At the time, when it all of our pentathletes became well-known, and who are now actively preparing, and very soon will go to the Olympics, we decided to talk to the men's team coach of Kazakhstan Vadim Chudnovsky.
The conversation touched on the outcome of the license period of our athletes, in particular the success of Rustem Sabirkhuzin, who was able to jump on a departing train to the London Olympics.
- What do you think about the outcome of the licensing campaign for Rustem Sabirkhuzin?
- I think getting licensed for London is a regularity. He was supposed to get it back in Chengdu at the Asian Championship. Unfortunately, laser guns were brought to us one day before the competition, while international functionaries promised to bring them three months earlier, as any professional knows, it can sometimes take up to several months before you get used to new equipment. Now he shoots an average of 20-30 seconds faster, but in Chengdu 5 would have been enough. The same can be said about Ilyashenko. As a result, we were forced to change the training plan. He had to participate in all qualifying competitions. It was easier for Ilyashenko, because he is much younger, though for him we would have changed the schedule of performances under a different scenario. The worst was that we almost never practiced, but worked very hard at competitions. This was the pre-Olympic schedule. Missing the finals at the World Cup in Charlotte (USA) was out of place. I still cannot explain why the two performed worse in fencing just two weeks before the start. Although already in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) Rustem won in the semifinals in fencing with his partner Lesun, and Ilyashenko showed the 2nd result at the World Championship.
We have enough time before the Olympics to recover and prepare, so I hope that we will be able to compensate for the deficiencies that we had at the time of qualification.
- How would you describe him as an athlete?
- There’s no doubt that Rustem is a great athlete. He, by the way, is a two-time world champion in the Russian team and the winner of World Cup finals in the individual event in 2003, which had 36 best athletes of the world, who were pre-selected to participate in the World Cup. First of all, he has a very professional attitude. He was an example to young athletes, both in Russia and later in Kazakhstan. This was one of my goals when I asked him to represent Kazakhstan at various competitions. It is easier to prepare the athletes when they see clearly how to work. I think this has partly contributed to the progress of young pentathletes. (17th place at the world championships in 2010 and 8th in 2011).
- Is he going to continue his career in Kazakhstan after the Olympics?
- Whether he is or not, we will only see after the end of the season. In addition, doctors will get the last word.
Yegor Ilyin