Sovetsky Sport. February 2, 1989. As we have already reported, the new head coach of the women's national gymnastics team is the Merited Coach of the USSR Alexander Alexandrov, who trained the all-around world champion Dmitry Bilozerchev.
How did men's coach Alexandrov become the head coach of the women's team?
I will answer this way: I do not think that gymmnastics should be divided into men's and women's. Gymnastics is always gymnastics, and the basics of training for boys and girls are the same. Although, of course, there are specifics in working with the fair sex. This especially seems to be psychological preparation. For example, when moving from the youth team to the main team, the adaptation period is difficult for girls. Over time, everything falls into place, but we manage to lose talented athletes. That's the problem for the coach of the women's team - to keep as many young gymnasts as possible for big-time sports.
What can you say about the team you are now leading?
To tell the truth, it still has to be created. All the Olympians are still in the team - experienced, strong and...wayward. Young ones have also arrived: Yulia Kut and Svetlana Ivanova. So we still have to mold a team from these 'fledglings' and 'stars.'
I warned the Olympic champions right away - there would be no slacking off. I expect great results from Elena Shushunova, despite her age, which is critical for gymnastics.
Natalia Laschenova and Svetlana Boginskaya are doing well, but it's time for them to learn to be leaders. The situation with Svetlana Baitova is more complicated. She is literally tortured by injuries. But I think that Sveta, despite everything, will remain in the national team. What character! After all, she managed to perform well in Seoul, even though she had a cast removed from her arm two weeks before the start of the Games. Olga Strazheva and Elena Shevchenko have been called up for the team. They seem to be the glue that will hold together such different 'bricks.'
As for our young generation, their task is to become personalities worthy of Olympians. Both Kut and Ivanova already have experience of international youth competitions, but have not yet competed among adults, and there the level of responsibility is completely different.
However, you never mentioned Oksana Omelyanchik's name...
Sport is sport, and no matter how bitter it is to part with athletes, the time to say goodbye has come. I want to say a big thank you to Oksana for everything she has done for gymnastics, and wish her luck and happiness in the future. Although...if Oksana tries hard, then the doors to the team are open to her.
You have worked with Leonid Arkaev for a long time, preaching a tough training method...
And I completely agree with him. Only such training work without any concessions can lead to success. Having analyzed the gymnasts' performances, we discovered an interesting pattern. Over the four days of competition, the girls' results gradually declined. They got the highest scores on the first day of the competition, and the lowest on the fourth. The reason is that special physical training is bad. And this is our, the coaches', shortcoming.
By the way, good physical training is also required by the new rules introduced by the FIG technical committee. Team competitions in the compulsory program have been cancelled. Every day the girls will have to work at the limit of both their physical and mental capabilities, because they will have to compete not only with foreign rivals, but also with each other.
This season, in addition to the usual competitions at the world and European championships, we will have to begin the fight to reach the finals of the World and European Cups, which will take place next year. As you can see, there are many competitions, which means that in order for the stress on the gymnasts to be distributed evenly, they will perform in different tournaments in turns. Therefore, all 14 members of the team must be equally well prepared.
Are you happy with the competition calendar for this season?
Yes and no. I already said that the calendar is extremely busy. It will be incredibly tiring. But, on the other hand, where, if not at competitions, can you raise real sportswomen?
Do you have a specific concept for preparing the national team for international competitions?
There is one, but it's too early to talk about it. When the first results appear, then we'll talk.
But there's a problem I would like to talk about now - it will be too late later. We have many good gymnastics centers in our country where highly qualified specialists work. I would especially like to highlight the school in Krylatskoy (headed by Valentina Sergievskaya), the CSKA base in Batunki with Mikhail Klimenko at the helm, and the youth team headed by Anatoly Kozeev. In principle, everyone has the same goal: to prepare good gymnasts. However, the methods are very different. So, because of this conflict in coaching concepts, specialists cannot agree among themselves sometimes on simple technical issues. Their relationships also affect the athletes, which is why we, the national team coaches, are losing talented gymnasts. Therefore, I consider one of my main tasks today to be to convince these coaches, whom I respect very much, to put aside their differences and to do everything possible to ensure the success of the national team. If the concept of Krylov's swans, crayfish, and pike remains, no concept, even the most talented, will save us from defeat.
N. KALUGINA