ... But this is not normal?

— I agree.

“Therefore, the task was set to begin to change this attitude.

To hold competitions in such a way that people want to come to them, want to see the stars, want to hear them, learn more about them.

For television to become interested in tournaments.

In this regard, by the way, Saratov also managed to make a colossal step forward - the competitions were broadcast live every day.

How many times have you become national champion yourself?

- Oh ... 11 or 12 times, probably.

And somewhere the same number of times won the Cup of Russia.

- I found another figure on Wikipedia - 13. I think few people are aware at all that you won your first two victories at the national level not on the springboard, but on the 10-meter platform in synchronized diving with Viktor Minibaev.

- This is true.

Therefore, I am pleased that the situation in diving is beginning to change before our eyes, as well as within the federation itself.

Everything has changed a lot: goals, objectives, people's desire to work.

- I have repeatedly thought that diving, for all its exoticism for an outside viewer, is a rather difficult, sometimes monotonous daily work.

And competitions provide an excellent opportunity to translate this work into a different format.

That is why there should be as many of them as possible.

— It really is.

I always perceived competitions as top training.

I don’t know if Russian sports have the ability to invite foreigners to their domestic championships, but it would be great to find an opportunity to do this.

I know that many would like to come to Russia and compete with our athletes.

"Even the Chinese?"

- Why not?

- In this regard, the first Cup of Eurasian countries, which is currently taking place in Saransk, is a prototype of exactly what we are talking about.

Let it be held in connection with the current situation in a somewhat truncated form, with the participation of five countries.

Are you interested in this tournament from a sports point of view?

- Certainly.

- What exactly?

- It can be interesting to see what happens in diving in those countries that are not always widely represented at the big championships.

The opportunity to compete once again, look at others, compare yourself with rivals gives a very solid impetus to the development of the sport as a whole.

And it's cool that we're doing it right now.

Believe me, these are not just words or intentions on paper.

When I came to work for the federation, I immediately raised a topic that I have been thinking about for a long time: why don’t we, for example, hold master classes in different cities, including seminars for specialists of various profiles.

In my opinion, we need to create a kind of “funnel” in our country, where all the best would fall: sports personnel, coaching.

So that people understand that even after finishing with the sport of the highest achievements, they are still needed and in demand.

As well as the knowledge of their mentors, all their experience.

It's terrible when people have been working for more than two decades, and with the departure from the national team, they seem to be at a crossroads, not really understanding what to do next.

- It was in this situation that two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Sautin found himself at one time, who was going to end his career several times, but each time resumed it, realizing that there was nowhere to go.

Are you lucky?

- Maybe yes.

I used to think that, having given 25 years of my life to diving, I really would not want to give it up forever.

Moreover, I have some idea of ​​what our sport could look like if we really set ourselves the goal of developing it as much as possible.

For some reason, in the depths of my soul, I was sure that in one capacity or another, someone would still need me.

“What if that hadn’t happened?”

- It would be sad.

But I think that I would have coped with such a life turn.

- By the way, who came up with the idea to launch a video project on diving from the yachts of oligarchs of the level of Roman Abramovich in some distant future?

— Ha!

Do you know about this too?

This was invented by our new president of the federation, Stanislav Druzhinin, and the idea itself, for all its ambiguity, seemed very interesting to me.

Look at what is happening in the perception of sports in the world: a person is walking down the street, an empty beer can comes under his feet, he hits it and at that moment he feels like a football player.

Now all sorts of extreme undertakings such as bungee jumping or from rocks into the sea are incredibly popular, but after all, all this is essentially the same jumping into the water, although no one has such an association.

So why not draw attention to your sport by creating an attractive entourage, a picture.

Jumping from the board of the yacht - just right.

I myself somehow did a double back somersault, jumping from a jet ski - even somewhere on Instagram the video is preserved.

- If no joke, it seems to me that even a purely practical moment is important: almost everyone jumped into the river or the sea upside down, while the statistics of neck and back injuries received during jumping are high.

Why not teach people how to jump correctly?

After all, one can recall the same Australia, which has been setting the trend in world swimming for several decades, where everything began with a state program.

The country decided that since the mainland is surrounded on all sides by water, and people live exclusively on the coast, then children must be able to swim well.

- From this point of view, diving is really a very applied sport.

- In some cities, groups for adults who want to learn how to jump into the water and perform complex multi-turn jumps are now starting to open.

What is the fan, you understand?

- Certainly.

Now in general there is a desire of people to be athletic, to have good control over their bodies.

Roll over in the air over your head and not get killed while doing it - it's cool.

And if you professionally jump from the pier into the sea, and there are admired girls around ... Many adults do not have enough adrenaline in their lives, sharp, unusual sensations.

And diving into the water is the best way to satisfy this passion.