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Valery Tsyganov A conversation with the deputy-head of Moscow's Department of Physical Culture and Sports.
- What challenges do you find most pressing today? What problems do you have to solve as they arise and what issues do you regard as strategic?
I guess that the main strategic issue is a certain deficit of financial resources for the preparation of Moscow athletes in anticipation of the Fifth Spartakiade of Juniors in winter and summer. We are already thinking about it today because winter is coming soon and we need to conduct centralized preparation of the city teams for the two Spartakiades in order to show a decent performance.
There are also other pressing issues. Preparations for London Olympics are on top of our agenda. It is clear to us that on the background of a certain failure in Vancouver our responsibility as specialists for the future results in London is very high. Naturally, we're making serious and intensive effort together with the presidents of summer sports federations. Jointly we are trying to coordinate our plans for the preparation of Moscow athletes in the national teams. These issues are not simple. In some sports we're doing well, for example, track-and-field athletes demonstrated high level of performance. Yet, from the other side, we still do not have a clear understanding of how to perform in London. There was a change of leadership in some federations and today we are facing the issue of new strategies that are being adopted. For example, cycling and track race in particular is an advanced sport in Moscow. We're going to see how good our cyclists are at the Championship of Russia in St.-Petersburg. I suppose we will be having meetings with the leadership in order to work out some new models of interaction with them. This is also true with regard to winter sports because today we're conducting intense preparations for Sochi Winter Olympics. We're working jointly with the Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy of Russia, with federations and we're constantly trying to find common grounds with the main coaches that come forth with new ideas and plans for their teams.
It's not a secret that the global financial crisis brought about cuts in sports budgets. It wouldn't be right to say that we're starving or unable to do things, but it is true that we no longer can afford certain things. For example, previously we could conduct the training of certain athletes in accordance with their individual schemes, which were often different from those of the national teams. We no longer can afford such luxury and we're now primarily working with national teams.
- Does individual training yield better results?
It all depends on the athlete and the particular sports. For example, some athletes find it hard to live with other team-mates all the time, which can sometimes be as long as eleven months a year. Individual training is not widespread in team sports because athletes are working together on perfecting their team spirit. Individual sports are very different in this respect. Unfortunately, we often see disputes between coaches with regard to training methods, hence conflicts arise not between athletes as participants in the process but between different methods. This is not a simple issue. However, the final result depends on the athlete. The issue is simpler when national federations have evolved schemes for the selection of athletes and certain criteria for the composition of national teams based on the results of competitions. Namely, the principle that promotes an athlete to the national team after a successful performance at the Russian championship. This system works well for the Americans in track-and-field athletics: a victory and a good result at national qualification competitions open the way to the national team. Previous results do not matter, current performance is the key. This principle isn't always strictly applied in Russia.
- Can you possibly envision a situation when today's medals wouldn't guarantee top performance of our athletes in London?
This is a difficult question. London Olympics is still far away if we look at the calendar, however, this doesn't make the related issues less pressing. Take hockey, for example. We're champions of the world, Olympic champions etc. From previous experiences we know that our teams may perform in an unsatisfactory manner in the beginning. Everybody would start yelling then: “what do they think they're doing there?” But eventually we would see them gain confidence and achieve excellent results. We've seen it happen at the last World Football Championship, when some teams performed badly in the beginning but would then show good play. Such is the unpredictability of sports!
- How do we tell that London events are near?
It is hard to expect an unknown athlete to come forth claiming victory in London. This is simply impossible because for an athlete to reach that level he must be practicing for many years. Hence, London is very near from this point of view. Take the last Winter Games in Vancouver, for example, the two our young athletes: Panzhinsky and Kryukov. It is a very superficial point of view according to which they've come out of nowhere and won medals. Professionals were counting on them since they were juniors, they were given special attention and training. We've helped them a lot in the beginning of the previous pre-Olympic season and have given them individual training because we were aware that these two have a chance to make it to the national Olympic team. And so they did and they showed excellent performance at the Olympics. No one had set such targets for them but they were able to do it anyway. It means that they reached their peak performance at the right moment when it was most needed.
- You spoke about new coaches in federations. Whence do they come from?
This is another big issue we're struggling with: the lack of middle-layer coaches. Today we have many coaches of senior age and many beginners. However, we are in great need of people between 40 and 55, which is the most demanded age because they have the right experience and energy. This middle layer was lost in Perestroika: some of them left the country and others changed their profession. We're now inviting coaches from abroad. Would it be possible for us to gain their expertise? I doubt that they will share it in full.
- What is methodological work today? Is it the same it was yesterday or different?
This is part of our job today and an unploughed land. In my opinion, methodologist, or experts who work in our establishments, are not fulfilling their functions. This is a professional position that was created in the soviet days and remained in the structure of our schools and establishments to this day. However, I think that this profession is not fulfilling its functions. Essentially, a methodologist is a person who works in tandem with a coach participating in the upbringing of our athletes. In other words, it's some sort of theoretician and manager. What is methodology? In order for a person to run fast he must be taught how to do it in consecutive stages of training. So, strictly speaking, a methodologist is the one to take care of that. It's very much like bringing up a child: who should learn to write “A” first, then learn other letters and then learn words. Unfortunately, what we see today is that this precise link is somehow missing. Quite often we see our trainers bypass the necessary steps from A to Z and hastily proceed further. This happens because our system of payment is linked to performance results.
- Does it mean that we're getting an athlete who seems to have found himself in sports...
Exactly. When we take a young kid we expect him to show high results after a year and improve it a year later or else the coach won't get paid.
- Is it possible to change that system now?
I don't think this is possible to change it because we can hardly introduce an alternative, which presupposes a sort of revolution, changing financing scheme and other changes at the core of this system. This is a task for the future.
- What changes did your new post bring into your life?
I did have a certain experience having worked for ten years as a director of a regional sports committee. From the one side, it is flattering to be promoted to a bigger and more populous region, especially with regard to the high results achieved by its athletes. From the other side, this is a tremendous responsibility and at the time of accepting this post it was what mattered most to me.
- What did you feel when you won the World Cup in 1988?
I experienced a feeling of relief and joy: it's accomplished! (laughs)
Interview by Ekaterina Kolodnaya
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