Skip to main content

David Belyavski interview

By

 I am just recording here some notes on a media interview with Russia’s MAG team captain.  David uses quite a lot of rhetorical questions here in his responses, and parries as the interviewer tries to get closer to his thoughts on the wartime ban in international competition, and the idea of competing as a neutral individual.  


Read this in the context of what we know about  growing repression in the Russian Federation.  This could well be considered to be a historic document on wavering freedom of speech in Russia as the country approaches the nightmare of total mobilisation to support the war in Ukraine.  

I’m sharing this from my Facebook post.


Quite an interesting interview with David Belyavski.  He is very skilled now at speaking in public.


He says he hasn’t lost motivation because of the international ban on Russian athletes, he loves gymnastics and will continue for as long as he can be part of the national team.  He likes coaching but has no particular plans to take up work at present.

He doesn’t intend to compete under a neutral flag; he has already done this once.  In his opinion there is no chance of Russia sending a team to the Olympics.  The requirements set for individual neutral participation are not easy for athletes to meet, for example they have to pay their own travel expenses.  Gymnasts from Dynamo and CSKA are disallowed.  Changing nationality isn’t workable in the time frame before the Olympics and besides, why would a gymnast who had trained and lived in Russia all their life want to change their nationality?  Competition is less interesting without international gymnasts present and during such competitions as Euros, the gymnasts watch and want to be there.  But they can’t and who knows what the situation will be for the 2028 Olympics? 

His condition now is good, but not top - he saves that for the Olympics.  Daniil Marinov is good but needs some international experience and to strengthen his content on all the apparatus but specially pommels and floor.  His p bars and vault are already good.   

The gymnasts are being paid the same as they were when they were competing internationally and the Federation is looking after them well.  


https://metaratings.ru/blog/intervyu-olimpiiskogo-chempiona-po-sportivnoy-gimnastike-davida-belyavskogo/


Paraphrased and edited version  from a Google translate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russian gymnasts to apply for neutral status

By
Gymnastics has lost some of its appeal over the past few years, whilst Russian athletes have been out of competition.  This might be an unpopular opinion, but it reflects the reality of international gymnastics without around a quarter of its leading protagonists.  The international competitive field has not raised its performance in the absence of Russia's leadership; gymnasts from the top ten or fifteen have floated upwards in the ranks to fill gaps in the medal placements, and we see mediocre performances gaining gold, silver and bronze medals.  Gymnastics has lost some of its imagination and vision without Russian athletes. This doesn't detract from the efforts of the world's best gymnasts.  Gymnastics quite simply needs the special abilities of Russian athletes to provide competition for our international contenders and drive the sport to ever greater things.  In particular, artistry has been almost entirely lost without Russian athletes to provide a good e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

By
Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...
12 comments
Read more

UPDATE 23/9 - Russian WAG team for Nanning confirmed

By
Daria Spiridonova will compete at her first World Championships this autumn.  Picture : RGF Natalia Kalugina has confirmed the Russian team for Nanning : Aliya Mustafina, Maria Kharenkova, Tatiana Nabieva,Ekaterina Kramarenko, Alla Sosnitskaya, Daria Spiridonova.  Reserve : Polina Fyodorova Here is a paraphrased translation of a comment by Natalia Kalugina on her Facebook page : 'Aliya has confidence in competition and she is, kind of, a coach to this team.  In Europe she succeeded in this role and she has told the coaches that she even liked it. The main fighting force will be Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya and Spiridonova.  Accordingly, the strongest apparatus will be beam (Marina Bulashenko With God!).  The Chinese women, of course, have been known to win that apparatus, but if one falls, they all fall.   Alla Sosnitskaya could compete in the vault final, and - in theory - on the floor. On bars, of course, Russia will probably lose to the Chinese women, but the...
57 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more