Ilya, it so happened that you were always in the shadow of your partners - Sasha Legkov, Max Vylegzhanin. Can we say that now, after the bronze medal at the World Championships, everything will change?
– In the shadows, not in the shadows – for me that was never the question. Our team has very strong athletes: Legkov can count on a podium in any race. The most important thing for me is to realize myself. It so happened that this year I had to constantly prove that I deserve a place in the national team. When I wasn’t included in the first team at the Gällivare stage, I’ll be honest, I was very worried. As a result, I pulled the second team from eleventh place to fifth.
I always feel confident in the relay race. Pah-pah-pah, I’ve never let the team down and I hope I never will. For many, it is difficult to run the relay purely psychologically - they are afraid of letting their comrades down. I'm not afraid.
It's nice to hear this a few days before the relay. I think you've already secured your place on the team.
I don't know, honestly. But I hope the coaches don’t have any questions for me now.
Let's get back to the duathlon. It seems to me that this bronze should somehow give you more confidence and help you psychologically.
- I think so too. I am very happy about this medal. Although he didn’t fully realize his potential in the Sunday race. I was never able to complete the push I had planned for the sprint climb. After all, Angerer was blocking me, then Helner. But everything turned out quite well. It was just a split second when I slipped past Helner. You know, when everyone is at their limit, I still have some reserve. Sanya Legkov and I have a great team. I would like us to continue training together next year. We started preparing according to the new plan only in the fall. If we had started in the spring, then perhaps our results now would be even higher.
When did you and he become such friends?
– Last season we were accommodated in the same room at the stage in Beitostolen. We took second place in the relay, and even then we began to worry about each other. Before the Olympics, I met him in Canmore, Canada, and wished him good luck.
Why weren't you at the Olympics?
“I had accreditation, I was supposed to go to Whistler, but at the last moment I was cut off. Before that, I ran all the races in a row while sick, and according to the rules, I passed the selection. I came to Canmore already with Olympic accreditation, but there they told me that, regardless of my performance, they would not take me to the Olympics. I had to find the strength to get through it. At the next stage of the World Cup after the Games, I became third. But I’m still so tired of marking time. When Sanya invited me to train together, I was in favor with both hands. The fact that he decided that I could help him prepare was very flattering to me. And this season has brought us together completely.
After finishing the duathlon, you seemed more worried about him than happy about your medal.
– That says a lot, right? Indeed, when I finished, my first thought was, where is Sasha?
Why is he so unlucky?
– I don’t have an answer to this question. They have already asked me, maybe there is something wrong with his karma? But it seems to me that this is all nonsense. He is a very strong athlete, he will still get his way.
Let's better tell you about yourself. Because all I know about you is that you are from Novosibirsk.
I am from Novosibirsk Akademgorodok. This is the largest scientific town in Russia. There used to be many ski slopes, including three five-kilometer illuminated loops. I don’t know if there is anything similar in Russia. In general, my family is not athletic: my parents are engaged in science. But somehow it happened naturally that I went to the ski section.
- How old were you then?
- Fourteen.
This cannot be!
- Maybe, maybe. I went skiing with my family from an early age, but it wasn’t all serious. And at the age of fourteen, two years before graduating from school, I signed up for the ski section. It was fun: we had a good company. In winter we went skiing, and in summer we played football. I trained more on my own, with my brother - he is two years older than me, I always followed him. At the age of sixteen I had my first serious coach, Viktor Gennadievich Kirgintsev. He still trains me when I come to Novosibirsk. That's when I started roller skating for the first time. After that I joined the junior team. Even then I qualified for the world, but the coach decided to take care of me. By the way, then the classics were better for me than the skate.
It's funny. Why did you decide to take up skiing seriously?
When I won the regional championship, I really got excited. I liked training, I liked being tired.
What's there to like here?
- I don’t understand it myself! My parents taught me to exercise since childhood. Every summer we went hiking in Altai with backpacks. I still try to get out there in the summer and climb the mountains. The first year I trained at our biathlon complex. It was very difficult: training camp, two training sessions a day. Later, when I got into the junior team, I realized that these were just flowers. My coach then was Oleg Perevozchikov, who now works with the national team. At the first harvest we plowed for eleven days in a row. I returned home and just lay around for a week - I was so tired. But he failed his first junior competition. What helped me out was that there was a long break before the selection for the world. I trained at home and eventually won the selection. And went to Rovaniemi.
And there I met Petter Northug.
Yes, I'm lucky. Northug, Colonia, Czech Jax, Frenchman Manifika - these are all my age. The Swede Helner is a year older. So I'm used to the highest competition. With Northug in Rovaniemi, I even ran one leg of the relay – the second classic. I came first, but he beat me a little in time. I was already amazed at how Northug could give all his best at a distance. And his finish was just as fantastic even then. He won the duathlon and the top ten, and we won the relay. But Markus Hellner was almost never a favorite in juniors. Only in Sapporo at the World Championships did I run the relay well and the next year began to show some results. And now he is an Olympic champion. So Northug is almost the only one: first he was spectacular in juniors, and now at the adult level.
Do you feel strong enough to fight him?
– In the duathlon, it seemed to me that I didn’t lose much to him in the finishing line. Although the finishing spurt was given to him from birth. He trains him in a special way. But it seems to me that I have a chance to fight with him not only at the distance, but also at the finish.
Would you like to try yourself in the sprint?
– This is too narrow a specialization. It’s a pity that we can only try our hand at sprinting at the Tour de Ski. You simply can’t get into the team at the World Cup. And you can’t run it at the Russian Championship either - then you’ll have to sacrifice distance, the races are too close. And so I achieved international masters of sports in the sprint at the national championship. Took third place. But for some reason, then Yuri Viktorovich Borodavko forgot that I was a good sprinter. On the contrary, he told me all the time that I was a marathon runner.
And did you believe him?
What else did I have left? (Laughs).
How did you make the transition to adult sports? Have you had any problems?
- Well, if in the junior team I could somehow come to an agreement with Perevozchikov, then in the adult team no one listened to me. Of course, some young guy came. I had to somehow dodge. And then, I still showed normal results. In 2007, we won the relay race in Davos as the second team. I ran the third stage. And I was taken to the World Championships in Sapporo. And then some disruptions in preparation began.
I want to say a big thank you to Borodavko for believing in me and keeping me on the team. The only thing is that he never entered into dialogue. I kept trying to discuss my preparation with him, to understand what I was missing, but he didn’t want to discuss anything. I lost stability, I started having problems with the classics. Yes, and with a skate, to be honest. In the middle of the season I usually returned home, recuperated there, and by the end of the season something started to work out for me again. I hope things will be different now and I won’t have to go home. At least to mentally prepare for the next races.
How often do you go to Novosibirsk?
– Now only in the preparatory period. I have my own apartment there, but since I come there for only a few days, I often stay with my parents.
You say that, apartments, as if you have a two-story mansion there.
– Well, I’m used to people saying that in Europe. In fact, I have a small apartment there, only fifty square meters. The renovations aren't even finished yet.
Is someone helping you with repairs?
- Father. I am only expressing my wishes. I have a Japanese-style apartment, there is a minimum of furniture - I like open spaces. But in general, I dream of living in my own house. I’ve even already looked at a region for myself there, in Novosibirsk.
Would you like to move closer to Moscow?
– No, I’m very tired of Moscow, I feel good in Novosibirsk. And it’s not that far from Moscow - just four hours by plane - and you’re already in Moscow (laughs). I used to collect boarding passes. In the summer I had nothing to do, I sat down and began to count how many of them I had accumulated. I found one hundred and fifty tickets from Novosibirsk to Moscow and back alone. I have never traveled to Moscow by train, only by plane.
Do you like to travel?
- Very! Every spring and autumn I go somewhere. Last year I was in Ecuador, the year before I was in Cuba. I actually looked all over Cuba; I was there for twenty-one days. Moreover, I don’t contact travel agencies, I buy tickets myself, plan the route myself. I booked only one hotel in Ecuador, in the capital Quito, and then decided everything on the spot. I also really love photography. It’s a pity that I only took a small camera here. I also have a professional one. But I thought that I wouldn’t have time to film anything. Now I understand that it exists - if only there was a desire.
Have you already seen Oslo?
- Not yet. I only explored the area around my hotel. Although last year during the World Cup I stopped by the city center and saw something. I hope to get out there again one of these days. Oslo is a very beautiful city.
Better rest and get ready for the relay.
– Well, that goes without saying (laughs).
Famous trainer Yuri Borodavko this week publicly accused one of our skiers of “ratting out” his former teammates on the Russian national team to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in an attempt to get a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Sochi. "SE" conducted its own investigation to make sure what Chernousov is really to blame for?
It all started with an unexpected revelation from the coach.
He (Chernousov. - Note "SE") can be calm for only one reason: he is also in this conspiracy, he is betraying his partners and comrades, with whom he walked to the top for a long time,” Borodavko said last week in an interview with Gazeta.ru. - Now he looks, giggling, wanting to get this medal. Maybe he is one of those anonymous informants. After all, there was not a single comment from him in support of the athletes who, in fact, pulled him to this medal...
Let me remind you that Chernousov at the 2014 Games in Sochi finished third in the 50 km marathon, losing only to two teammates - and. Now that the results of Legkov and Vylegzhanin have been annulled by the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Chernousov should become an Olympic champion. As SE managed to find out, the version voiced by Borodavko has been circulating around the ski community for a long time. It’s just that the coach brought her out of the gossip category and into the public space. It is impossible to understand why and why he did this without a brief summary of the history of Ilya Chernousov and his relationship with Borodavko himself.
MOVING TO SWITZERLAND
Chernousov is now 31 years old, he was born in Novosibirsk. In his youth, Ilya was considered a great talent and twice won silver at the world youth championships. At that time, Chernousov was inferior to only one person - the future Swiss superstar. Chernousov made his debut in the adult national team at the World Cup at the age of 20. And it was not just anyone who put him on the team, but Yuri Borodavko, at that time the head coach of the men's team. Despite winning prizes at the World Cup, Chernousov did not qualify for the 2010 Games in Vancouver. And the next season, together with Alexander Legkov, he decided to change his mentor and went to train abroad.
The German specialist, who now officially works with the Russian national team, was then bound by a valid contract with another country. And he could only help Russian skiers unofficially, by sending training plans. She worked directly with Legkov and Chernousov - first as a physiotherapist, and then as the second coach of their mini-team. Later he joined Knaute Reto Burgermeister- a famous former Swiss skier.
The change in lifestyle and training initially benefited Chernousov much more than Legkov. Already at the 2011 World Championships, Ilya won the first senior medal in his career - bronze in skiathlon. Over the next couple of years, Chernousov consistently ranked in the top ten at the World Cup. He went to the 2014 Games in Sochi nominally as number three on the Russian team - after Legkov and Maxim Vylegzhanin.
SEARCH A WOMAN
During the same period, Ilya began dating a famous Swiss biathlete. It is interesting that even then Chernousov was suspected of wanting to change his sports citizenship. So, immediately after the Olympics in Sochi, the president of the Russian Ski Federation said: "We have heard about this, but for now we treat these conversations as a joke. But if he has a desire, then we will “roll out” several million francs to the Swiss side for him. Still, the state invested a lot of money in its preparation."
As time has shown, Vyalbe was wrong. After the Games in Sochi, Chernousov married Gasparin and finally moved to Switzerland, but still represents Russia at all competitions. After the wedding, Chernousov refused to train together with Legkov, explaining this by the desire to spend more time with his family. For two years, the federation paid Ilya for individual work with a Norwegian coach Vegard Business. But after failure at the 2015 World Championships, where Chernousov’s best result was 15th place, this idea was abandoned.
Vyalbe invited Chernousov to join Kramer’s greatly expanded group, where Legkov was training. But this would again result in a strict training schedule and minimal time at home with the family. Ilya made a paradoxical decision for a Russian athlete, choosing not a job, but a wife and child. Left outside the national team, Chernousov ran commercial marathons all last winter. He also stayed at home with his two-year-old daughter Leila while his wife competed at the Biathlon World Cup.
February 23, 2014. Sochi. Russian trio of mass start medalists Alexander LEGKOV (center), Maxim VYLEGZHANIN (left) and Ilya CHERNUSOV at the closing ceremony of the 2014 Olympics. Photo by Fyodor USPENSKY, "SE"
ZERO RISK AND OLYMPIC GOLD AT Stake?
The only thing that speaks “for” Borodavko’s version of betrayal is the timing in which Chernousov left the Russian national team. The last time Ilya ran at the national championship was in March 2016, his best result then was eighth place in his favorite skiathlon. Throughout last year, when the “hottest” just began for Russia in terms of doping charges, Chernousov existed almost completely independently, not without success competing for the marathon team created by the Czech skier Lucas Bauer.
Ilya did not depend on Russian coaches, did not count on getting into the national team, lived and trained in another country and earned his own living. In theory, this is ideal for a potential whistleblower. A person who does not risk anything, but if successful, can receive an Olympic gold medal. It is probably no coincidence that Elena Vyalbe, even after Borodavko’s words, urged not to believe unproven facts, but did not completely rule out the version of Chernousov’s betrayal.
At the same time, Chernousov did not give a single detailed interview after Sochi. He did not comment in any way on his refusal to train in Kramer’s group, nor on life abroad, nor on the prospects of going to Pyeongchang. Even now, after a direct accusation of betrayal from a former coach, Chernousov’s only comment given to the Novosibirsk Center for Higher Sports Excellence was word for word: “I think you understand perfectly well that this is a bluff. I'm at a training camp with the team, we have a busy training schedule. I would like to focus completely on work now."
The appearance of comments on the website of the Novosibirsk sports institution is explained by the fact that Ilya did not announce the end of his career and, in theory, should continue to bet on bets in his regions (together with the Novosibirsk parallel competition, Chernousov also represented the Ryazan region). But it looks extremely strange for a person who was accused of betraying his homeland and who officially continues to work in Russia to not find the time and words to clearly respond to Borodavko’s words. Chernousov may not care, because he has had a different life for a long time and for him all this gossip of ours comes from another planet. Or is there really some basis to the accusations?
WAS THERE ANYTHING TO HIDE FOR THE KNAUTE GROUP?
“How could you even think such a thing about Ilya?!” Isabelle Knaute wrote to me indignantly in messenger in response to a request to comment on Borodavko’s words. “It should be a shame to even ask such questions...”
Isabel, although she speaks excellent Russian, is still a person of a different mentality. In the story with Chernousov, what hurts her most is not even the fact that a good guy was slandered. And what, allowing the information version, we mean that there was something to hide in her group. As if Chernousov could really tell WADA or the IOC something about his training with Legkov, which led to disqualification and the removal of medals. It’s very difficult not to believe Knauta, who then spent almost all her time with her athletes and insists on their “purity”...
In addition, Chernousov does not at all belong to the type of athletes for whom the result justifies everything. Throughout his career, Ilya has repeatedly proven that he puts real life and human relationships above sports results. He turned down Olympic prospects and Kramer's group because he wanted to live at home. He left early from the 2015 World Cup because he wanted to be present at the birth of his own child. And such a person could slander his comrades in order to receive a gold medal four years later? Hard to believe. Moreover, the newly crowned champion of Sochi 2014 will definitely not receive any new benefits in Russia. Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Kryanin. - Until I see the facts, I will not believe that this may not be so. And what could he tell WADA even if he wanted to?! This is not Grisha Rodchenkov, who is a dreamer by nature. I am against speaking nasty things about a person like this without evidence.
“I consider Ilya a good comrade,” the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist and Chernousov’s former colleague on the national team told SE Ivan Alypov. - The point is that he approaches sports and life in general a little differently than everyone is used to. He lives with the woman he loves, in a country where he likes, and raises his beloved child. And he doesn't care what others think about it. He never followed the crowd at all. Ilya goes through life with a smile, he has a blast. And this position really appeals to me.
- Why doesn’t he answer Wartko’s accusations?
Why does he need this? He has nothing to make excuses for. At the same time, Chernousov remains Russian and would like to continue playing for the Russian national team. He's just not interested in our internal squabbles. If one of our coaches is not happy with this, it seems to me that this is their problem, not Ilya’s.
- Are you absolutely sure that Chernousov could not have been an informant?
Certainly. I know the situation inside and out, and I believe Ilya one hundred percent. We trained with him and Sashka Legkov. I know that these guys earned their medals solely at the cost of their own strength and health. And therefore, I do not share the position of the coach with whom we worked then, and I support the guys with whom we went through a lot.
Ilya, by the way, has had a great start to this season. At the competition in Davos, he came second in the 14 km “classic” time trial, losing 26 seconds only to Olympic champion Dario Cologne. Ilya was the only Russian in Davos, while the rest of our athletes are now training at training camps in Sweden or Finland. It is obvious that Chernousov is also not going to come to the qualifying competitions for Russian skiers to participate in the World Cup next week.
It’s interesting that one of our skiers disqualified by the IOC, Maxim Vylegzhanin, opened the season. At international competitions in Muonio, Finland, he took fifth place in the 8.6 km classic style race. Another Russian won here, a student of that same Yuri Borodavko -.
Swiss biathlete Selina Gasparin for the first time commented on accusations of betrayal against her husband Ilya Chernousov, who, after the disqualification of his teammates, should become the Olympic champion of the 2014 Games in Sochi in the ski marathon.
After the finish of the pursuit race, Gasparin was in a great mood. Fourth place was the absolute best result for the 33-year-old Swiss this season. The eldest of the sisters is clearly growing in form, and so far only offensive mistakes have prevented them from climbing onto the podium. However, Gasparin is already in 17th place in the overall World Cup standings - right after the best Russian woman, Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht. In Annecy, Celina has not fallen below sixth place in two races and is among the favorites for Sunday's mass start.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
In Russia, Gasparin is known mainly not for her athletic results. Although she, for example, is the silver medalist of the Sochi Olympics in the individual race. Immediately after the Games in Sochi, Selina married Russian skier Ilya Chernousov, and soon they had a daughter. And this fall, Chernousov became the hero of publications in the domestic media in the conspiracy theory genre.
One of the coaches of the ski team, Yuri Borodavko, said that Chernousov allegedly deliberately “surrenders” his teammates to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in order to become an Olympic champion. All this would sound completely funny if it weren’t for the fact: at the moment, Chernousov is the only (!) Russian skier who will retain his medal at the end of the Games in Sochi. All the rest have either already been disqualified by the IOC commission, are awaiting IOC hearings on their cases, or - like Dmitry Yaparov - are losing the relay medal due to suspended teammates.
All these months, when the terrifying decisions of the IOC fell one after another, Chernousov remained silent. He did not give a single interview to Russian or foreign media. Moreover, Ilya even stopped performing. If last winter he raced marathons for the strong team of the Czech Lukas Bauer, now Chernousov’s last performance dates back to September. Since then, the skier seemed to have disappeared. Selina Gasparin, in an interview with SE, spoke for the first time about the motives for this disappearance.
"ILYA IS NOT PERFORMING DUE TO HEALTH PROBLEMS"
Selina, first of all, congratulations on a successful race.
- Thank you, I am very pleased. I felt good on the track, and the shooting in general was also good. I like Annecy, I usually have good results here.
Perhaps because it's only 40 km from your home country of Switzerland?
- I come from the eastern part of Switzerland, so Annecy is seven to eight hours away by car from my home. I know by your standards it's still close, but by mine it's not.
What do you think about the World Cup finals being held in Tyumen? Are you going to boycott it, like the Canadian team?
- Of course not. I have never been to Tyumen before, but I heard that there is a wonderful stadium there. I really want to come and see everything with my own eyes.
Why did your husband Ilya Chernousov suddenly stop competing in skiing competitions?
- He is training and preparing for the next races. He did not play at the beginning of the season due to minor health problems.
Is he going to try to qualify for the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang as part of the Russian team?
- I do not know that. I can't answer your question.
You've probably heard what people in Russia are saying about Chernousov?
- No, what do they say? Sorry, I can’t read Russian and I’m not familiar with your press.
That he deliberately slandered his teammates in order to become an Olympic champion.
- Do you believe this yourself?
Me not.
- God bless!
Why don’t you or Ilya openly answer all the accusations?
- We decided to remain silent on this matter. This is our general opinion. We think it will be better this way.
Will Ilya continue to play for the Russian national team?
- At least that's what he wants.
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