To meet with the legendary basketball coach Eugene Gomelsky you do not need to look for some reason. His signature tales, stories and authoritative opinions are always relevant. In our conversation, the master talked about the half - thieves' talk of modern trainers, evaluated the film “Upward Movement”, recalled how his brother had raised him, and revealed his main secret.
“Why should I fight? I am sitting on a bench, waving a towel, clapping my hands.”
- Evgeny Yakovlevich, let's move from basketball club to the national team. At last World Championships held in China, the men’s Russian team became only the twelfth, and last time it got prizes more than twenty years ago. What, in your opinion, are the reasons for the failures?
- We could discuss this topic during three interviews. We went to what we got today, both in men's and women's basketball. The logo “Abroad will help us” does not work. Let's buy legionnaires in each team and forget that we have Russian players who need to play for the national team. The vast majority of national basketball players are not the leading players of their clubs, spending the minimum time on the court. The top teams have eight foreign players. It’s also sad for me that Russian clubs have foreign coaches who do not work with reserves. A big galaxy of young people appeared who were satisfied with the bench place with a good contract. Why should I fight? I sit on a bench, wave a towel, clap my hands, and rejoice the results that the team is showing. Let the Americans play, the Serbs. These guys have no psychology of winners.
- But what about the success of David Blatt?
- I know him from Israel and “Dynamo.” He is a really good and competent coach, who knows how to find a contact with players. But we must remember if Blatt would have been the coach of the European champions if there had not been Kirilenko, Khryapa, Holden in the team?
- Should we wait for the next star generation?
- Firstly, there are a lot of good guys and girls in our country. Tall, and long-armed, and well moving. But how do they break into the top teams? Where do they prove themselves? Sitting on a bench you will never become a player. It is important to play on court. Go abroad? Someone does it.
- Is that good for players?
- I would not say. The worst thing is that they are not in demand in their country.
- What is the current situation with children's basketball in the country?
- Russia, like no other country in Europe, is rich in talents. There are a lot of tall guys. The problem is the coaching team. During the collapse of the Union, we lost many specialists who not only loved their job, but also respected children. Today at the seminars I am amazed at the vocabulary of trainers. It seems they are talking in a half - thieves' talk, half-hooligan tone. This culture prevents a lot of them from becoming not only trainers, but also people. If you do not respect children, then why did you go to this profession? Go to the machine, go to the mine. And the second point: where to go next? There are talks like: "Talent will break through." Talent will break through if it is supported, if there is trust.
- What is needed to be done, first of all, to change the situation?
- I would reduce the number of foreign trainers in our country. Volleyball players have six people on the court. From these, there can be only two legionnaires.
- Can the Olympic reserve school named after Alexander Gomelsky be a model in this way?
- At first it was focused on girls. In recent years, boys have appeared, and very good ones. Sizov Valery Nikolaevich and other coaches are conducting serious work. The school won three out of four championships of Russia at different age. I know the head Perekrestova Elena Vyacheslavovna. She loves only the first place, is fighting for the result and waiting for the indicators. In the school there are not only basketball, but also figure skating, swimming, pentathlon. I have been at your school (RBM No. 1. - Approx. Ed.) - This is a huge department. It's great that there is something to show, whom to look up to.
“Let's face it - in the final of the 1972 Olympics, the student team of the United States played against us”.
- The victory of the Soviet team at the 1972 Olympics in the legendary duel with the United States. Your ward, Alexander Boloshev, played in that team. Remember your emotions after the throw of Alexander Belov?
- Alexander Boloshev was not only a wonderful player, but also a great guy. I was still a young man, I was not yet 80 years old. And then my first pupil turned out to be the Olympic champion. I remember Nina Yeremina’s comment about three seconds. These events were shown in the film "Upward Movement".
- How do you like this film?
- Firstly, this picture is a feature film, and various inaccuracies are possible in it. I was shocked that Paulauskas (Modestas Paulauskas captain of the USSR national team, Olympic champion 1972. - Approx. Ed.) was made a defector, who wants to escape abroad. This guy is an honest man, Soviet was in his soul and mind. How can we say that he is some kind of defector? I think it was reasonable that the wives of Kondrashin (Vladimir Kondrashin, coach of the Olympic team in 1972. - Approx. Ed.) and Belov (Alexander Belov, Olympic champion in 1972, the author of the winning throw in the final of the Olympics-72. - Approx. Ed.) were strongly against the release of this picture. But the film turned out to be good, exciting. We watched it with the Basketball Federation. Next to me was a woman who did not know the history of this event, and when the American threw the penalties, she shouted: "Do not get in, loose!". That is, the film captured her. And we must pay tribute to the actors. I was in several cities, advising and helping on the creation of this film.
- How then did the country react to a historic victory?
- The euphoria was great. The Olympics turned out to be controversial. Terrorists captured the Israeli team. It was impossible not to notice the shooting and the protest. Unfortunately, for political reasons, the USSR team was not on it. I don’t want to downgrade that victory anyway, but let's admit, the United States student team played against us. They thought that students would also beat the Russians, but they were mistaken.
- Did the boys run to the basketball section then?
- I think yes. And after the movie " Upward Movement", too.
“What have you done, what kind of eccentric are you?” My brother told me,
when I did not let him take the title.
- You have played in the Leningrad Spartak. In 2014, the team stopped existing.
- I am a graduate of the Spartak Children's Sports School. This team was the personification of St. Petersburg. There was an outstanding boy Belov - and the carriers of shells that could not be called outstanding. And Kondrashin was a bencher, who could well let a person to replace, take a timeout. Belov at that time was the only one invited by the NBA. I witnessed such a conversation: in 1976, the great basketball player Bill Russell asked if it was possible to do an interview with Sasha. Alexander asked to the leads of the delegation, and he was allowed. And so when the team got on the bus, Kondrashin pushed Belov into the bus and allowed no interviews and conversations.
- Your brother Alexander Gomelsky began his coaching career at Leningrad Spartak. How much influence did he have on your future?
“I was very lucky to be born eleven years after my brother.” I no longer needed to choose a profession. Yes, we are small, yes, not very tall, but persistent. I often imitated my brother. In the early years of my life, he was more father to me than a brother. During the war we left the besieged Leningrad. And when we returned, if at school I behaved indecently, he confidently clamped my head between his knees and walked well with a belt over my buttocks. So everything was in order, the upbringing was good.
After school I entered a university in Riga, the family then had a difficult financial situation, and I lived with Sasha. He played for the university’s team and kept thinking how not to let his brother down.
After all, we are the only brothers in the world who led their teams to the gold of the Olympics and are listed in the FIBA Hall of Fame. I always remembered whose name I have, and how to behave.
- You had to play against Alexander when you headed Dynamo, and your brother CSKA.
- Somehow, five rounds before the end of the national championship, CSKA could beat us and win gold medals. But we won. After the match, he did not shake my hand. Then he called, and I heard a lot of pleasant "censorship" words. “What have you done, what kind of eccentric are you?” He shouted. And then two hours later he called back and said: “Eugene, you know, we have once again shown that we cannot have any tricky moments, we always fight for victory.”
- Did you expect such a reaction from your brother?
- (Smiles.) Expected one hundred percent.
- You worked with male and female teams. What is the fundamental difference?
- With women, psychology must be given great importance. Sometimes a man can not always say a censored word. With women, you always need to remember and think what you are saying and to whom you are talking. I paid great attention to psychology and I believe that I have succeeded in this.
“Dad, thanks for Israel, but I want to go to Moscow”
- You had a period when you decided to leave to work abroad. How easy was this decision?
“They made me do it.” Few people know - Kapranov and I (the honored coach of the USSR Vadim Kapranov. - Ed.) went to the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, already freed from the Russian team. The coaches gathered on the eve of the Olympics in the bathhouse and decided among themselves that the team was not shining anything else. Why leave us in the national team if serious changes are coming? At the Games, I was approached by the leaders of various clubs. The Israelites really wanted to get my brother. But in the end, I ended up in Israel. When I just arrived in the country, every three meters I heard either the Russian word or the Russian swearing.
We then got into the eight of the strongest teams in Europe (Eugene coached the women's team “Elitsur.” - Approx. Ed.). I had a contract for five years, but two years later, my son, who at the age of 15 played in the Israeli national water polo team, said: "Dad, thank you for Israel, but I want to go to Moscow." My daughter worked in Belgium, and lived in Moscow. I didn’t want to break up my family, and then I put together a team, explained the situation and left.
- You have repeatedly noted that it is important for you to speak the same language with the players.
- My wife and I went to the Ulpan (Hebrew school. - Ed.). After all, the Israel players did not come to me in Moscow, but I came to work with them. Seven months later, I had already started training in Hebrew and noticed that no one was trying to change my accent or the wrong words, on the contrary, the girls were glad that I respected them and their language. Until now, when I meet the Israelis, I try to speak Hebrew with them.
- In 1998, the Russian women's team under your leadership won the silver of the World Cup. What was the task before the start of the tournament, and was it possible to complete it?
- Then a powerful squad was picked up, and we knew that we could give battle to the Americans. They could have become world champions, but when we scored, the American scored three three-pointers in a row. But silver was won in a worthy fight. Many viewers supported us. The Americans then behaved too self-confident, and wanted to "punch them in the nose", but could not.
- Evgeny Yakovlevich, reveal your professional secret.
- The most important secret is to remain who you are. And it is important to understand humor - this is part of our life, it can rally and, when necessary, adjust. All the secrets are in my wife. I am the only Gomelsky who has one wife. We live together for fifty-five years. I am proud that I am henpecked. You come home - and the atmosphere is the most valuable and the best. She allows me to be a man and continue to live.
References: Eugene Gomelsky was born on December 26, 1938 in Leningrad. He was the head coach of the Dynamo club (Moscow), from 1988 to 1992, he was the head coach of the USSR women's team (CIS). At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, the United Team won gold medals. According to the results of 1992, he was named the coach No. 1 of the national women's basketball teams of the World. The member of the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Alexander Gomelsky was born on January 18, 1928 in Kronstadt. For 18 years he led the USSR national team, which under his leadership became the 1988 Olympic champion, two-time world champion (1967, 1982) and seven-time European champion (1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1979, 1981). Member of the FIBA Hall of Fame.
The final of the 1972 Olympics in Munich: in the main match of the tournament, met the teams of the USSR and the USA. Before that, Americans won 63 matches in a row in Olympic tournaments. 3 seconds before the final siren, the United States scored 50:49. In the very end, the organizers had problems with the countdown, and the Soviet basketball players had to put the ball into the game three times. As a result, the throw of Alexander Belov allowed to snatch victory with a score of 51:50 and brought the USSR the first Olympic gold in men's basketball.
Terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics: September 5, 1972, early in the morning in the Olympic village, the terrorist Palestinian organization Black September captured Israeli athletes hostage. The members of the national team resisted the terrorists, but eight criminals were armed, and the victims of this tragedy were 11 Israeli Olympians (4 coaches, 5 competitors and two judges), as well as one West German police officer. During a special operation on September 6, five terrorists were killed. Later, Israeli intelligence services found and eliminated the organizers of the attack.