Valentina Aleksandrovna, what has changed in the women's team with the arrival of the new head coach Evgeny Grebyonkin?
- In the new Olympic cycle, all countries revised some positions. We did the same. Now the team is in a normal situation: everyone is friendly, working, there are no shouts: "to stand, to be afraid!" Good human relations. Perhaps, because we worked abroad for a long time, we never had a desire to humiliate or insult someone. We do not use such methods.

As for Evgeny Grebyonkin, first of all he gave the opportunity to work and create for personal trainers. The result is a completely different result. Personal trainers who raised their girls know them better than anyone else. They can give them more. Previously, they were on the sidelines.

- But at the training camp they were together with the pupils.
- They were just present: they were sitting on a bench. If someone took the initiative, he was told that he would not come to the next training camp. These are very subtle moments, but not all journalists wanted to understand that nothing just happens. When we arrived from the Olympics, there were only four adult girls in the ranks. Where is Nabieva? There was a great girl, she is now recovering and, possibly, will perform at the Universiade. She won Europe with Mustafina. Where is Kurbatova? Also the champion of Europe and the world. Now I can name so many names and surnames that have disappeared. This is not right.

We cannot spend so much money that we have girls only for one start. And they are not enough for more. And they themselves do not understand why this is so. It should not be. Therefore, now we are trying to preserve those who are, and return those who were removed. In 2008, the team was a wonderful gymnast Kramarenko, now she has recovered from an Achilles injury and is preparing for the Universiade. Gorgeous, beautiful gymnast. It was necessary to keep and work with everyone, not just the six who go to the Olympics. If there is no competition, there will be no result. This is the law.

- Did this rearrangement somehow affect Aliya Mustafina?
- We have a specialist on each apparatus who dictates the methodology and combinations. The task of the head coach is to organize the training process. For Aliya, in this sense, nothing has changed. Now, just like at the Olympics, she will be taken to the uneven bars - Grebyonkin, the log - Ganina, with whom she has been working for a very long time.

- How long did she manage to move away from the Olympics?
- Aliya went to the training camp with the team in Spain. We offered her to rest, but she said that if she rests, she will not return. When you get out of shape, then it is very difficult to recover. Aliya has a wonderful one jump, she can jump by 9.5. You need to add a second from another group. But she is afraid to learn something new, so let's not remind her once again about that trauma. She has no equal on the uneven bars. Plus she perfectly restored the log. Compared to the Olympics - heaven and earth.

- Has Anastasia Grishina also improved her program?
- No. She only restored what was. For now, let's wait with estimates and conclusions. We are very worried about her upcoming performance at the European Championships. Now she is not in the condition in which she would like.

- Last year you spoke of her as a very promising gymnast ...
- I still think so. But she changed her coach at the insistence of her mother. Now Irina and Viktor Razumovsky, who have returned from Japan, are working with her. Let's see what happens.

- Yevgenia Shelgunova will be a substitute at the European Championship, why is she?
- Our composition is determined according to the sports principle. At the Russian Championship, Evgenia Shelgunova was third in the all-around and was included in the lineup as the first substitute. Plus she’s very well prepared. After all, we are looking at who can perform how now.

For example, in Penza, Nastya Grishina was the second, but at the moment she is worse than Shelgunova. But we cannot replace her with Shelgunova, because there is a sports principle.

- Are there any other new girls in the team?
“We held five training camps at the Lake Krugloye base for 10 days and looked at all children born before 2000, who had not previously come into view. Eight girls were selected who are now working with the youth team. The guys are doing well in this regard - a large supply, but the women's team had a problem. We came from the Olympics, and Shelgunova alone came to the main team. Now Sosnitskaya has been added. In June, she will perform at the World Cup in Portugal.

The most experienced among girls is Ksenia Afanasyeva. The impression was that now she has added in comparison with the Olympics. Is Ksenia growing?
- Yes. We came to the following conclusion: the older the girls, the more consciously they train. They have a completely different attitude: they do not need to be forced or persuaded. Ksenia herself comes and works. An example - Isbasa performed at the Olympics. She's 27. Also Poner, Chusovitina. And we used to bet on the little ones, and then we lost them. Even Aliya now has a grown-up approach to work. She can already tell the coaches: "Today I cannot withstand such a load." And they must reckon with it. And before we had such a moment: "No, you will." And all this ended either with an injury, or she lay and cried. Now senior coach Grebyonkin organizes work differently. And we hope that this will not give immediate results, but long-term ones.

- Perhaps the biggest surprise from Ksenia was the jump of 2.5 screws.
- When she said that she wanted to perform this jump, it was a surprise for us too. At first, we honestly didn't believe. But she has such good 2.5 screws in technique that it became clear: she can. But Ksenia is a coward. I don't know if she will dare to jump them at the European Championships, but she has a good mood.

It is important for us to keep Ksenia Afanasyeva until the next Olympics. She will be 24 years old in Rio. What age is this? Or Aliya - she will turn 22 in September 2016. We believe that when little talented girls appear, it is important to keep them and bring them to the level so that they begin to show conscious gymnastics, and not be one-day butterflies.

There is no limit to the indignation of the coaches who came and saw this interview. Everyone is afraid that under the influence of this article we will drop everything and leave, because we are wealthy people who have already proved everything to everyone and achieved a lot.

Nemov himself does not want to work, he was offered. And then what does he want to lead? Or does someone want to put him in charge? We were called to work when Arkaev was removed, when there was a collapse. Our decision to return was influenced by the request of our son-in-law - Fetisov. He said that he is uncomfortable when his relatives work for another country. We came back, but not to continue to ruin everything.

I will have a serious conversation with Nemov. What has he done to help revive gymnastics? Last Result that was in Sydney, we did - before going abroad. The same Nemov and Khorkina passed through our hands. Why say that we are at the age when we need to be changed? Excuse me, but we don't need to tumble on the poles. We need to have brains and a vision for gymnastics.

When the coaches got together and said that they would write a complaint, I asked: "Why?" The result is already visible. Nemov gave interviews before the finals, he did not know that there would be so many medals. Now he is crushed, he called me several times, but I cannot talk to him, because it just hurts me humanly that this man took and spat on everything that has been done in these seven years.

I can tell him: "You were a four-time champion, honor and praise you, but this is the brains, talent and work of a coach plus your physical data. The coach made you like that. We are not in America, you did not give a dime for your success. Well, be kind, give credit to those who helped you get all this knowledge. Go and work. " This man has not done anything for the last seven years, he is only a "wedding general". We immediately invited him to work with young people, but he refused.

We have a lot of work. It's very easy to lose athletes. Anyone can come to everything ready and say that we are old. And who said that my health is worse than that of the same Nemov? All this really hurt us, and when I read this interview, I wanted to go up to Nemov and ask: "Well, how can you be such a mean person?"

We are actively working. We have huge staffing problems. There are no trainers. But Artur Hakobyan plows abroad and prepares champions for America. I talked to him, asked him to come back, but he doesn't want to. We are told to send your athletes, like in tennis ...

And how to talk to them, because they see this interview and think: "Why come back if people who worked conscientiously were mixed with mud?" This is scary. It seems to me that this has already become the norm for Russia.

We believed until the last hour, until the last minute

Valentina Rodionenko on injustice, faith in common sense and the readiness of our gymnasts for the Olympics

Valentina Rodionenko during an open training session of the Russian national team on the eve of Olympic Games in Rio © Vladimir Astapkovich, RIA Novosti

What a blessing that the threat of suspension from the Olympics hanging over our gymnastics team has passed. The coach of our national team Valentina Rodionenko tells in an exclusive interview how the gymnasts who flew to Rio on the very day when their fate of participation in the Olympic Games was decided.

Valentina Aleksandrovna, gymnasts, like the entire Russian national team, could not be allowed to the Olympics. I can only imagine how you felt, continuing to perfect the programs in the last weeks before leaving and not having the strength to completely disconnect from the thought that all this could go to dust.

And yet we believed! We decided for ourselves that we will believe until the last hour, until the last minute! Because this is just an unprecedented story: how can an entire country be isolated from the Olympic Games just for the reason that someone got caught doping! And that someone should answer for it. Someone else. But what has to do with our work - crazy work, hard work of our gymnasts ?! How can you tell us after that: you will answer for this, you will not go anywhere. People who did not violate anything received nothing. What it is?! If that happened, it would be a crime, a real crime against big sport. Having lost a country that is among the leaders in world sports, the Olympics would have lost a lot.

- And the mood of the gymnasts themselves ...

It was and remains beautiful. Again, they didn't want to believe all this. And we trained anyway. We tuned in to the performance. Nobody said, “Oh! Maybe we won't be allowed to perform ... ”Not a single person relaxed!

Gymnasts train in ideal conditions - on the basis of Fr. Round, which was equipped with the support of VTB. Athletes spend more than 300 days a year at the base: three weeks - collection, then - a week of rest. And so every month.

- But, probably, some conversations with them could not be avoided?

Not a single girl ... Why am I talking about girls: our girls are very young, older guys ... None of them asked a single question! Even when I returned from the executive committee of the Russian Olympic Committee and the girls knew that I had gone to this executive committee ... So, no one asked me: "Well, are we going to participate or not?" As you can see, there was not even the slightest doubt.

- Well, everything is clear, then we just need to close this topic. Moreover, what we were all so afraid of did not happen. I just wanted to understand how much it affected. If not, thank God. What can you say about the team that is about to take to the platform in Rio, about Aliya Mustafina? What to expect and what do you coaches hope for at heart?

Unfortunately, this team did not include Victoria Komova. Silver medalist in the all-around London Olympics, who returned to the platform after a long, several years of treatment, again became the world champion on the uneven bars ... She will have to be treated again. Injuries did not give her the opportunity to prepare fully. Vika could not stand the competition with other girls, as she could not train normally.

Mustafina is only gaining strength. We took care of her preparation, not forgetting that Aliya had two knee surgeries, that she has certain back problems. And Aliya, in spite of everything, prepared, she performed at the European Championship, won the log, became the third on the uneven bars, because by that time she had not yet had time to restore her Olympic program, but it is already approaching the Olympics in the state in which it should be.

Masha Paseka. The current world champion in the vault. She also had difficulties, and this is natural, since only a few people in the world jump such jumps as Masha. Moreover, she needs to go out and fight for medals, and not just jump. Therefore, a special regime was created for her, with jumping into a foam pit during training, that is, with an extremely careful and, as in the case of Aliya, respectful attitude.

This is the situation with our eminent gymnasts, who won medals at the previous Olympics. And the rest are brand new. Although Seda Tutkhalyan and Daria Spiridonova are already well known by the fans. Daria Spiridonova managed to become the world champion on the uneven bars ...

- There were a lot of them, world champions. An unusual and sometimes even comic story.

- (Laughs.) Yes, four at once! Well, these are judicial cases. We were very pleased when, after the end of the competition, a supervisor from Australia, who was working on this apparatus, approached us and said: “There is really only one champion. Your Daria Spiridonova should have won the bars. Silver - to Victoria Komova ". The rest were simply "pulled up".

- Why?

They are trying in this way to fight against Russian hegemony on the uneven bars. We have been winning the uneven bars for a long time. The American women made it their goal to remove us from this pedestal. Therefore, everyone waited for the American to come out. She was one of the last to come out. It was impossible for the previous gymnasts who performed brilliantly to underestimate the mark. When the American did not do what had to be done for gold, giving her exactly the same number of points, she was "dragged" into the society of champions, but I think this was the first and last time.

- There are so many inexperienced young people in our team. Will they tremble?

You know, anything can happen. But they are ready to fight. And this is very important for us!

P.S. It so happened that our conversation with Valentina Rodionenko was mainly about the women's team. But it would, of course, be wrong not to touch the male at all. In London, our guys, showing their teeth in qualifying, could not catch on team medal... Then Main coach the national team Andrei Rodionenko said that they didn’t have enough just a little, and to Rio ours, while then only a growing young team fledged and matured.

And they managed to preserve it in many ways. Yes, and here it was not without losses and injuries. The team has lost the captain - Emin Garibov. But she managed to keep many of the London combatants. First of all, Denis Ablyazin and David Belyavsky.

Denis Ablyazin has excellent programs of the highest level of difficulty on three apparatus: rings, free and vault. On these shells Denis is a king and a god and can rightfully count on medals. If only his explosive temperament does not let him down: from the overflow of emotions, he sometimes makes mistakes, "flying out" on the same free people outside the carpet, which is severely punished by the judges ...

David Belyavsky is a very handsome, graceful gymnast, whose style and technique are admired by the stars of the times of the great Soviet gymnastics, in particular, a TV commentator not too generous in praise and a two-time Olympic champion Lydia Gavrilovna Ivanova. And, what is especially valuable, he is an all-rounder, and all-round athletes, as Andrei Rodionenko put it, is long overdue to be included in the Red Book ...

For David, as well as for Denis Ablyazin, as well as for our entire men's team, Rio can and should become the time and place in which they finally have no injuries, no rivals, no villainous fate in any way. ...

Sports news. Behind the scenes of sports

Valentina Rodionenko: "The revival of gymnastics in Russia"

Valentina Rodionenko: "The revival of gymnastics in Russia"

State coach of the Russian national team artistic gymnastics Valentina Rodionenko spoke about the newly created infrastructure in the country for the development of her sport and congratulated the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation on its 90th anniversary.

- Valentina Alexandrov on, more than 15 years ago, you and your husband Andrei Rodionenko went to work abroad. When you returned to Russia, did what you saw surprised, disappointed, made you happy?

We honestly didn't think it would be that bad. A number of sports societies - trade unions, Burevestnik, Trud - disappeared, and with them the bases also disappeared. Lake Krugloye was in a terrible state. The roof of the women's hall was leaking, and the foam rubber landing pits were in the water. We, of course, did not expect to see palaces at home, but from such horror we were just shocked ...

- How did the situation change in the future?

The situation was getting better step by step. "Lake Krugloye" was reconstructed according to the Federal Target Program amme "Development physical culture and sports in Russian Federation for 2006-2015 ".The base was repaired, modernizedwhether, equipped with modern training equipment and recovery means. Specialists who have settled all over the world since the 1990s began to return. Of course, the process was not easy. It took time to renovate the base. People who have spent many years away from their homeland and have often already received other citizenship, also did not always react with willingness to the offer to return. It was very easy and quick to destroy everything, and it is so difficult to restore it later. But in the end, now we have a modern base on Krugly, absolutely all conditions are created for athletes and coaches to achieve results. This, perhaps, was not even in Soviet times!

- Where else are artistic gymnastics centers based?

The Burtasy Penza Center, also built under the Federal Target Program, is our second base. It is also equipped with the latest technology. Traditions are being restored in Vladimir - it was in this city that the great Nikolai Andrianov and Vladimir Artyomov began. Gymnastics rises in historical centers like Rostov, Voronezh, where the winner of the 2012 Games Victoria Komova comes from. I hope that in 2014 we will have our own base at the Yug-Sport center in Sochi, which has a powerful recovery complex. So far, we have traveled overseas and warmly to Italy or Spain, but our own center is, of course, preferable. The Ministry of Sports promised us that in a year the base in Sochi would be at our disposal. And over the years I have become convinced that this promise can be trusted - people in Vitaly Mutko's department keep their word. Taking this opportunity, I congratulate the Ministry of Sports on its 90th anniversary, I wish you success, prosperity and, most importantly, victories.

- Finally, tell us how things are going with our women's team, which after the 2012 Olympic season was hit by an epidemic of injuries?

All is well, the girls have long since returned to training: Vika Komova recovered from a protracted illness, Ksyusha Afanasyeva - surgery, Aliya Mustafina - another difficult season. On November 22, we finished our regular training camp at the Kruglom Lake. The next big start is the May European Championship in Sofia. I knock on wood so as not to jinx it, but, God forbid, our athletes will fully recover and come up to it in optimal shape.

Photo by RIA Novosti

In recent days, we have at least learned the names of our gymnasts. An unenviable situation for a sport. Interest is awakened every four years.

- Yes, to my deep regret, little is written or spoken about artistic gymnastics in our country. Do you know how in America? The top three are Athletics, swimming and gymnastics.

I thought NBA, NHL, baseball.

- Thousands of sports clubs where they only do gymnastics. Thousands! It is prestigious to send a child there. It is artistic gymnastics that is the basis of all sports. You may not become a professional athlete, but you can move to another section, where with such training you will achieve results.

Examples?

- Elena Isinbaeva, Svetlana Feofanova. This I just quickly remembered. They all started with gymnastics. Elena, by the way, is an international master of sports in artistic gymnastics.

"Little is written and said about gymnastics in our country"

Why didn't they stay?

Best of the day

- Not everything depended specifically on them. Changes have appeared in weight and height indicators - it is already difficult to stay at a high level.

Why aren't artistic gymnastics clubs opening in Russia, like in America? Unprofitable?

- Still, the standard of living overseas is higher, but you have to pay for everything there. In the United States, parents can afford to pay for the lessons. And they take it seriously there. I can't forget how mothers with babies came to such clubs. And they were jumping on a trampoline. There is an understanding that the child must grow up correctly. Here is our Olympic champion Natasha Shaposhnikova now lives in a relatively small town in the state of New Jersey. So in her club up to a thousand children. And I must say that she's not the only club in the city. All this leads to what?

For what?

- It's just that the US team has a huge choice. We are deprived of such an opportunity.

Sometimes you don't understand where you find athletes?

- Difficult, very difficult. You see, now gymnastics is at such a level that specialized gyms are needed. Now the options for when you can put shells and remove them will not pass. Gymnastics has changed. The hall needs pits to work out complex elements. But this is still not a problem.

And what is the main one?

- We need competent teachers, but at the institutes of physical education the departments of artistic gymnastics are being closed. What can you even talk about? A lot of people have left, now all of America is flooded with our coaches, but few people stayed here. And now in the national team we have to correct technical flaws that have been going on since childhood.

I remember very well how, after an unsuccessful performance in Beijing, sports officials formulated a task for the next two years - to return our coaches who work abroad. How many returned?

- No one.

“At the institutes of physical education, the departments of artistic gymnastics are being closed. What can you talk about at all? "

Marvelous.

- So that they come back, it is necessary to create conditions. Maybe in America they earn a little for their standard of living, but Russia cannot afford them. For example, some specialists earn 1000-1500 in the USA. This is almost 50 thousand rubles. And here they are not given.

They said that now the coaches are making good money.

- What coaches are we talking about? At the national team level, yes. It's a sin to complain. But we need those who will work with young children. They should kneel in front of the child and teach him every element. It is painstaking work, but the salaries of such specialists in Russia are extremely low. A penny.

And officials spoke about children's coaches.

- Nothing changed. The salaries of specialists at the national team level were raised only two years ago. There is one more problem. In the regions, the authorities do not want to bother with gymnastics. Why do we need gyms, coaches, athletes? This is a headache. And now parallel tests appeared. And this is the most real evil. You seem to have sent the athlete, but you don't need to spend money on anything. And even Moscow uses this. For some reason Victoria Komova also represents this region, although she is Voronezh.

But it is also beneficial for Vika. It will work more.

- Rather, it’s not even about the athlete, but the coach. Komova herself has a very decent scholarship, so she would hardly go for it because of the money.

Since we are talking about money, I would like to know how Aliya Mustafina endured last year. After all, she was deprived of the presidential scholarship.

- She was not left without everything. Aliya receives a scholarship of about 100 thousand rubles. Plus, she spent the whole year at the training camp, and there was government food, government equipment. Do not think girls are provided for. Honestly, now the athletes in the national team earn in the same way that no one else did in Soviet times. So do not think that Mustafina has remained a beggar.

But she lost about 3.5 million rubles.

- As soon as it became known that she could not count on this money, she was immediately raised the scholarship. But what if these are the rules of the presidential grant? Nobody will rule me for the sake of one athlete, and Aliya missed the season.

“Aliya is very closed. She can perform in such a way that everyone will gasp and show nothing the next day "

Once I read an interview with Mustafina. An eerie experience. Is she very closed in everyday life?

- Yes, there's nothing you can do about it. It is very difficult to work with such an athlete. Aliya is very closed and won't say much. She can act today in such a way that everyone will gasp and show nothing the next day.

And this situation can not be predicted?

- Of course not. At the same time, Mustafina has a golden quality - in the right moment she can pull herself together. This is not given to everyone.

Wasn't it harder than Mustafina?

- What do you mean. More difficult than with Svetlana Boginskaya it was not necessary to work. The character is just awful, everyone got it. But during important starts, she was perfect in a sporting sense.

- A question that haunts all those who follow artistic gymnastics from time to time. You have listed the problems, but where do we get top-class people from? We thought that after Khorkina no one would appear, but there is Mustafina ...

What is Khorkina?

- Well, how is that? This is Khorkina.

Khorkina is a very strong and beautiful gymnast of the last generation. But the stars were before her. I could list for a long time.

- Svetlana is a megastar.

- It's all of you with your stamps. Megastar, you can think of it too. And then, have you seen Komova? God grant that she does not make mistakes at the Games, but this is a gymnast of a completely different level. She is extraordinary. Light, tall, with good lines and a very difficult program. Here she will be a megastar.

Will she become a deputy?

- Let's think differently. And what did the deputy give Khorkina? A person should be successful in his profession, but what did Sveta do? She spent four years in the Duma, but where is she now? Do you know?

“We offered Alexey Nemov to lead the youth team. Refused "

“And I don’t know. If you have already taken a different path, then you have to take place there. Sveta in general has nothing to do with gymnastics. As a deputy, she tried to do something, but that's not all. The trouble is, very few great athletes come into coaching positions. And because this is a hell of a job, no one wants to repeat their life anew, in a different capacity. We offered Alexey Nemov to lead the youth team.

And he?

- Refused. He doesn't even want to talk about it.

So who will Vika Komova be?

- And now you will not understand this generation. After training, they stick to their laptops and who knows what interests them there. However, Vyacheslav Zaitsev came to our camp, so Vika came to life. She is interested in all this, maybe she will become a fashion designer.