28-year-old biathlete of the Ukrainian national team Anastasia Merkushina spoke about her father, coach Oleg Merkushin.
“It’s nonsense that my father “pushed” me into the national team. Let’s start with the fact that he never worked in the ministry and received an allowance from the federation for only one year, and then a small one. He is an ordinary coach in a sports school, and his motivation is that his athletes soar to the top and only for this he can receive an award. For some reason, no one says that the state does not provide athletes until a certain age. To qualify for the money of our taxpayers, about which so much has been said, you must first invest a lot in yourself and not only in terms of work. To win the championship of Ukraine, you need to have good skis. After all, collections work on inventory of a different level. And now all the young athletes who did not get state support, but want to achieve something, buy skis themselves. A pair costs 350 euros, plus boots, sticks. And also, if you are not in the national team, you need to find money for the training camp. If you do not go to the rink, without it there is simply nothing to do in the season.
Do you think that Alexandra or I had any privileges in this regard? I have repeatedly paid her dues from the money I earned. Even before this season, she fired the cartridges that she had to buy, each shot cost three hryvnias, you can imagine how much she gets. So now, when she proved with her results that she deserves a place in the team, she is on state support, but how much had to be done for this.
In May 2021, I was invited to the ASJU award for the best journalists. And there I met the guys from the Tribuna website. I asked them: “Why are you like this, me, father?” And they answer: “Nastya, you really don’t understand that he is cashing in on you and catching hype.” I’m just speechless. Is it really possible not to understand that any parent wants the best for their child. They retort: “There is such an opinion that he is a bad coach and wants to go to you.” I suggested that they open their profiles and see who he coached. It was a discovery for them that two years just before the gold of the World Championship he was the personal trainer of Dmitry Pidruchny, worked with many junior athletes, in particular with Kilchitsky, Kozhushko, Samets. They got into the national team, and then, by the way, ended their careers. You don’t even know about it, just as you don’t know that he worked for a Norwegian ski company for many years, he is known in Europe, the doors to any wax cabin at the World Cup stages are open to him. So why don’t we respect him so much?” – said Anastasia Merkushina.
#door #wax #cabin #stages #open #father
2023-02-25 14:50:00
