Tatyana Pokrovskaya lost. I scream so hard you can hear it underwater

Their head coach Tatyana Pokrovskaya talks about what this “gold” is actually worth:

Success only comes if people really work hard. It is clear that any medal won is a combination of factors, but the fundamental one is your work. And it must be said that all of us - athletes, coaches in the national team and locally, doctors, etc. - are dedicated hard workers, capable of not only completing the task, but also approaching it creatively.

You want to ask me: what, they don’t do enough work in other countries? Of course they do. Therefore, you cannot relax even for a minute. We are the strongest so far. God willing, it will continue to be like this. Dossier Tatiana Pokrovskaya. Born in Arkhangelsk in 1950. Head coach of the Russian synchronized swimming team since 1998. Under the leadership of Pokrovskaya, the team has won all the gold medals at the Olympic Games since 2000.

Dmitry Grantsev, AiF: It is known that the Chinese and Japanese, who are now breathing down our team’s necks, once filmed your training sessions.

Tatyana Pokrovskaya: This is ordinary sports espionage - a technology that has always been and will be. We are not very interested in who borrowed what from us. As practice shows, no copy can compare with the original.

Do you think the World Anti-Doping Agency's attack on Russian sports is gradually fading away? After all, news about tests and disqualifications is almost unheard of this summer.

I don’t think they left Russia alone. The pressure on our sport will continue until the international political situation changes. Although, of course, I want it all to end. So that clean athletes - the same “guilt-free” Paralympians - can return to their life’s work.

Athletes of the Russian synchronized swimming team at the XVII World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexander Vilf

“Who did you come to?”

Tatyana Nikolaevna, only you and Irina Viner have the “Hero of Labor of Russia” award. What about our male coaches? Are there any among them worthy of this title?

This means that men have not yet earned it. This means they need to work a little more. And in general, it seems to me that women will be more responsible than men in many matters. (Laughs.) But seriously, this question is not for me, I don’t give out medals. My opinion: we have male coaches worthy of the highest awards.

Irina Viner likes to tell her gymnasts: “When you come down from the golden pedestal, you’re nobody to call.” Do you agree with her?

Stop! Who did you come to? To Viner-Usmanova or to Pokrovskaya? I will never say this to athletes.

Why do synchronized swimmers put clothespins on their noses?

At the same time, I remember how you once scolded one of the girls: “I wouldn’t trust you to wash the floors in my kitchen.” Isn't it a bit harsh?

Yes, I'm a tough coach. Do you think the great Anatoly Tarasov patted his guys on the head? When it comes to serious work, it is not always possible to choose expressions. But in our family, we don’t pay attention to such little things. All the girls on the team are smart and understand perfectly well that everything is done for the sake of common success.

I watched one of the training sessions before this championship. You said “terrible” seven times and “wonderful” three times. Is it possible to satisfy Pokrovskaya at all?

I shake out of the athletes everything that is possible and that is not possible, because it always seems to me: everything worked out before, but now it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. (Laughs.) Synchronized swimmers coach Tatyana Pokrovskaya: I don’t pry into the personal lives of athletes More details

“Work saved me”

They wrote that several years ago you wanted to resign as head coach.

Where did you read this? It wasn't even close in my thoughts. If you have the strength, why not work? Moreover, synchronized swimming is my life. And work saved me. Only she can truly heal.

We are probably talking about the “Prayer” program, with which the team performed at the last Olympics and which is connected with the tragedy of your family...

It's hard for me to talk about this. (Tatyana Nikolaevna’s husband and 15-year-old granddaughter died in the same year. “When this happened, I thought that was the end of it all. I thought that I would never create anything again. But then this prayer came to my mind, this “ Prayer,” she said in Rio. - Ed.) This is an incredibly difficult program technically, but, most importantly, emotionally. To perform it, it must be felt.

How do synchronized swimmers hear music underwater?

Do you think that if your athlete is in love, is it beneficial or detrimental to the results?

You know, I’m too busy to be interested in the personal lives of athletes, to find out who is having which affair. And then I am by nature incurious. Of course, when girls invite me to their weddings, I am glad that everything worked out for them. But still, the main thing for me is that they and their families are healthy. When one of my athletes’ mother became seriously ill, it was terrible. How we all worried about her!

Your girls throw you into the water when they celebrate victories. At the same time, you yourself admitted that you feel uncomfortable in the pool. So, maybe you should stop them from doing this to you?

Of course, I don't really like it. You then get out of the pool and walk around like a wet chicken. But since there is such a tradition, then we have to observe it.

Coaches of the Russian synchronized swimming team Tatyana Pokrovskaya (left) and Tatyana Danchenko in the pool after the Russian women's victory in the free program of the group synchronized swimming competition at the XXXI Summer Olympic Games. Photo: RIA Novosti/ Alexey Kudenko

According to the site

Dmitry Kirillov: Tatyana Pokrovskaya - this name has been a symbol of all the Olympic victories of our synchronized swimming team for almost two decades. Her loud voice during training can be heard not only on land, but even under water.

Her domineering character is legendary. She does not allow herself or others to slack, burns out any manifestations of spinelessness and weakness, and knows the main secret for every athlete - how to become a winner. Yes, she herself has long been called invincible, since Pokrovskaya has no equal. She is the best coach on the planet in her sport.

Meet the cheerful, charming, feminine, resilient Tatyana Pokrovskaya, hero of labor of Russia, head coach of the country's Olympic synchronized swimming team.

Do you know the secret of how to choose 8 Olympic champions from 146 million Russians?

T.P.: Yes.

D.K.: Branded Pokrovsky things are the envy of foreign coaches.

T.P.: No comments.

D.K.: A kind coach - is this about you?

T.P.: No.

D.K.: Do you yourself love to come and swim in the pool after work?

T.P.: No.

D.K.: One does not become a coach, one is still born as a coach.

T.P.: Yes.

D.K.: Does President Putin like synchronized swimming?

T.P.: I think yes.

D.K.: Is it absolutely easy for you to be a trendsetter in synchronized swimming for 20 years now?

T.P.: No.

D.K.: In the theater there is the famous Stanislavsky system. Is there a Pokrovskaya system in world synchronized swimming?

T.P.: No comments.

D.K.: The most wonderful thing is to come home after a long day of work, have a good meal and lie down in front of the TV?

T.P.: Yes.

D.K.: Your “Prayer” program, which you showed in Rio, is recognized as the best program in the history of synchronized swimming.

T.P.: It’s very nice, of course, when your programs receive such recognition. It's always nice.

D.K.: When I look at the girls’ performance, I have the complete feeling that this cannot happen. This is simply fantastic. And then you look - these are living girls made of flesh and blood. This is fine. These are not robots.

T.P.: This process of selection for the national team is not just “she is good in technique” and that’s all. It happens that a girl is good in technique, but she cannot express everything that is in the composition. Our compositions are always figurative. And we, one might say, introduced this fashion into synchronized swimming. Because before there were compositions that were a piece of this melody, this melody. You look - the classics are coming, then hop - they spread to the stage. It sometimes happens that the classics coincide with the pop, something similar. But there is no such thing as Tchaikovsky - then some kind of rock and roll started. This is already very rare, such as I call just cabbage.

D.K.: Cut it?

T.P.: Yes. People already know that if synchronized dancers come out, it means they will show us something figurative, like in ballet.

D.K.: How is the theater?

T.P.: This is our fashion. And we try to reflect this with a swimsuit. Because this is important.

D.K.: Swimsuits can probably be called theatrical costumes?

T.P.: Yes.

D.K.: This is not just a swimsuit.

T.P.: The artist sews for us and comes up with the design. Indeed, such a swimsuit, as for a performance. We are offered several stories, we reject some, and offer some ourselves.

D.K.: Are you participating?

T.P.: Necessarily.

D.K.: Are you asking girls?

T.P.: But what about it?

D.K.: Like it or not.

T.P.: If I myself decided with my finger - “this”, and then the girls say “no”... They should go out, not me. I'm sitting in my T-shirts. And one plot - pink and green.

D.K.: Everyone in the sports world knows about Pokrovskaya’s two lucky T-shirts. Purchased many years ago, they are now worn exclusively during competitions and always bring good luck. Believe it or not.

T.P.: After our first World Cup victory in 1998, I was just driving through Hong Kong and bought these T-shirts commemorating our victory.

D.K.: Victory jerseys?

T.P.: Victorious. I bought it, I just bought it. I wore it to the next competition - that's how it all started. I can't help but wear them. I probably wouldn't wear it. But I can not. The girls have already grown into them so much that they will just get so upset...

D.K.: They already see this T-shirt.

T.P.: They'll be upset. There was already a case where I was sitting, I just hadn’t changed my clothes yet. “Tatyana Nikolaevna, why are you sitting?” I say: “What’s the matter?” - “Where are the T-shirts?” I'm growing. But for some reason the T-shirts don’t stretch very well. They remain the same.

D.K.: No, Tatyana Nikolaevna, they just shrink when washed. I assure you.

T.P.: Certainly. For almost 20 years now. Of course they sit down. I just don't sit down.

D.K.: And throwing your favorite coach into the pool is a mandatory program. This is a fun tradition that the girls follow religiously. Dip Pokrovskaya in water for luck.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge in 20 years. The country fell apart. But the head coach of the USSR did not sit on the ruins of the State Sports Committee and sprinkle ashes on her head. Finding no support at home, she went to work in Spain. Fortunately, foreigners have always highly valued Pokrovskaya’s talent. And then a fateful 180-degree turn - to the southern hemisphere, to Brazil, which divided Tatyana Nikolaevna’s life into 2 halves. In 1995, Pokrovskaya returned home to Russia. And their beloved daughter Katya and little granddaughter Lisa remain in Brazil.

Years later, fate prepared a serious test for Tatyana Nikolaevna: her beloved husband and then her 15-year-old granddaughter passed away not long ago.

T.P.: My sad moment. I didn't think I would compose anything at all. Looking at one point, seeing nothing. The state was very depressive.

D.K.: Did you just arrive after the funeral?

T.P.: Yes. And the girls worried along with me.

D.K.: Preparing our Olympic team to perform in Rio de Janeiro, where our beloved granddaughter is buried, was beyond human strength. But Pokrovskaya passed this test with dignity. She not only remained in the sport, but prepared a program for the Olympics that shocked the whole world.

T.P.: The girls said: “Tatyana Nikolaevna, we will find music, listen. No means no.” And when I listened to this music, some image already appeared in my mind: “My God, we and the sky.” And the preparation went very quickly. Usually I change a lot there, sit and that’s it. And it just happened somehow on its own.

D.K.: And her girls helped her in this, who, like loyal warriors of the Pokrovskaya army, were determined to win again. And only for victory. The sky also helped. It was as if Lisa was invisibly supporting the entire team. And they won.

You have such a star factory. Imagine, your own.

T.P.: In general, somewhere, yes. Such business stars who, in order to become a star, give a lot to it. And here you already feel how strong the girls’ willpower really is. Deep down I respect them very much. In training it seems like an iron sword. But I respect them deep down. So you think about it - my God, this is how much you need to give to this business.

D.K.: Diamond splashes, female figures hovering above the water - behind the apparent weightlessness and lightness there is exhausting work. Literally, your whole life is put on the scales with Olympic gold. Of course, this is art. But first of all, real sport, and a very tough one, requiring maximum physical and emotional concentration. Few people can withstand such a crazy rhythm. But those who remain become Olympic champions, whom the whole world knows.

T.P.: This is the elite of sports, the elite of synchronized swimming. There are already girls gathering who, yes, as you said, are already on the chopping block for sports. But they know why they are doing this. I don't even say financially. Although this is also thanks to the government. The latest Olympics, of course, are good, I welcome it. That there should be rewards. But what about it? It started with Vladimir Vladimirovich. He loves and respects sports. And we feel it.

Especially in the Kremlin, those winners who are accepted are from 1st to 3rd place. And, of course, the elite of sports. And everyone is so beautiful. I can't understand. I see all the time... where things come from. Beauties!

D.K.: If we are talking about President Putin, as I understand it, he helps as much as he can. I know that the Olympic base is now in synchronized swimming...

T.P.: Yes, where you are sitting is thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich, it was just in a short time. It was a long-term construction, this pool. And suddenly we are invited to the opening. What discovery? On the Round Lake. Where did the pool come from? Such a miracle comes here.

D.K.: We were in Ramenskoye, I think, right?

T.P.: Yes. We prepared three Olympiads in Ramenskoye. Thank you very much to the director of this pool. Because he did the impossible. The pool is from the 1960s. And there's a meat grinder. Whoever swam there, whoever crawled along the bottom (diving), or crawled along the wall (rock climbing). There is iron there, everything is fenced off.

D.K.: And then there are synchronized swimmers.

T.P.: Yes.

D.K.: Those who need warm water.

T.P.: They wrote letters: “Shut up this screaming woman who keeps playing music over and over again. We came to swim and relax.”

D.K.: In one of the interviews, the girls said that screaming Pokrovskaya is “our adrenaline.” There really is some kind of...

T.P.: Certainly. But what about it? Mobilizes. My native voice, far from gentle, is very mobilizing. And I already realized that this is also a system. This is a system. Because you can calmly say everything in individual forms. And when there are even 8 or 10 of them... One is attentive, the other is inattentive. So they come to the national team - they even learn to watch videos. Don't just watch... I say - you don't watch like an Indian series. You analyze. Why are we looking then? Each must analyze their position, their performance. Do not know how. They are studying. And this is not such a simple process.

D.K.: As a child, did you even have a dream that you would be the queen, the world’s leading synchronized swimming player?

T.P.: I lived in our outback in the Urals, in Magnitogorsk, I didn’t even know that this happened. I was drawn to ballet.

D.K.: Into art.

T.P.: But, not finding a ballet studio, I had to take up rhythmic gymnastics. I thought that now we would do something gymnastic, then we would sit down and draw.

D.K.: Oh, well, rhythmic gymnastics. There was such a performance. Did rhythmic gymnastics help you when you started synchronized swimming?

T.P.: Very. Let some people think that I am not an expert. And in Ukraine, the head coach is also an artist, not a specialist either. Let synchronized swimming depend on such non-specialists.

D.K.: For many years now, many foreign athletes have been trying to unravel the secret of Tatyana Pokrovskaya’s success. But everything is in vain. It is not always possible to take the honest path. But sending a scout is a common practice. This happened before the Olympics, when during a closed run-through for their own people, Chinese cameramen were caught filming our girls’ working performance with a hidden camera.

T.P.: We, especially before the Olympics, always conduct so-called courses.

D.K.: Is the dress rehearsal like in the theater?

T.P.: Yes. We deliberately leave a small pocket so that we can correct it a little later, because it’s clear that somewhere something didn’t add up. And the spectators sitting with us discovered that they were filming. But they were forced to return the film because they had to ask permission. Because it's so quiet. It's in Ramenskoye. We arrived, took the time to go to Ramenskoye and quietly began filming.

D.K.: You always come up with some new stories, many elements. Do you then see many years later in teams of other countries? “Hello, here we come, I did this 10 years ago.” It was so?

T.P.: Yes, sure. Other commands have already been executed - and it seems like...

D.K.: And you can’t explain that it’s ours.

T.P.: Yes. And the spectator who sits at the competition, and some judges, perceive that it is this particular team. And I like this thing. And it's a shame. Somehow you think: “Wow, this is ours...”.

D.K.: You once said in some interview - and it started to happen that motivation mixed with hatred of the coach gives amazing results. Was?

T.P.: I once said that. But that's not what I meant. And now in general...

D.K.: This is a quote already. After all, there is some kind of share in this...

T.P.: There is some truth.

D.K.: Tell me.

T.P.: Because how? If I force, force, and where can I go, life is life, the human factor, sometimes even rudely.

D.K.: Are there any strong words?

T.P.: But what about it? This is Pokrovskaya's secret. You say secret things. These are just secret things. This also drains your energy. I think there is a feeling of hatred at this time.

D.K.: “How much is possible?”

T.P.: Yes. This is impossible.

D.K.: There is no other way. What if you relaxed and said: “Oh, you are my pussies, let’s learn some more.”

T.P.: I tried it.

D.K.: Well, how?

T.P.: No way.

D.K.: Doesn’t work?

T.P.: When I'm not there, the coaches work. I have assistants, good assistants, who work at full capacity. Has been with me for many years. But girls, as they say, still have this moment of relaxation. I say: “What am I, a policeman? Is there no chief police officer?” You see, this is the human factor. If there is a gold fund for coaches, a gold reserve, then everything will be ok. And even a not very talented athlete can be turned into a victory. This happened in synchronized swimming. When they were skeptical. “Oh, why should she join the national team? This is a laugh. We must have legs, that’s all.” No. I have been saying for a long time that synchronized swimming requires a head and very fine, good coordination. And this is the head.

D.K.: How many times a year do you see your daughter? How does this even happen?

T.P.: My story is completely atypical. Because my daughter is very far away. And now I have two grandchildren.

D.K.: Oh, already two grandchildren. Well, tell me. Do they live in Rio?

T.P.: Yes, in Rio. And a grandson, who is two years old. Vanya. And Anya, who is 3 months old. That is, thank God, God, thank you that after this tragedy God gave us two more children.

D.K.: That life goes on.

T.P.: Yes, and this is all far away. This doesn't mean I forgot them. Moreover, modern life allows... I see them. It's not like before.

D.K.: It’s the grandmother who now raises via Skype...

T.P.: Yes, and I look there - and something about the ear is not right, and the nose is not right, but this is this. That is already control. Of course, I want such contact. I chose this path myself. And I have no idea. For example, I come for 20 days - my daughter minds her own business, the grandchildren do the same... And you already feel out of place. That is, you need something of your own.

D.K.: It's time to go to the pool.

T.P.: Yes.

D.K.: How do you even resist so as not to show the girls that, for example, there are some problems and difficulties. Even during this crazy story with WADA, until recently they could not understand whether you would go or not. How did you experience all this within yourself?

T.P.: So how? When these not very good events happened, it was within yourself. And, of course, it affects your health. But what about it? You won’t throw hysterics - “oh, we won’t go, girls.” I told the girls this: “Girls, wait, now Vladimir Vladimirovich will connect - and everything will be fine, and we will definitely go.” That's all. And so they didn’t slow down, nothing. But it took its toll, you know... If there was no happiness, then misfortune would help. The interest of our spectators was very great, so heightened. For example, this is my fifth Olympics. But there has never been such a stir after our victory that people would recognize us even on the street. And, you know, “we bow to you,” you know? I'm already in tears, of course... Women say: "Bow, because when we watched, we were sick and that's it...". And we just became heroes.

D.K.: Because it was really a battle, it was a real battle.

T.P.: And the whole people somehow rallied. Russians are probably united by negative events.

D.K.: When they beat us, we then raise our heads.

T.P.: Yes, and right together... This is our mentality. And immediately they are in such a fist - they are going into the last battle, that it is no longer possible to give up, and Russia is behind us.

D.K.: Tatyana Nikolaevna, you have many awards and titles. Still, it has accumulated over so many years. Is there some kind of award or some kind of title, something that is really very dear to you.

T.P.: Of course, a star.

D.K.: This is a very responsible thing now...

T.P.: A special reward, of course. But what is responsible? There’s already a lot of responsibility, you know, on your shoulders. That’s why I’m gaining weight so that I can somehow bear this responsibility with honor and that’s it. But still, all the awards are not as an advance to the future, but for what has already happened, she deserved it. I also said: “Oh, what about now after the star?” But they explain to me what kind of work this is, which has already been accomplished, recognition of what has happened. Well, its own burden of responsibility, of course. I never work, I say: “We have to. We work, and see what happens.” For some reason, they don’t remember this phrase of mine, but they remember another one. “And how it turns out.” May the Lord help us.

The results of the Russian team are phenomenal, considering that the athletics and weightlifting teams, the strongest rowers and cyclists were not allowed to participate in the Games. A total of 110 people remained at home. And why they remained is still not clear. IOC President Thomas Bach said that the head of the WADA Independent Commission, Richard McLaren, still refuses to provide evidence of the athletes’ guilt, explaining that the information is not urgent and can therefore wait. The pressure on the team was unprecedented. But the more precious is victory. What else will the whole world remember about the Rio Games?

The golden Russian duo have not yet figured out how to carry the flag together. The ability to do everything simultaneously will no doubt not let them down. The five-time Olympic champions will lead the Russian team during the closing ceremony of the Games.

First minutes on the podium. Maria Shurochkina - 46 kilograms - should be the lightest in the team. What no one else in the world can do, a somersault over an Olympic swimming pool, is performed by her.

Like one mechanism, as if not people: under water - eight different athletes. Ten points for entertainment, difficulty and technique. Two thirds of the program - 115 seconds - the Russians are not breathing. Romashina’s personal record is 4.5 minutes. Speed, proximity to each other. For 16 years in a row, Russia has collected all the gold in the world. Where the battle is for hundredths, the Russian synchronized swimmers have a full two points as their rivals.

The legendary Tatyana Pokrovskaya is wearing the legendary orange T-shirt, which she has been wearing for 18 years.

“I’ve had this T-shirt since the moment we won the World Championship for the first time in 1998. I’m growing, but the T-shirt doesn’t stretch at all. I’m also completely bogged down in superstitions. Just try not to wear this T-shirt, the athletes tell me. And if I forget it at home - I almost forgot it at the Olympics - I think the girls would throw me off the plane,” says Tatyana Pokrovskaya, head coach of the Russian synchronized swimming team.

There are no tears left. Invincible Russians. The Olympic handball tournament goes undefeated, destroying the Norwegian team in the semi-finals, which has been taking medals for the last 8 years. Russian handball hasn’t won gold in — it’s scary to imagine — 36 years!

The Russian team performs triumphantly in Brazil. Of the ten possible sets, Russia has four gold, silver and two bronze. After the failure in Beijing, it took 8 years to achieve victories.

“This covered all my frustrations and disappointments that I could not perform as an active athlete, so I am simply happy and proud that now in a new incarnation I will continue to work, but as a sports functionary,” Isinbayeva admitted. Fighting for the rights of Olympians is Isinbayeva’s main goal.

Undisguised impudence in the standings - American runners pushed aside the Chinese, removed the Brazilians, and no one noticed how they dropped the baton. The USA, coming last to the finish line, provokes a real scandal, blames the Brazilian for everything and asks for a second try. They are filing an appeal. The International Athletics Federation, the same one that suspended Russia from the Games, within an hour admits that the baton was knocked out by force. And the United States, alone in an empty stadium, gets a second try. An unthinkable event!

The Americans are in the finals. Chinese athletes who took last place in the qualifying round are automatically eliminated from the race. The International Athletics Federation rejected their appeal.

What happened to the water - green and cloudy - is still unknown. The eyes of synchronized swimmers sting; in water polo you can’t see each other. One of the workers mistakenly poured hydrogen peroxide into the water. The substance is used to clean the pool if the water is not chlorinated, otherwise the substances react and the water turns green. The reagents - chlorine, vitriol - are still lying on the floor, the pool remained green for three days. The water in the pool had to be changed twice. The green water was replaced by muddy water, which is unacceptable for synchronized swimming.

“Brazil prepared us for all conditions. We swam in the heat, in the cold, in the wind, in the rain, in muddy water, in clean water, and in chlorinated water,” admitted the Russian synchronized swimmers.

It's hard to imagine how hurtful and bitter it is. The video of the two-time Rio Olympic silver medalist in swimming crying is still breaking American viewing records. I held on all the time, but immediately after the finale I finally gave vent to my feelings.

They don’t behave like that on a pedestal - the whole world noticed - the American did not congratulate Efimova. After a hundred meters of breaststroke, Efimova swims two hundred meters. King doesn't even make it to the finals.

The center where Russian athletes were literally rescued was the Russian Olympic dacha. Before the competitions, it turned out that almost everyone draws.

No one knows what the Olympic debutante painted. First place in the individual program! The intrigue was only in one thing - which of the friends would be taller. Even before the official end of the all-around, it became clear: Mamun won gold by flawlessly completing all four types of the program - hoop, ball, ribbon, clubs. There is not a single empty seat in the stands, which was an exception for the Brazilian Rio. Due to unimaginable ticket prices, stadiums were sometimes empty. Only tickets for Phelps, Bolt, Russian artists and synchronized swimmers were sold out without a trace.

Russian artist Yana Kudryavtseva is a three-time absolute champion. It was she who went for gold in Rio, was in the lead after the first two events, but dropped the item. A fatal loss of points pushed her out of first place.

For 16 years in a row, synchronized swimmers and gymnasts have taken all the Olympic gold: Barsukova, Kabaeva, Kanaeva and this year Margarita Mamun.

285 athletes. 23 sports. The Russian team is gradually going home.

They want to finish the renovations in the room of bronze medalist in wrestling Bukina. Mom and Dad haven't slept for the third night.

Today at the World Aquatics Championships, which takes place in Montreal, the first set of medals in synchronized swimming will be played. The main contender for gold in the combined program is, naturally, the Russian team. We expect our synchronized swimmers to win in other disciplines - team competitions, solo and duet. And how could it be otherwise, if they have long been the best in the world. Shortly before the start, NI talked with long-time coach of the Russian national team Tatyana POKROVSKAYA, winner of the Slava sports award in the category “Best Coach of 2004”.

– Tatyana Nikolaevna, is it true that you were not going to connect your fate with synchronized swimming?

“I can’t stand swimming in the pool either.” I don’t like this water - I disdain it. You go back and forth, back and forth - it irritates me. I only swim in the sea. Or in the ocean. But I’m not a very good swimmer, to be honest. I don’t like my head to be in the water, I don’t breathe correctly... And I wouldn’t connect my life with synchronized swimming under any circumstances. I still can’t understand how it’s possible to hang upside down in the water and not even be able to see what your legs are doing.

– Have you ever asked your girls about this?

– I asked... They laugh and claim that they can see their legs. I say: you don’t know how the audience reacts. And they: well, we’re diving up... You know, once on “Round Lake” I tried to hang upside down. The water in the pool was cloudy, and I didn’t even understand where the bottom was and where the top was. She began to panic, like a caught fish. The girls caught me, and I still remember this horror: God, how scary! And they still manage to feel their movements with an accuracy of a degree: an angle of fifteen, a slope of thirty...

– You also have such a frightening term - falling asleep under water. I was told that there were cases when athletes actually fell asleep there because they held their breath too much...

– When we were just looking for ourselves in synchronized swimming, there was such a fashion to lengthen the ligaments. That is, most of the program will work underwater. We all rushed then. The Russian school is generally different in this regard. Nowadays synchronized swimming is being taken away for relief - they say you can’t hold your breath for too long, but we still stand our ground. I remember when we started doing this, the Americans came up to us and said: let your children breathe, why will they just come up like fish, catch the air and go back under the water... Yes, there are cases when athletes cannot swim out and they have to be caught , they really do happen. But this rarely happens in training. Mainly at competitions, in the compulsory program. When the already difficult breathing is paralyzed by excitement... This is a very difficult sport. That's why I say: how do they bear all this? This is not clear to me. Unclear.

– And this comes from a coach who won the Olympics twice...

“Even though I don’t understand the girls’ feelings, I can see a lot from above.” It would seem that your legs are sticking out above the water, and that’s all. What else can you see? I once thought so, but now you grasp everything at the same time: how they stroke, how they hold their breath, how they work with their hands. Everything seems to be the same - only their legs are above the water, but by their movement I can even tell from afar what mistakes they are making down there. This all comes with experience.

– I am a very impulsive coach. And my biofield is probably very strong. When I scream, the equipment sits next to me, so I really don’t need a microphone.

- Do you know that your girls are afraid of you?

- I know. Even those who are not yet in the national team, but on the way. They know that I have very serious discipline. And the fact that they will have to work in a way they have never worked before.

-Are you a fanatic?

– Do you think that you should be born a coach?

- Definitely.

– It’s still unclear how you were able to master a sport that was not yours so thoroughly. Or do you not care who to train?

“I came at a time when anyone, if they wanted, could become a coach in this sport. Synchronized swimming was a child back then. We all walked by feel. And I had very good teachers - Marina Maksimova, Zoya Barbier. Synchronized swimming in Russia began with them. After rhythmic gymnastics, where I worked as a coach, it generally seemed to me that this was not a sport. The most interesting thing is that my husband convinced me to do it. He was then working at the Moscow Sports Committee and wanted his fanatically devoted wife to be at home more often and look after the child. So I had nowhere to go.

– And the husband miscalculated in the end?

- And how! At one time (he was a military man), I, like a Decembrist, went to serve in Tmutarakan. She worked as a physical education teacher in a regular school. By the way, I have very good memories of that time. Although the school was provincial, they paid very serious attention to sports. The children had very good results in athletics. Well, I showed such miracles - you can stage a comedy. I was a gymnast and took part in athletics at the Institute of Physical Education from time to time. If only they gave the test. Well, during the lesson, such a start showed them that they were almost standing in splits, spread out. When we started running, I didn’t understand why my children were practically rubbing their noses into the path. It turned out that I had mixed up the distance between the starting blocks. And they didn’t even show it. We thought: maybe a person from Moscow knows more? Well, my husband explained to me what was what. And the next day, as if nothing had happened, I say: yesterday we learned the training start, and now we will learn the sports one... Who knows, maybe we would have stayed there, but I always wanted more. I already knew for sure that I would be a coach. And I was accustomed to working in such an exhausting mode since childhood.

– The head coach of our “artists” Irina Viner once noticed that in the same women’s sport, they have a boa constrictor on the left and a cobra on the right. You can expect anything at any moment. Is it difficult for you in this sense?

– It’s no more difficult than in a men’s team. Believe me, there are plenty of intrigues there too. When our two duets (Anastasia Ermakova - Anastasia Davydova and Olga Brusnikina - Maria Kiseleva - “NI”) fought among themselves, everyone said: what a situation, how terrible! But there was nothing like that. I heard that sometimes no one put razors in boots, like in figure skating. The situation was, of course, a little nervous. But the coaches and girls behaved very well.

– So, having lost the selection, Brusnikina and Kiseleva went to complain to Fetisov?

- You understand, they are offended. They returned to the sport for the sake of a duet, and suddenly the rivals, very young, cross the road. I, too, perhaps at first believed more in Brusnikin and Kiselev, and it was a surprise to me that the young ones won. So anyone could do this, out of resentment. But there were no provocations in the group. Masha and Olga are generally smart people. We survived this difficult moment. And Ermakova and Davydova turned out to be not so rough. Both are laughing. And the fact that there was such competition only benefited everyone.

– What does this “Glory” award mean to you?

– The fact that they recognized the work of our entire coaching team in my person. It’s good that our work is beginning to be valued no less than the work of athletes. Still, the work goes on as equals. The athletes may have a lot of physical wear and tear, but the moral wear and tear of the coaches is much greater. Our work gets on our nerves terribly. And thank God that they began to understand: a lot depends on the coach. Because no matter how talented you are, there is no coach - and there is nothing. But it happens the other way around. In good hands and without talent you can become an Olympic champion. I had one girl on the team - Vera Artemova, so when she came to us, the diagnosis was: scoliosis, moving into the fourth stage. And this is not an isolated case. And now there are children in the national team who have achieved everything only through perseverance and the work of their coaches.

– Did you prepare for the World Cup with a calm heart, or is every tournament like the first for you?

– There are coaches who are always confident in themselves and say that their students are the strongest. And it always seems to me that mine are the weakest. And this does not allow you to calm down. Even girls sometimes raise me. They always say that you, Tatyana Nikolaevna, exaggerate. But I am like a distorting mirror. You have to click them on the nose. Now, I answer them, at the European Cup, for example, we beat the Spanish, but we haven’t seen our main competitors, the Japanese, yet. I remind them all the time: our rivals are growing. Let it be “on us”, but they are growing. And everyone is working seriously now. And Spain, with whom we came into contact at the training camp and gave it all our secrets. The Americans, who after the recession have now risen again and also adopted our course. The Japanese, who climb everywhere and have simply amazing working conditions. In general, we need to build the sport of the future. Just like in China. Because in the near future, not only those who have brilliant coaching staff, but also those who work in good conditions will win. Here we, as an elite team, of course receive all kinds of help and support from sports organizations, but for now we only hope that someday we, two-time Olympic champions in group and duet, will still have our own pool at home...

It is unlikely that you will find a coach like Tatyana Pokrovskaya in the world. They say that there are two real “men” left in our coaching workshop - Irina Viner and Tatyana Pokrovskaya. One could even say that in “Rio 2016. More than sport” Pokrovskaya became a central figure. This means they want to return to Tatyana Nikolaevna.

A tyrant coach, in my understanding, is someone who does not shy away from assault and allows himself to rudely insult athletes. In sports, they are the ones who measure who is stronger. Our team contains only proven fighters, girls who are perfectly motivated for success. Moreover, everyone is amazed at how difficult and long our training is.

The morning lesson starts at 11 o'clock. We practice exercises in the water until 14.30, then lunch, and from 18.00 to 22.00 another training session. And before her, the girls go to the gym and spend one and a half, or even two hours doing choreography and acrobatics. We have been holding the palm in world synchronized swimming for a long time. I need them to believe in me as a specialist.

I suspect that Tatyana Danchenko, when she staged programs for Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina, did not consider “Brazilian” options for the same reason

Recently, my husband and 15-year-old beautiful granddaughter died in one year. I sought solace in work. Rainn, isn’t it clear that they got into football because “watching football” is the main favorite pastime of men around the world, so it’s not just a sport, but also money.

And not in vain: Russian athletes once again proved how strong our school of synchronized swimming is, receiving gold medals and all the highest possible scores!

By the way, the girls have a tradition of throwing their coach into the water of the pool. The head coach of the Russian synchronized swimming team talks about the Olympics in Rio, where her players are expected to achieve a 100% result - two gold medals.

During her school years she did rhythmic gymnastics and became a master of sports. After the closure of the gymnastics section in 1981, she switched to synchronized swimming. People, programs, circumstances can change in it, but one thing remains unchanged: indestructibility. Landing on an object, defeating everyone and returning alive - this is about them, about synchronized swimmers.

You are already in your fifth Olympic quadrennial as a head coach, and in connection with this, the question is: what has been the most difficult thing over the past four years?

The first post-Olympic world championship is usually especially difficult, when the composition of the team changes and people become worried about the result. Everything else proceeds as usual. Although the same Ukrainian women, I know, were very worried about how they would be received in Russia. Brazil, where you worked for several years before joining the Russian national team, is also not a foreign country to you.

It will be good if the walls in the pool don’t collapse when the Brazilian group starts. In this regard, they are simply great. In general, Brazil has very positive people. Even when I worked there and periodically asked for a translator, when I had to give an interview, everyone laughed: “Tatyana, why do you need a translator? After all, we already had a “Carnival” - at the Games in Athens.

Clarity of rhythm in synchronized swimming is one of the prerequisites. She tried, but couldn’t, despite the fact that she had already worked in the main team and was even the 2014 European champion in Berlin.

There is always too much drill in the group. The most exhausting work is always in a group. Any change in the group requires getting used to, and mutually. Fitting a duet into a group is also a big problem. Of course, it's nice to have all eight people working together every day, but in reality it never works out that way. Note E.V.) practice duets in the morning, join the group only in the evenings, and therefore everyone has to do both programs during one workout.