29 June 2012 

All the Kazakhstan Modern Pentathlon men's team mentors till the last moment had hoped for getting our second athlete into the Olympics in London. And so, on June 15 the International Federation of Modern Pentathlon announced the final list of license holders. To the delight of all there was our most experienced athlete Rustem Sabirhuzin.

Dossier

Rustem Sabirhuzin – a member of the national team of Kazakhstan in modern pentathlon.
Born on January 4, 1978 in Ufa (Russia).
Accomplishments: World Champion of 2004, 2005, silver medalist in the relay of World Championship 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005. The European Champion of 2000, 2007, the Champion of Russia of 2000 - 2004, a winner of the World Cup 2003.  A winner and a silver medalist in Kazakhstan championships.

He joined the previously selected Pavel Ilyashenko. Thus, the two of them will defend the honor of our country later this month at the main start of the four years. After finding out that his name was not in the preliminary list, Rustem decided to go home to Ufa and expect the final results there, although coaches estimated that a 33rd place in the Olympic rankings with 113 points should have been enough for getting a license. Nevertheless, mentors were right, and Rustem still became an Olympian for the third time in his career. In reference to this, we decided to talk to him.

- Tell us how you came to the modern pentathlon?

- My father introduced me to the modern pentathlon when I was 8 years old, and before that I was engaged in swimming for 1 year.

- Your first coach Vadim Chudnovsky also lives and works in Kazakhstan, what can you say about him?

- Vadim Maksovich knows me since my childhood. I can only say one thing about him - he has an outstanding personality both as a coach and as a person.

- Not so long ago on the Olympics in Beijing you were a member of the Russian national team, why did you decide to perform for Kazakhstan?

- Several years ago I received an offer to perform for your country. After some thought, I found that performing on behalf of Kazakhstan is more promising for myself.

- How did your relatives, friends, and partners in the team react to this decision?

- With understanding, I think. After all, everyone at some point has to make a choice – whether to continue or terminate your career, when you do not get into the main team composition.

- It’s been several years that you live in Kazakhstan. Are you satisfied with the conditions for training?

- Conditions are not bad, but the process is just set to "well-established tracks." I think with time it will get even better, and then the good results will come.

- In general, you like it here, but don’t you regret changing your citizenship?

- I like it all, so do not regret it. But I miss my first homeland a lot.

- Last year at the Asian Championship you were just one place behind to win a license. Were you highly upset about this then?

- On the one hand yes, on the other - no. This is a sport, everything happens, so I did not give up and continued to fight for the license.

- Did the introduction of laser weapons have a significant impact on the results?

- We were not ready, as we never trained with this new type of weapon. This component was the weakest among the rest.

- In the autumn of the same year you participated in the World Championship in Russia, what do you think caused not entering the final then?

- I think I burned out psychologically. Perhaps because I did not approach this start in an optimal shape, so I could not perform there properly.

- Former partners in the Russian national team were your opponents in Moscow. Have you tuned up to them in any special way?

- The Russians have very high positions in our sport, and with the strongest athletes you always tune up for a serious fight.

- This year you participated in the four World Cups. Could you tell us a little about them?

- All stages were very hard. A large number of strong competitors took part in them, so the cost of failure in any of the types grew many times. Additionally, we were accompanied by strong nervous tension. Long flights and jetlag did not go in our favor. We had to compete at maximum strength.

- What, in your opinion, caused not entering the finals in Charlotte and Rostov?

- In the first case it was a long absence of competitive practices, in Rostov I did not distribute physical forces properly in a combined event.

- How do you evaluate your performance in Rome at the World Championship?
- Not completely recovered after Rostov, in the semifinals in Rome I had to give all my best and for the final simply not enough strength or emotion were left.

- How did you tune up for the World Cup, which had to be decisive for you?

- I tried to let go all the thoughts about the upcoming start out of my head. Just to go out and demonstrate everything I am capable of.

- What was your reaction after the preliminary list of selected athletes for the Olympics was announced?
- Life teaches to have a philosophical attitude to what does not always happen the way you want it to.

- Were you hoping to get into the final list? Once selected, were you glad, or took it for granted?
- Hope dies last. In this regard, I was, of course, waiting for the final list of the selected for the Olympics. I am glad that once again I got a chance to perform on the main start of four years.

- The London Olympics will be the third for you, are you going to continue to play for Kazakhstan after it or would you prefer to terminate you career?

- I have not thought about the retirement yet, so I am going to continue to perform for Kazakhstan.

Show-jumping is one of the most difficult types of pentathlon.

- What kind of events is harder to perform in: personal or team events?

- For me it is harder in the individual competition, since I'm more of a team fighter.

- Do you have any favorite discipline of the five represented in pentathlon?

- No specific preference. In order to achieve highest results, you need to perform equally in all five types.

- Do you have any idols among pentathletes?

- Nobody apparent, but I admire the pleiad of athletes that were performing in the 90s.

- Which one of the titles you won is the most precious for you?

- At the moment, winning the World Cup in 2003. But I think that I should always strive to improve this result.

- You have a very extensive international experience. Do you think that Kazakhstan can compete on equal terms with the world leaders of the modern pentathlon?

- Of course. Kazakhstan has very strong traditions of pentathlon, now it's being revived and under the current leadership and competent conduct of the training process good results will come for sure.

- Can you recall any funny incident associated with your professional career?

- Our entire life consists of curiosities interspersed with the ups and downs.

Rustem Sabirhuzin’s performance this year

p

competition

round

points

14

UIPM World Cup in Charlotte (USA)

Qualification В

7

16

UIPM World Cup in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Final

32

17

UIPM World Cup in Százhalombatta (Hungary)

Final

31

20

UIPM World Cup in Rostov (Russia)

Qualification В

8

30

World Championship in Rome (Italy)

Final

26

11

World Cup Final in Chengdu (China)

Final

50

 


   Егор Ильин