“The emphasis is on men”: Maltsev on reforms in synchronized swimming and political topics at the World Cup

- Men will be able to compete at the Olympics, possibly already in Paris.

What changes are planned to be made to the rules?

- Yes indeed.

FINA plans to discuss this issue in the fall, but there are already working papers that propose to allow up to two men to be included in the group.

In duets, most likely, everything will remain unchanged, although it is specified that the Olympic disciplines will be additionally agreed upon by the technical committee of the international federation.

Of course, the inclusion of men in the performance of the group is not a prerequisite, but such an opportunity is given to the coaching staff.

- Do you think these amendments will be adopted or remain a draft?

- If such documents appear in the public domain, this indicates FINA's intention to make changes.

The project focuses on men in synchronized swimming.

In particular, it is proposed to include the solo in the program of the World Championship and other competitions - previously it appeared only in the world series.

And now, as we see, there is a development and addition of new disciplines to the main competitions.

By the way, before that there was also a precedent for allowing men to perform in groups.

- Is this a chance for you to get to the Olympics or have you never considered performing in a group?

- So far, we have not discussed this issue with the coaching staff of the Russian national team.

But I do not rule out such a possibility.

Still, the Games are the main start for every athlete.

At least, this is how the tournament is perceived in society.

Although there is the same competition at the World Championships, and its significance, in my opinion, is underestimated.

- Will the appearance of men in groups make the programs more diverse?

- It all depends on the coach and director.

Because these mixed teams, if they appear, will compete with all-female teams.

And it is not entirely clear whether they will differ from an artistic point of view.

Or everything will remain the same, just men will be added.

But, of course, it is more interesting in such groups to beat the male and female, to build on this.

- How was it in the mixed teams that have already competed?

- Differently.

In the Spaniards at the world series, the boy was in the women's group and no particular emphasis was placed on him.

And this year the Americans made a performance in highlights, where everything was built on the boy.

He also showed up for support.

It was specially emphasized that this is a mixed group.

• Maya Gurbanberdieva and Alexander Maltsev

• RIA News

• © Alexander Wilf

"The World Cup turned out to be ambiguous"

- They say that in synchronized swimming, due to recent events, the relationship between athletes has become very aggravated.

Truth?

“Unfortunately, we did not see the best side of our colleagues in the shop.

Previously, we communicated well at tournaments with everyone and there was never any tension.

Now everything has changed dramatically.

Firstly, there was a very revealing reaction to the fact that FINA and the European Swimming League removed us from the competition.

Of course, the representatives of Ukraine, who actively advocated sanctions against us, rejoiced.

In their view, collective responsibility must be fully operational.

And then they were very gloating, having achieved their goal.

But the same was true of some other teams, in particular the United States.

Andrea Fuentes, the coach of the American national team, also spoke in favor of our removal, although before that we communicated very vividly with her.

Did they openly write all this on social networks?

- Yes, they left comments under the posts or applauded under the news about the suspension.

At the same time, many athletes are now neutral.

They don't say anything, just like the judges.

But there is tension.

If earlier I posted photos and actively commented on them, now this is not the case.

Some write how you can stand up and rejoice when this happens in the world.

They think we should stay at home and shut up, and they will hang medals for themselves, including at the World Championships.

So, the Ukrainian team received an award for performing with the grossest, in my opinion, mistakes.

But everyone turned a blind eye to it.

In addition, the tournament had a large number of political themes that are usually forbidden to use, but this time it was all actively promoted.

Therefore, the competition in Budapest turned out to be a bit ambiguous.

- That is, this time the girls from Ukraine were treated more loyally than always?

- This is purely my opinion.

But if you look at the performance of the female duet in the technical program, it is easy to see that one of the athletes at the end forgot the combination and did completely different movements.

Even the average viewer can see it.

In addition, some elements were executed with large errors.

But the scores are set as if the judges knew in advance which marks to put.

With those blots that the girls made, any other team would definitely have been left without medals.

Plus, the Ukrainian team performed in swimsuits with the image of their flag on fire, which should not be supported by the organizers of the competition.

And they chose the music on the theme of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars.

Although once upon a time, the French in the group were forbidden to use the melody from Schindler's List, because it allegedly carries political overtones.

But this time everything was possible.

In addition to everything, the American made a Black Lives Matter solo dedicated to the death of George Floyd.

Previously, no one would have allowed this to happen.

- This, of course, is surprising.

Yes, unfortunately this is happening.

Although, in my opinion, sport should be a place that brings people together, no matter what happens in the world.

A friendly atmosphere must be maintained in the community, it is necessary to support each other.

I used to think that's how it is, but now everything has changed.

- For the Russians, the main start of the season after the suspension was the Friendship Games.

At the same time, quite a lot of representatives from other countries came to them.

- Yes, representatives of six states took part in our discipline, but just about ten representatives took part in swimming.

We rejoiced at the arrival of Kazakhstan.

There are strong synchronized guys there: both solo and mixed.

A mixed pair from Serbia, which is declared for the European Championship, performed.

Interestingly, Ivan Martinovich has been studying for only 10 months.

He was brought to our sport by his beloved girl, with whom he is now in a duet.

The athlete himself was originally a swimmer.

• Ivan Martinovich and Elena Kontich

• RIA News

• © Maxim Bogodvid

We are glad to everyone who came, but there could be many more countries.

I called a lot of male simultaneous interpreters from Latin America, but they did not succeed.

I don't know for what reasons.

I think, first of all, because of financing.

Athletes from these countries do not always come even to the World Championships, since the federations first of all allocate money for the Olympic disciplines - a duet and a group, and all the rest go according to the residual principle.

Therefore, sometimes we know that in some countries there are synchronized swimmers, but we do not see them at the main starts of the season.

And if we talk about the Friendship Games, then even more so, since this is not the main tournament.

- Inclusion in the Olympic program, it turns out, will significantly change the situation.

- Yes.

Unfortunately, when it comes to financial matters, we often hear in Russia: you are not an Olympic discipline.

The same applies to the Spartakiad this year.

We do not participate in it, because we do not perform at the Games.

And that would also be a good way to improve your financial situation.

Therefore, the inclusion of mixed swimming in the program of the Olympics will greatly simplify the development of men's synchronized swimming.

However, even now the number of mixed couples is growing, even in a single country.

There used to be only one, but now there are many, and in all age categories.

“I always dreamed of becoming a coach”

- You are now performing with two partners at once - Olesya Platonova and Maya Gurbanberdieva.

Are you getting medals?

- We have medals for each program separately.

Usually, Maya is in the technical team, and Olesya is a substitute, in the free program it’s the other way around.

We are all doing it together.

When we do a run in training, the girls still work to the fullest.

It’s just that one is paired with me, and the second is a little further away.

And as for the award, the spare also receives a medal.

So we don't even have a duet anymore, but a trio.

• Maya Gurbanberdieva, Olesya Platonova and Alexander Maltsev

• RIA News

• © Maxim Bogodvid

- How much more difficult is it to train with two different partners at once?

- As for getting used to each other, communication - no disagreements arise.

Girls, first of all, look up to me and listen to my words.

The main difficulty is that you need to adapt to different partners.

Since we work not only under the account, but also in contact.

This applies to couplings, supports, ligaments.

You need to keep a distance between each other.

All this is not easy when there are different partners.

- So you yourself complicate the process of preparing for tournaments?

- Well, you can say so.

“At the same time, you still have time to train.

What do you like more, do the elements in the pool yourself or teach others?

- It is hard to say.

These are two completely different jobs.

I like to perform and coach myself.

I dreamed about this since childhood, went to the goal, received the education that I wanted.

And here, too, there are subtleties.

— Do you work with young children or adult athletes?

“I do performances for both.

The last time I helped Artur Korshunov from Naberezhnye Chelny.

He put up a solo, which the athlete demonstrated at the Friendship Games.

They performed one after the other.

First him and then me.

I also actively work with mixes.

This year I put on a program for children from the MGFSO school, to which I belong as an athlete.

We worked with them for two months, and then went to the All-Russian competitions, where we won a prize.

Why do you still work with boys?

“I am very interested in them.

For the guys, I can be a great motivator, a role model.

They should feel supported, so I pay more attention to men's and mixed synchronized swimming.

- Are there any plans for next year's tournaments yet?

- Absolute suspense.

After the holidays in the fall, we will get into shape, we need to train and set up programs in accordance with the new rules.

- Much has changed?

— Actually, yes.

Programming should now have a certain character.

In addition, as in figure skating, now you need to prescribe elements, combinations, lifts with the appropriate degrees of difficulty that you will perform.

Specialists will appear at the competitions who will verify everything.

And then the assessment is formed based on what you have done.

There are many nuances that are yet to be sorted out.

- Do you think this will increase objectivity?

- I would like to, of course.

But, if the judges come with predetermined marks, then no matter what changes you make, everything will remain the same.

You need to change the mentality.

There must be a desire both among the judges and the entire international community.

- There is no fear that the Russians will be allowed to compete next year, but because of the current situation, they simply won’t give normal marks?

- It is hard to say.

Now at the World Championships, the winners of the tournament still got the marks that they had before, when they competed with us.

They didn't charge anything.

The same Italians in the mixed duet won with the same result that they showed last season, losing to us about six points.

This suggests that our bar has not been taken.

The stock is still there.