Before Halloween, Russian swimmers told RIA Novosti about their worst nightmares - from spiders on the launch platform to fear of being late for the start.
World Championship medalist Daria Vaskina:
“I am terribly afraid of spiders. I can’t contain my fear when I see them. If I put a spider on the launch platform, I will not swim. More precisely, I will never swim in this pool.
There was a strong anxiety in quarantine due to the fact that we will not be able to return to the usual rhythm of life. That all this will now be like "before" and "after" the pandemic. Besides, I am the kind of person who cannot sit in one place at all. Two weeks and I need to move constantly. This year I have been to (lake) Krugloye a lot - you can count on your fingers the days that I spent at home. Psychologically, it would be very difficult for me to sit for most of the year. To sit alone within four walls is death for me."
World Championship medalist Grigory Tarasevich:
“When I come to the“short”championship of Russia, every time they put 4 200 meters in crawl after“fifty dollars”on my back in the program. I get out of the water and get ready to swim the baton. My stage is coming up, Klim (Kolesnikov) is also sitting next to us, we are like that And when it's my time to swim, I kind of got ready and then once, in my mind it flashes that I can't remember how many people swam in front of me - 50, 100, 150 … Maybe I just jumped? And you won't ask anyone (You roughly understand when people are preparing for the start, but this is a sharp feeling - and what happens in general. After all, all this is right after fifty dollars, lactate, all that. This is my fear, it quickly passes, the moment of fright is absolutely irrational …
World Championship medalist Andrey Minakov:
"I am afraid of insects - mosquitoes, midges and all this. A nightmare is when a mosquito prevents you from falling asleep. In sports, I am afraid that I will swim and there will be a feeling that I have not done everything to the end. will fly, there will be an incentive to sail even faster."
Champion of Russia Anastasia Guzhenkova:
“Before the competition, sometimes I dream that I’m late for the start. Or that the hydrak is torn. Or that you are falling off the nightstand! If you dream about this and think, my God… All these dreams are very real, they feel like everything is really happening. But, thank God, while these dreams are not prophetic and, I hope, such dreams will never become prophetic (laughs)"
European Championship medalist, Russian record holder Ilya Borodin:
"As a child, I was afraid of the dark. I live practically in the forest, and when I came back from training in the dark, it was scary. I can swim in a dark pool, but I don't seem to hit the side (laughs)."
Head coach of the Russian national team Sergei Chepik:
"As a coach, I'm not afraid of anything. As an athlete, I felt jittery before the start. But in life, I'm terribly afraid to watch sports in which an athlete can get seriously injured. Gymnastics, diving. And I still can't watch football at night."