Andrey Mitkov: Last year Salnikov started a real war against Efimova. Andrey Mitkov: a direct line with the readers of the magazine "Skiing" Andrey Anatolyevich Mitkov biography sports writer

Andrey Mitkov: "Rodchenkov testifies to CAS with his face covered - he underwent plastic surgery." He - not him, supposed - not supposed ... Who cares? Court rulings already known

In Geneva (Switzerland), hearings of the Arbitration sports court(CAS) on the claims of the 39th Russian athletes who have been banned for life by the International Olympic Committee Olympic Games for violating anti-doping rules in Sochi 2014. Chief accuser former director Moscow anti-doping laboratory, informant of the World anti-doping agency Grigory Rodchenkov testified via video link, his face was covered by a screen. Sports agent Andrei Mitkov wrote on his Facebook page about the reason for such a conspiracy. The All Sport agency quotes these entries:

“By the way, does everyone know why Rodchenkov testified at the CAS with his face covered? In order to ensure security, under the witness protection program in the United States, he underwent a series of plastic surgeries to change his appearance. Although formally, this is no longer Rodchenkov. He has a new name, surname, passport (American) ... So, now he can fly to Russia incognito :))) But his speech, the peculiarity of conversation and gestures remained the same. I wonder if this can be changed? Because with them, even with a different appearance, Rodchenkov will be recognizable.”

The IOC, of ​​course, will not lift the temporary suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee before the closing ceremony of the 2018 Games. And even extend it to Tokyo 2020. With personal permits of athletes. With all the consequences. And also running out, raking out, jumping out and jumping out ...

A mass exodus of competitive Russian athletes across countries and continents will begin. Because the State Duma is not rubber. I hope that our federations will not put a spoke in the wheels, the quarantine will be not three years, but two - and someone will be able to start in Tokyo.

Well, on the little things... Our Paralympic athletes will not be in Pyeongchang at all. Athletes this year will not be restored. Amen.

PS. Yes, and the World Cup is not over yet.”

A sad picture emerges. If that happens, then big sport may not stay in Russia. After all, who can torture himself in training without having an Olympic perspective. This is the calculation (for causing damage to our country), and not at all for the fight against doping.

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Andrey Mitkov: “If the work is done honestly, if the truth is written, then this is exactly what a journalist should do”

We present to your attention a direct line of readers of the site " skiing» with Andrey Mitkov, editor-in-chief of the All Sport sports information agency.
From the editor:

This straight line has a difficult fate. She was preparing for her birth for a very long time, but there are a number of objective reasons for that. As you will learn from Andrey's answers to your questions, there are very, very few employees in the agency, so there is more than enough work every day. All the more valuable that Andrei found time to meet and answer questions from the readers of "Skiing" for three hours. Unfortunately, even three hours was not enough to answer all the questions, and we decided to continue our conversation after some time.

However, it should be noted that at that time the agency did not have the best better times. Two of the four key employees - Yevgeny Slyusarenko and Natalya Maryanchik - left the agency, and Mitkov admitted that he even considered closing it. Then it was decided to continue the work, an attempt to create new team, and, naturally, in such an environment, Andrei was not up to a straight line. It was no longer even about answering the remaining questions, but simply at least reading the prepared text. As a result, it ends up unread. Andrei trusted our editorial staff, and "Skiing" will try to answer him the same.

We apologize to those readers whose questions remained unanswered. Perhaps Andrey will answer them sometime, but, unfortunately, we cannot wait any longer. It is all the more pitiful that the most interesting and acute questions were saved for the last, but perhaps this will add a line of intrigue.

Your "L.S."

Alexey Ilvovsky, Lyudmila Grigoryan:
Hello Andrei!
- Please tell us about yourself. What environment are you from? Who are your parents by profession and origin? And were you or your parents directly related to sports?

- I have football roots. My father and both my grandfathers were devoted to this game. One grandfather played for the Tbilisi Central House of Officers, the other was the director football stadium, my father also played for a team from Uzbek Ferghana, the city where I was born. True, it was not the famous Neftchi, but, nevertheless, in her father became the champion of the Republic. Mom worked all her life as an educator in kindergarten Now retired, raising a granddaughter. My father did not stay in the sport, he went to work, and when I entered the second grade, our family moved to the far north, to the city of Novy Urengoy. Then it was called "for a long ruble", gas was produced there.

I myself did not go in for sports, and for this I have some kind of internal claim to my parents. It was necessary to “take the child by the ears” and take him to some section. But I recoup on my five-year-old son - he goes to my figure skating, and we want to give it to swimming. Perhaps on skisport this will be a topic of discussion, but there's nothing to hide here - I can't swim. At one time, even Viktor Borisovich Avdienko could not do this. True, it was on the Volga, at barbecues, but still. And just a week ago (our conversation took place in the winter - ed.) I went on skates for the first time in my life. I didn’t even fall once, and I started to get a little better - I really liked it. In physical education, I got a B not because I did well, but because I smeared my skis well. I don’t know how to ride a bike either - I rode it once, in childhood. I did not know how to turn, I was ahead of the road with heavy traffic. I turned the steering wheel sharply and fell into a ditch, soiling my new jeans. That is, I don’t have a personal relationship with sports, and, perhaps, that’s why I have a special attitude towards athletes - enthusiastic.

Parents still live in the far north, two younger sisters, wife, son, agency ...

Ludmila Grigoryan:
- Why such an interest in cross-country skiing?

I would not say that we have any particular interest in cross-country skiing. We have a special interest in cross-country skiing, biathlon, athletics, wrestling, swimming, weightlifting - that is, sports that bring fame to the country, whose representatives are personalities in any situation. And, in our opinion, these people, these sports are not getting the attention they deserve. We are trying to correct this situation. And it so happened that all the employees of our agency were more fond of precisely these “other” sports, that is, not football, not hockey, not basketball, and tried to write about them. I myself, when I worked at Izvestia, did not write about football. Actually, when the agency appeared, we wanted to change the situation (although, of course, it is clear that one agency is unlikely to be able to change something), to create a place where anyone can read information about these sports. Take the same athletics- they write about it twice a year, when the summer and winter world or European championships are held. And wherever we worked, whether it was Izvestia, Rodnaya Gazeta or Vash Slouch, in which there was hardly a place for sports, we always worked on exclusives. After all, leading agencies such as ITAR-TASS or RIA-Novosti are not engaged in reporting activities, and we implemented this four years ago.

Returning to the question, I will repeat: we really have a special relationship with cross-country skiing, but no more special than with other sports that I have mentioned.

Do you have friendly relations with any of the leading skiers?

Recently, I personally write little, and if I do prepare materials, then mostly not with athletes, but with officials, with people who are easier to talk to when they know you. I am increasingly involved in administrative, editorial work. But if we talk about our journalists, then from the publications you can see that they have such friendly relations. Sometimes they even interfere with work, and I, as the editor-in-chief, even have to shout. Well, for example, Natasha Maryanchik writes about skiing here. Naturally, she constantly calls everyone, travels to competitions wherever possible, communicates, and it is natural that some informal relations develop. Take a recent interview with Sidko. Probably, this is still a friendly relationship, when a person in difficult times remembers you and writes you a text message. This has its pros and cons.

- Tell us about your work in Izvestia, in the newspaper Stolichnaya.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

I was invited to Izvestia at the end of 1999. There, at that time, a wonderful diverse team was formed, where everyone was engaged in their own direction, their own sport, everyone had their own approach. Many of that sports department are now working in PROsport, on sports.ru. I believe that the editors of the department at that moment could not cope with the situation when each of the employees was a person and "pulled the blanket over himself." Some highlights I don’t remember anymore: I worked, I tried to do it well, I tried myself in new forms, themes.

- Why did you leave Izvestia?

Alexander Kupriyanov then worked as the chief editor of Izvestia, that is, in fact, the second person after the chief editor who was engaged in creative activities. At some point, he noticed me and began to involve me on big topics, that is, not just the results of the season in cross-country skiing or a business trip to the World Championships. I have released a number of materials that you can be proud of. For example, in 2002, my wife and I watched the German film The Tunnel, which told about how a former swimmer, champion of the GDR, when they started building the wall, fled to West Berlin, dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall and led his friends through it and relatives. At the end it was written that the film is based on real events. We were just going to the European Swimming Championships in Berlin and with the help of our German colleagues we found this person who was the main character and prepared the basis for the film script. We made material with him - he began with sports, but, of course, he was not limited to sports. And so, with the help of Kupriyanov, I began to work on big interesting topics, and then, when there was a conflict in the editorial office, he went to the Stolichnaya evening newspaper and suggested that I go with him. I agreed, especially since that editorial office was practically opposite Izvestia (smiles).

Big politics intervened in the fate of the "Stolichnaya" newspaper. In my opinion, Chubais gave money for its publication, and when they lost the elections and did not get into the State Duma, they decided to curtail this project. There is a lot more to remember, but skisport readers probably already know about this. For example, the case of Lazutina and Danilova and so on.

Dmitry Revinsky:
Andrey, good afternoon!

Many questions from a person who remembers very well how the All Sport agency began - from the mailing list, which I, while working at Soviet Sport, could not subscribe to and suffered terribly :)

After a long time working in the "paper" was there no fear of switching completely to online functioning?

No, it was deliberate. The Stolichnaya newspaper closed in 2004, six months before the Olympic Games. I had to somehow earn money, somehow show myself, write something. At that time, the newspaper had already managed to form a team of the sports department, and when we published our materials in other newspapers, we signed them with the Ves Sport agency. This name, this brand appeared just then. We collaborated especially actively with the Gazeta newspaper, where the editor was Sergey Mikulik, the author of, probably, one of the most remarkable materials about sports - an interview with Sergey Yuran. I don't remember which magazine it appeared in, but the material was simply fantastic. Often then a situation arose that we had some interesting information, but there was no release of this information, because in paper everything is limited by area, time. And online removes these restrictions, so, I repeat, we went for it consciously. There was, of course, a fear that nothing would work out, but it was rather not connected with the functioning of the Internet, but simply with the fact that we were starting a new project.

- How was the concept of the site born? I conditionally call it to myself “not football” - how (in)accurately is this?

Indeed, as I said, it was so. I wanted to write about these people. It is now during the Olympics that you open a newspaper, and everything is there. For example, Sport Express published an interview with Lopukhov for half a page. And so they practically don’t write about the same skis, they are remembered every four years.

- How many subscribers did the mailing list have before the site appeared?

I don't remember, it was simple back then. We did the first mailing like this: we interviewed Irina Chashchina, where she first spoke about the fact that she was ending her sports career, cut it into pieces, found addresses on the Internet and sent this interview piece by piece. So the first news of the All Sport agency is four or five news about Irina Chashchina. I don’t remember the exact number of addresses, at first it was about 10 addresses, then about 100.

What contributed to the development of the agency on initial stage- the availability of start-up money or the location in the ROC building? :)

There was no starting money, of course, since the agency was not and is not a business project. We didn’t have any business plan, there was only an idea with which we went over some of our senior comrades at 8 Luzhnetskaya Embankment. The only federation that was somehow interested in this idea was the wrestling federation, whose executive director was Georgy at that time Bryusov. He allocated two computers for half of the room and periodically began to give us some orders, for example, for the production of booklets, etc. Then we began to gradually conclude contracts for information support with federations: wrestling, water polo. Of course, it's great that we were in the ROC building, because the news there went almost past you. You go out into the corridor and run into, for example, Salnikov, you ask him about the news, you get information. Moreover, thanks to Mamiashvili, the wrestling federation is an informal center of communication in the Olympic Committee, so often it was not even necessary to go out into the corridor. You just ask about the news, offer to write about it and make a material.

At some point, with the blessing of Tyagachev, we were given a separate room, but a few months after that there was a conflict in biathlon, about which we did not hesitate to express our opinion, and our office was sealed. This was after a short New Year's holiday, preceded by a memorable conference at Grumant. By the way, when we arrived at this "Grumant" with a purchased and paid ticket, they did not want to settle us there, and only thanks to Tikhonov we were able to accommodate. You have to give him credit for this. And now, following the results of the conference, one of the leaders of the ROC gave the command to kick us out of the Committee building. For about half a year we worked from home, and then we found a room in Druzhba opposite the ROC. After all, everyone understands that 80-90 percent of all sports information in Russia is concentrated in the building of the Olympic Committee, so we tried to be there, nearby. For example, the archery or diving federations didn’t even have their own websites, but competitions: the championships of Russia and others, of course, took place. Therefore, even for the same protocols, it was very convenient to approach the federation for the sport.

Reporting and election conference of the RBU in "Grumant" in 2006. There were no chairs for journalists in the foyer, and after the third hour, some of them had to take this position. Andrey Mitkov in the foreground. Natalya Kalinina (ProSport) and Konstantin Boytsov (Soviet Sport) are sitting against the wall Photo by Ivan Isaev

By the way, it was during that confrontation in biathlon that I realized that the agency took place. Here is how it was. We made another publication about Tikhonov on our website, and literally ten minutes later I received a call from Mamiashvili - and the wrestling federation at that time was, as I already said, our unofficial "roof" - and said: "Andrey, come in, need to talk". I go to him, and Tikhonov is already sitting with him with a printout of the material. I must say that Tikhonov and Mamiashvili performed at the same time, experienced great events in Russian sports, they are good friends, and I really envy Alexander Ivanovich that he has such friends. And Mamiashvili asks Tikhonov:
- Sasha, is it true that you have a written undertaking not to leave?
Tikhonov begins to tell that he just flew in from somewhere, then he flies there, and in these words, of course, there is not a single word of falsehood. Then Mamiashvili repeats:
- Sasha, I'm not asking where and where you flew from, I'm asking if you have a written undertaking not to leave?
Tikhonov again begins to say something that is the true truth and Mamiashvili again asks:
- Sasha, so you have a written undertaking not to leave?
Tikhonov:
- Well, yes, there is some kind of piece of paper, a formality ...
And then I saw Mamiashvili exhale. After all, he had a certain moral responsibility, because we are sitting in his federation. Of course, I later listened to a lecture that it was wrong to write like that in relation to respected people, our friends. But at that moment I also received from Mamiashvili a purely professional assessment of my work, which is lacking for many officials, athletes, readers, including skisport commentators. There is work, and if it is done honestly, if the truth is written, then this is exactly what a journalist should do. For me, the agency took place then.

- Work on the site of the Olympians Support Fund olympians.ru - how did you manage to “get into it”? How successful is this project and how much time/effort does it take?

- We did not deal with the Foundation's website. We have a contract with them for information support. We put our news, which suits them on the subject, on the Foundation's website. This is our most serious and oldest partner. The agreement with the Foundation was signed a few months after the agency was established, and we are still working with them to this day. According to the contract, we must put them on the site in a week a certain amount of news, and we do it.

- How painful was the break with the sponsor (besides the loss of the already known network address) from a financial point of view?

- As such, we have never had sponsors. Everyone from whom we receive money is our partners: that is, we do some work for them. Everything that we earn, unfortunately, is not very much, we earn ourselves. There is no such thing that a person comes and says: “Get you money! Put up a banner and let it hang." No, this is always our profile work - work on information support.

As for the rupture, then, apparently, the rupture with the wrestling federation is meant. Of course, it was painful, especially since since 2008 they have owed us a fairly large amount under an agreement that was in force and was being fulfilled on our part. The fact that we were not paid for our work for a long time placed a heavy burden of debt on us. But normal human relations are still preserved, and I think that this issue will be resolved.

- And because of what there was a break with the wrestling federation?

It was the year of the Beijing Olympics. We signed an agreement with the wrestling federation for a year on information support, before the Games we made a booklet, a magazine for them, published the agreed amount of news, but immediately after returning from the Olympics, the agreement ceased to be fulfilled. We just stopped getting paid. And there was one more unpleasant moment, which we regarded as interference in the editorial policy. We were simply told: "Remove such and such material." We did not shoot this material, and then the person who owned the allsport.ru address deleted it from there. We restored the material, and then he blocked the address. Then we switched to our first address allsportinfo.ru, which at that time was a spare, and we are still working on it.

There is very little advertising on the agency's website, but at the same time, a lot of events are constantly covered (apparently as an information partner), sometimes quite comical, such as Yakut folk sports games(or whatever they were called there)?

Manchaara games. Named after Vasily Manchaara, a Yakut folk hero.

- Is this a model of making money, or not?

- Self-sufficiency of the agency - when will the bright future come? Or already? :)

It's a difficult question. We earn money ourselves and spend it ourselves, so we can say that the agency is self-sustaining. Unfortunately, on this moment we have quite a lot of debt, both to our employees and, which is especially annoying, to our colleagues from other publications whom we have involved in work. I hope that the moment will come when the money will be on the account, and not like it is now: money came under some kind of agreement, it was quickly scattered once and again, scattered - for someone for a salary, for someone for a business trip - and money no more again.

- Does the English news feed in its current form (completely framed in Russian) benefit? Does the foreign press immediately quote directly or only after reprinting in our "krupnyaks" like RIAN?

- I don't know, I'm not ready to talk about the English version. The fact is that we have obligations to prepare news on the activities of the Olympians Support Fund for English language. And I know that people abroad know about the Fund's activities, including thanks to our publications. I don't think that RIAN is reprinting something from our English version: more often they steal from Russian and more often, but let it remain on their conscience.

- Are the current periodic "forays" into the paper press your own initiative or proposals "from there"?

This traffic is two-way, and this is not sorties, but one of those services that we offer. We have good partners in this direction, for example, Sportweek. Sometimes we ourselves call and say that, they say, there is a good interview: “Will you take it?” Sometimes they call us. If one of our employees is going to a major event, for example, the Golden League final, then we can also offer a series of materials from there, because sometimes we can be the only Russian journalists somewhere. After the release of the material, we can usually reprint it on our website with a link to the edition for which it was made.

- If you do not recall the well-known story with the publication of materials in the album, did Isaev offer to print anything on paper?

- No.

A short existence in the role of the press secretary of the HFMR (bandy federation - ed.) - why is this at all? Was it really not clear what Pomortsev was?

At that time, one of my senior comrades had business relations with this federation, and he was trying to solve systemic problems at the federation level. One of these problems was just information support. We met, and Pomortsev, despite his venerable age, seemed to me a completely constructive person. We discussed the details and got to work, but at some point we realized that people do not need it. That is, we are working, everything is fine, we raise the question that we need to send someone to the World Cup, they answer us “yes, yes”, then everything calms down and it turns out that no one was doing this. It ended up with a new president and all that. But in general, both this work and Pomortsev himself were interesting to me. The only thing I could not afford, working as a press attache, taking on some obligations and knowing that at any moment Pomortsev could call and instruct to do this and that, not to receive money for it. And we didn't get a dime from them! And take the story of my business trip to the tournament for government prizes - they settled me there at the stadium in some kind of kennel. With such an attitude, everything was decided quite quickly within a few months, however, I still do not understand whether it was Pomortsev who did not want to work or could not.

- Are there any "non-handed" among the heroes of the agency's materials? And vice versa, are there those who themselves do not give a hand at a meeting?

- When we last met somewhere with Ivan Isaev, we said hello. Of course, there are emotional moments in life, and there are people with whom you don’t communicate, there are people with whom you didn’t communicate at first, and then you start to communicate. But there are probably no such people with whom I would not communicate in principle, because, they say, I will never shake hands with such a scoundrel. But there are people and situations that require explanation and clarification of relationships. That is, you need to sit down and talk: listen to everything that they think about you, express everything that you think, and jointly try to find a way out of the situation.

Alexander Kruglov:
Somehow I recently dropped out of the life of the site, so the choice of Mitkov was a surprise for me. The first thing I would like to ask Andrew:

In your opinion, will the Internet press be able to completely replace newspapers, and if so, when will this happen?

It's like talking about the fact that television will soon replace theater or periodicals will replace books. I spend the whole day on the Internet, but I still buy newspapers. Another thing is that the influence of Internet media on the formation of public opinion will certainly increase. Now there will be the Olympics, and what do you think, given the difference in time, where will the information first appear: in print or on the Internet? Of course, in the network, and even such monsters as "Sport Express" or "Soviet Sport". The situation, in fact, is simple: this is a mixed zone where all journalists receive the same interview. Maybe somewhere someone will be able to catch the exclusive, but mostly not. And why should the same "Sport Express" wait for a whole day, when in an hour the material will be on "All Sport" or somewhere else? On the other hand, if they put all the interviews on the Internet, then who will buy the newspaper the next day? In addition, it is necessary to strictly separate simply Internet projects and news agencies. It is the news agencies sports orientation on the Internet, except for the All Sport agency today, I think not.

- What sports federation do you consider exemplary in terms of organization, results and potential?

There are no ideal and exemplary federations. We are very deeply immersed in these problems, and we know that even in those federations where everything is debugged and there is a result, there are also shortcomings, which, in our opinion, are significant. Moreover, the more you communicate with the leadership of the federation, the more problems you learn, therefore, it will probably be dishonest to name some sports. I believe that we should look at the result, and if the wrestling or athletics federation has it, they bring medals, then some shortcomings can be forgiven. For others, it turns out and there is no result, but there are problems.

- Is the thesis correct that due to less popular types sports you get funding, due to the popular (biathlon) fame?

- We do not receive any money from the federations, except, perhaps, the wrestling federation. And then the agreement there was not formally with the federation, although it was aimed at highlighting its activities. The money was paid by another structure. For quite a short time we ran the site of the water polo federation, now we are starting work with the Russian Skating Union. As for fame, I would like to think that we get it because we give exclusive information. Even when biathlon was not so popular, for example, after the women's race, we called Polkhovsky, took a comment, and before the men's race we already sent out a mailing list. So to say that we get fame through biathlon is not entirely correct. It would be more correct to say that biathlon, including due to us, gained fame. Of course, it is clear that this is television, and the efforts of Konstantin Boytsov, and much, much more. For example, skisport is trying to gain popularity at the expense of biathlon, because you started writing about biathlon when it had already gained wide popularity. I say this not as a reproach, it was just a fundamental marketing decision. We have always written about this and not only at the agency level, but also before. Another thing is that if our athletes have success in this sport, then they themselves cause a resonance. They start writing about this sport, talking on television. The sport itself also benefits from this. Of course, some work must be done, but I am sure that thanks to the attention of the public, both skaters and snowboarders will have results. And again, people will follow this sport if they know that our athletes claim victory in every start: I can fail, fail badly, but they can win. So here, I think, everything is interconnected: there will be success - the sport will be popular.

- How many hours out of 24 do you work?

Unfortunately, more than we would like. By eight o'clock I take my son to the kindergarten and sit down at the computer - I work at home. Then I go to work and work there. When I come home from work, I have about half an hour to tinker with him, put him to bed, read him a fairy tale. Then I sit down at the computer again. We just don't have enough people. If we had a lot of money, then we could hire more employees and, accordingly, have more free time.

Alexander Kruglov, Eugene Denisov:
- How many people work in your ASI on a permanent basis? How often do you hire freelancers? Does your agency feel understaffed, and if so, how are you dealing with it?

I, Zhenya Slyusarenko, Natasha Maryanchik, Dima Tulenkov and Andrei Kascha work on a permanent basis in the agency - five people. There is also an accountant. My wife helps a lot - she takes care of all organizational issues: book a hotel, buy a ticket, and so on. We attract freelancers to some single events, for example, tennis cup Kremlin or Davis Cup. Now we are recruiting two freelancers for the Olympics. In principle, the agency faces the task of expanding, but, in fact, there are not so many people who are able to work in our format and with the necessary return, when you need to work not strictly, for example, up to 18 hours or up to 22, but until then until you close the topic. For example, Natasha Maryanchik called Canmore yesterday until three o'clock in the morning and talked to Khazova and Charkovsky. Cool? Cool! Those who are interested can read everything in the morning or even at night. But there are few such people.

Eugene Denisov:
- Andrei, how did you generally look for your very first assistants?

The team formed in the "Capital" evening newspaper, then we wandered, someone broke away, someone came. Productively, I think, we worked at Rodnaya Gazeta. I was deputy there. editor-in-chief of the sports department, and Zhenya Slyusarenko - editor-in-chief of this department. Four people worked for us there, and it was they who were the first with whom the All Sport agency began, although the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating it was my wife and I.

By what principle do you distribute correspondents according to sports, competitions, recipients for interviews, etc.?

You can talk about this for a long time. For example, if Natasha Maryanchik likes skiing and Athletics, and she knows everyone there, then, of course, I will not reorient her to other sports. On the other hand, we have almost complete interchangeability, and if Natasha, for example, is on a business trip or has a day off, then Andrey Kasha will always insure skiing. If I went to do an interview, and Zhenya is sitting what is called “on the tape”, then I can be sure that if someone suddenly wins something or someone shows a red card to someone, he will call, make a material, and the event will not pass unnoticed by us.

Elena Kopylova:
- Tell us about your agency, how did the idea come about, how did you start and with whom, how did you expand, how do you build your work? In what direction would you like to develop?

We have already answered most of the questions. If we talk about where I would like to develop ... There are paid resources on the Internet with a lot of functionality. If we talk about the best Russian sports site, then this is sports.ru. But this is not a news agency, but a kind of vacuum cleaner that collects all the information on the Internet. Yes, some interviews are published there, but this is already acting out, however, I don’t take football and hockey into account now, maybe they have original content on sports.ru. We would like to remain exactly an information agency and develop mainly not in a technological direction, but in a creative one. We would like to have long interviews “for life” with sports veterans, with officials for about three hours in order to be able to ask all the questions of interest. So that not only comments or interviews on any occasion appear on our website, but also such materials.

Eugene Denisov:
- Don't you think that your project lacks more serious interviews and problems. You only have notes, and the reader often wants something like "Friday conversation in Sax" or straight lines like that. Sometimes you have tests, but this is not enough! Doesn't it seem that because of this, all your journalism is a little superficial, and the "object of research" is exclusively the outer world of the athlete, while the inner, much richer one, falls out?

We consider. Need (smiles). I do not quite agree that our materials are superficial. Yes, we do not ask our heroes who discovered which author for themselves, whose philosophy they prefer, but our interviews are deep in understanding and presenting the sport. Yes, there are not enough large human materials. Let's hope they show up. And for example, those analyzes that Dima Tulenkov does are a unique approach and depth. We deliberately come up with and work on topics together, give messages, and, what is nice, this is used by the leadership of the sport and even the leadership of the country at the level of the presidential administration.

Dmitry Revinsky:
- If you do not take into account the well-known fight against doping, what can be considered the main success of the agency? What is a failure?

We did not evaluate globally. Of course, we have small flaws when some kind of comment appears on the same skisport, but we don’t. But these are working moments, because we cannot establish a monopoly on information, no matter how much we would like to. And I can’t name the main successes or failures. As for the fight against doping, we do not fight it. Of course, we are against doping, but we are not fighting. We do not seek to bring everyone to clean water. It's just that information comes to us, we check it, get confirmation and then publish it. This is purely informational, purely reporter's approach. And RusADA, the Ministry of Sports, the Olympic Committee should fight doping with the help of some kind of administrative or propaganda measures. And we just give information.

Modest Solovyov:
Until recently, without exception, all sports journalists in Russia positioned themselves as servants of sports officials and treated athletes with exceptional courtesy. The ethical code of a sports journalist was simple: never write anything bad about athletes and bosses. Bosses attach journalists to trips to foreign competitions, the Olympics at the expense of the state. With athletes, they thump, washing the medals. And such a double journalism was formed. In the media, such a journalist wrote laudatory odes, and for his people he was a storehouse of secrets: one is on doping, the other is sleeping with someone, etc. It turned out that in the press such a façade of well-being, moral purity, courage and heroism was revealed, which covered the outrages that were being created.

Your agency managed to create a more worthy niche in which there is a lot of journalism and little PR. Tell us how you did it and how you keep your line.

Yes, there are journalists from richer publications who cooperate with the federations. I had to deal with, for example, how a person from a publication, say, "Soft Sign" says: "I can't write about this, because the president of the federation brought me here." There is such a thing, but I do not agree that it was a system. And again, I repeat, we do not have the task of bringing everyone to clean water and showing which athletes are doping, walking or stupid. On the contrary, we write about them because they are smart, talented, and we love many of them as a human being.

But sometimes there are situations when you need to discard everything personal and act professionally. For example, with doping, Sidko happened so by chance that one fine day in the morning I had confirmation of the information, and the whole day was scheduled - at best, I could publish it in the evening. What if during this time someone else would have published this information? I put the news, I call Loginov - he is a refusenik. In the afternoon I meet him after the executive committee - he growls: “Here, you are so smart, you know, but I don’t know,” and then in the same vein. But nevertheless, I am sure that I can call him at any moment, and even if he starts grumbling, I can give some arguments, and they will be heard, contrary to the picture that Ivan paints on your website Isaev. There are much younger and more progressive leaders of more successful federations who don't like to listen to such questions - you ask them and they get offended. Another example: at the IOF championship in figure skating our couple's hairpin falls, and Sasha Wilf from Sport Express filmed it - this, of course, is a great success. A close-up shows how the hairpin flies away, Vaitsekhovskaya writes material about this, and first Piseev, and then Mutko begin to swear: “Are we Russians or not Russians? Why are we setting ourselves up? Why are we writing about this? "Sport Express" such and such "... And further in the same spirit. The fact is that if any element of the costume falls on the ice, penalties are due for this. But in fact, Vaitsekhovskaya and Wilf should be given an award, because they did their job professionally. And Piseev, who was shaking a newspaper clipping from the podium, should be reprimanded to athletes, coaches, fashion designers, in Soviet terms, because they were not professional. Yes, to some extent, this is a coincidence, but journalists have nothing to do with it.

Barbara Panfilova:
Hello Andrei!

How is your piglet doing? Trains?))) Do you personally have pets?

- (Smiling) It was our friends who gave us a present. I'm ashamed to admit it, but we never even saw him. He performs, even recently won something, but we are following his progress remotely. About the animals at home, too, now I will tell a completely wonderful story. We decided to give our son a pet for five years so that he feels responsible for someone. And I just came on an excursion to the anti-doping laboratory to Rodchenkov, and in his hall there is a cage with guinea pigs, and they recently brought offspring. He offered me to take one home, and I decided to give it to Nikita. Since this pig was the fastest of all, we named her Usain Bolt. So we call her now Bolt or Boltik.

- Can you tell me more about the piglet?

His name is Mityok, and he takes part in the Pig Olympics - competitions in which piglets run, swim, and overcome some obstacles. There is such a federation of sports pig breeding, and it holds these events. The piglets live on the farm, they are looked after in a special way, and we were given one of these as a gift. In fact, many have their own piglets: the radio "Sport", we, etc.

I visit your site often. As far as I understand, your team is small, and the coverage of sports is impressive. Unfortunately, I cannot fail to note that in the news, along with typos and grammatical errors, sometimes, alas, there are blunders. I understand that it is impossible to be an expert in all areas of the sport, but I also see from your "performances" here that you greatly appreciate the accuracy of information and react painfully to its distortion. In this regard, the question is: is all the news released edited, or is the accuracy of the information slightly sacrificed for efficiency? What happens to the news from the moment it is “recognised” until it appears on the site page (if it’s not a secret, of course :))?

See what news. If you phoned someone and took a comment, then, of course, you first edit the news, and then only put it on the site. But we don’t have our own corrector, if that’s what you mean. You write, then you read it yourself, perhaps you run it through a spell checker in Word and post it on the site. Sometimes there are mistakes, but everyone has them - even in large editorial offices, sometimes this slips through! Sometimes you write and you are so sure of something that you don’t check yourself, but it turns out that you made a mistake. We somehow prepared material for Vedomosti following the results of the World Ski Championships and wrote that the Russians won two silver medals, but they forgot about Morilov’s bronze, and the local verification department caught this mistake - that’s good. If we talk about some important information, for example, on doping, then we, of course, very carefully check it against our sources, including international ones, and only when we receive documentary confirmation, then we publish it.

Thank you and your team for a wonderful site. I wish you to develop and grow stronger. And be friends with Skisport :).

Thank you.

Igor Penzuch:
Hello Andrei.
- Please, tell us what, in your opinion, is the role of journalism in sports (for example: stating facts, analytics, opposing opinions, etc.)?

Everything has a place to be and everything should be, including the lyrics, and everything. Why is it necessary to somehow limit creativity?

Do you think that cooperation, constructive interaction, mutual assistance between sports journalists when covering sports events is a rarity or everyday life?

- Did you find yourself in the profession, or would you still change it to another, given the opportunity?

Thanks in advance and good luck!

Maybe I would, but I don't know how to do anything else. It’s just that sometimes situations happen, usually related to finances, or rather their absence, and you start to think: “How tired it all is!” That is, sometimes rolls, but it's just emotions.

Sergey Konovalov:
- What do you like most about the work of a journalist and what do you dislike most about journalism as a profession?

All good. I just don't understand how to answer here. What do you like about being an oil driller? I like that I get a lot of money and go on business trips to Norway, I don’t like that I work in the cold a lot. Well, how can you separate what you like and what you don't? I do journalism, and I have to make some decisions, sometimes someone likes them, sometimes not, but this is my job, my profession, and I chose it.

Valentin Rychkov:
Andrey,

In your opinion, what is the point in sports highest achievements in Russia, who needs it and why?

A portion of philosophical questions has gone (smiles). Well, for example, I need it, because it's cool! My son and I went to the World Cup water sports sports, where every day 5-7 sets of medals were played, awards were held, and he asked me why the Russian anthem was not played, the flag was not raised. And when Yulia Efimova won gold on the last day, he was very pleased: “Dad, did you hear how the Russian anthem was played? I sang, watched the flag being raised! Our athlete won a medal! Great!" Then I had the opportunity to take him to the mixed zone, and there he was able to hold the silver medal of Anastasia Zueva in his hands - he was very happy and proud! The sport of the highest achievements shows the power of the country. This is a big state affair, and everyone needs it. The algorithm, in principle, is clear - today the athletes win, and tomorrow the children come to enroll in the section. Another thing is that they should have a place where they can come, where they will good coach who will teach them something. And if in every city of Russia 10 people after the victory of ours in major competitions come to the sections, then imagine how many it will be! Or a child watched biathlon and said: “That's it, mom, I want to be a biathlete!” “It’s too early for a biathlete, son, you can’t shoot, let’s go to the ski section and sign up.” But it must be the same ski section, which does not need to be reached through half a city or half a region, people should have opportunities. And then, you see, out of these 10 people who will come to a thousand cities, one world champion will grow up, who will give a new impetus. This is rather arbitrary and schematic, maybe even primitive, but for me the meaning is precisely in this. There are children who want to be like Arshavin, but I would like there to be children who want to be like, for example, Efimova or Saitiev, our cyclists or athletes.

- Can you give a verbal portrait of an athlete from an unpromoted sport?

People are different, and it does not depend on whether the sport is promoted or not.

- What happened to allsport.ru and allsport.org?

We have already talked about allsport.ru, but allsport.org is hanging. This is our domain, we bought it with the help of our friends. We wanted to move there with a new design, new functionality, new opportunities. So far it has not worked out, but the address remains with us. I hope that in the future it will be possible to do this, because it is clear that this address is cooler than allsportinfo.ru.

How much human meat do you need to eat to be hired by allsport? (I can’t help but ask this question, because I think because of it you were chosen as the interlocutor of the month)

We do not eat human flesh. The fact is that very often personal and professional contradictions. I am a professional, and I earn money from journalism, how can I not write about it? Akhatova, with whom we were very close friends, was offended. Just offended, that's all. The last time, when our people tried to hand it over, it was me, while still working at Izvestia, who made a fuss, called Melikhov, Aleksashin, got on their nerves, and in the end they were forced to solve this situation. Actually, then we met, and then I was good. And now, roughly speaking, I didn’t inject, I didn’t take doping samples, I just did my job professionally. We never condemned her, we just announced the information. In general, we try in such cases in the press not to give moral assessments of what happened. I just wrote that there is such a fact. Recently, my wife met Akhatova in a store and said that Albina was very offended by me. Naturally, this gnaws at me, naturally, I'm worried. On the other hand, I often go abroad and see how they look askance at us because of this, what questions they ask. But the situation is, in fact, simple. We just need to impose a moratorium on doping. Such and such a doctor is involved in a scandal, he should not work in sports anymore. It does not need to be destroyed, it is not necessary to interfere with work in other areas, just not to be hired in sports - that's all. In skiing, the same Wart simply needs to be removed, but he is a great practitioner, and the sport will suffer greatly from his departure. So give him a job, let him write a methodology for preparing Olympic champions, which will then be used for decades. No need to trample on a person, no need to cross him out of the profession, but you need to start from scratch. And it seems like we are fighting, like we are punishing athletes, but the coaches are still the same. As if the athletes only do it all themselves.

Do you use profanity in your professional activities - when communicating with colleagues or with athletes?

Unfortunately yes. Of course, in a narrow circle, and to convey strong emotions.

A. Yurkov:
Thanks for being you! You represent one of the most cited sports websites.

Do you plan to cover news about sports medicine, pharmacology, nutrition, etc.?

We would love to cover everything, but there are not enough resources. We often get complaints like, “Your name is All Sport, why don’t you write about sport climbing?”

Do you think that you can annoy interviewees by frequently trying to disturb them? And have you ever been told this directly?

Sometimes it happens that people refuse, citing fatigue or a bad mood, and we try not to bother. Of course, it happens, for example, with Petukhov or Kaminsky, 10 interviews per season, but, firstly, this is part of their work too, and secondly, it is always known to learn about what happened first-hand or, if you like, firsthand.

How do you get information so quickly?

We plan what competitions will be, call and find out. This is work. You just need to be on topic here.

Who would you never interview?

Never say never".

- What interviews are you proud of? Which ones do you think are the most successful?

- Not ready to answer. There are topics to which we drew attention, which we helped to solve, as, for example, in the case of Akhatova. There are topics, such as, for example, the case of Lazutina and Danilova, in which I was as immersed as anyone else. There are events that you covered, as, for example, before the 2002 Olympics, my wife and I did a series of interviews with foreign stars in Izvestia: Gianni Roma, Magdalena Forsberg, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. I don't know if you can be proud of it or not? I did an email interview with Wayne Gretzky. I was told to send five questions for him to answer. True, I sent not five questions, but five blocks of questions and received answers to many. In this case, you are proud not of the way it is written, but of the reporter's organizational work done. Back in an interview before the 2002 Olympics, Bjoerndalen told me that he was not an asthmatic, by the way, we were the first to raise the topic of asthmatics. True, for the first time we did not make out his answer a bit and decided not to include it in the interview, but after, at the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, he reminded me of our telephone conversation a year ago and asked me to separately note that he is not asthmatic. Moreover, then in Khanty, he generally presented me with a model of professionalism. Now many of our people say that they do not know how EPO turned out to be in their blood, and when they brought an open bottle of mineral water to Bjoerndalen, he was simply confused. On the one hand, it was inconvenient for him to offend a person, and on the other hand, he could not drink it either. It's good that I understood the situation in time and asked the waiter to bring a closed bottle and an opener. I have never seen this with our athletes. So my pride is that I was lucky to communicate with great people. I am proud of the agency, because even if it is closed today, we can already say that it has played an important role in Russian sports journalism. That's what I'm proud of, and not some separate interview.

- Do you consider yourself a celebrity? And how often do you get recognized in sports circles?

In sports circles they don’t recognize me, they know me. I don't consider myself a celebrity. It happens, however, near the house, in a stall where I buy newspapers, my aunt says that she saw me on TV.

Elena Yazeva:
- Who is the best sports journalist in Russia?

Vaitsekhovskaya.

Alexander Rodimov:
Andrey, hello.

Today (the question was asked on the site 29-10-2009) is the birthday of the Komsomol (by the way, happy holiday everyone :)). This is one of the few Soviet holidays that communists and democrats, officials and entrepreneurs remember and celebrate. What is your attitude to the holiday and to the Komsomol?

It's good to be celebrating. True, I did not have time to visit the Komsomol, but I was a pioneer.

- What photographs or pictures hang in your office?

- There is nothing in the office. In general, my wife is an artist, and her father - unfortunately, he died two years ago - is also a very famous artist, his works hang in the Tretyakov Gallery. My son has also started to draw. Therefore, at home I have pictures of my wife and father-in-law.

- How do you "zero out the cells" when the work is done?

Drinking beer. And here for the first time I went to the skating rink with my wife and son - such a thrill! Really, you are disconnected from everything. Or go to the pond ... But this rarely happens, because there is always a lot of work.

- Are you a pure humanist or can you make something with your hands at your leisure?

No! It's easy to break, but not to make (smiles). Then somehow a nail fell out of the wall, and the wall turned out to be load-bearing - you can’t just hammer it back in ... Ah! Even as a child, I went to the circle of sawing and burning, participated in exhibitions. That is, in principle, I can probably do something with my hands, but it doesn’t come to that.

Dmitry Ermolov:
- How much time per week do you spend physical education your body, and what sports do you prefer?

Unfortunately, I don’t go in for sports, although I should, of course. I play on my son (smiles).

What are the three things you can't say "I don't have time for that, unfortunately" in order of importance?

To work. And the rest I can say. My wife constantly scolds me for the fact that I have little contact with her, I would also like to see my son more. True, I recently took them with me on a business trip to compensate for this. Three weeks in Rome made an impression on my son.

Alena A:
- Do you keep your promises?

Trying. But it doesn't always work out. For example, yesterday I promised to call back, but there were wild zaparas, and I remembered only today. As I remember, I called. But speaking in a global sense, I try to fulfill.

- Are there people you owe?

There is, unfortunately.

- Will you go to the Olympics?

Alexey Ilvovsky:

- I understood from your various statements that you are not a supporter of the liberal idea in politics, but I did not understand which idea is closer to you. sovereign democracy? Neo-patriotism (as understood by Mr. Mikhalkov)? Something else? Could you answer the question about your political views (if possible, and about their change over last years, if there was one)?

Thank you in advance.

Difficult. I am not ready to answer this question, because I did not delve deeply into it. I am aware of all these discussions, but I have no principled position. It is impossible, for example, to say “I am for dictatorship!” It depends who is the dictator. For example, when Fetisov was at the helm Russian sports, there were a lot of problems in relations with the federations and so on, and I would like someone to come who could solve these problems in a strong-willed way, roughly speaking, with a fist on the table. But I didn’t see such a person in Russian sports at that moment. There were people whom I respect very much, for example, the same Karelin. But he could do it, I'm not sure, but, of course, it should not have been Fetisov. Of course, I have a negative attitude towards tyranny in the Stalinist form, but there must be a person in power who is capable of making decisions. One can argue for a long time whether Medvedev is right or wrong in sending troops into South Ossetia, but he made a decision, and I respect such people. Moreover, in this case it did not contradict my inner conviction. I am against the fact that the monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War was blown up. Both my grandfathers and my grandmother fought, my grandfather died with a shrapnel. I am against fascism and I am very categorical about such things. I hope you, Alexey, will be able to determine from this chaotic set of stories what I am more inclined to.

gladiators:
- Why do you ignore the results shown this year in such a sport as high-speed roller skiing? After all, the performance of our athletes this year on the international arena cannot be called anything other than FUROR. Is this done deliberately, and if so, for what reason?

I already answered this question. We cannot write about everything. Why roller skiing and not rock climbing or scuba diving? We simply do not have enough resources of our own, and no steps have been taken by the Rollerski Committee towards cooperation with us.

I am humble:
In addition to the question from the Gladiator about high-speed roller skis.
I remembered that "All Sport", unlike "Skisport", writes about real OLYMPIC sports sports - ski jumping and Nordic Combined! Thank you!
Ivan Isaev with perseverance worthy best use:), ignores these sports, unlike biathlon and the same roller skis!: (But the world championships in biathlon and jumping are held in conjunction with cross-country skiing! Thus, the very name "Skiing" is brought to the point of absurdity.

Thank you also for the "Archive" on your site, where you can find information on ALL sports since 2006! Skisport is not going to issue it, despite the constant wishes of modest ski lovers! :(
It seems to me that the "Archive" on the site "All Sport" is no less interesting than the "Forum" on the site "Skisport"! :)

When you face it yourself, you perceive it all in a slightly different way. Sometimes there is no information, not because you simply do not want to give it, but because there is no such possibility. And maybe you don't want to. Here on our site, for example, there are no comments, although there is a technical possibility to make them. You can’t blame Isaev for not writing about jumping - he is the boss, and it’s up to him to decide what to write about and what not.

(reply from Oleg Fedotov:
Well, since such a booze has gone ... Andrei, I like your site, I must pay tribute to your efficiency and a minimum of errors, but SPORTS.RU is more convenient for finding news ...)

This site is very good, there are creative employees, but they work in a different direction. They have good technological solutions, but in terms of content, with rare exceptions, I don’t get anything new from there. For me, some news is more important than a blog post that is made two or three weeks after the event. Although it is not even clear why it is called a blog, because the athletes slander the text to journalists, and they already draw it up. Why not make it a regular interview then? I don't like this artifice.

I am humble:
So questions.
- What shortcomings, besides those mentioned above, do you see in the operation of the Skisport website? Are you ready to help your competitors with a word? :)

I don't see any shortcomings. There are some opportunities, there are tasks that are set for the site employees and they are solved. I'm not saying that I don't like that, say, in Sport Express they write little about skiing. They have completely different tasks, and why should I criticize them for this? It's just a given. They didn’t want to or couldn’t - what does my assessment have to do with it? Of course, globally it is bad that little is written about our sports. It's the same on skisport, you have your own tasks. Perhaps if I were the chief editor of the site, then I would solve them differently, but again this would depend on the availability of time, money, opportunities, desire and much more.

How often do you brainstorm or survey professionals and sports fans at your agency to improve your website?

- "Brain attacks" we conduct all the time. We constantly talk and discuss, I sketch out ideas, and then we implement them. As for surveys, we do not conduct them, although we take into account all the comments that readers write to us or express by phone. In general, if it comes to that, we are well aware of our shortcomings ourselves and are trying to solve them. For us, this is secondary, because if there is a choice where to invest money: to improve the site or on a business trip for an employee, then we, of course, choose a business trip.

Elena Kopylova:
- Each of us has situations when we have to make decisions and we have to weigh different interests and principles. How would you rate the importance for you personally in the decision-making process (it is clear that in different situations there are options, but still):

Professional interests
- Personal beliefs ("it's wrong", "men don't do that", "it's not fair", etc.)
- Interests of your family
- The interests of your friends and people whose opinion you care about
- Interests of your employees and subordinates
- The law (without taking into account the possibility of punishment, we will assume that no one will know if it just matters to you legally or illegally?)
- Interests of strangers, but specific people known to you
- Your personal interests, possible consequences for you personally
- The interests of the state, Russian sports, etc., as you personally understand them

Again, I cannot answer this question. If you took any specific situation, for example, the announcement of Dementyev's doping test, and asked what guided us at that moment, then I could answer. It's so hard to think in the abstract. In our work, the professional aspect is most important for us, that's for sure. What else is there? Law? That's why Ivan Isaev is funny for us - the fact that in every note he shouts that he knew everything two weeks before us. But I write about something, not when I find out, but when I receive documentary evidence. I do not argue, maybe he already knew. Moreover, since he is immersed in only one environment - ski racing, then, most likely, he knows all this before us. But we are talking now about the profession. I only write when I see papers, moreover, they are sent to me by people who have never let me down, and I am sure that this is not an attempt to settle scores with someone with my hands. This is the law. I can't imagine what it would be like if we wrote about all the rumors that reach us.

Valentin Rychkov:
- Do you have friends among those you write about? If yes, can you model the reaction of these people to your agency reporting that they tested positive for A?

Please, I have already talked about Akhatova, and this is not a simulated, but a real situation. And none of my friends got caught doping.

Elena Kopylova:
- Which sports journalist do you respect as a professional?

- Weitsekhovskaya. Perhaps because she herself is a former athlete and knows the sport from the inside firsthand, both athletes and coaches treat her differently. You can talk about this as much as you like, but every time I read for the thousandth time how she writes about figure skating, swimming or jumping, I discover something new for myself. My first trip abroad - to the World Cup ski activities sports in Lahti in 2001. And we just lived there next to Vaitsekhovskaya. I remember that I had to prove myself then, I tried, I was eager, but in any case, when I just went out into the hall, Vaitsekhovskaya was already running away. Although, it would seem, for all her coolness, her status, you can afford to be more imposing, relaxed.

Yes, of course it happens. I must say that I read, although a rather large, but quite a standard list of media. It is clear that I read all sports publications, and from non-sports publications - Kommersant. By the way, I don't really like sports at Kommersant.

What do you think is more important and what influences your attitude towards a person more? What qualities do you appreciate in people, and what do you dislike?

The question is banal again. I don't know how to answer it. That's to say that you like it when a person is truthful, and he take it and say that you are a fool all round. Like it? No. Communication is complex. In friends, I value reliability and understanding more. For example, I can come home tired and ask my wife not to touch me for a while, and she, of course, will understand.

Olga Sukhanova
Andrey, good afternoon!

The questions are:
- Do you allow yourself to have any personal serious fan addictions (I mean not rooting for "ours" in general, but for specific athletes, citizenship is unprincipled)?

Of course I have. The longer you know a person, the more you care about him. Take the same Bjoerndalen. I remember that in Salt Lake City, our people had a very difficult situation, they were pressed down very hard, and our officials, in my presence, allowed themselves frank anger towards the Norwegians. And I explained to them that, of course, I want Rostovtsev or Lazutina to win, but how can I support Bjoerndalen or Belmondo? She is so small, puny, how not to root for her! Or Olga Zavyalova! I remember when she was still Korneeva, I remember how she was worried when she did not qualify for the Olympics in Nagano at the World Cup stage in Kavgolovo. The person is going through the sixth Olympic cycle - of course, I want her to win, although we probably haven’t talked for five years. In general, there are few athletes left with whom I myself spoke as a reporter.

If so, do you allow (at least theoretically) a clash of personal attachments with professional tasks?

Of course I do. If not daily, then at least regularly. Another question is how they are solved.

- Three best Russian-speaking journalists writing about biathlon?

- Do you know what the problem is? The problem is that we have sports journalism like there isn't one. For the whole country - two newspapers, a couple of magazines, a bunch of Internet resources that are some kind of vacuum cleaners that do not produce original content. As for the question, you can list on the fingers of those people who just regularly write about biathlon. Fighters, Vaitsekhovskaya, Dzichkovsky… and even then, after a couple of comments from the latter, it seemed to me that he was very poorly versed in biathlon. Who else? Kruglov? Well, yes, he calls, asks questions, like us, but I don’t think that we write about biathlon. Kopylov - the same. To call, ask questions, do an interview - I don't think that one can say about this that "a person writes." It turns out that there were not even three people.

They say that every journalist is a failed writer. Is this true for you? Have you ever tried writing fiction? If tried - were they published? And are there any such impulses at all? If so, in what genre?

Thank you!

No, I haven't. Here Zhenya knows how to write: to think about the idea, the format, the presentation. I don't consider myself a writer or publicist. I know how to get information, how to present it without any yellow tricks like screaming headlines in the style of the newspaper "Life". Sometimes thoughts come to write some notes, observations, but definitely not to engage in fiction - there simply aren’t enough brains for it. For the same doping, so much remains unpublished ... Maybe someday hands will reach this point.

Alexey Ilvovsky:
- I well remember a series of your articles in Izvestiya concerning the "case of Lazutina and Danilova" and lawsuits involving Mr. Kucherena. Can you now, after 7 years, formulate your attitude to this story (I mean not the doping scandal itself, but a series of lawsuits and proceedings in international instances)? Should it have been done, in your opinion today? And what is the role of Mr. Kucherena in this story?

The case of Lazutina and Danilova turned out to be a turning point in the entire world anti-doping history: the presumption of innocence was canceled for athletes, they began to assign disqualification retroactively.

Now my vision of that situation has changed. I believe that the work that led our sports guide in the field of protection of existing rules, actually was not carried out. Not in order to protect Lazutina and Danilova, but in order to maintain a certain parity. Not even quite parity, namely existing rules. It's like we live according to the constitution, according to which meetings are allowed in our country, but in Moscow they are prohibited. And there, it was necessary to defend everything. And our basic work is very weak: over the past seven or even 10 years, Russia has not made a single proposal and not a single amendment to the anti-doping code, which is updated every year. Now Chepalova, but who will believe her now? This should have been done before! Indeed, it is necessary to create a structure that would protect the rights of athletes. Some kind of international sports union that would soon become a significant player, and not only in matters of doping, because the Athletes' Commission, in my opinion, does not solve the problems that it should solve.

Kucherena? At least he managed to attract a lot of attention to the case. I have the documents, all the correspondence on this case, I have a large archive, and, of course, it seems to me that he was not immersed in this case as he should have been. There were also curiosities. I still remember one of his interviews under the heading "We drove a stake of doubt into the heads of the arbitrators at the CAS hearing." He had a very good assistant - a girl who, literally a month later, died of brain cancer, and he himself mainly gave weight, expression, the ability to speak emotionally and vividly to this matter. In my opinion, he did not really understand the matter. There were other assistants, including foreign lawyers, but, in my opinion, alas, there was no systematic approach.

Elena Kopylova:
- What is your attitude to doping in sport? Is it possible to eradicate it (regardless of your attitude towards it, is it simply possible or not?) If such a task were set personally for you, what would you do (it is clear if you really solved this task, and did not use the opportunities that this gives )?

I have already talked about this a little. Of course, the attitude is negative. This is bad. A person wins a medal, they interview him, they say how good he is, how handsome he is, then some time passes, and he gets caught doping. The impression is spoiled, and the question automatically arises: was he clean at the time of his victory? It must be said here that we do not have alternative recovery systems to doping. It is impossible to fight doping and not offer anything in return. There must be institutes, research institutes, know-how, etc. And this is not a question of one year.

The same is true under the auspices of the IOC. It is necessary not only to look for new types of doping and ways to detect them. A special biological medical center should operate under the auspices of the IOC. Here are the cyclists riding the Tour de France 23 days 21 stages, where do you get the strength from? The IOC should recommend that they use some form of recovery. It is also necessary to restore the presumption of innocence in matters of doping. Why does it work for serial killers or those who rape children, but not for athletes? Yes, it's bad, yes, it's a hoax, yes, it's a crime, but excuse me, what century are we living in? Let's organize a sports police under the auspices of the IOC, which would be engaged in investigations. And then Isaev wets Loginov and Pletnev with the question of where are the results of the work of the commission to investigate doping cases. Yes, perhaps he considers them old farts, but why doesn't he ask the same question to Prokhorov and Kushchenko - progressive managers? There is exactly the same situation. That is why I say that there should be a sports police with appropriate powers that would investigate such cases. Even in doping cases, there should be maximum publicity. We took 60 samples at Krasnogorka - publish on the website of the FLGR, or RusADA, or the All Sport agency for an additional fee (smiles) a list of the names of the athletes from whom these samples were taken. Two weeks pass, and the results appear on the same site - positive or negative. Now there is no publicity, and an athlete who decides to use doping thinks: “Nothing, I’ll skip today.” And there again - and a new detection technique! And when you know that in three hours it will be written on the site that you have passed the doping control, and in two weeks a plus or minus will appear opposite your name, then this is a completely different psychological motivation. But, unfortunately, RusADA now is a bunch of mediocrity and bad PR people. A week before the Olympics, they went to the editorial offices, held a press conference and believe that this was the end of their work and that was it. Or some boy comes to the Russian Championship and starts mumbling something to the guys who are already over 30 years old. Go to sports schools, to junior championships, talk to children's coaches, convince the kids. But this kind of systemic work just doesn’t exist! Everyone sits in their places, who is on the rollback, who is where. Sinev - who is this? Or Zagorsky - the nephew of Leila Doniyarovna Pokrovskaya - right hand Fetisova. A person cannot even give a definition of doping!

Valentin Rychkov:

How can you characterize the work of lawyers Kucherena, Samokaev, Timonin? What results do you think they have achieved?

We talked about Kucherena. Everything I can say about Samokaev, we wrote on the site. As for Timonin, I do not consider him a lawyer at all. Yes, he did a good job, he tried to help, but putting him on the same level as Samokaev, and even more so with Kucherena, to put it mildly, is not entirely correct.

Why do you think that none of the Russian athletes caught doping (let's leave Reztsova out of the picture) admitted to intentional doping, while abroad this is, in principle, a normal practice (not in 100% of cases, but confessions are often heard) ?

Abroad, this has become a normal practice only recently, which is the result of either very serious sports or law enforcement agencies. Why did Marion Jones suddenly confess to doping? Surely, some kind of behind-the-scenes pressure was exerted on her: “Either you confess, and then like this, or you don’t confess, and then like this.” But even in the West, these are isolated cases: 10-20 for the whole world! Our society is tolerant and not used to playing by the rules. Hysteria immediately begins: “They are beating us!” And they hit just according to the very rules in the development of which our country did not take part. It's just that someone is sitting in a large office and he is too lazy to move his convolutions to influence these rules. I'm not talking about the need to come up with something to protect our violators, but about creating rules that will be convenient for us to play. And not the way it is now, when the WADA code is in force, and we have a minister coming out and starting to talk about his injustice. And then we must have the tools of recognition, repentance. Someone owes the same Yaroshenko to organize press conferences, and in RusADA who will do this? I already said who works there. I am generally afraid to talk about the anti-doping department in the Ministry of Sports. If a person is hired there who has been selling tights on the market for a number of years, and his next job is the Ministry of Sports, what should one think about this organization? I hope Mutko will finally learn to make decisions in order to effectively manage his department.

Ludmila Grigoryan:
- How do you feel about skisport and its readers?

Okay, I read it from time to time. Today, however, did not come, there was no time. Readers are different - I will not generalize.

Alexey Ilvovsky:
- Why do you use the pseudonym Pol Potter, and even together with your employee, as it turned out by chance? Do you sign "Mitkov" at the end? Isn't it easier to change your nickname?

I was registered under my own name when I worked at Izvestia, read, commented, but then forgot the password. Ivan Isaev restored it to me once, then I lost it again. The fact is that I did not remember the password, I had it saved in my computer, and after the next reinstallation of the system it disappeared. And Pol Potter is Zhenya's nickname, he remembers it everywhere, and that's why everyone in the editorial office uses it. It's just that if I write something sharp, I think it's right to subscribe. And the most re-registration is simply dreary again.

Oleg Meshkov:
Andrey, in my opinion, one of the reasons why skiers and coaches of the Russian national team are willing to cooperate with journalists from your agency is the absence of the heading "Discussion of news" on the allsport website. What do you think?

I believe that there is some truth in this, because people extrapolate comments to the author of the news. You wrote that Dementiev is a good fellow, and in the comments - that he is a doping agent, and a quarrel began in which it is no longer clear whether he stole or was stolen from him, but an unpleasant aftertaste, as in that joke, remained. You can’t explain to everyone that this is not the position of the editors. But one should not think that they do not refuse us interviews or comments - they refuse, moreover, according to the most different reasons. The last example: Novikov takes fourth place in Otepaa, our man calls him and gets a refusal, and an hour later I read his interview on skisport. So anything can happen.

March 18 in the Saturday issue of "Soviet Sport" was published. On Tuesday, the Supervisory Board of the All-Russian Swimming Federation decided to create an Association of Water Sports, which will include the WFTU.

The results of the investigation caused a great resonance. The editors of "Soviet Sport" continue to receive positive feedback about this material. Honored figures of our voyage did not stand aside either. The agent of the most titled Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, Alexei Mitkov, in a frank interview, shared his opinion about our investigation and the creation of the Water Sports Association.

Those arguments that are given in the investigation of "Soviet Sport" really have a place to be. As a person deeply immersed in Russian navigation, I can say that there have been talks about the things that are stated there. Moreover, I saw a lot of this with my own eyes. Something was published by reputable journalists and athletes on social networks, I even saw documents on specific cases. I also know absolutely wild stories that took place in Volgograd. It is foolish to argue with the fact that we have no results in swimming - since 2000 we have not seen gold at the Olympics. The victories of Larisa Ilchenko in open water are exclusively her achievements, but not the WFTU. So, with everything that is stated in this investigation, I agree.

- What can you say about the reaction to this article, which immediately followed?
- To be honest, I was surprised by the appearance of this article, and even in such a detailed scenario, I saw the reaction to it. Of course, all these open letters- it's all just ridiculous. Coaches arrived in Volgograd to participate in children's competitions and give a picturesque alignment of how Avdienko became the owner of this swimming complex. Just laugh! No one, except for Avdienko himself and a couple of other people, could know about this. That is, it is clear how this letter appeared.

- There were also letters from veterans of domestic navigation.
- What our esteemed veterans living abroad wrote and previously told that Russian swimming never had serious victories at all, it’s just ridiculous for me to read. There is no need to even talk about it seriously.

- Will the creation of the Water Sports Association somehow change the situation?
- I can say that we are constantly in dialogue with the initiators of the creation of the Association, we are friends with some of them. In particular, with Aleksey Vlasenko, who is the main candidate for the post of head of this organization. He is a great friend of Efimova's team, he helped us a lot last year when there was a difficult situation with meldonium. He helped both morally and financially, paying for the help of experts in our case, and with some political maneuvers he solved issues that, it would seem, could no longer be resolved. We are very pleased that Alexey Viktorovich consulted with me and Yulia about the creation of the Association, shared information about how events are developing. Therefore, we hope that this organization will give impetus to the development of our swimming.

- What advantages do you see in creating the Association for the team of the most successful Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova?
- We expect that Efimova's team will receive full support from both the Association and the Supreme Supervisory Council. Aleksey Vlasenko promised us this both on his own behalf and on behalf of the Chairman of the National Assembly, Denis Manturov. We are now actively discussing the format of cooperation, because the Efimova team is the first professional swimming team in Russia in a quarter of a century. We have ideas, experience, and I am glad that such people support us, especially against the background of the fact that relations with the All-Russian Swimming Federation are not developing in the best way.

- Can the Association help improve relations between Efimova's team and the WFTU?
- You know, when there was a story with meldonium, I was very surprised that Vladimir Valerievich Salnikov, who, like Yulia, himself at one time faced the problems of lack of support, organization and finance, not only did not help, but began to counteract us in every possible way th and drown. In response to Efimova's emotional speeches in the press, he reacted not as a solid leader, wise with experience, including sports and life, but started a real war against her. And when after that I turned to him on some issue, such a reaction followed from Salnikov, after which I realized that we definitely would not communicate with this person. Therefore, now our team is trying to keep a distance from the WFTU.

- That is, you completely ruled out communication with the federation?
- Of course, it is impossible to completely exclude communication. But if we have the opportunity not to contact these people, we do not. We have excellent relations with the head coach of the national team, with the center sports training, which provides partial funding for both the Efimova team and the Russian swimming team. What can Vlasenko do here? Take Salnikov, Mitkov, Efimova and put them at the negotiating table? Yes, we are ready for dialogue and cooperation, ready to share experience, but the federation does not need it. They are probably the smartest, most talented, probably it is they, and not Efimova, who show top scores in Russian swimming. Although everyone knows that for 21 years, no one had better results than Yulia.

- Has the WFTU ever voiced its claims against you?
- When we formed a team, communicated with other swimmers and offered them to join us, the federation strongly opposed this. Salnikov said that we are muddying the waters, buying someone up, etc. At the same time, the athletes who train with us do not receive any money - we provide conditions, the quality of training, a quick solution to any problems, but we do not pay anyone.

- Is it possible in principle to solve problems in your relationship?
- Once again, we are ready to cooperate. The federation doesn't need it yet. But if they suddenly have a desire to make contact, on their own or under pressure from the Association, we will sit down at the negotiating table.

Another decision of the International Olympic Committee affected the leading Russian athletes who were not involved in doping scandals. The day before, January 23, the IOC did not include in the list of potential participants in the Olympic Games in South Korea short track skater Viktor An, bobsledder Roman Koshelev, biathlete Anton Shipulin, a number of the strongest figure skaters and hockey players.

On air NSN sports agent five times Olympic champion in swimming Yulia Efimova Andrey Mitkov suggested that the development of elite sports in the Russian Federation is declining and many athletes will choose to sports career other countries.

“This decision was another consequence of a long series of mistakes, actions and inactions of the top leaders of Russian sports and sports curators in the highest echelons of power. It was suggested to go, defend and try to play ahead of the curve, but it didn't work. Now we get what we get. Moreover, far from all the names have been announced, there will be a second screening. The IOC has created two working groups that deal with this,” said the sports agent.

He explained that Russian athletes do not qualify for participation in the Olympics, but receive invitations due to the fact that the Russian Olympic Committee was previously excluded from the IOC.

“We were banned. There is an understanding that this situation will last until the 2020 Summer Olympics, when the IOC will also invite Russian athletes,” Mitkov said.

Already now, according to a sports agent, champion athletes in summer species sportsmen are wondering if they should prepare for the Olympics, to which they may not be invited.

“There are actually three years before these Games. Now athletes in summer sports, who, for example, are more numerous than winter sports, watch and understand that they will plow, squirm, and at the last moment they simply will not be invited to the Olympic Games. Why then all this? Now those who are really in love with sports connect their lives with sports career I and my colleagues are asked the question: how to go to another country to compete at the Olympics? In our country, one transfer of an athlete to another country creates a stir, but imagine if 10, 50, 200 athletes change citizenship over the next year? The coolest, most promising, those who really want to achieve success in sports and are ready to make certain sacrifices for this, will move to another country,” the expert noted.

For the same reason, many parents already now refuse to send their children to elite sports.

“Russian elite sport is fading, dying. The number of children who come to sport sections, is drastically reduced. I see it in my acquaintances, I communicate with coaches in sports schools. Most of those who come work for themselves, and not to become Olympic champions- said Mitkov. - To participate in the Olympics, you need eight years in professional sports, and before that, another 8-10 years of the preparatory stage of youth sports. In total, you give 16-20 years to sports, and then you don’t go to the main start of your career. What parent would want to sacrifice their child?

The Russian Olympic Committee earlier announced that it disagreed with the IOC proposal not to include both previously suspended current athletes and those whose names were announced later in the final application list, TASS reports.

Worked in publications: "Northern Forum" (St. Petersburg, 1996-1999, correspondent), "Izvestia" (1999-2003, correspondent), "Capital Evening Newspaper" (2003-2004, editor of the sports department), "Your leisure" (2004, deputy editor-in-chief), "Rodnaya Gazeta", (2004-2005, curator of a group of departments, deputy editor-in-chief).

From October 20, 2005 to April 15, 2015 - General Director and Chief Editor Agency of sports information "All sport". From January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2014, he directed the media project of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation "Team of Russia-2014", covering the preparation of the Russian team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. From April 20, 2015 to April 20, 2016 - Head of the Press Service and Communications Department of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Center for Sports Training of Russian National Teams" of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. He left due to disagreements with the leadership in assessing the causes of the global "meldonium" scandal involving dozens of Russian athletes.

Covered the championships of Russia, Europe and the world in athletics, water sports, artistic and gymnastics, biathlon, skiing, wrestling and many other sports.

The best sports journalist in Russia according to the State Committee for Sport (2001) and the Russian Olympic Committee (2002 and 2003). Winner of the ROC "Sharp Pen" award (2005).

He worked as a journalist at six Olympic Games - Winter 2002 in Salt Lake City, Summer 2004 in Athens, Winter 2006 in Turin, Summer 2008 in Beijing, Winter 2010 in Vancouver, Summer 2012 in London. Participant of the international seminar for young journalists organized by the International Olympic Committee (2004).

He was the press attaché of the Russian Paralympic team at Summer Games 2008 in Beijing and winter games 2010 in Vancouver.

Specialization - Olympism, sports politics, sports law, investigations. Proud of exclusive interviews with foreign sports superstars (Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Bente Scari, Magdalena Forsberg, Hisham El Guerruj, Michael Phelps, Tim Montgomery, Wayne Gretzky and others) and the top leaders of world sports (Juan Antonio Samaranch, Jacques Rogge, Richard Pound, Milan Ercegan, Arne Lungqvist, Rafael Martinetti and others), most of which were co-authored with his wife Anna.

Since 2013, he has focused on agency and managerial work.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he was accredited as a member of the escort group for the President of the Russian Federation. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, after participating in the proceedings of the Sports Arbitration Court for the protection of Russian athletes (Yulia Efimova, Viktor Lebedev, Alexander Dyachenko, Natalia Podolskaya, Vladimir Morozov, Nikita Lobintsev and others), he became an honored guest of the United the world of wrestling.

From February 1 - General Director of the All Sport Agency. Among the Agency's clients are such superstars as Yulia Efimova, Stefania Elfutina, Alexandra Soldatova, Artyom Silchenko, Roman Petushkov, Ekaterina Prokofieva and others.

Wife - Anna Mitkova. Son Nikita is 12 years old, daughter Varvara is three years old.