“Behaving like a Russian occupier”: Ukrainian athletes quarreled with their coach
In the Ukrainian rowing team, the athletes and the new head coach Igor Nagaev quarreled.
This was reported by Hromadske Sport.
In November 2021, Nagaev replaced two-time Olympic rowing champion Yuri Cheban as head coach of the national team. And already at the beginning of June, Ukrainian kayakers accused the new coach of incompetence and demoralization of his players, and world champion Dmitry Danilenko even compared the coach’s actions with the actions of “Russian occupiers.”
Ivan Semikin was the first Ukrainian rower to speak out after he won gold in the four-man kayak at a distance of 500 m at the World Cup in Poznan. In particular, in his post on Facebook, the athlete noted that Igor Nagaev is not an effective manager of the Ukrainian national team. Moreover, it “demoralizes the team.”
Semikin’s position was also supported by another world champion Dmitry Danilenko, who in his public statement on Facebook compared Nagaev to an “occupier.”
“An occupier—that’s how the new head coach Igor Nagaev behaves. A man who tarnished his reputation long before joining our rowing family, twice leaving his position with scandal. Everything is new - the old is well forgotten! In six months of cooperation with the team, Igor Nagaev has only lost the remnants of his authority, mutual respect and trust, so this person is not competent in his position and does not meet any of the criteria for a team leader!” – the athlete wrote.
Anastasia Gorlova, European champion and medalist of the world kayaking championship, also criticized the work of the head coach. Gorlova stated that Nagaev “destroyed half the team and the preparation.” In a post on Facebook, the athlete said that the coach refused to allow kayakers into the meeting and does not want to delegate them to the World Championships in Canada. Although the organizers of the competition were ready to pay all the expenses of the Ukrainian team, except for plane tickets.
The FKU noted that on June 6 they held a meeting of the Executive Committee, during which they asked head coach Nagaev to determine the causes of the conflict in the team. Nagaev refused and said that this matter concerns only the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, because it is the direct employer of the coach.
Previously, five players of the Ukrainian national team fell ill during the Nations League matches: the coaches claim that it is not coronavirus.
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