Dmitry Klokov Interviews David Rigert

Meanwhile in Russia …

Dmitry Klokov is currently on a visit in the Taganrog training facility and he recorded a new “On Par/On Equal Terms” interview.

This time it’s with David Rigert.

On youtube Dmitry commented that he will have engish subtitles available soon! In the mean time here are Dmitry’s past interviews.

Update 11.04.2015: English Subtitles are now available.

Quick note from Sergiy:

The Rigert interview is amazing. They talked about Rigert’s current life, 2012 Olympics, Rigert’s 2 failed Olympics, his children in weightlifting, Misha Koklyaev and national team, drugs in 70s.

Btw, Rigert said he could do 200+260 at 100 kg if he trained some more.

During the rest of the video they talk a lot about his academy, how it was built, his coaching career, and patriotism.

Transcript:

0:33 Our guest today is the man who achieved big results in sport

0:39 In my opinion he has everything a man can dream about

0:44 He could live wherever he wanted to and do whatever he wanted to

0:49 But he lives here near Taganrog, taking care of his own farm

0:56 He is 6 time champion of the world, nine time European champion, 1976 Olympic champion and he set 63 world records

1:04 I’m talking about the man who was named the best weightlifter of the century by IWF

1:12 I did not see him for 2,5 years and I am interested to see how his life has changed

1:16 And this episode is dedicated to him

1:25 Rigert David Adamovich

1:42 “It’s OK!”

1:47 “She’s jealous!”

1:53 “Go for a walk!”

2:00 “She was raised surrounded by cows, so when she smells them she runs to them”

2:08 When i called you today all i heard is voices of chickens and goats

2:25 By the way, my dad’s thinking about the farm too

2:31 We’re puzzled, because we’re not used to it

2:38 “It’s difficult to find a place, though.I was lucky to find this one”

2:52 What about your license on the land?

2:55 “Everything’s alright! It’s my private property”

2:59 “Everything’s mine until 5 metres deep”

3:05 Maybe you have some oil deep in the ground?

3:14 I see that you repaired the tractor

3:18 “Yes, we did it with Denis”

3:23 “We installed a brand new engine”

3:28 How did you get the food here, the road was probably covered with lots of snow

3:34 “The food is here running around”

3:45 What’s about that gym equipment?

3:47 “They’re broken down”

3:54 “Alright, i’ll go”

3:56 See you!

4:10 “These cats have work to do, because we’ve a lot of mice here”

4:14 Are they at house, too? “No, because cats checking everywhere”

4:26 How did you come up with that idea of ​​living here? When i was here the last time you had only concerete foundation

4:34 “I was born a peasant”

4:43 “I was always dreaming about this type of land with everything it has”

4:50 As i remember you did not have water here

4:54 we found resource back there and opened it

5:02 “Denis has a small excavator it can fit into the door”

5:12 “But it’s powerful and rentable”

5:16 what you need this woods for?

5:18 “I need them for guesthouse”

5:24 “I prepared space for the house back there”

5:40 “You see we have transmission lines really close”

5:48 “We have generators, solar panels and wind turbine”

5:53 you have everything you can for electricity

6:00 “This four panels I have were made in Russia”

6:08 “All our space stations are using our own panels”

6:16 well, it’s good

6:23 where the water goes?

6:27 “It’s going down deep”

6:30 how did you family reacted when you told them that you’re moving to farm?

6:34 “They had no choice”

6:38 we have the same situation, but we are trying to avoid it

6:45 “Well, you need to work here to get food”

6:50 you know German Sterligov, right? When did you hear about him for the first time?

6:55 because he moved to the farm too

7:02 “I heard about him right when he became popular”

7:07 “Right when his children were small, but now they’re grown”

7:13 so your goals were the same?

7:20 but you’re not planning to sell this place like he did?

7:25 “No, I am not”

7:31 “I have a pond cleaner there to clean the lake”

7:37 do you have fish there? “Yes, I do. Some are very huge!”

7:48 what was the main motivation to move here?

7:52 “My soul wanted to”

8:00 “You see i raised the dam and cleaned the reed”

8:23 beautiful!

8:25 that’s it, Lena! If dad would see this he will not be able to resist

8:35 you probably were standing there when I called you today

8:40 David Adamovich you need more than just a desire to watch the farm

8:50 “Well, I was watching farm and animals when I was younger”

8:55 when do you usually wake up?

8:58 “At 5 AM”

9:01 do you have a special regimen? “I wake up like that all the time”

9:05 and when do you need to take care of the farm? “At about sunrise”

9:10 “Animals would wake you up”

9:14 David Adamovich do not you think that it is scary to live alone in the forest and?

9:21 “I’m used to it”

9:24 and what about your family? “They’re not saying anything they are scared”

9:30 “It’s all good.Denis is chilling here with his friends very often”

9:34 “You see, they were preparing fresh soup and left the caldron there”

9:40 “And they ate fresh soup by themselves”

9:50 “I have a water pump there”

9:57 “I have a lot of work to do” it will be enough for your children and grandchildren too

10:04 did you try to give up smoking? “I did try when I was head coach in USSR team”

10:13 you were elected as a head coach three times, right?

10:22 so you tried to give up?

10:26 “After two weeks without smoking I noticed that I was very aggressive”

10:35 “I became a coach right after my weightlifting career with Zackarevich and others”

10:45 “And one day I smelled cigarette smoke”

10:53 “Zackarevich and others went upstairs so they would not bother me”

11:03 “I quickly ran upstairs and attacked them”

11:12 you attacked them, because they were smoking?

11:16 “Well, they did not just smoke” so they had a party

11:22 “It was a weekend, so they were relaxing”

11:28 so you started to smoke again?

11:31 “I was living in one room with Maslyaev, so he said relax and take a cigarette”

11:40 and he said that I act crazy and I told him “fuck you” and he said “i told you”

11:57 so you did not try to give up since then? “I could not”

12:03 “But it’s easy for me not to smoke in public places and transport”

12:11 “Because I’m used to live by the rules”

12:17 it’s written in the web that David Rigert after finishing his incredible career as an athlete and a coach owns his farm

12:31 and it’s written as you will never come back to coaching. Do you have a desire to return?

12:44 “Well, I have dreams, but I consider myself to be a realist”

12:57 you have an award of the greatest weightlifter of the century, so you missing an award of the greatest head coach of the century

13:06 so do you have thoughts of coming back?

13:19 you are not interested no more, right?

13:24 it’s very difficult to forget about it after dedicating so many years to the craft

13:31 “I was a weightlifter since childhood years”

13:50 “Sometimes it’s very upsetting when you did something, but someone changed the route and came back to same place again”

14:02 I remember when I missed Olympics in London, Apti Aukhadov told me not to worry, because God does everything for better

14:20 and right now I’m not really worried about it, because I do not know what would have happened if I would go there

14:32 and some things might not even happened. So I missed Olympics, but it gave me another route

14:43 so did Olympics in London gave you a better route?

14:52 “I felt the same as you just said in 1972”

14:58 when you missed your lifts, right? “Yes”

15:10 “I’m happy that it happened to me”

15:20 “That situation humbled me, because when you are on a high-level you might miss some details”

15:31 “Also I was disqualified in 1977 because we had some shenanigans at airport”

15:45 “At first, I was disqualified for life”

15:51 “But after 10 months I was asked to return, because we were losing”

16:01 “So, after 1972 I am not afraid of anything”

16:06 “I was more upset for you, because we put so much work and were so close, but did not reach the goal”

16:18 I’ll see khadzhimurat on Thursday or Friday and talk to him

16:25 “And we could not do anything in your situation”

16:40 so you think it was for better, maybe you would have stayed as a head coach?

16:50 “No, I would not”

16:58 “Because you can not take the same place for a long time”

17:16 so were you upset with the situation that happened right after the Olympics in the Federation?

17:22 “Well, it was unexpected” my dad told me that I should not worry about that, because he dedicated himself, but was sold out

17:35 “Well, you should hope for the best, but do not forget about what might happen”

17:43 so you werevexpecting that? “Yes, if there is a tongue there is teeth, you can be bitten”

18:03 there were a lot of rumors about 1972 Olympics. It was rumored that the platform was bad or you did not prepare well and even some magnets

18:18 “The front part of the platform was 4 cm higher than usual”

18:25 “That’s why we had four people who failed their lifts”

18:45 so a lot of factors affected you?

18:49 “My pull was very explosive, but I did not understand why I could not hold it in the bottom”

18:55 yes, you could see in the video that the pull was very explosive

19:05 and what’s happened at 1980 Olympics in Moscow?

19:17 “Well, back then Shariy and Bessonov were competing hard in training and everyone was applauding”

19:24 “I reminded them how they lost to Aleksandrov in European championship. And if I would be asked I would defeat both of them and Alexandrov”

19:33 “I said it so they would not relax”

19:38 “And the same day they snitched on me”

19:48 “So after that coaches offered me to compete at the Olympics”

19:53 “I have never cut 10 kg before”

20:01 “The next day I weighted-in at 101 kg”

20:10 “Then I had a call from Moscow and they thought that I was ready”

20:30 so you promised and then you had to do it?

21:02 “So three days left until Olympics and I said I am not ready”

21:13 “I felt like breaking down”

21:39 I can only imagine how good you can sleep here

21:43 It’s very beautiful!

21:47 “The furnace is on woods”

22:13 young generation claims that you need to have good genetics, money and a good coach to achieve results

22:25 you had genetics, opportunity and experience.So why Slava, Denis and Vitya did not achieve results

22:42 “They did not have what you had. Ability to work no matter what”

22:52 “And also they were expected to achieve big results. It distracted them”

23:18 Slava when I started weightlifting, you and your brother were already training

23:30 how does it feel when everybody around expect you to achieve the same results as your father did?

23:48 “Well, it was very difficult at first”

24:01 “I do not really remember my worries, but my results were not significant”

24:11 and why do you think it’s happened?

24:17 you had genetics, opportunities and money. What was not enough?

24:32 “Well, Denis did not achieve results, because he had a knee injury”

24:55 “I was trying to start weightlifting couple times. I did it for the first time when I was 14 years old, but then I needed to go to college and study”

25:10 “But when I looked at myself in the mirror I was not pleased with my physique. I was 190 cm and was weighting 63 kg”

25:22 “So a started weightlifting for the second time in 2002”

25:30 “At that time my father became head coach of the national team”

25:36 “And I was trying to lift weights when he was there”

25:44 it’s a big advantage when you training with the national team. And I know that, because it helped me a lot

25:56 “You know, I think I’m more a coach than an athlete. Because I was taking notes at how coaches work”

26:14 “I was interested in watching different methods of training and comparing them”

26:26 “Because the national team is a huge source of knowledge”

26:36 can you say that you just did not gave everything you had?

26:42 “Yes, you can say that I did not gave it all”

26:50 “Because when I was ready to work I had children to teach weightlifting”

27:10 “My best snatch was 190 kg in training and best C & J was 220kg in competition”

27:19 “I was in 105. My best results in competition were 175 and 220”

27:34 “So when I had those results, I had a choice between being an athlete or coach”

27:55 “So I chose to be a coach, but I trained as I could”

28:07 “I did not get Master of sport award, because I lacked 5 kg”

28:20 “I’m a little bit upset, but it does not matter when I see my students performing on a platform”

28:33 “I’m sure that I made the right decision when I see the development of my students from children to warriors”

28:52 “So, I am more useful this way”

29:05 “Vanya was doing well, but Zakharevich was lifting crazy weights at 18 years old”

29:20 “Denis injured both of his meniscus and slava got injured, too, because they were rushing”

29:34 “They should have started to train from very early age”

29:49 I remember that your wife was always telling me that she did not want her children’s to be athletes

29:55 “I did not want too, otherwise I would invest in them”

30:05 I do not have a son yet, but already want him to be a weightlifter

30:13 “Well, I wanted them to train. You should not necessarily have to be a champion, but you should train”

30:28 “Sport builds character”

30:38 I like sport because it really builds character and it will help you in your life

30:46 “It gives you a habit to work and trust yourself”

30:54 “You made a mistake, analyze it and try to correct it. You might not find it, but it’s okay!” 00: 31: 03.00: 31: 10 “Because if you put in work, you’ll make a mistake.It’s impossible not to make it”

31:15 “I liked one TV program where young businessman was sharing his success story”

31:31 “And he said that his father always told him ‘just do it!’

31:45 “If you learn theory with no practice then you’ll be upset when you’ll start something”

32:03 When you were working with Plukfelder did you trust him?

32:09 “We were consulting every little detail everyday”

32:14 so you did not do everything he said? “No we discussed everything”

32:19 “That’s why some people were upset with him, because they were waiting for commands”

32:25 “He is theoritician and practician to himself, but he was a theoritician to us”

32:34 “If you have doubts just tell him and he would consult with you”

32:40 because Anikanov Genadiy Viktorovich barely did listen to us

32:50 “Sometimes he could laugh at something, but then he would give a chance to try it”

33:02 “He’d have told you mistakes he made and advise you what can happen”

33:20 what was his talent? Maybe, because he was contacting with athletes

33:27 “Because he was always working”

33:31 “I saw his work out notebook and I even tried to do it myself, but I could not”

33:42 “He was planning different options and watching the old workout notebooks”

33:50 you mean you tried to do it as a coach? “Yes, as a coach”

33:58 “He hated criticism, but he always put up with it”

34:18 “Because you can find good points in criticism”

34:30 you have a fighter’s knuckles you was always remembered as a hotheaded

34:40 so are you quick-tempered now too? “Yes, I’m still quick-tempered”

34:50 “But I learnt to control myself when I was a coach” you were tossing around tables in the dining room

35:01 “Well, the next day I went to apologize”

35:11 you did not like some of the food, right? “Yes”

35:24 “I did not understand why did I do it, but then I went to chef Larisa to apologize”

35:33 “I told waitress to call Larisa”

35:42 “She asked me what do I need? But I found a hair in there”

35:52 “So I told to Larisa to tell the other cookers to wear underwear when they jumping over the pot”

36:06 “I told her to look what i found, my hair are straight, but this one is curly”

36:20 did you do everything you could as an athlete? “No”

36:24 so how much would you be able to lift then? “Probably about 200 and 260 in 100 kg category”

36:31 “I lifted those weights at training”

36:40 what your max bodyweight was? “103”

36:50 “I was 103 when I jerked 265 kg”

36:58 “I jerked it after half squat”

37:05 how did you manage to set 63 world records?

37:11 “Well, I had to set them almost on every competition”

37:20 “They made a new rule back then, so they took care of salary”

37:33 “So if you take the first place and set WR you’d get only full payment for place and half payment for record”

37:43 “So instead of having for example 3000 and 3000 for place and WR, you’d get only 4500 toatl”

37:50 “So we started to chase commercial comps, where you were payed 100% and also you could sell some WL shoes”

38:05 What do you think why we do not go to commercial comps nowadays?

38:13 “Because of fear of getting punished”

38:21 “Some coaches say that their lifters are the best, but they have no chance of winning in those comps”

38:35 “If you’ll be making excuses all the time, then you’ll stay on the same place”

38:50 You was talking about the situation prior to 1980 Olympics and I know that a lot of people were trying to snitch to you on somebody else

39:09 “As I said before if there’s tounge, then there’s teeth”

39:13 They’d lick, but then would bite

39:22 “I remember how Pisarevskiy were telling me those kind of things”

39:45 “I told him that i am head coach, but i could not take his son to competition”

40:03 So where ‘that thin line, how did you manage to do it?

40:09 “I was not even thinking about it, it’s just an experience”

40:18 You could take to comps an athletes who won their categories, but would they perform good on world stage?

40:37 “This kind of questions were discussed at meetings”

40:50 “So I was telling them, let’s imagine that you will be on my place”

41:01 “It’s easy for you to say that I did not take someone on competitions”

41:14 “But I could easily send a message to the authorities with the reasons I did not take an athlete”

41:30 “And one time I sent a message to a governor of Chelyabinsk”

41:46 “It was prior to 2004 Olympics”

41:55 “Their authorities were complaining”

42:05 “But you just need to follow certain registration rules”

42:17 “It’s good when you win National cups, but an athlete did not appear when i called him”

42:35 Reccently i was noticing that a lot of questions were asked about what happened between you and Misha Koklyaev

42:49 “Well, I treated him well all the time. And I helped him to train”

43:00 “But he always thought that he was robbed”

43:19 “I met him when he was 18 after he won national cup”

43:28 “Him and Chigishev were similar to each other”

43:33 “I saw him on competitions and he said that he was using PED’s”

43:38 “I told him that he has good genetics and he should not use a lot of them”

43:46 “But he told me that he was using everything”

43:56 people from countrysides are willing to succeed by any means necessary, so you can explain that

44:10 “He said that he was dreaming about getting on world stage”

44:21 “I told him that he could achieve his dream, because European championship was coming”

44:35 “I remember their team had one athlete named Gunyashev, but he was workaholic”

44:49 Misha was working a lot too

44:55 “He was, but he was changing his mind very quick”

45:03 “I remember when a called him on training camp”

45:12 when was that?

45:19 “It was before 2012 Olympics”

45:29 It’s probably when he won cup in Penza? “Yeah”

45:38 “I told him to apply for training camp earlier, because we could run out of free places”

46:04 “He came one week earlier and said that he will eat only lunch. I understood him, because he was not rich, even though he was making money in strongman comps”

46:28 “After two days there was a scandal between heavyweights”

46:42 “And I was absent for two days”

46:55 “I gathered them together, so they could talk, but Misha was absent”

47:23 “So when I called him he said that he thinks he probably will not do it”

47:43 “After a long time Chingiz told me his story”

47:51 “But both sides might be wrong”

48:01 what do think why Misha could not do it?

48:12 he told me that he was lacking support “no, no!”

48:22 “He had a support and I supported him too”

49:00 when you was a head coach in Russian team you were battling with PEDs, but in the USSR team it was different, why’s that?

49:15 “Well, back then it was not considered to be doping”

49:25 “We even had official recommendations on anabolic substances”

49:37 and how did that information flew in?

49:47 “Well, people did not believe at first”

49:55 “But some people even got getting addicted to it, because it’s completely different from when you are a teen”

50:17 “A lot of things happens: you become moody and careless, so you easily can get injured”

50:30 so all this were happening right in front of your eyes. People started to take PED and got crazy

50:43 so no one understood why it was happening, because you did not have information

50:51 “I tried PED’s in 1973 for the first time time, but I did not feel any difference”

50:59 did you have a choice back then? “Yes, we did”

51:06 “But everything consists of just two formulas”

51:10 was it in drugstore? “Yes, it was in drugstores”

51:16 “They even wrote special doses for athletes”

51:30 What was your first sensations?

51:36 “Craziness. That’s where we got that word from”

51:48 “It should not have started working yet, but i already could fell something strange”

51:58 “People had a lot of sore throats, because it raised temperature and so they were walking with open throat”

52:12 did you have negative feelings?

52:17 “I was feeling aggressive”

52:23 “It’s like when you’re drunk, it’s difficult to control yourself”

52:33 “You need to have will power to control yourself”

52:40 “But when you are young, you have no experience”

52:51 did laboratory worked for team? “No, it’s rumors”

52:58 “It was completely different, the laboratory was warning us about possible bad consequences”

53:07 “The lab was working for astronauts and we were just volunteers to try it”

53:25 you can see a lot of big guys right now on the streets, but back then it was different. How did you feel?

53:38 nowadays is difficult to surprise somebody, even if you weight 120 kg or look like Misha Koklyaev

53:48 “People looked at me differently, because I was living in the same city with Alekseev and they thought that if I am weight lifter then I should be big as him”

54:05 “I was keep telling that is difficult to measure the size of an athlete on TV”

54:17 did your appearance helped you in life? “I was not very big”

54:33 were you shy, though? Because I never wanted to show that i’m big. And some people want to show their physique

54:41 “But then they get punished. Good physique is provocative”

54:53 “Some people were provoking me to the point that I got into fights”

55:05 “Sometimes you just hit someone and it would be enough for that man for some time”

55:15 “But I tried not to hit hard, because it could be dangerous”

55:21 did you hit with fist or you slapped? “I slapped”

55:29 “I hit with fist when I fought more than two people”

55:34 “I was doing boxing, so I know how to hit to knock someone out, but not kill him”

55:43 how is your health now?

55:46 “Only he knows up there”

55:54 so what do you really want to do besides farm? You have a lot of experience

56:06 you want to be in a team to work, but not to fight?

56:14 “You’re right, because you might win some battles, but you’ll never’d win a war”

56:36 “It’s like four year cycle between Olympic when everything goes right in the beginning, but then it aggravates”

56:59 “By the way we were the first who felt the impact of sanctions on ourselves, remember that?”

57:05 “They were always playing some dirty tricks when russian athlete would come on the platform”

57:13 Well it’s not really the sanctions, it’s the way they feel about Russia

57:22 but it makes us stronger “yes, it does”

57:32 “Well, I’m not going to refuse an offer if there would be something to work on”

57:37 we’ll have an elections in two years. Do you think something should change?

57:51 “Yes, it should”

57:57 I think they’re lacking a step forward for development

58:04 “They are lacking desire”

58:12 well, they did not make big changes, so you’d have to work with almost same people

58:18 “I think it would be the best to work with people who have students in the national team”

58:35 “Because it’s easier to work with them”

58:46 “The same happened with Pisarevskiy who was complaining, but then he cooled down”

59:04 a lot of people did not like the fact that you were always setting camps in Taganrog

59:15 “Well, offer us another place, because we tried to change places, but it did not work out”

59:25 “The last camp should be in Moscow district, because it’s more comfortable”

59:46 will you visit national base this week? “Of course!” Then I’ll see you there

61:15 David Adamovich are you on a diet? “Yes, I am”

61:24 “It will be wrong to say ‘no'”

61:39 “Do you need anything more than food in life?”

61:47 David Adamovich, whose idea was that to put a bar sculpture there?

61:52 “It’s difficult to say now, but your father was one of the instigators”

62:57 “We wanted to be creative”

62:03 it’s cool! I do not even remember how the idea was born

62:09 “I do not remember details too, but we were discussing the idea for two weeks”

62:17 “So that was the decision”

62:23 do you remember how it’s all started? I do not, because I was a child

62:34 “The team was looking for a place to train”

62:42 “Training bases were vanishing. Those were difficult times for weightlifting”

62:53 “The idea was already born for a long time”

63:11 “I met with Slava on weightlifting meeting and we started to discuss the idea”

63:25 “He said that he was making money and he wanted to give back to weightlifting”

63:36 “I think he still loves weightlifting” yes, he does

63:42 “I told him that I thought that I was the only one who was crazy about weightlifting. He told me ‘you are not'”

63:52 “We wanted to use Olympic center in Rostov, but it was taken”

64:10 “So we rented this facility”

64:25 “And we started to discuss details”

64:38 so what does the ‘Academy’ really means? Why did you decide to name it like this?

64:48 “‘Academy’ means that we raise athletes from children to grown men”

65:13 “And this Academy teaches to classic weightlifting”

65:30 “We wanted to combine everything here, including dormitory”

65:50 “This facility was built by coppersmith worker”

66:00 you spend 3 months for paperwork? “No, about 1,5 years”

66:10 so how much time did it take to open the Academy?

66:17 “10 months”

66:20 why did not you build a new facility?

66:24 “There was no place to do it, otherwise we would build a new facility”

66:33 “We had an old USSR building system, so it was very difficult to do it”

66:58 what did you do in a period when you finished your career as an athlete and before you became a coach?

67:10 “Sometimes I was living and sometimes surviving”

67:15 it’s very interesting for me too

67:22 because I’m finished as an athlete, but did not find any activity yet. What did you do in this period?

67:33 “Well, when I finished as a head coach of USSR team in 1987”

67:45 “I retired myself”

67:57 “And I was the first one to retire, because everyone else was fired”

68:14 “I had two kids back then, so I needed money to live”

68:21 how old were your kids back then?

68:25 “Denis was 7 and Slava was 3”

68:35 “I was working as a taxi driver”

68:45 “But I was not working in the city, I was working when the public transport was stuck in the winter”

68:55 “I had Niva, it was off-road vehicle”

69:03 how old were you? “I was 40”

69:09 how did you go through it psychologically?

69:12 “I had no time to worry about psychological things. I needed to take care of my family”

69:28 “But I was used to working, because I was raised in countryside”

69:35 “I could do anything”

69:42 “I came to Rostov to regional sports department”

69:54 “I told them that i am young and familiar to weightlifting”

70:01 “They told me to find students”

70:06 So that’s how they treated an Olympic champion?

70:10 “I did not know how to teach kids, because I started weightlifting as an adult”

70:40 “After some time they invited me to work in a school which was named after me”

70:51 was it their’s idea? “Yes”

70:58 “I asked them if that was a monument while i’m alive?”

71:11 “Then they told me that it’s going to be an independent and autonomic school”

71:20 “So i started to think about the idea”

71:39 “So i told Slava that i have a school of Olympic reserve”

71:53 “I had branches all over the district”

72:05 “They seperated then, but in the beginning they were broke, so i helped them to make some money”

72:16 What year was that? “It was in 1986 when we officially opened this school of olympic reserve”

72:25 I remember when i first came here in 1999, Rostov distrcit was very strong in weightlifting

72:35 “We won russian championship!”

72:39 That’s what i’m trying to say, you had very strong athletes

72:47 So why Rostov district became weaker?

72:51 “I do not know.It was the impact of government”

73:03 “But in the end, i did my job, because good athletes were taken care of”

73:35 “So it was just impossible to work there no more”

73:43 You were holding a lot of positions, but which job did you enjoy most of all?

74:00 “I enjoyed the most my first year as a head coach of USSR team, because the team was deep in butthole”

74:11 “But when everything got better, i had a lot of assistants”

74:18 “But that kind of assistance was destructive”

74:30 “I felt comfortable when we started this Academy too”

74:38 “I was getting exhausted, but i never had feeling of giving up”

74:49 “I was falling asleep right here and had dreams about academy”

75:01 So you were enjoying?

75:05 “Well, it’s like in weightlifting when you see results you’re pleased”

75:17 “I even was breaking walls with sledgehammer when i saw some defects”

75:30 After that i want to ask you how the phrase “if you want, it you got it” was born?

75:38 “Isaac Dunaevskiy has a song which goes like this:”

75:41 “If you’re happy, you smile, if you want it, you got it if you seek for it, you’ll find it”

75:47 “I heared this song when i was a child and i liked it since”

75:53 “It was played in an old Soviet movie”

76:04 “I had reasons to like this song back then”

76:08 Those are powerful words “They are”

76:22 You were a Soviet athlete and what does word “patriot” means to you?

76:33 I think that a lot of teams abroad were trying to buy you with luxurious life, money etc.

76:46 “I had those kind of offers almost everytime i competed”

76:51 When you was an athlete or a coach? “Both”

77:00 “I took offer one time when i did not have any job”

77:09 “But for some reason the offer was cancelled”

77:11 Where were you invited?

77:15 “I was invited to Thailand, but i did not want to go there”

77:18 You were invited as a coach? “Yes”

77:23 “The offer was good”

77:30 “But another coach went there”

77:36 So what does word “patriot” means to you?

77:42 Because a lot of people talking trash, for example if i wear foreign shirt.

77:53 “Well, if you’re patriot it does not mean that you should wear respective clothes and sing national songs”

78:00 “It depends on how you act when things go wrong”

78:08 “You should not worry about it when everything’s fine”

78:18 What was the most difficult competitions for you as an athlete and a coach?

78:25 Two most difficult comps when you were an athlete and when you were a coach?

78:32 “My first World championship was most disgraceful to me, even though i made my lifts”

78:45 “I was not afraid, i was just burning out”

78:56 “That’s why i always carefully treat first-timers in championships”

79:17 “And in 1985 World championship was the most difficult to me as a coach”

79:43 “It was very difficult, because i was an amateur coach and i coached athletes who i was training with as athlete”

79:50 Did they obey you? “They did”

80:01 “And after sometime i understood that i demanded more than i should”

80:11 “I demanded from them as they were Master of sports”

80:22 “I was almost on the verge of getting upset, because i knew that they were strong”

80:34 “There was Leonid Taranenko and Yuri Zackarevich”

80:38 “Well, yuri came when i finished. Vardanyan started under my watch”

80:50 “So that competiton was difficult to me being a coach”

80:59 “I never was exhausted like this before”

81:05 can you say that this difficult situation seasoned you? “Yes”

81:20 “As an athlete i loved every competition”

81:27 And when did you enjoy most as a coach?

81:35 “Do you remember when we won comp as a team somwhere in South-East Asia?”

81:51 “What year was that?” It was in 2007 in Thailand

82:03 “That team was matured. They went through blood, sweat and tears as a team from 2004 to 2007”

82:23 What would you change in your life if you’d had an opportunity?

82:33 “Nothing”

82:42 “I’m not pleased that i helped my parents to move nearby mines, because they got sick”

82:54 “I recently visited cemetery”

83:00 Where are they buried? “At Kuban”

83:12 “My dad died at 79 and mother at 89, but they’re buried right to each other”

83:21 “I want to do the best, but it turned out very bad”

83:15 “They did not tell me anything about it” Why?

83:32 “Well, they loved me so much that they could not refuse”

83:41 Do you enjoy your life now?

83:47 “You need to work first to enjoy something”

83:50 Well, i think you worked enough already

83:39 “How long is enjoyment lasts when you’re standing on pedestal?”

84:05 That moment worth working

84:11 “I enjoy everything i look at”

84:15 “So i woke up early today and heard chirping of birds and etc. And then fell asleep again”

84:32 “For example if the wheather is bad, you still enjoy it, becasue you’re not going to work”

84:41 Thank you very much! “You’re welcome!”

84:43 Good luck! “You too!”

85:49 If you want it, you got it