Yuri Charkovsky, celebrating his 83rd birthday this Wednesday, came to cross-country skiing 64 years ago and still works in the Russian team. In an interview with Sport, the ex-head coach of the national team spoke about the attitude to harassment in his address by foreign media, about the high-profile doping scandals of the 90s and zero, about the formation of coach Yuri Borodavko, and also about why Lyubov does not consider Egorov as a dopingist.
— Yuri Anatolyevich, I will now voice the thoughts of many people with whom I have communicated over the past years. That you are a legend of Russian ski racing. Feel like a legend?
— Nope! I don't feel it.
— What is your secret. Where does so much strength come from at 83?- The secret, probably, is that I move all the time. I go skiing, I go in the summer. About three years ago my knee hurt and I stopped running. But three years ago I ran. I think that the secret is precisely in the fact that I never sit still, I always find some kind of work, around the house, in the garden, in the garden. We must move!
— Perhaps there is something hidden in psychology too?
— I don't even know. I just love cross-country skiing.
— At one time, Vladimir Alekseevich Loginov, head of the Russian Ski Racing Federation, tried to persuade you to become the head coach of the Russian national team for a long time. Why did they agree in 2009?- I went for it, because there was no one else to put. There was no suitable candidate, so I accepted. He told me that it was for one year, so I agreed.
— Don't you regret it?
— No…
— Doesn't it feel like you were thrown into an embrasure before the Olympics in Vancouver?
— There was a feeling, but what to do? In general, I absolutely did not like the Olympics in Vancouver, because the distance there was simply terrible. Such ascents and descents … In simple terms, some stupid descents, with turns, you pick up speed, you need to extinguish it, because the turn. Some illogical decisions. I think that only at this Olympics it was like that. There, Petra Maidich fell and broke her rib. Although around, on the tourist track, there were such good climbs, cool! But for the races — they screwed up.
— You are a well-deserved coach, you led the national team. What was the most difficult period in your career?
— The most difficult … I think that when I became the second coach of the national team. I was the coach of the junior team of the USSR — everything was clear there: I was the head of the group, led this group, led it. And when I became the second coach, and the senior coach was Vladimir Yakovlevich Filimonov from Alma-Ata, Kazakh, it was, of course, hard for me. Before that, I was my own boss, but here — on the sidelines, it was not easy. But then somehow got used to it. It was 1987-88, the Calgary Olympics. Then Lesha Prokurorov became the Olympic champion, Misha Devyatyarov became the Olympic champion, and Volodya Smirnov was the winner of the Games.
— At the beginning of the 2000s, he was just starting his coaching career at the top level Yuri Viktorovich Borodavko. And you always supported him, in all interviews. Could you then imagine that in the end he would become the best coach in Russia?- I couldn't foresee it. But he knew one thing: a person who does not make mistakes, who does not get bumps, who does not fall to the very, very bottom — he cannot become a good coach. Yuri Viktorovich fell twice so that it was possible to abandon skiing altogether. Looks like he got up and then fell down again. But he got up again. Only from such people grow real coaches. Not the ones that only go up the road, that can't be. You need to make mistakes somewhere, understand your mistakes, move on. Here is such Yuri Viktorovich. But I could not imagine that he would become like this.
— And what kind of falls are you talking about?
— He has a school, as everyone says, «for survival.» Take, for example, Sasha Legkov — a gifted athlete, an obedient athlete, he did everything, but he did it to such an extent that later he could not realize what he was capable of. He needed to rest, rethink, and start again. I'm talking about Legkov. And here is the same thing about Yuri Viktorovich. He still works in the same vein, very large, superhuman loads, but now he consults with athletes much more than before. For example, Bolshunov. Nobody in the world trains as hard as he does. Absolutely. All foreign athletes are no match for him, they would immediately stretch out their legs. It suited him, but he also sometimes has recessions. So Yuri Viktorovich had moments when he understood that it was impossible to go on like this. You need to fall down. His life «bent over», there were no results, he went down, but then rose again. And now he is thoroughly on his feet.
— That is, he learned to build a dialogue? After all, not every coach is given to hear athletes? — Reading foreign media, one gets the impression that you are considered almost some kind of underground «gray cardinal». Some media even called it «the cross-country skiing spider in the sport of high achievements in Russia», «the most undesirable person at the Olympics.» How did they perceive such sketches?
— This is nonsense. First of all, I don't pay attention to it. For example, after 2009 (doping scandals involving Evgeny Dementyev and Yulia Chepalova — ed.), they associated this doping with my name. I never went into the details of medicine, never stuck my nose into it. So it's all subjective. So I'm indifferent to it. If you pay attention to what they write, you can immediately stop.
— What have you not been accused of, but knowing Elena Valerievna Vyalbe and her zero tolerance for doping, and the fact that you are still in the team — I am sure that all this is not true. But still. What was the problem of those times? Where did doping seep into sports?- These accusations come from Norwegians, Swedes and Finns. And the Finns, when they themselves are involved, they are silent. And as soon as they shake themselves off a little, time passes, and they also begin to yell. Interestingly, in the days of Elena Valerievna, when she was an athlete, none of this happened. We had friendship with the Norwegians, with the Swedes. Foreign athletes came to her home. And when this friendship ended, it all began.
— What were the athletes in those days guided by when taking illegal drugs? The same Lyubov Egorova, for which Vyalba had to apologize to the whole world.
— Lyuba Egorova is not a dopingist. It so happened that at the Olympics in Lillehammer, in 1994, they were given pills, which were later banned. And she still had a pill, somewhere in a case with ointments lay. Sasha Voronin, a servicer, himself saw how she took out this pill, not knowing that the drug was already banned, and took it before the race in Trondheim, in '97. Accepted without any ulterior motive.
— But again, ignorance is no excuse.
— It's clear. She paid the price for it.
— Whose disqualification was the most painful for you personally? Was there a feeling of some kind of personal betrayal?
— I can’t remember this, I didn’t have anything like that. In general, a completely different person was responsible for medicine in our country. And I have nothing to do with this medicine and have not. But the Swedes and Norwegians need to find something. Well, and then, there is a Russian proverb «shouts the loudest — Stop the thief! — the thief himself.» This is how they do it. Clinging to every moment.
— You have been in the national team for so many years. Probably a lot of stories have accumulated over the years? For various reasons, we all love hot stories. For example, regarding violations of the regime, have there been any truly scandalous cases?- For example, Zimyatov told me one story that was at the training camp in Togliatti, when I worked as a junior team coach for the first year. He says: «Yes, we were waiting for you to fall asleep, and then we went to the disco with the guys.» We waited for lights out, I see that everyone seems to be sleeping, it's dark. And in fact! Recently confessed to me. This was due to the fact that someone got drunk, and he reassured me: “What are you worried about, we always got drunk, but you didn’t know about it!” By the way, there are no drunks in the team now. All this drinking has gone down in history.
— Is the sport getting more professional?
— Yes, more professional. Now no one drinks. We used to struggle with this phenomenon, but now it doesn’t exist at all.
— Did it ever come to fights? br>
What didn't happen was fights. Never.
— Lena Trubitsyna trained with such an attitude … Girls now do not rush to training like that. Firstly, she went out the very first and plowed — be healthy! Now girls do not do this, although, of course, they perform large volumes in terms of intensity and speed. She was a very diligent athlete. There were never any problems with her. /strong>
— I don't even remember. There were none. That Lazutina, that Vyalba, three months before the World Cup, even on New Year's Eve, they did not allow themselves to drink champagne, the preparation was so serious. Everyone was subordinated to the performance at the World Championships or the Olympics. After that, they allowed it a little, but no one paid attention to it. At the same time, they did it so competently that the coach had no suspicions. Yes, even if they were … Still, they saw how they plowed before — on naked enthusiasm and without alcohol (laughs)!
— When you were the coach of the junior team, then under your leadership trained not only Vyalbe, but also Alexey Prokurorov. How did you cope with the tragedy of his death?
— I cried, I don't know how… I was in Otepää, arrived by bus from Ramsau, spent the night and went to exercise in the morning. Phone at this time. They called me and said that this is it. But maybe it's not him yet, because it was necessary to confirm the identity. We saw documents for Prokurorov, but they could have been stolen. Our doctor, Vladimir Yuryevich Tikhonov, he went and identified … It was terrible. The most beautiful person! We have lost a good coach of the women's team. We were very worried.
— He was hit by a drunk driver. Is this one of the reasons for your aversion to alcohol?
— Of course.
— In the national team you are the main fighter for a healthy lifestyle, where Are you so categorical in this matter?
— I have not taken any beer or anything for seven years now, I lead a healthy lifestyle. Before that, he drank only red wine, a little strong, but everything in moderation. But now life is such that drinking alcohol is only harming yourself.
— Your wife is Estonian, you, in fact, live in two countries. In the current realities, how difficult is it?
— It's hard, of course, when you're abroad. You get completely different information, but I don’t pay attention to it, because I know that this is a lie. The information is one-sided. Although when you pass the border, the Estonian border guards are polite, no problem. Interestingly, the common people — they don't give a damn about it. On the contrary, they are for Russians to come. Everything has gone up in price. There is no electricity, no oil, no gas — but they themselves refused it. They lead themselves into a trap. I spoke with an Italian — the same thing happens. If earlier I paid 200 euros for heating, now it is more than a thousand euros. This is an impossible price for a mere mortal. Therefore, the heating had to be turned off altogether. Now they freeze. By the way, many people there, in Estonia, when the NWO began, praised the Ukrainians, and over time changed their attitude towards Ukraine, began to support Putin.
— You practically do not give interviews. The last big interview is the one that we did in 2017 at the World Championships in Lahti. Why?
— Honestly, I don't like doing interviews. I’m already giving you an interview, as they say, “on the knurled road.”
— In that same conversation, six years ago, you said that you could ski 40 kilometers along the Tartu marathon. Now the indicators have dropped significantly?
— Many times now passed 28 kilometers. Of course, the mileage has been reduced. It turns out like this: I walk 14-15 kilometers in one direction, turn around and back.
— Even young people will envy you.
— Well, young people will not envy, they walk much faster than I do. But people of my age, of course, can envy.
— Even during your sports career, you have always been drawn to long and extra long distances. How can you explain this?
— It's natural, I guess. In general, when I started my way in cross-country skiing, I had two dogs. I then lived in Pushkino, next to the forest. I went out with the dogs, we had certain circles, you run slowly. Craving for a uniform regime, I always focused on the indicator «five minutes — a kilometer», this is at a calm pace. So I got 30-40 kilometers.
— Why didn't you go to athletics, for example?
— Well, it was necessary to study there from childhood, to set up equipment. I have never had an athletics step. And then, one more thing: the school lays your future in sports, and we didn’t have a stadium at school. They ran along the school along an ordinary country road, there were no sidewalks. Therefore, we were not given a special race.
— At what age did you start skiing?
— In the 59th year, I was 19 years old. A year before that, he entered the engineering school, there was a very good teacher — Yuri Ivanovich Tararaksin. By the way, Dima Guberniev always reminds me of him. Because with his uncle we studied at the same technical school. We had another student there who trained at the Dynamo MGS, went to training three or four times a week. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR Vasily Pavlovich Smirnov and Viktor Nikolaevich Buchin worked there, with whom I later began to train. Then there were my first professional steps.
— How cross-country skiing has changed during this time. Now, at the age of 19, athletes are often included in the main team.
— Everything changes. Racing back then was very different. Now the speed is just crazy. Here in Tyumen (at the Russian Championship) there was a team sprint, two stages, everyone ran on an equal footing, withstood the speed. And only then Bolshunov dealt with competitors. It's incomprehensible. I watched and wondered how they all keep pace? Girls, too, although they had a gap earlier.
— In fact, did the entire formation of modern ski racing pass before your eyes?
— Yes. Everything changed. Previously, the coach told us: «We must roll, roll!» And now you can't roll. Now I have to go skiing. Some climbs are already jumping, as Klebo showed for the first time. You have to run on the run. Sasha Terentyev was the first Russian to master this, and Klebo won with his own weapon. In the Finnish Ruka.