"A Really Good International Level": Alfosov on the Return of Russian Gymnasts, Belyavsky's Videos, and the Games Qualification
Alfosov: Belyavsky's presence on the team was a big plus
Interview by Elena Vaitsekhovskaya
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Russian gymnasts competing under neutral status will be able to take their first step toward qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics as early as October, Valery Alfosov, head coach of the Russian men's team, told RT. He believes that qualifying for not only the individual but also the team competition at the World Championships is one of the season's greatest achievements. He also explained the criteria he uses to compare his players with their competitors and described David Belyavsky's decision last year as hard-won.
The current season began with good news for the gymnasts: almost all of the leading Russian team members are participating in international competitions. Does this mean the suspension situation is a thing of the past?
— Judge for yourself. Last year, we were allowed to compete in individual events at the World Championships for the first time, and at the very end of the year, it was announced that gymnasts who had received neutral status could compete at World Cup stages. Our guys have already demonstrated their skills at the Cottbus event and are preparing for tournaments in Baku and Antalya, which will be held in the first half of March. Most importantly, this season we have received permission to compete as neutrals in the team competition at the European Championships in Zagreb. If all goes well there, we will qualify for the World Championships in Rotterdam, where we will begin the fight for an Olympic license. This is our biggest and most exciting news.
— What is the reason for the fact that the continental championship, traditionally held for gymnasts in the spring, has been moved to the second half of August this season?
"This decision was made by the International Gymnastics Federation. So, the second half of our season is going to be extremely busy: the Russian qualifying championship will be held in Kaluga, followed immediately by preparation for the European Championships. Then we'll have time to hold one or two more training camps, and in October, I hope, we'll go to the World Championships."
Are you setting any goals for the athletes at the upcoming World Cup stages?
— Our team is completely new; many of the gymnasts' names aren't even known to all fans. Therefore, we need to understand how the guys perform at international competitions, how competitive their foundation is, how well they execute their routines, and what scores the international judges give them.
— All of this is complicated by the fact that only Daniil Marinov has experience successfully competing at the international level?
— Marinov had never traveled abroad before last year. His first experience was at the 2025 World Championships, and if you remember, we were told we were flying to Jakarta almost at the last minute, when there wasn't much time left to prepare. So Marinov had to work, so to speak, from scratch.
But Daniel competed in the all-around, you see? The all-around. He proved himself capable of competing with the world's best all-around athletes, reaching the finals on the uneven bars (where he won a bronze medal) and the high bar. This is a good indicator that someone is capable of competing for medals in several disciplines at once. Like Saveliy Seyedin and Aleksandr Kartsev, who competed in three apparatus events each in Cottbus. They reached the finals in all their events, winning silver and bronze medals.
— What was missing for gold?
— We fell a little short in the basic difficulty level. But the level of execution in the routines was quite high.
— At the BRICS Games in Kazan, many admired Ilya Zaika, who won the rings routine twice at the Russian Championships. However, in Jakarta, he only placed 12th in the qualifications on his main apparatus and missed out on the finals. Is it a lack of experience or simply unreasonably high expectations?
"Probably the latter," he said. Not our expectations, but those that were greatly inflated by the media. As a coach, I clearly saw all the shortcomings in Zaika's technical preparation on the rings, so we were never inclined to make any promises. Zaika still shows some technical flaws. We're working on them, but the swing elements, for example, are very difficult to correct. Ilya's strength is superb; there's much to praise. I believe that's why he was so highly praised after each of his victories. But there's a difference between evaluating the level of our domestic competitions and comparing it to the best rings performances worldwide."
"I spoke rather harshly about David Belyavsky in October when he stated that he didn't consider it possible for him to compete as a neutral, and now I realize I was wrong." Although David, at 33, wasn't showing any significant results and probably couldn't compete at a serious level, he was a role model for inexperienced youngsters for many years, training alongside them. It's important to have someone on the team you can look up to, someone who, in a sense, continues to carry the team, even when they realize the odds are getting stacked against them.
"That's exactly how it was. Belyavsky trained at Krugly for many years, along with everyone else, was the team captain, and the guys respected him immensely. As an athlete, he stayed in the game for a very long time, which isn't easy when you're surrounded by only young competitors—one after another. Naturally, all the athletes communicate with each other, have conversations, share their problems, perhaps even more so than with us coaches. In that regard, Belyavsky's presence on the team was a huge plus.
As for David's decision regarding neutral status—well, a mature gymnast who has competed at the highest level for many years and achieved so much can't just say things like that. I think Belyavskiy suffered through that decision with his soul, his heart.
Is he still training now?
Yes, but mostly at home.
During your suspension, have you had the opportunity to compare us with those who competed internationally?
It's not difficult these days. Well, yes, we were cooped up, didn't see our opponents in person, but we followed them closely, watched national championships in other countries, continental and world championships, and the Olympic Games in Paris. We analyzed the starting positions of our potential opponents and their performance scores. And accordingly, we set ourselves goals: what baseline we needed to reach to avoid losing out on the complexity of our routines, what scores we needed to achieve to be competitive. And even the result our guys achieved in Cottbus is truly on an international level.
Source - https://russian.rt.com/sport/article/1601199-alfosov-intervyu-gimnastika-sbornaya-belyavskii
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