"The guys are not ready to compete internationally — they are well paid here"
The Milan Olympics have become a test of endurance for Russian athletes — not only athletic, but also human. Participation required serious moral and financial costs, despite the uncertainty about the outcome and status. The start of skier Semyon Yefimov lasted only 22 seconds, less than the other 12 Russian participants. However, behind this short time there are years of preparation and numerous stages of national competitions. In an interview with Izvestia and Sport-Express, the athlete spoke frankly about the situation in Russian sports and noted that some athletes perceive the current suspension as a convenient position.
"Alpine skiing is a sport for the smart"
— On the website of the Olympics, where athletes pronounce their names themselves, you were Simon Efimov. Are you really Simon?
— I'm really Simon on my passport. At one time, my parents were very cool hipsters — representatives of a fashionable subculture, not to be confused with hippies. They were engaged in extreme sports — yachting, paragliding, mountaineering, technodiving, and who they were not. Downhill skiing is also on this long list. They've been taking me on trips since I was a kid. As a result, I have free English thanks to my parents. I was called Sammy in kindergarten, and Sam at home. When I come to school, they tell me Semyon. I'm asking my mom.: What the hell is this anyway? My parents said that's how they write in Russia. It couldn't be changed then. Semyon doesn't really speak in a foreign way, so Simon said. We performed more often in Europe, it's easier that way.
— It's unusual for a Russian athlete.
— But it was absolutely standard for that time and for practicing this expensive sport. Muscovites have always been involved in it, and the national team consisted of them and those from Kirovsk, because they traveled to Finland. And the Kamchadals (residents of Kamchatka), of course, because they have summer snow. But the guys who knew the languages — English, German - reached the main team. Even if we recall the Soviet athletes, they all had a foreign language.
— Sports for the elite?
— But not only for the rich. And for the smart ones. The guys are all smart and educated.
— Where did you go to train?
— I spent most of my childhood training in Finland. And it cost an adequate amount of money. When I got into adult sports, there was complete disinterest in the Moscow team. It's a purely Russian story — we take people from the regions, bring them to some kind of result for children like the Youth Sports Contest, and throw them out. We take it again.
Then we went out as adults at 16, at the first Cup of Russia, I lost 12 seconds to Pasha Trikhichev in the first attempt. I wasn't offended, but I understood a lot — that's where we'll start. Moreover, I weighed 60 kilograms, less than a bag of cement. But by the age of 18, everything started to get more expensive. My parents said: you don't get on the team, we don't pull your skis anymore.
— How much does it cost per year?
— The budget for me, if you take a coach, an assistant, a service person, with logistics, is about 250 thousand dollars. It's cheaper in Russia. But your service is still foreign. If you want a high—quality level, the physical training coach is a foreigner. Because even now, there is a huge difference within Russia between those who work with domestic specialists and those who work with foreigners. In the approach, and in everything.
"Everything is fine with us, no one really needs access."
— At some point, there was a suspension, and everything was supposed to get sad.
— I was very worried about the first year when I was shut down in Russia. Yes, I was more motivated than the rest of the guys on the team. Because of the changes in my life, I got married and had a child.
— Did you have any doubts about getting a neutral status?
— I'll explain the sequence of actions. We planned summer training in parallel with the set of glasses. We have the second division, the continental Cups. The South American Cup is considered one of the weakest. But you can get points, and so many people hedge their bets. Moreover, the senior coach planned to go to Bariloche so that he could start in the first rooms in front of Ushuaia, where strong guys come. All this was in the plan for the Ministry of Sports. But the FIS voted on our admission, and as far as I know, it was initiated by the Russian Ski Federation.
— Is it the ski area? The FIS includes many sports.
- yes. The rest of the federations were not so interested. But we didn't have enough votes, the Scandinavians were against it. They didn't let us in, and we missed all these starts. Based on the refusal, our federation applied to the CAS. The FIS only satisfied the court's ruling. We paid all the fees, sent our questionnaires, and some of the guys contributed 2,000 Swiss francs on their own — about 200,000 rubles. The Ministry of Sports is responsible for me. We started the season at home as usual. (Laughs). I'm wasting four years of a ban — it was, as Pasha the Technician said, a shadow fight, a game with myself. I was doing my best in sports and trying to get high, but it wasn't much.
After 25 years of skiing, I have the opportunity to look objectively — and I saw that everyone is generally satisfied with everything, no one really needs a permit. Everything is fine, everyone is sitting, receiving salaries, they understand perfectly well what kind of competition there is. To be honest, in private conversations, the guys say they are not ready to get involved in it. Especially the older guys.
— Are the salaries really good?
— It's just that when we played in Europe, it was for the idea that we would now break into the World Cup and earn serious money. There were contracts, and there was support. If you get results, you will earn serious money. But in recent years, this has come to naught. And as far as I know for sure enough, our people were thrown with payments to both the company and even the FIS with the prize money. After the suspension, they simply stopped contacting me. But if you don't start at the World Cup and you don't earn anything, you can earn in Russia.
We have never had direct payments or contracts with Russian companies in sports. Some guys tried to find sponsors. Nobody cares. It's not about sports, it's not about the industry.
— Russian skiers, it turns out, only on the salary of the Sports Training Center?
— When I found out what salaries the guys have in the regions, my eyebrows went to the back of my head. These are serious numbers. And if you haven't competed in Europe, then you also have a good income in Russian competitions. Think about it — you win the junior championship or the championship. No one came to the championship because everyone has the World Cup. And this is the main start, by the way, the national team is formed on it. As a result, those who did not participate are dragged into the team by the decision of the coaching council. When I started performing in Russia, I was totally blown away — you can live normally on a salary. And many guys don't need this life in Europe at all, and an international one where nothing will work out.
— And what are they wrong about, as they say?
— Yes, they seem to be wrong about everything. Because if you play sports, you have to practice to the end, as your life's work. And don't whine. In principle, with all these moves, you quickly become independent, write plans, think over logistics, and gain the necessary contacts with specialists. Because there are not enough funds to find the same, for example, physiotherapists or doctors for money in Europe. Thank them for their help. Even yoga — previously, such a specialist was on the payroll of the team. Hello, Irina! (He smiles).
And you couldn't do without meditation — it's a base. We don't have a cyclical sport, where it's about balance and cold calculation. I don't understand why the grown—up guys don't apply this knowledge - no one does breathing exercises before the start, for example. Everyone does it at the World Cup. But you're going to win here anyway, so why try?
— Do you have a contract with the federation now?
— Only with Russian and regional CSPs. So far, everything is on pause with the federation.
- why?
— Now there is a financial issue, I think it is relevant for many athletes.
"I have never seen an Olympic track in my life"
— How do you like the Olympics?
— It was a lot of fun. The busiest two months in recent years. First, it was necessary to determine who was going. Sanya Khoroshilov was not allowed in, three of them had access. Everyone was told in the office: whoever has the best result from the moment of admission will go, which is a supersport approach. I've already missed one Olympics, which I think I should have gone to. It was a big blow for both me and the coach. Hello, Timofey Alexandrovich! (Laughs).
And I've never played a game, because if you start doing it, how can you drive fast? It's either sports or something else. When we were admitted, they sent us a letter saying that your points were frozen on March 1, 2022. But they unfrozen them with fines, and I lost my chances to go to the World Cup right away, because I dropped out of the top 150. And it was two hundredths of a point.
— And what should I do?
— In two weeks, I had to participate in all the starts that were within reach by car in Austria and Italy. I should have sent my starting skis to the factory for THAT, otherwise they were already tired. The new skis also work differently. But it's good that others gave me in return — I have a lot of friends in Austria too.
— It's generally good to be friends.
— Making friends is about sports. When I appeared at the World Cup for the first time this season, everyone came up and greeted me. And someone stopped writing at the time. With jokes in the style of "are we enemies now or what?".
Anyway, I rode these new skis to the third division and all kinds of national championships. I don't remember anymore (Efimov became the champion of Haiti and the silver medalist of the championships of Thailand and Portugal in a week. — Ed.). They are often held in Austria, Italy or somewhere in neutral territory in the Alps. By the way, the preparation of the tracks in Russia is better, FIS does not clean anything on the track there, sometimes it all resembles freeride.
And even there, foreign teams are actively using tactics — for example, the Norwegians sent more people there to push my starting number out of the top 15, and I did not participate in the draw for the first numbers. As a result, I qualified by January and only made it to two World Cup stages before the Olympic Games.
Anyway, I made it to the Olympics. The expectations were high, because at my last World Championships in Cortina, I started 49th and came 19th in my first attempt. And then there was a controversial decision on the draw, because of which I did not reach the tag. This time, it was supposed to start around the 42nd. I didn't know yet that there would be a transfer to Bormio and that there would be heavy snowfall.
I have never seen the Bormio highway in my life. We did a slope simulation in Austria. I even trained with the Swedish team in the summer and thought about training with them again, but before the Games they received a warning from their federation that they could not work with me. That's Russophobia (laughs). Sometimes it turns out to convince people by being there — they often come up to me, they say, they say, we thought you were like that, but you're not like that. They also ask about the political position, of course, both the staff and the athletes. Everyone is interested.
Again, the story about this phone is unfortunate. At first, they kind of started thrusting it at me in the village, and I said, I can't have a phone, I'm Russian. They answer: "No, no, here's your phone number, sign up." And as soon as I signed, it turned out that I had to go hand it over. I say, let me sign now that I didn't steal it, but handed it over. A show-off, in short. I didn't come here for the phone, of course. The most annoying thing was that the doping control came ahead of time, they didn't let me sleep.
The expectations were high, because very dark horses shoot at such competitions. And I was that "horse" and in great shape.
— Wasn't it tempting to walk the track more carefully to take up some space?
— The conditions were such that... The day before the competition, the sun was on the track, and helicopters were flying. We went out into such snow the size of a royal minted coin that I couldn't see anything at all. Then I watched it on TV — I would have seen it like on TV! Yes, there was a temptation, and they told me over the radio that we were going to fight for a second attempt. And I rode with a cold mind, understanding what we were counting on. It was immediately clear that the one with the first number would win.
— But for the first number one, Norwegian Atle Lee McGrath, who got off on the second attempt, everything ended dramatically...
— This is also a feature of Western athletes, they have social networks, their whole life is like on stage. I have the privilege of doing only sports. And when all your worries are visible... You went into the woods, crying, and a drone is hanging over you and filming it all. (Laughs). Here it is, 2026. The guy won a gold medal there, but they don't show him at all. They won't even remember him. But everyone will remember this show. I don't seem to mind... Although why, I have.
— The first thought, when did you get off?
— ...(He expresses himself obscenely). It's just that when you have a series of starts, when you don't have this ban and it doesn't hang over you that this is practically the last tournament, you treat it easier. Pack up and go to the next stage or get ready for the next season. And here, by hook or by crook, they got in, so much has been done and so much has been lived during these four years of the ban. Of course, we were very upset, sat down with the coach, and were silent.… We were invited to a party, but we just fell asleep by our rooms.
I remember it was nine-thirty, and I was answering my mom's message, I wrote her a huge longrid. Basically— I thank her very much for such a competitive advantage as foreign languages and an uncluttered head. And respect to my coaches, Andrey Alekseevich Guadkin and Roman Andreevich.
— What's next, what are your plans? Do you want to continue performing abroad?
— I would like to. The situation is generally like this: I have received neutral status until June. In theory, this program will then cease to operate — the FIS will decide whether to extend it or not. It doesn't depend on our side. That is, it may be necessary to apply again. Pay the fee of 2000 Swiss francs again. And get the status again. It should be understood that the FIS did not allow us anywhere. She simply bureaucratically fulfilled the CAS requirement to allow Russian athletes to qualify for the Olympics. I didn't want to have two World Cup stages left next season.
But in any case, we have encouraged skiing in Russia, I think. Even by being at FIS tournaments right now. The majority of our guys are traveling no worse than many there.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
