“I won’t take the words back”: Vyalba on Stepanova’s social networks, Bolshunov’s conflict with Ustyugov and athletes of the year

We agreed to talk with Vyalbe on the final day of the Krasnogorsk Ski Track.

And having arrived at the stadium at the appointed time, I involuntarily overheard the phrase that Elena said on the phone to an invisible interlocutor: “Yes, I don’t have any special recipe!

More meat, less water - that's the whole trick.

- It seems to me that the words “More meat, less water” fully reflect your character and could well become the motto of the best coach of the year.

— I don’t know about the motto, but I really never cook food from recipes.

I do everything that my family loves.

How my mother cooked, grandmother.

“Isn’t the famous rooster’s ear a grandfather’s know-how?”

- Well, yes, at home he always cooked fish soup.

Although there is no secret in this.

In Magadan, it seems to me, many cooked fish soup in the same way during my childhood - in rooster broth.

Now, however, the old recipes are slowly disappearing.

— It has become fashionable to adhere to the principles of a healthy diet: vegetarianism, raw food… Do you know the topic?

- This is not about me.

I prefer food to be delicious first and foremost.

I am fully aware that delicious food is not always healthy, but life is one.

Why deprive yourself of pleasure?

“Nevertheless, you have lost a lot of weight over the past year.

- This is not a consequence of any special diets.

Before the Olympics, I was in a very nervous state, I practically did not sleep, and the weight began to noticeably go away.

Now the kilograms are not added, and I am glad of this, what can I hide.

- When an athlete wins the title of the best in the Olympic season, as a rule, the victory won at the Games is behind this.

What would you put at the top of your list of accomplishments?

- You know, I was terribly unpleasant and insulting in 2018.

We returned from Pyeongchang with the largest number of Olympic awards, even if there was no gold among them, but not Sasha Bolshunov, but Pavel Datsyuk was named the athlete of the year.

Yes, hockey players became Olympic champions that year, but Datsyuk, with all due respect to him, did not score the decisive goal in the final, did not do something outstanding.

Bolshunov went to all the races and finished each of them with a medal.

Stanislav Cherchesov then became the coach of the year, and I still think that it was absolutely unfair.

You can’t give out such awards just because you have a particularly friendly relationship with someone.

- Many people, I know, just did not understand the choice of this year in the category "Athlete of the Year" in favor of Anna Shcherbakova, and not Natalia Nepryaeva.

— Just in 2018, I realized that these are just the rules of the game.

It is impossible to take and give all the prizes to the skiers?

Well, yes, four years ago I reacted to everything more emotionally and even expressed my position to the then Minister of Sports Pavel Kolobkov.

And I heard from him: “Lena, do you understand that Russian football players brought millions of people to Kamergersky Lane?”

- And what did you answer to that?

- She said that I did not have such a task.

Therefore, I would still like to decide what we are talking about: about sporting achievements or about the media.

At those Olympics, and at the current one too, who was the best team?

Aren't they skiers?

Not ski coaches and athletes?

If an athlete is already leaving the sport and you need to have time to give him something, well, let's make a special prize for this.

As the oldest or for active participation in charitable projects.

But you don't have to mix.

- The recent incident between Bolshunov and Sergei Ustyugov made me personally think about the fact that fans often want to see some popular picture of the relationship between those who play on the same team.

And then suddenly almost open war on the air.

How are you doing?

- If you mean the fall of athletes on the ski track, I have already expressed my opinion to both Sergey and Sasha, and their coaches.

I think both are to blame.

In fact, I will never believe that Ustyugov deliberately provoked the collision.

Theoretically, we can now discuss with you what exactly an athlete should do if he has already touched the opponent’s skis and feels that the situation can worsen, but in a race everything happens very quickly.

Sometimes instantly.

The speed of both athletes was high, this speed had to be maintained.

Sasha was already riding shoulder to shoulder with Sergey from the descent, although, to be honest, I did not understand why it was necessary to do this at all.

- Well, the tension between the athletes did not arise yesterday, but much earlier.

- Agree.

But you will also agree: if the judges stopped some minor skirmishes right away, that is, at the first start in Chusovoy, where Ustyugov won the sprint against Bolshunov, or later in Kirovo-Chepetsk, when Sasha ran into an opponent’s skis, now we are with you generally this conflict would not be discussed.

Do you understand the root cause?

“The fact of the matter is that it doesn’t exist.

Bolshunov and Ustyugov are not enemies, they never were.

They always communicated perfectly.

It’s just that both Sergey and Sasha have a rather difficult character.

Lyosha Petukhov said correctly about them: not two eagles, but two rams.

And I really hope that for both what happened will be a good lesson.

What would you do if you were a judge?

- I would call both for analysis in the same Kirovo-Chepetsk and explain: one more similar incident, both will receive yellow cards and any subsequent violation will lead to the fact that the results of the race will simply be canceled.

But this was not done.

Accordingly, a chain reaction began.

If you are an athlete and you see that the opponent broke the rules and he was not punished for it in any way, anger grows inside.

And it grows to the point that somewhere it will probably break through.

It is an unconscious process, an emotional one.

Although I perfectly saw that Sergei was very worried about Sasha when he fell.

Did you hear my previous telephone conversation with a journalist?

The man also touched on this topic.

He said that, they say, it would be better if Bolshunov and Ustyugov dealt with Johannes Klebo in a similar way.

Yes, it's not better than anything!

It is always necessary to act on the track within the rules.

- Don't you think that athletes are sometimes unable to assess the consequences of some of their actions, especially in social networks, and are not always aware of the speed with which information can spread?

- In my opinion, Sergey in vain began to warm up the situation with some comments.

But in this regard, I am absolutely not going to dictate to anyone how to behave.

They are adults and will figure it out for themselves.

- I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the feeling that Bolshunov formulated with the phrase “We made him an Olympic champion” is very deeply embedded in Ustyugov.

Yes, Sergey did his best in the relay, did not let the team down, but in his place, you see, another athlete could have been just as successful.

- I didn’t read what and how Sasha wrote about this, but I’ll tell you this: in that relay race, each of the guys did everything he was capable of and what he had to do.

So no one has the right to make any claims to another.

I have already explained my position then.

• Sergey Ustyugov

• © Roman Kruchinin

- And they said, by the way, that the inclusion of Ustyugov in the Olympic relay is not only an objective assessment of the situation, but partly a tribute to a person who certainly deserved a medal.

Including for the previous Olympics.

- You know, from the moment I single-handedly made a decision on this matter, and until the last centimeter of the distance, when Ustyugov ran the final stage, my heart never skipped a beat: what if he can’t?

Moreover, I was absolutely sure: even if it happens that Ustyugov and Klebo roll out to the finish line together, Sergey will still tear the Norwegian.

But about Artyom Maltsev, let's be honest in this regard, I could not say that.

I understood that he would most likely not be able to resist Klebo.

Well, luckily things turned out differently.

Bolshunov, Spitsov and Ustyugov ran their stages, having a minute lead.

But we are not saying now that the only real Olympic champion is Alexei Chervotkin, who secured this gap, and all the rest are "backpacks"?

You can't say that, it's wrong.

Another issue is that you need to understand the specific situation.

Bolshunov does not like to lose, I would say, he does not know how to do it yet.

Moreover, all this is aggravated if you have to give way to a specific opponent.

- Is it necessary to be able to lose?

- My coach Viktor Maksimovich Tkachenko always said this: “If you don’t know how to lose, you will never learn to win.”

Because you need to be able to lose with dignity.

And it’s difficult to force yourself, having lost, to approach your opponent and shake his hand.

When was the most difficult time for you to do this?

- Is always.

But I've always done it.

- Did you have a sworn rival from among your own or foreign racers?

- In fact, there is no difference, “one's own” rival or not “one's own”.

On the track, you don’t think about such things at all.

The most offensive, by the way, is not when you were left without a medal, but when you came running second.

I know it very well.

Therefore, she herself never said in her life that she won silver or bronze.

There was only one wording: lost gold.

So, I must accept the defeat, analyze it and draw conclusions.

On the other hand, I do not know a person in sports who would never lose.

They just don't exist, in my opinion.

- Did this season become for you the way you imagined it, or was it more difficult in some way?

- Closer to August, it was already clear that we would not go to any international competitions.

Of course, we hoped until the very end.

Even before the last FIS council some illusions were built.

At the same time, the first thing I thought about then was that no matter how undesirable the situation as a whole may develop for us, we should try to make the most of it.

After all, we really carry a huge team to the training camp.

Yes, it pays off, but there are people on this same team who almost never face the leaders head-to-head in competition.

They don't face Bolshunov, Spitsov, Ustyugov, Nepryaeva... Now there is an opportunity to see everyone at every start.

And to understand whether we are building the preparation and strategy correctly.

- What makes you happy?

- The fact that everyone, without exception, is focused on the result.

If one of the girls in a particular race does not add up, they sob as if they did not get into the top ten of the World Cup.

I once said to each of the athletes: there is no need to prematurely sprinkle ashes on your head.

Our goal is 2026, and we are moving towards this goal.

In this regard, now we have exactly the same preparatory season as we had before.

Therefore, everyone works hard in training, everyone tries to show a good result in order to be in the Olympic team in three and a half years.

- The end of the year is always a kind of summing up.

Let's bring the skis.

Who would you call the best athlete?

- Probably, after all, Bolshunova, if we take the stability of performances.

But I would call Savely Korostelyov a discovery, despite the fact that he “opened” last season.

I was just very worried that he would not break into the top ahead of time.

So that it lasts for ten years, during which he could show really good results.

- What does it mean not to break into the top earlier?

— When a person starts to show good results, it is not always clear what kind of preparation is behind it, what kind of foundation is laid.

If it is insufficient, the athlete can shoot somewhere, but he will not keep the result for a long time.

Although I have been following Savely for a long time.

He has outstanding data, he is very charismatic, that is, in order to become an outstanding athlete, he has everything.

- The best athlete?

- There are two of them - Nepryaeva and Stepanova.

Natasha has more experience and strength, Veronica has more drive, and she is more relaxed, or something.

There is no such thing that everyone expects something from her and you must certainly justify someone's expectations.

The indirect one is more difficult in this respect.

Being a team leader is generally difficult, I think you yourself understand this very well.

Everyone wants to beat you, the coaches and all those who serve you also make it clear in one way or another that you must, must, must.

Although I often tell my people that an athlete owes first of all to himself, and not to someone else.

- Yegor Sorin, under whose supervision Veronika Stepanova trains, claims that the media activity of the athlete, who at one time noticeably annoyed you, did not affect her attitude to work.

Do you agree?

— With Egor?

Yes.

We discussed this with him many times.

That the training process should be at the forefront, and judging by the results, I understand that this is actually the case with Stepanova.

- So you are ready to take back your words about this?

- No, I won’t take any words back, especially since I understand very well that not all of Veronica’s posts and columns are written by herself.

They help her, respectively, save time - this makes it possible to rest and fully recover between workouts.

How Stepanova sees her life after sports - she will become a journalist, director of a TV channel or a deputy - is not my question at all.

For me, it is only important that she reveals herself as an athlete as much as possible.

She has everything for this.

• Veronika Stepanova

• RIA News

• © Roman Kruchinin

- But you still worry about this topic, admit it?

- Aldeady no.

I don’t read social networks, I realized that I’m not too interested in what the same Veronica writes, and besides, I just don’t want to look like a person who, like a Cerberus, forbids something to athletes, telling them how to behave.

I expressed my point of view on this matter, if someone heard me and thought that I was right, then they would take it into account.

If not, that's definitely not my problem.

I'm not going to fight windmills.

From athletes, by and large, I need only the result.

I don't need their fame at all.

- The best coach of the team - Borodavko?

- I think yes.

But I must say that Yuri Viktorovich does not take on weak skiers.

The “cream” flocks to him, and here we should say a big thank you to the guys-coaches of the junior team, who at one time drew Borodavko’s attention to Bolshunov, to Denis Spitsov.

I am glad that we have built such a system, although I often think that those who work with juniors, and these are Alexander Kravchenko, Sergey Dergunov, Artemy Gelmanov, should probably be offended by constantly remaining, as it were, in the shadows, in second positions .

For me personally, they are exactly the same national team coaches as everyone else.

In this regard, it never happens to me that someone walks in favorites.

— The most beautiful race?

- A very extraordinary race turned out in China, at the Russian-Chinese Games.

In the relay race, our guys decided to finish in a friendly way with the team of the host country.

It looked impressive.

We were lucky, by the way: due to weather conditions, we have not yet canceled a single stage in the Russian calendar.

Big frosts, fortunately, did not happen on the days of the competition.

Unfortunately, I didn't see all the races.

So let the most beautiful will be ahead of us.