“We should build a single vertical”: Vasilyev on the election of the head of the RRF, inflated prize money and the appointment of Istomin

- I read several of your statements on the results of the election of the President of the RBU and, frankly, got confused.

You take a rather critical position in relation to the current leadership, but at the same time you constantly emphasize your independence, neutrality and unwillingness to work in the Russian Biathlon Union in any capacity.

With such a position, does it matter what happens there?

- I care, if only for the reason that we are preparing and supplying personnel for the RRF.

- In what sense?

— I not only lead the biathlon federation in St. Petersburg, but for more than ten years I have been the head of the school of the Olympic reserve in the city, and I have been doing practical work.

Three years ago, for example, Maxim Tsvetkov came to us.

He had a pause in his career, he had to seriously improve his health, and when the guy wanted to return to the sport, no one needed him - no one wanted to take him at all.

I took.

St. Petersburg invested serious resources in Tsvetkov, I myself went to the authorities, convinced people that this athlete was still able to show himself in the national team at the Beijing Olympics.

So, in fact, it happened.

For two years, Maxim traveled to training camps with our guys, worked on an equal footing with everyone else without any discounts for titles, for which, by the way, we can express respect to him.

At the national championship, he got into the national team, began to prepare with Sergei Bashkirov, with whom he collaborated in St. Petersburg even before the latter was attracted to the national team.

At the same time, they did not want to send Maxim even to the IBU Cup.

After all, from year to year, how it works out for us: many athletes prepare for the selection, get in shape by the end of November, and then come to the World Cup or the IBU Cup, and it becomes clear that they are far from being so good there.

Tsvetkov did not purposefully prepare for the selections, respectively, he did not get anywhere - at the beginning of the Olympic season he had to compete at the stages of the Russian Cup.

In other words, no one took him seriously.

I knocked on all the doors then: I convinced that the team badly needed a reliable relay and Maxim was just perfect in this capacity.

In response, they told me about the mythical sports principle.

- It turns out that Tsvetkov was just lucky?

Yes, and twice.

First, Nikita Porshnev fell seriously ill at the IBU Cup, and a replacement was required for the Austrian stage in Obertilliach.

We then managed to urgently send Max to the mountains.

I did the design of the weapons myself and carried the rifle, and it was a whole epic, because everything was extremely tightened due to the coronavirus.

As a result, Tsvetkov became the second in the individual, third in the sprint, and started last in the mixed relay and showed the best time.

Then there was a story with Eduard Latypov, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the World Cup stage in Oberhof, and Max was again called to replace.

He passed his first stage in the mixed relay as a leader on a par with Tarja Boe.

A week later, in Ruhpolding, he was placed as a finisher, and we won seven seconds against the Germans.

In personal races, Max was also one of the best, thanks to which he was taken to the Olympics.

I am talking about this in such detail because Tsvetkov’s result was not built from scratch - a lot of effort and money was invested in it.

After all, we never asked anyone for money, we never raised questions about costs at all.

But it was sad that the RRF did not consider it necessary, at least purely humanly, to say thank you to those people who took part in the preparation of the athlete.

The attitude on the part of the regions is based precisely on such trifles, and not on phrases like: “Look how good everything is in our RRF, how many medals we have won.”

People want to understand that their work was noticed, appreciated, found an opportunity to thank.

- Defending your opinion on Tsvetkov and other issues, did you try to directly contact the head of the RRF, Viktor Maigurov?

- Of course.

Moreover, we have been friends for many years, and it seemed to me that we understand each other.

But it's not about Maygurov.

Now we have a situation, as in the well-known saying "The retinue plays the king."

It is the retinue that determines the policy of the federation on many issues, and the entire governing system is arranged in such a way that some sound decisions simply dissolve in it.

In fact, the SBR has long turned into an organization that lives on its own, for itself and for its own sake, in isolation from the regions.

It just doesn't suit me.

On the ground, after all, a lot of questions and problems are accumulating.

It is necessary to meet with governors and sports leaders, to convince someone of something, to help someone.

- What is the basis of your confidence that the current leadership of the RRF is not engaged in such work?

- Perhaps, in some regions it is being carried out, I cannot categorically say that this is not so.

But we meet with colleagues, communicate, share problems.

In the same Krasnoyarsk, there were cases when issues were not resolved for years.

I'm not saying it's easy, but people should see that the governing body of the industry is constantly addressing these issues.

“Given that Maygurov has been heading the SBR for a little over two years, it seems to me not entirely fair to demand that he solve all problems at once.

- I agree.

But as far as I know, Alexey Nuzhdov dealt with many financial issues.

- But isn't it logical to perceive the governing core of the federation as a team doing a common thing?

For example, it was strange for me to watch how a pre-election scandal began to publicly flare up between Maigurov and Vice-President Nuzhdov.

I wouldn't call it a scandal.

Disagreement in positions - yes.

By the way, I did not agree that voting should be open.

It's not a secret for anyone that on the eve of the elections, a form was sent to the regions with a recommendation to support the incumbent head.

In my opinion, this is not pretty.

This should not be.

- In your lifetime, several presidents of the RRF have changed.

Which of them, in your opinion, turned out to be the closest to the ideal?

- I may be talking in some outdated categories, but, in my opinion, a leader must first of all be charismatic.

He must be trusted and followed.

The closest to this was Mikhail Prokhorov.

No matter how he was scolded now for some mistakes, a clearly built system began to work with him.

Now, for example, there is a lot of talk that the RRF continues to focus on the program for the development of regions, which was launched by Prokhorov.

But I have a question: where is this program and how exactly does it work?

Why is it not available on the organization's website?

I repeat once again: it is possible that something is being done through the efforts of the RRF, but I would like to see a systematic approach, a clear plan of action.

It is absolutely impossible for us to understand who does what and is responsible for what.

Everything somehow flows - and thank God.

- What is your confidence based on that everything that you want to see in the organization of the work of the RRF is able to provide Russian biathlon Nuzhdov?

“I don't have that kind of confidence.

But it seems to me that the fact that Nuzhdov is a man of the system and is able to build all the functionality, clearly define who should be responsible for what, is a definite plus.

In the common people, this is called a job description.

Plus, Nuzhdov reinforced his intentions with certain financial injections.

Suffice it to say that through his efforts, from day to day, a three-year contract with Paribet will be signed, according to which 150 million rubles will be deducted annually for biathlon.

A third of this amount will diverge by region.

All this was announced in the election program, and I liked it.

I could not express my point of view at all, but since I cultivate biathlon in the region, I care about what happens in the sport in general and in the RBU in particular.

- Do you think it's reasonable to pay athletes 250 thousand rubles for winning domestic competitions?

No, I don't think you should.

As an option, I would propose to pay half of the specified amount as prize money to the athlete and coach, and send the other half for doping control, and I would conduct it at each start.

- Do you distrust Russian athletes and coaches that much?

- I don't trust it at all.

When it comes to big money, some people don't give a damn about everything else: the prestige of the state, the reputation of the club, their own reputation.

At the same time, I completely disagree with the fact that doping in Russia is a systemic phenomenon.

He has always been spot on.

Just when someone comes across one, he substitutes all.

Therefore, there must be total control.

- Why do you constantly remove yourself from any proposals to enter the RRF in any capacity, up to putting forward your candidacy for the presidency and getting more actively involved in the work?

- There are several reasons.

I have a large biathlon farm in St. Petersburg, we build a lot.

In other words, I took on certain obligations that I must fulfill.

What is it like to work in the leadership of the RRF?

This primarily means the need to move to Moscow.

Creating something serious, working remotely, will not work.

Therefore, a choice had to be made.

- But there was a period when you expressed your readiness to work in conjunction with Maigurov?

— Yes, but then the situation changed.

I do not want to reveal the details of all situations, but for example, I completely disagree with the current RBU policy regarding the coaching staff.

- Don't you see it as a plus that fresh coaching blood has been poured into the national team for once?

After all, before that, if you call a spade a spade, there was a continuous circulation of the same specialists, none of whom really achieved anything.

“There is also another side of the coin.

Let's take the same Artyom Istomin.

A young boy who is not even 30 years old and who was taken on an ad.

- The great Alexander Privalov was a little over 30 when he took over the national team in 1966.

- These are completely different things.

Privalov was an outstanding athlete and has come a long way in biathlon.

Istomin came to the team at the age of 21 from science - he was attracted to analytical work with the national team by Anatoly Khovantsev.

Then Artyom worked for a year with Yuri Kaminsky in the men's team.

And for no reason, he was appointed head coach of the women's team.

Where is the logic?

I don't see her at all.

Not to mention the fact that women in sports are a different story.

— What is it?

“They are a disaster for any coach.

They need a special approach.

I do not really share the coaching methods of Nikolai Karpol in volleyball or Yevgeny Trefilov in handball, but at the same time I understand that a female mentor should be just like that: strong, charismatic and authoritarian.

Otherwise, he just can't do it.

Istomin never had such a practice in his life.

Maybe he is really super talented, but I don’t understand how you can successfully work at such a level without experience.

- From your point of view, would it be more reasonable to appoint a specialist like Valery Polkhovsky?

- No, I do not think so.

Before talking about personalities, it would be good to change the very structure of the national team.

For many years we have been trying in vain to understand why, while winning in juniors and juniors, we fail at the senior level.

And the problem is that there is no unified system for preparing the reserve and its connection with the main team.

Coaches working at the lower level are only interested in one thing: that the athlete achieve a certain result as quickly as possible.

Accordingly, there is a forcing of preparation.

What happens to the person later is not important, because the mentor will no longer receive any preferences for future results.

Therefore, I believe that a single vertical should be built, which, starting from the junior and youth teams, is completely controlled by the head coach.

Only in this case can you be sure that

that we will receive systematic training of athletes at all levels and the entry of personnel into the main team.

There will be continuity.

- If Nuzhdov is elected to the post of president of the RBU, Yuri Kaminsky will be entrusted with the leadership of the entire process as a head coach.

Do you agree with this?

- It seems to me that in the scheme that I propose, the position of the head coach is not needed in principle - it is simply redundant, it does not make any sense.