On May 28, four-time Olympic champion and artistic gymnastics legend Alexei Nemov celebrates his 50th birthday.
On the eve of his birthday, “Moscow Evening” found out how Alexei Yuryevich was preparing to celebrate his anniversary.
— Alexey Yuryevich, May 28 is the day when all attention is focused on you. What does it mean to you and do you plan to celebrate it?
– You know, for me, this is first and foremost my mother’s holiday. She was the one who gave me life. To be honest, I’m not a fan of May 28, where there’s too much attention on one person. That’s why I tried to go somewhere far away before. When I was a kid, I always celebrated my birthday either in the gym or at tournaments. As for gifts, a simple call or a kind word is enough for me.
– Professional sports govern your whole life. Why gymnastics?
– This is my mother’s decision. As a child, I was a very active child: at home I was constantly walking on my hands or standing on my head – I was overflowing with energy. Mom decided to point her in the right direction. From the age of six I was literally living gymnastics. Of course, like everyone else, I was kicking the ball with the guys in the yard in the summer and in the winter. But when a friend invited me to the football section, my mother answered categorically: first achieve something in gymnastics, and then choose. Looking back, I understand: she was absolutely right.
-You have 12 Olympic medals behind you. What achievement are you most proud of?
– They are all dear to me. But there is one special one – the first Olympic gold in Atlanta 1996, the team gold. For the first time in history, the Russian men’s team beat the Chinese and became the first. It was a shared joy. The gold medal I won in Sydney means a lot of course, but I put the team’s success on a higher pedestal. Because not all players from the national team had the opportunity to reach the personal finals. But I can. I gave everything I had for them.
-You have been invited abroad. Why did you decide to stay?
– They called me, more than once. But I don’t see myself there. I am a Russian person. My homeland is here in Russia. And I want all the benefits I know and know to stay here.
Penalties and suspensions are a common pain for all Russian sports. How difficult do these events impact gymnastics?
“It’s hard to watch all this.” Athletes are not to blame for anything, they plow in gyms, and their fate is decided somewhere in other rooms. This state of uncertainty is worse than any defeat, because it is not physically exhausting, but morally exhausting. We have lost several years and the opportunity to test ourselves in the fight against the strongest. I’m sure that Nikita Nagorny or Arthur Dalaloyan in a normal position could come to Paris and fight for medals. But the sanctions did their job. But time does not stand still. We have the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and today the federation is doing everything in its power to ensure that players come to these games prepared at the highest levels. So there is still hope.
– Athens 2004. The referees lowered your score, the spectators were angry for 15 minutes, and you had to go out and calm down the stands. Do you remember what you felt at that moment?
“In the first minutes I did not understand what to do. How can I now look into the eyes of those who were cheering me on? Looking back, I am grateful to the spectators in the stands. You know, they did not defend me personally. They stood for honesty, justice and the purity of sport. And we all – they and I – came out of this situation with our heads held high.
-What are your activities related now?
-We have several directions. The first is the “Legends of Sports” show. We were the first in the world to collect five types of gymnastics on one platform. Olympic champions give a theatrical performance – Sports as art. The second is master classes throughout the country: from St. Petersburg to Khabarovsk. Olympic champions travel with us and work with children. This is direct communication and motivation. As a result, hundreds of new children come to the departments. And in the plans for this year there are also all-Russian competitions – the Alexei Nemov Cup.
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Alexei Yuryevich Nemov was born on May 28, 1976 in the village of Parashevo, Mordovia Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Honored Master of Sports of Russia, four-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics. Absolute Olympic champion at the 2000 Sydney Olympics where he won 6 medals out of a possible 7. He currently serves as Vice President of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation.