- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
A very interesting pre-Turin interview with the sports psychologist Zagainov, the one who worked with Yagudin prior to SLC. Warning – some will find some of his comments sexist and offending.
http://www.rg.ru/2005/11/11/sport-psiholog.html
The famous professor of psychology Rudolph Maximovich Zagainov has been helping our sports stars ascend to the top step of the podium and stay their for as long as possible for the past 36 years. He has worked with 19 Olympic champions. Zagainov was by the side of Karpov and Korchnoj, Bubka nad Saneev, Vodorezova and Yagudin through the most difficult moments of their athletic careers. He is an author of eleven instant bestsellers.
Rudolph Maximovich, what keeps you busy now, what is the number one sports psychologist working on those days?
You’ve very generous. What keeps me busy are the 120 athletes all over the world that I work with. Mainly it’s our athletes, including those that perform abroad. This Olympic season I am mainly working with Russian men’s and women’s ski teams, then I’ll work with biathlonists, and then with bobsleighers.
What worries the doctor of psychology, what does the one who has already gone through so much and achieved so much think of?
I am always analyzing, I’m trying to understand what changed so much in athletes, what eats them from the inside. Perhaps it’s that at the last three Olympics I have noticed their increased disinterest in each other.
Are you talking about the coaches or the athletes?
About athletes, too. Almost nobody roots for anyone else. There will be a medals ceremony, and the colleagues from the same team don’t come. Before, winning a medal gave the whole team a jolt of optimism, now it’s not like that, it would almost be strange. I see a lack of interest and support even among team members of the same sport. The 2000 Olympic trampoline champion Sasha Moskalenko talked a lot about this.
He seems a very good and warm guy. In Athens, at the age of 35, he won the silver and was a target of such a wave of denigration
He came toward the end of the Athens Olympics expecting the team help and support, but didn’t get any. Even in Sydney there was still a brotherhood, the team was like a family. Now, some would pass by without even saying hello. Sasha admitted to being rather shocked by this.
Having followed all of the recent Olympics, I have also noticed that even if the personal relations haven’t soured, they move in that direction. But is it a psychologist’s job to maintain a correct climate within the team, to create that comradery. I’d think he already has a lot to worry about.
Yes. The goal is to reconstruct the personality. If that is still possible. You have to give all of yourself to this, your whole life. The psychologist must be ready for this.
Are you?
I am ready. But there is always the question – why and for what goal?
As I recall, when skater Alexei Yagudin was having problems before the Salt Lake City Olympics, and he and his coach Tatiana Anatolievna Tarasova asked for your help, you didn’t ask any such questions
Yagudin then said – I can’t do it without you. I gave five months of my life to him, and I don’t regret it because Lesha was like a second son to me.
Isn’t that a bit too strong?
My theory is that psychologist must be able to fall in love at first site. Normally, I work like the emergency service.
What was your most difficult case over more than three decades of work?
Lesha Yagudin was the most difficult. With him, I had to start from scratch. He was on the verge of leaving the sport, he talked about it himself. For him, our work was a huge test. But he could internalize every word. It was five months of a sculptor’s work. I am not plugging for myself here. But I had to sculpt a part at a time, sometimes starting from nothing.
Did you have a contract with Yagudin?
What contract? I said, you win, then we talk. It was imperative that Alexei knew that his coach Tatiana Anatolievna Tarasova and I were only interested in first place. And, to answer your question, Lesha was very grateful.
Rudolph Maximovich, many believe that your very presence by the ice killed the chances of Yagudin’s opponents.
There is a boundary that a psychologist should never cross – you can never hinder the opponents, you can never do mean things. You can’t even meet their eyes, since eyes have not only the viewing function, but also an influencing one. You cannot give interviews, because press will influence the athlete.
Come on, it’s not like a champion reads an article that someone else is stronger, and immediately looses.
If I say in a conversation that athlete X is stronger than Y, than that’s a typical influencing. I don’t do that. I did not make Plushenko fall. But I knew that in that duel, in that ice cold war he would loose. No one has ever skated so brilliantly as Yagudin staked “Winter” in Salt Lake City. What I teach athletes is how to conduct themselves from the position of power. I don’t consider it wrong. The psychologist certainly has a right to give athletes practical help. For example, prior to the game with the Czechs at the Olympics, I controlled the sleep of our goal keeper Khabibulin.
Khabibulin stood very strong.
On the eve of the game he asks me, Will I stand well tomorrow? I say, yes. Knowing how to look in the eyes and say “yes” is essential for a psychologist. Athletes test this all the time. They look into the eyes and ask a question. If your eyes lie, or if you avert your gaze – that’s it, they will no longer trust you. So, before the game I promised Khabibulin that I’ll help him all the two and a half hours. And I stood at the boards near the goal, and was constructing a brick wall in my head.
All right, let’s switch gears a bit. Right now there are a lot of female sports psychologists. What do you think of that?
A woman cannot be a psychologist.
At all?
Of course. A man cannot see her as a psychologist, he will see her as a woman. For example, how will she mobilize a man for a fight? It’s a joke! Unless we’re talking about the night. Sure, that can have a good psychological effect. Sleeping with a good woman at the right time, no more than once, of course, obviously helps relieve stress. But that’s a whole different story.
Yet in everyday life women often overwhelm men
In 90 percent of case in Russia that’s so. Women know how to spoil the mood. There is already enough of that in the sport. You don’t need anything else for a loss. No psychologist will be able to help. You know that the famous Belgian bicycle racing coach Effie Merks fined his tem members $500 for a call to their wives? Connection to wives and girlfriends weakens the athlete’s will, I totally agree with Merks there. Before large championships I will talk to the wife. I say, Lucy, honey, you Johnny needs to win at the Olympics, you’ll be able to settle the apartment issue then. Now, your phone calls can hinder this. Before, when there were no cell phones, athletes would go to the post office and would often return in a bad mood. A wife’s tone was wrong, or she said something wrong. Or even take letters. Sometimes a letter seems perfectly fine, but the spouse will read between the lines and now of certain problems. So athletes gets upset, begins to worry, and ultimately loses. At one point I examined the effect that radiograms have on a seaman. Do you know what makes a sea tough guys sweat? Words, “Petya, everything at home is OK.”
What’s wrong with those words?
A person who has spent a long time away from home (and the athletes spent months at training camps) should always be addressed “dear Petya”. That’s psychology. That’s what I do. At the training camps I am the first one to get up and the last one to go to bed.
Do you have enough energy?
I suggest forgetting the word “fatigue”. Olympics last for 17 days, and I know that during that time I’ll only sleep a bit. Early in the morning I have to see what mood they woke up in. That’s important. I run to the rooms of those who need my help; my intuition and experience tell me who needs it more than others. I cheer them up. I tell the player that he is in great shape. That his coach has the highest praise for him and will surely play him. The person believes me, his eyes shine, and I ask the coach to really put him into the game because I guarantee that he is at his peak and will play well. A psychologist can be a magician. I let him know – I’m here, I know how to mobilize him for this fight. He, meanwhile, remembers that people who are with me do win. On top of everything else, a psychologist has to be lucky.
Are you?
Very much so. Over 36 years of work, I was never kicked off any team. That’s my main achievement.
Over those 36 years in big sport, have you have your favorityes? Yagudin was the most challenging case. What about the favorite?
Another skater, Lena Vodorezova. I worked her for four years, and it was a joy.
Rudolph Maximovich, what do expect form the Turin Olympics? At the start of this conversation, you were rather skeptical about the atmosphere on the team.
I am now in the process of getting to know the kids from the winter sports. We do have great people.
But at the start of the conversation you expressed a great concern over their moral and ethical level. Doesn’t that worry you?
It does. I am worried, I am concerned. But the whole point of our work is to return things to where they need to be. In the process of our friendship, excuse my immodesty, they become better. That’s why I do all this.
http://www.rg.ru/2005/11/11/sport-psiholog.html
[size=+2]Yagudin was the biggest challenge[/size]
[size=+1]Professor of psychology Rudolph Zagainov works with a total of 120 of our athletes[/size]
Nikolai Dolgopolov
Published November 11, 2005
________[size=+1]Professor of psychology Rudolph Zagainov works with a total of 120 of our athletes[/size]
Nikolai Dolgopolov
Published November 11, 2005
The famous professor of psychology Rudolph Maximovich Zagainov has been helping our sports stars ascend to the top step of the podium and stay their for as long as possible for the past 36 years. He has worked with 19 Olympic champions. Zagainov was by the side of Karpov and Korchnoj, Bubka nad Saneev, Vodorezova and Yagudin through the most difficult moments of their athletic careers. He is an author of eleven instant bestsellers.
Rudolph Maximovich, what keeps you busy now, what is the number one sports psychologist working on those days?
You’ve very generous. What keeps me busy are the 120 athletes all over the world that I work with. Mainly it’s our athletes, including those that perform abroad. This Olympic season I am mainly working with Russian men’s and women’s ski teams, then I’ll work with biathlonists, and then with bobsleighers.
What worries the doctor of psychology, what does the one who has already gone through so much and achieved so much think of?
I am always analyzing, I’m trying to understand what changed so much in athletes, what eats them from the inside. Perhaps it’s that at the last three Olympics I have noticed their increased disinterest in each other.
Are you talking about the coaches or the athletes?
About athletes, too. Almost nobody roots for anyone else. There will be a medals ceremony, and the colleagues from the same team don’t come. Before, winning a medal gave the whole team a jolt of optimism, now it’s not like that, it would almost be strange. I see a lack of interest and support even among team members of the same sport. The 2000 Olympic trampoline champion Sasha Moskalenko talked a lot about this.
He seems a very good and warm guy. In Athens, at the age of 35, he won the silver and was a target of such a wave of denigration
He came toward the end of the Athens Olympics expecting the team help and support, but didn’t get any. Even in Sydney there was still a brotherhood, the team was like a family. Now, some would pass by without even saying hello. Sasha admitted to being rather shocked by this.
Having followed all of the recent Olympics, I have also noticed that even if the personal relations haven’t soured, they move in that direction. But is it a psychologist’s job to maintain a correct climate within the team, to create that comradery. I’d think he already has a lot to worry about.
Yes. The goal is to reconstruct the personality. If that is still possible. You have to give all of yourself to this, your whole life. The psychologist must be ready for this.
Are you?
I am ready. But there is always the question – why and for what goal?
As I recall, when skater Alexei Yagudin was having problems before the Salt Lake City Olympics, and he and his coach Tatiana Anatolievna Tarasova asked for your help, you didn’t ask any such questions
Yagudin then said – I can’t do it without you. I gave five months of my life to him, and I don’t regret it because Lesha was like a second son to me.
Isn’t that a bit too strong?
My theory is that psychologist must be able to fall in love at first site. Normally, I work like the emergency service.
What was your most difficult case over more than three decades of work?
Lesha Yagudin was the most difficult. With him, I had to start from scratch. He was on the verge of leaving the sport, he talked about it himself. For him, our work was a huge test. But he could internalize every word. It was five months of a sculptor’s work. I am not plugging for myself here. But I had to sculpt a part at a time, sometimes starting from nothing.
Did you have a contract with Yagudin?
What contract? I said, you win, then we talk. It was imperative that Alexei knew that his coach Tatiana Anatolievna Tarasova and I were only interested in first place. And, to answer your question, Lesha was very grateful.
Rudolph Maximovich, many believe that your very presence by the ice killed the chances of Yagudin’s opponents.
There is a boundary that a psychologist should never cross – you can never hinder the opponents, you can never do mean things. You can’t even meet their eyes, since eyes have not only the viewing function, but also an influencing one. You cannot give interviews, because press will influence the athlete.
Come on, it’s not like a champion reads an article that someone else is stronger, and immediately looses.
If I say in a conversation that athlete X is stronger than Y, than that’s a typical influencing. I don’t do that. I did not make Plushenko fall. But I knew that in that duel, in that ice cold war he would loose. No one has ever skated so brilliantly as Yagudin staked “Winter” in Salt Lake City. What I teach athletes is how to conduct themselves from the position of power. I don’t consider it wrong. The psychologist certainly has a right to give athletes practical help. For example, prior to the game with the Czechs at the Olympics, I controlled the sleep of our goal keeper Khabibulin.
Khabibulin stood very strong.
On the eve of the game he asks me, Will I stand well tomorrow? I say, yes. Knowing how to look in the eyes and say “yes” is essential for a psychologist. Athletes test this all the time. They look into the eyes and ask a question. If your eyes lie, or if you avert your gaze – that’s it, they will no longer trust you. So, before the game I promised Khabibulin that I’ll help him all the two and a half hours. And I stood at the boards near the goal, and was constructing a brick wall in my head.
All right, let’s switch gears a bit. Right now there are a lot of female sports psychologists. What do you think of that?
A woman cannot be a psychologist.
At all?
Of course. A man cannot see her as a psychologist, he will see her as a woman. For example, how will she mobilize a man for a fight? It’s a joke! Unless we’re talking about the night. Sure, that can have a good psychological effect. Sleeping with a good woman at the right time, no more than once, of course, obviously helps relieve stress. But that’s a whole different story.
Yet in everyday life women often overwhelm men
In 90 percent of case in Russia that’s so. Women know how to spoil the mood. There is already enough of that in the sport. You don’t need anything else for a loss. No psychologist will be able to help. You know that the famous Belgian bicycle racing coach Effie Merks fined his tem members $500 for a call to their wives? Connection to wives and girlfriends weakens the athlete’s will, I totally agree with Merks there. Before large championships I will talk to the wife. I say, Lucy, honey, you Johnny needs to win at the Olympics, you’ll be able to settle the apartment issue then. Now, your phone calls can hinder this. Before, when there were no cell phones, athletes would go to the post office and would often return in a bad mood. A wife’s tone was wrong, or she said something wrong. Or even take letters. Sometimes a letter seems perfectly fine, but the spouse will read between the lines and now of certain problems. So athletes gets upset, begins to worry, and ultimately loses. At one point I examined the effect that radiograms have on a seaman. Do you know what makes a sea tough guys sweat? Words, “Petya, everything at home is OK.”
What’s wrong with those words?
A person who has spent a long time away from home (and the athletes spent months at training camps) should always be addressed “dear Petya”. That’s psychology. That’s what I do. At the training camps I am the first one to get up and the last one to go to bed.
Do you have enough energy?
I suggest forgetting the word “fatigue”. Olympics last for 17 days, and I know that during that time I’ll only sleep a bit. Early in the morning I have to see what mood they woke up in. That’s important. I run to the rooms of those who need my help; my intuition and experience tell me who needs it more than others. I cheer them up. I tell the player that he is in great shape. That his coach has the highest praise for him and will surely play him. The person believes me, his eyes shine, and I ask the coach to really put him into the game because I guarantee that he is at his peak and will play well. A psychologist can be a magician. I let him know – I’m here, I know how to mobilize him for this fight. He, meanwhile, remembers that people who are with me do win. On top of everything else, a psychologist has to be lucky.
Are you?
Very much so. Over 36 years of work, I was never kicked off any team. That’s my main achievement.
Over those 36 years in big sport, have you have your favorityes? Yagudin was the most challenging case. What about the favorite?
Another skater, Lena Vodorezova. I worked her for four years, and it was a joy.
Rudolph Maximovich, what do expect form the Turin Olympics? At the start of this conversation, you were rather skeptical about the atmosphere on the team.
I am now in the process of getting to know the kids from the winter sports. We do have great people.
But at the start of the conversation you expressed a great concern over their moral and ethical level. Doesn’t that worry you?
It does. I am worried, I am concerned. But the whole point of our work is to return things to where they need to be. In the process of our friendship, excuse my immodesty, they become better. That’s why I do all this.
