Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Evgeny Dementiev in an interview with Sport before the start of the Yugra ski marathon, organized by Otkritie Bank speaks, spoke about working with Sergei Ustyugov, the brightest moment in his career, disqualification for doping, disdain for Russian skiers in Europe and good things from the Soviet Union.
— You officially ended your sports career a year ago and since then you have been working as the head of the Ugra Ski Racing Federation. Already adapted to a new life?
— The transition turned out to be smooth, because the final years of my career were not so active. I was looking for myself in different directions in different directions, and this opportunity arose. The only thing I can’t schedule in my schedule yet is a lot of workouts. There is no great desire and motivation, apparently, she should wake up. . Did his decision not to work with the national team, but to study separately, come as a surprise?“It was actually really unexpected. Everything went according to plan, he worked in the group of Yegor Sorin, and then decided to prepare individually. The region supported him, we have every opportunity for this.
— How easy is it to work with him?
— All people are different, you need everyone has a different approach. I would not say that he has a complex character, he does the job. I can even say that his decision motivates Sergey even more to achieve his goals.
He is a very talented athlete. Perhaps he does not need to train as much as Bolshunov to achieve such results. He knows his body and works with full dedication.
— After the Russian Championship in Tyumen, we have not talked yet. During the season, he repeatedly said that this was his last season. Although when we last talked, he admitted that he loves skiing again. Perhaps this just indicates that he will continue.
— It is a sin to end in this form.
— I absolutely agree. It's great to be an athlete, you do what you love, and Sergey is great at it. The head does not hurt about anything, everyone supports him. But we cannot decide for him.
Do you think the isolation of Russian sports affects the motivation of Russian skiers in general?
— Of course, it is bad that we do not participate in the World Cup, but it does not depend on us. The winter passed, the guys saw that in our country they continue to be loved, there are always a large number of people in the stands. There is an opportunity to earn money, my task and other leaders of the federations are to develop the infrastructure so that athletes grow and progress. They must understand that our Russian Cup is no worse than the World Cup. No need to reinvent the wheel. Look at the NHL. They don't need world championships or Olympic games. They built a business that everyone wants to get into.
Do you think if our suspension drags on for a long time, we should create something like the NHL in skiing?
— By the way, are there any problems with skis now? Biathletes said that the stocks are slowly depleted. Ski supply leader Fisher remained in the country. But there will definitely be a deficit.- You must have seen Russian-made skis, recently presented, among other things, by the president of the Russian Biathlon Union, Viktor Maigurov. What do you think of them?
— They have good material. As far as I know, this factory is very powerful, it has the ability to make good skis. It's great that they are doing this.
— Yes, we do not need to come up with big words like import substitution. We have a ski country that should make skis. There were many ski factories in the Soviet Union — in Karelia, in Ukraine, in the Vladimir region, in Estonia.
— Have you seen the times when people raced Russian skis?— I myself started to run on domestic skis. We still have a factory in Kirovo-Chepetsk, it is clear that technologies have changed, but still. Let's talk a little about your career. Do you often remember the race in Turin, where you became the Olympic champion?
— Rarely. Although I'm only associated with her. It was the most powerful career peak. The last time I recalled it was when footage from that race was shown on the screen at last year's Yugra marathon.
Is skiing much more popular in Russia now than it was then?
“Popularity is insane right now. We have grown a great generation that wins everything. Although they loved skiing before. After winning the Olympics in Italy, he experienced tremendous pleasure when he returned to Moscow. Without undue modesty, I will say that many people recognized on the streets.
— In one of the interviews you said that you would not change anything in your career.
— The absolute truth. I'm happy with everything.
— And the story of the disqualification for doping?
— It was life baggage. If this had not happened, then, probably, he would look at life differently now. That situation opened my eyes to many things.
— When you returned after disqualification, were there sidelong glances from foreign athletes? — Everything was more than adequate. I know that in biathlon foreigners regularly attacked Sasha Loginov, but skiing and biathlon are different sports with different federations. The attitude towards me did not change much, as I communicated with everyone before, and continued. At the same time, there was still some tension at the World Cup stages, but this is regardless of my disqualification. It is quite heavily politicized.
—You must have read the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee. Do you think they are humiliating for our athletes?
— I would not want to be in the place of the athletes now. They take away the dream to which they have been going since childhood. It's a tough choice. In general, this may sound rude, but Russian skiers at the World Cup have always been second rate. It was real.
— How did it manifest itself?- If a ski company offers a contract, then the Europeans are always given conditions much better than ours. Perhaps the expression «second grade» is not entirely correct, but the neglect was definitely present. It was also about us, because we did not know the language, for example.
Again, I repeat that we do not need to think about how they are there. We need to do well in our country, to improve everything, to teach athletes foreign languages. At one time we spent the whole summer doing this, hiring tutors and learning languages. We were interested, we wanted to communicate with foreigners and understand them. But it was a personal initiative, and ideally everyone should have it as an institution of the national team.
— Perhaps, because of the ignorance of the language, our skiers were offered more modest contracts?
—Yes, for sure this was one of the reasons. to some extent, the attitude towards ours did not come from athletes, but from officials and functionaries in Europe?
— Athletes are definitely not to blame. Our institutions should also work towards protecting the rights of athletes, impose their policies, their opinions so that they are taken into account. Unless in the days of the Soviet Union, someone could order us to act without a flag? No one could.
— Will our skis fail during the lockdown?
— I don't think so. The Norwegians, too, were left without their main competitors. Think back to 1956 and the Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Our athletes took part there for the first time, if we talk about the Winter Games. And they performed well. And in the same hockey there were famous series with Canada, when in North America ours were considered amateurs and allegedly were not suitable for Canadian professionals. But in reality it turned out differently.
We passed this way. Even if we return to the international arena, we cannot lose the mechanism within the country and continue to develop it. It's good that we now have such a strong generation of skiers. But we already need to think about the future.