Artistic gymnast Anton. Anton Golotsutskov: “There is no team in the Russian national team now”
Russian gymnasts won six gold medals at the fifth stage of the World Cup that ended in Moscow. Victories in individual all-around events were won by Ksenia Semenova, Anna Pavlova, Konstantin Pluzhnikov, Anatoly Vasiliev and Anton Golotsutskov. Moreover, the latter won two awards of the highest standard at once - in floor exercises and vault. GOLOTSKOV brought two “golds” (in the freestyle and team championships) from the recent European Championship. Novye Izvestia talked with the new leader of the Russian gymnastics team.
– Anton, after a brilliant performance on the European platform, it seemed that here in Moscow, you restrained yourself a little, as the athletes say?
– On floor, my program was indeed far from ideal, but not because I deliberately simplified the exercise. It’s just that now I’m in a natural decline after the European Championships. And the injury on my leg is minor. Now I’m flying home for a couple of days to see my little daughter, and we’ll gather again - I’ll recover, get treatment, so that I can get into the necessary shape again in time for Beijing.
– Two golds at the European Championships, two victories in Moscow... Are you satisfied with how things are going for you this season?
- For now, yes. But I’ll probably be truly pleased if I manage to win a medal in Beijing. I really want the team to take the medal. This will really be an achievement, but for now... For now we are just training to show a decent result at the right time.
– You competed at the previous Games in Athens, and prepared just as meticulously for them, but everyone says that now the mood in the team is completely different. Is this really true?
– Firstly, we have all matured, become wiser, no one is forcing us to work. We work for ourselves and want to achieve high results. To feed our families, to build our future... Then, the trainers are very competent next to us now, and the conditions are excellent. At Ozero Krugloye, our base, such repairs were made that live and be happy, don’t think about anything other than training.
– And four years ago did something distract you from them?
“Something was missing then, that’s for sure.” I wouldn’t like to go into details, but there was a lack of support from coaches, each other, and team cohesion, for example. And now we have a really good team. We tell each other if anything happens, and we support each other sincerely. On the Europa, for example, I didn’t look at the last two shells at all – I was worried. There was such a cabin, if you remember, it turned out that I sat down, covered my head, stared at the floor and just waited for the end of the finale. Believe me, when you care about how your friends perform, it's worth a lot. After all, we are not only fighting for ourselves, we are fighting for the country. Today each of us understands this.
– How did they manage to raise both you and one of the strongest ring athletes in the country, Kostya Pluzhnikov, in such a non-gymnastic city like Seversk?
– We really didn’t have gymnastic traditions like in Vladimir or Leninsk-Kuznetsky. But the trainers-fans, see what they did... Leonid Abramov, with whom Pluzhnikov and I train, in addition to working with us in the old gym, he also upholstered the thresholds, found funds so that he could once again attend the training camp at Krugloye. or take it to a children's tournament. And it happened that we traveled at our own expense, because it was impossible to look at the shells that we had without tears. Thanks to the current leadership of the national team, they supplied us with such equipment that we can already do world-class gymnastics.
– When you appeared at Ozero Krugloye, the then head coach of the national team Leonid Arkaev called you the second Alexei Nemov...
- Well, yes? But I didn’t know anything about this... This is truly a great honor for me. I have always greatly admired Nemov, both as a person and as an athlete. Thanks to Arkaev for such words.
– What are your strongest qualities?
– Probably, I have a fighting character, I like to fight for myself... For Russia... And also... I don’t know, I’m not used to praising myself, to be honest.
– Does the tiger tattoo on your chest have anything to do with your character?
- No. I am a Leo by horoscope, but I just really like the tiger. This is my favorite animal.
After the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, a period of timelessness began in Russian artistic gymnastics. The former leaders have left the stage, and new guys have not yet been raised. This turned into failure at the Games in Athens, when the team was left without medals. Anton Sergeevich Golotsutskov, whose biography will be described below, became a representative of the new generation of champions; he became a two-time Olympic medalist, a multiple European champion and a world medalist. The champion’s departure from the sport was not easy, but he did not break down and opened his own gymnastics club, becoming a pioneer of this business in his homeland.
Biography
Anton Golotsutskov was born in July 1985 in the city of Seversk, in the Tomsk region. His dad was involved in weightlifting and instilled a love of sports in his son, so Anton had no problem doing push-ups or pull-ups on the horizontal bar. So he qualified for the Youth Sports School in the artistic gymnastics section at the age of five, having done 10 pull-ups.
The boy’s physical characteristics also worked in his favor - short and stocky, he fit perfectly within the requirements for the most difficult sport. The biography of Anton Golotsutskov in artistic gymnastics could have taken a completely different path. As a child, he did not always take training seriously and could skip several classes in a row. His first coach, Galina Ganus, suffered a lot with him, repeatedly meeting with his parents and persuading them to influence their son. After moving to the senior group, Anton Sergeevich Golotsutskov began training under the guidance of Leonid Abramov, who subsequently trained the athlete throughout the entire period of his active career.
Breakthrough
Having moved to the junior level, the gymnast is trying to break out of the Tomsk region. For some time he traveled to Moscow to the central training base for gymnasts “Lake Krugloye” at his own expense, trying to attract the attention of coaches. Anton joined the national team in a dramatic way. Having caught a favorable moment, he attracted the attention of the head coach of the national team, Leonid Yakovlevich Arkaev.
In front of an authoritative specialist, the young athlete performed a very difficult gymnastic element, which delighted him. Before he even left the hall, the stunned Anton Golotsutskov learned about his inclusion in the youth team and a scholarship in his name. Having become one of the head coach's favorites, it was necessary to justify his trust. There was a sharp turn in the biography of Anton Sergeevich; he left his former absent-minded lifestyle and began to work like crazy in training. The Sibiryak won the all-around competition against the then team leader Maxim Devyatovsky, and went to the European Youth Championship, where he won a whole bunch of medals.
First victories
Anton Golotsutskov began playing for the country’s adult team at the age of 16. Leonid Arkaev was not afraid to take yesterday’s junior to the World Championships in Anaheim, where the fate of licenses for the Athens Olympics was being decided. During the tournament, the main member of the team suffered an injury to the Achilles tendons, and Anton Golotsutskov was forced to replace an experienced teammate in the uneven bars exercises. He did not approach this projectile for two months, paying attention to other types, but at the decisive moment he pulled himself together and completed the required program with the maximum score. Arkaev was not shy about his emotions and shouted with joy to the whole hall, shaking his fists.
However, the first serious victories began to come to the athlete after the Athens Olympics. Having matured, the Siberian began to take a more responsible approach to business and gradually made his way into the elite of world artistic gymnastics. In 2006, in the World Cup finals in Sao Paulo, Anton Golotsutskov took silver and won silver in the same year in Glasgow. Anton went to the European Championships in Amsterdam as one of the favorites and confidently won there in his favorite event.
Beijing exploits
In 2007, Anton Golotsutskov began to conflict with the leadership of the national team for the first time. He went to the World Championships with a broken leg and, having the right to refuse to go on the mat, performed the program, which allowed the team to qualify for the Olympics. However, instead of gratitude, he listened to reproaches for the fact that a month earlier he was a day late getting ready due to family circumstances.
The proud athlete lost his temper, and this became the basis for future misunderstandings. However, then Anton Golotsutskov was the leader of the team, and his position had to be taken into account. The gymnast arrived at the Beijing Games in excellent shape and managed to take his first Olympic medals after a long break. He was again irresistible in his signature appearance, and added a similar award to the bronze in the vault with a similar award in the floor exercise. In general, 2008 became the most successful year in Anton Golotsutskov’s career. He won two golds at the World Cup in Moscow and became the European champion in floor exercises. At the World Cup finals in Madrid, he won bronze in his favorite vault.
The short end of a career
The new Olympic cycle for Golotsutskov was not so bright, but he managed to add medals from the European and World Championships to his collection of awards, and won World Cup stages. However, the year of the London Olympics became a serious test for the gymnast. The years in professional sports were not in vain; numerous damages and injuries accumulated. At the pre-Olympic European Championship, Anton Golotsutskov failed and did not perform to his full potential.
A serious back injury unsettled him, but the Siberian tried to recover for the main competitions of his four-year period. He had almost gotten into shape for the London Games, but at the very last moment he learned that he had been left out of the team. Moreover, Anton received this information not from the coaching staff or from the leadership of the federation, but from sports journalists. After the end of the Olympics, he was completely excluded from the team and deprived of his sports scholarship. Anton Sergeevich Golotsutskov, whose awards and titles were immeasurable, was simply left without a livelihood.
Coach and businessman
At first, the former champion and leader of the national team had difficulty adjusting to the new realities. He tried his hand at timber trading in Siberia and worked as a trainer in a fitness club, but all his endeavors failed. Golotsutskov was supported by the Minister of Sports of Russia, who helped him get a job as a coach at the Sports Training Center, where Anton could calmly look for sponsors for his grandiose plans. He dreamed of organizing the first gymnastics club in Russia, the doors of which would be open to people of all ages.
The business plan for this project was prepared back in 2005. After all the difficulties and hitting thresholds, Anton Golotsutskov brought his idea to life and became the head of the Olympic gymnastics club. The titled athlete plans to open an entire network with uniform standards and training programs. In addition to managing the club, Anton also works with students for a fee according to an individual program, realizing his coaching skills.
Personal life
Anton Golotsutskov was married twice. His wife Ekaterina became the mother of his daughter, Anastasia. Soon after the divorce, the athlete met his current wife, Vera. In 2016, they had a son, Lev.
Two-time Olympic medalist, three-time European champion and multiple Russian champion in artistic gymnastics Anton Golotsutskov visited the morning show “BESTOLOCHI” on Best FM and told NSN readers about his career, hard work as a coach and gave a couple of tips on how to always stay in shape .
- Anton, tell me how your day began? Was it gymnastics?
– I usually warm up every morning, but today I didn’t have time. But I managed to stretch my son, he is almost three months old.
– It turns out that you also do sports massage?
– The main thing is to warm it up well, and the person is ready and charged for the whole day.
– As a sports person, tell me, is it worth doing exercises in the morning? There are a lot of expert opinions on the Internet that you need to wake up in the morning and exercise in the afternoon or evening.
– Naturally, sudden movements in the morning are unnecessary. But there is also such a warm-up as stretching. After this, you still need to douse yourself with cold water. So I shower myself every day. This is a very useful procedure, it helps to wash away all the energy dirt accumulated during sleep. Although at first it was all with screams. True, before, when I was training at the sports center, I constantly took contrast baths.
– Have you been in gymnastics since you were five?
– And people take me to gymnastics from this age. A coach found me in kindergarten. I am short and stocky, and when I passed the test at the age of five, I was able to do 10 pull-ups. They hired me right away.
– Who taught you how to do pull-ups?
- Dad, thank him very much. I always ran with him, did push-ups, and did pull-ups. My dad was involved in weightlifting and tried to instill all this in me, so hanging on the horizontal bar and doing pull-ups was not a problem for me.
– Did you immediately realize that everything would go well with gymnastics?
- No, to be honest. I have a very complex character and it is very difficult to force me to do something. But I really liked the trampolines. I went to gymnastics school to jump on the net. I realized that I was doing professionally only when I won the European Junior Championships. And before that, I could skip, not show up for training for two months, and it was absolutely parallel for me. So when I won a medal, my approach changed a lot.
– It turns out that you won the medal by accident?
- Well, why, I was preparing. Maybe I’m somewhat clumsy as a gymnast, I still can’t do the splits, so I had to work hard on a lot. Of course, when I performed, the coach threw me 100 kilograms of pancakes and I sat on the splits, since there was such a special requirement in 2004.
– Why is this needed in artistic gymnastics?
– There are special requirements. They are like the rules of the road, and you just have to know how to do it.
– Anton, tell me, did the International Gymnastics Federation recognize the somersault you invented as the Golotsutskov jump?
“They submitted an application there, but while all this was being considered, I had already finished my professional career. I didn't have time to do this. Of course, all gymnasts to some extent strive to give the element their own name. For some it happens by accident, for others, like me, for example, they deliberately calculate everything and come up with something new. My coach and I wanted to win medals, so we did different jumps. It's not interesting to be a statistician. And when you train three times a day, you constantly think about it and try to make it comfortable for you to perform, and, most importantly, to land.
– Have you not changed your coach during your sports career?
- Of course not. And you can't change the coach. There was, of course, the first coach who trained me while I was a kid, Ganus Galina Nikolaevna. And then Leonid Yuryevich Abramov took me to his place. He is a wonderful person and the same as me in character. When I used to be careless in my training, he would drive around the city and look for me, catch me, and pull me out. I remember when they bought me a moped, I started not showing up for training at all, saying that I was sick. And he drove a car or a bicycle, searched around the city, even talked to my mother about it. Naturally, there we had cases of name-calling and fights. But that's how it should be. Nobody sees the other side of the coin. But guiding athletes is very hard work. The coach is also a second father. He educates, stops some moments when you want to relax, rest. So the coach has to be a despot.
– Was discipline ever stricter in sports before?
– This is the big problem. We all used to be afraid of the coach. We stood in line, like tin soldiers, if he said “stand to attention.” They could hit him on the legs to make him pull better. More like a slap. Now try to spank the child. There will be no result and cannot be from such an approach. To be honest, I would like to say this: dear listeners, send your children to gymnastics. I don’t encourage everyone to take up professional gymnastics, but every family should have gymnastics. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s a child, an adult or grandparents. Gymnastics is general developmental: it develops the vestibular apparatus, motor skills, and the ability to communicate with peers. After it, you can send your child to any other sport.
– Are you completely nauseous in the car?
- No, I don’t feel sick at all. Do you know when I feel sick? When your wife makes you eat broccoli.
– Tell us how to choose the right coach?
- It is very difficult. When any parent wants to send their child to a sports section, they must prepare and read some literature. There are a lot of scammers, so a parent who doesn’t know anything and doesn’t understand sports will believe him. In addition to the fact that this will not give results, it can also ruin the child’s health. So you need to look for trainers who have already been proven. Although there are young specialists who are very promising, they still have little experience and few students. So you need to listen, look closely, use your intuition. You also need to use your heart.
– After leaving professional sports, do you yourself root for someone?
- Yes, sure. In general, I support Russia. And even after I finished my career, I didn’t leave gymnastics for a second. I do it myself, I recently opened my own school from which I plan to create a network. I accept everyone from one and a half to 100 years old. In general, it’s never too late to do gymnastics. There are also age-specific gymnastics. And why grow old? I don't want to at all. I think when I’m 80 I’ll look roughly the same as I do now.
– What do you think about the current system of physical training in schools?
– To be honest, I haven’t been to school for a long time and I don’t know how it is now. But I would add a few more physical education lessons per week. I believe that a country should be athletic not to win medals, but to have a healthy nation. It is better to play sports than to have a lot of free time and waste it. You have less time for bad habits, and overall you live longer.
– But there have been cases when people left major sports and did not know what to do with themselves. Some even became drunkards.
– And I know how to explain it and why it happens. We athletes are actually very sensitive and vulnerable, even though we look strong from the outside. When I finished my career, I felt like a small child lost in a big metropolis. No one will help or advise. It's very scary when you live in sports, and then everything ends abruptly. I think we need to come up with some kind of structure for distributing athletes to jobs after their career ends.
– Anton, tell us more about your school.
– In addition to children, as I already said, people of any age can come to us. In addition to sports, we also have rhythmic, aerial, age-specific gymnastics, acrobatics, pair and regular gymnastics, and a new movement that I myself enjoy is skyjumping. So while the children are climbing on all sorts of sports modules, their mothers will be jumping on a trampoline with a trainer.
- Why don’t you eat? What are you giving up?
– I eat right, my wife cooks very well, although sometimes I can afford a hamburger. No, no, and I can allow myself to eat cake.
– Does it happen that you are lazy to study?
- This happens when you work hard. Now, during the opening of the school, I did not have time to go to the gym. Laziness comes when you get unsettled, when your routine is broken. But when you walk constantly, you absolutely cannot live without sports. This turns into a wonderful habit.
- Do you study at home?
- Certainly. When I don’t have time to go to the gym, I always do squats, handstands, push-ups, and squats at home. Or when I’m walking with my wife and child in the park, I can climb on the parallel bars and do push-ups. There is no way without this.
– How difficult is it to find coaches for your school?
– It’s actually very simple. We have a problem in our country, and I hope for a quick solution to it; we have a lot of specialists who, after finishing their professional sports career, remain unemployed. So by opening a school, I hope to help people who cannot find work.
Abramov L. Yu.
Skiryukha V.V.
Yanets A.V.
Awards and medals
Olympic Games | ||||
Bronze | Beijing 2008 | freestyle | ||
Bronze | Beijing 2008 | vault | ||
World Championships | ||||
Bronze | London 2009 | vault | ||
Silver | Rotterdam 2010 | vault | ||
Silver | Tokyo 2011 | vault | ||
European Championships | ||||
Gold | Amsterdam 2007 | vault | ||
Gold | Lausanne 2008 | team | ||
Gold | Lausanne 2008 | freestyle | ||
Bronze | Berlin 2011 | freestyle | ||
Bronze | Berlin 2011 | vault | ||
Silver | Montpellier 2012 | team | ||
State and departmental awards
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Anton Sergeevich Golotsutskov (July 28th ( 19850728 ) Seversk, Tomsk region, USSR) - Russian gymnast, two-time bronze medalist of the 2008 Summer Olympics, silver medalist of the 2010 World Championship, bronze medalist of the 2009 World Championship, 3-time European champion, multiple champion of Russia, multiple winner of the Russian Cup in floor exercise and vault.
Sports achivments
Year | Tournament | Program type | Place | Glasses | Place (qualification) | Points (qualified) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
World Cup. The final. San Paolo. | Vault | 2 | 16.362 | |||
The Grand Prix. Glasgow. | Vault | 3 | 15.112 | |||
Individual European Championship. Amsterdam. | Vault | 1 | 16.537 | 4 | 16.300 | |
World Cup "Stars of the World". Moscow. | Vault | 3 | 16.100 | |||
Floor exercise | 1 | 15.650 | ||||
Europe championship. Lausanne. | Floor exercise | 1 | 15.700 | 1 | 15.550 | |
World Cup "Stars of the World". Moscow | Vault | 1 | 16.362 | |||
World Cup "Stars of the World". Moscow | Floor exercise | 1 | 15.650 | |||
World Cup. The final. Madrid | Vault | 3 | 16.075 | |||
Olympic Games | Vault | 3 | 16.475 | |||
Olympic Games | Floor exercise | 3 | 15.725 | |||
World Cup "Stars of the World". Moscow | Vault | 1 | 15.887 | |||
World Cup "Stars of the World". Moscow | Floor exercise | 2 | 15.550 | |||
World Championship. London | Vault | 3 | 16.287 | 1 | 16.412 | |
World Cup "Stars of the World". Moscow | Vault | 1 | 16.337 | |||
World Cup "Stars of the World". Moscow | Floor exercise | 2 | 15.475 | |||
Team Championship | 6 | 263,170 | 6 | 355,076 | ||
XLII World Artistic Gymnastics Championships | Vault | 2 | 16,366 | 1 | 16,475 | |
European Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2011 | Floor exercise | 3 | 15.325 | 2 | 15.325 | |
European Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2011 | Vault | 3 | 16.125 | 4 | 16.225 |
Personal life
The daughter from her first marriage is Anastasia, the son from the second is Leo (born 2016).
Awards and titles
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An excerpt characterizing Golotskov, Anton Sergeevich
“Let them take care of these gentlemen and take them to my bivouac; let my doctor Larrey examine their wounds. Goodbye, Prince Repnin,” and he, moving his horse, galloped on.There was a radiance of self-satisfaction and happiness on his face.
The soldiers who brought Prince Andrei and removed from him the golden icon they found, hung on his brother by Princess Marya, seeing the kindness with which the emperor treated the prisoners, hastened to return the icon.
Prince Andrei did not see who put it on again or how, but on his chest, above his uniform, suddenly there was an icon on a small gold chain.
“It would be good,” thought Prince Andrei, looking at this icon, which his sister hung on him with such feeling and reverence, “it would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems to Princess Marya. How nice it would be to know where to look for help in this life and what to expect after it, there, beyond the grave! How happy and calm I would be if I could now say: Lord, have mercy on me!... But to whom will I say this? Either the power is indefinite, incomprehensible, which I not only cannot address, but which I cannot express in words - the great all or nothing, - he said to himself, - or this is the God who is sewn up here, in this palm, Princess Marya? Nothing, nothing is true, except the insignificance of everything that is clear to me, and the greatness of something incomprehensible, but most important!
The stretcher started moving. With each push he again felt unbearable pain; the feverish state intensified, and he began to become delirious. Those dreams of his father, wife, sister and future son and the tenderness that he experienced on the night before the battle, the figure of the small, insignificant Napoleon and the high sky above all this, formed the main basis of his feverish ideas.
A quiet life and calm family happiness in Bald Mountains seemed to him. He was already enjoying this happiness when suddenly little Napoleon appeared with his indifferent, limited and happy look at the misfortune of others, and doubts and torment began, and only the sky promised peace. By morning, all the dreams mixed up and merged into the chaos and darkness of unconsciousness and oblivion, which, in the opinion of Larrey himself, Doctor Napoleon, were much more likely to be resolved by death than by recovery.
“C"est un sujet nerveux et bilieux," said Larrey, "il n"en rechappera pas. [This is a nervous and bilious man, he will not recover.]
Prince Andrey, among other hopelessly wounded, was handed over to the care of the residents.
At the beginning of 1806, Nikolai Rostov returned on vacation. Denisov was also going home to Voronezh, and Rostov persuaded him to go with him to Moscow and stay in their house. At the penultimate station, having met a comrade, Denisov drank three bottles of wine with him and, approaching Moscow, despite the potholes of the road, he did not wake up, lying at the bottom of the relay sleigh, near Rostov, which, as it approached Moscow, came more and more to impatience.
“Is it soon? Soon? Oh, these unbearable streets, shops, rolls, lanterns, cab drivers!” thought Rostov, when they had already signed up for their holidays at the outpost and entered Moscow.
- Denisov, we’ve arrived! Sleeping! - he said, leaning forward with his whole body, as if by this position he hoped to speed up the movement of the sleigh. Denisov did not respond.
“Here is the corner of the intersection where Zakhar the cabman stands; Here he is Zakhar, and still the same horse. Here is the shop where they bought gingerbread. Soon? Well!
- To which house? - asked the coachman.
- Yes, over there at the end, how can you not see! This is our home,” said Rostov, “after all, this is our home!” Denisov! Denisov! We'll come now.
Denisov raised his head, cleared his throat and did not answer.
“Dmitry,” Rostov turned to the footman in the irradiation room. - After all, this is our fire?
“That’s exactly how daddy’s office is lit up.”
– Haven’t gone to bed yet? A? How do you think? “Don’t forget to get me a new Hungarian at once,” Rostov added, feeling the new mustache. “Come on, let’s go,” he shouted to the coachman. “Wake up, Vasya,” he turned to Denisov, who lowered his head again. - Come on, let's go, three rubles for vodka, let's go! - Rostov shouted when the sleigh was already three houses away from the entrance. It seemed to him that the horses were not moving. Finally the sleigh took to the right towards the entrance; Above his head, Rostov saw a familiar cornice with chipped plaster, a porch, a sidewalk pillar. He jumped out of the sleigh as he walked and ran into the hallway. The house also stood motionless, unwelcoming, as if it did not care about who came to it. There was no one in the hallway. "My God! is everything alright? thought Rostov, stopping for a minute with a sinking heart and immediately starting to run further along the entryway and familiar, crooked steps. The same door handle of the castle, for the uncleanness of which the countess was angry, also opened weakly. One tallow candle was burning in the hallway.
Old man Mikhail was sleeping on the chest. Prokofy, the traveling footman, the one who was so strong that he could lift the carriage by the back, sat and knitted bast shoes from the edges. He looked at the opened door, and his indifferent, sleepy expression suddenly transformed into an enthusiastically frightened one.
- Fathers, lights! Young Count! – he cried out, recognizing the young master. - What is this? My darling! - And Prokofy, shaking with excitement, rushed to the door to the living room, probably to make an announcement, but apparently changed his mind again, returned back and fell on the young master’s shoulder.
Birth: Russia
Russian gymnasts won six gold medals at the fifth stage of the World Cup that ended in Moscow. Victories in individual all-around events were won by Ksenia Semenova, Anna Pavlova, Konstantin Pluzhnikov, Anatoly Vasiliev and Anton Golotsutskov. Moreover, the latter won two awards of the highest standard in floor exercises and vault. GOLOTSKOV also brought two golds (in the freestyle and team championships) from the recent European Championships. Novye Izvestia talked with the new leader of the Russian gymnastics team.
Anton, after your brilliant performance on the European platform, it seemed that here, in Moscow, you restrained yourself a little, as the athletes say?
On the floor, my program was truly far from ideal, but not due to the fact that I deliberately simplified the exercise. It’s just that at the moment I’m going through a natural decline following the European Championships. And the injury on my leg is minor. Now I’m flying home for a couple of days to see my little daughter, and again I’ll be recovering and getting treatment so that I can get into the necessary shape again in time for Beijing.
Two golds at the European Championships, two victories in Moscow Are you satisfied with how things are going for you this season?
For now, yes. But, apparently, I will be truly pleased if I manage to win a medal in Beijing. I really want the team to win a medal. This will truly be an achievement, and now While we are simply training to present a worthy fruit at the right moment.
You competed at the previous Games in Athens and prepared just as scrupulously for them, but everyone says that at the current time the position in the team is not at all different. Is this really true?
Firstly, we have all matured, become wiser, and no one is forcing us to work hard. We work for ourselves and want to achieve high results. To feed our families, to build our future family. Then, the trainers next to us are very competent at the current time, and the conditions are excellent. On Lake Krugloye, our base, they did a kind of repair: live and be happy, don’t think about anything other than training.
Was there anything distracting them four years ago?
Something was missing then, exactly. I wouldn’t like to go into details, but the support of coaches, friend of friend, team cohesion, for example, was lacking. And at the moment we actually have a good team. We suggest friendship to a friend, if anything happens, and root with all our hearts. On Europa, in particular, I didn’t look at the last two shells at all and was worried. There was such a cabin, if you remember, it turned out that I sat down, covered my head, hatched to the floor and waited for the end of the final. Believe me, when you are not all the same about how your friends perform, it costs a lot. After all, we are not only fighting for ourselves, we are fighting for the country. Today, each of us understands this.
How did they manage to raise both you and one of the strongest ring athletes in the country, Kostya Pluzhnikov, in such a non-gymnastic city like Seversk?
We truly did not have gymnastic traditions, like in Vladimir or Leninsk-Kuznetsky. But the trainers-fans, see what they did... Leonid Abramov, with whom Pluzhnikov and I train, in addition to working with us in the old gym, he also upholstered thresholds, found funds so that unnecessary times for the training camp at Krugloye or at take out a children's tournament. And it happened that we traveled at our own expense, because it was forbidden to look at the shells that we had without tears. Thanks to the current leadership of the national team, they supplied us with such equipment that folk gymnastics is already allowed to work on.
When you appeared on Lake Krugloye, the then first coach of the national team Leonid Arkaev called you the second Alexei Nemov
Well, yes? But I didn’t know anything about this. This is truly a great honor for me. I have always greatly admired Nemov both as a person and as an athlete. Thanks to Arkaev for such words.
What are your strongest qualities?
Probably, I have a fighting spirit, I like to fight for myself... For Russia And also... I don’t know, I’m not used to praising myself, if openly.
Does a tiger tattoo on your chest have anything to do with your character?
No. I am a Leo by horoscope, but I really like the tiger. This is my favorite animal.
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