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19 July 2008
Regina Sevostyanova (radiostation Mayak)
exclusive to Championat.ru
Kapitanov: Ovechkin and Malkin Don't Even Take Vitamins
Marathoner Dmitry Kapitanov, according to Dynamo president Mikhail Golovkov, has brought none other than Alexander Ovechkin to the club . Ovechkin is coming to the Dynamo training camp in Novogorsk, just outside Moscow, specifically to train under the guidance of Kapitanov. He worked with his friend from St. Petersburg last year, along with 11 other players, including Evgeny Malkin. And he surprised everyone last season with simply outstanding physical preparation.
It is for just that reason that Dynamo rightly expects no small results from the work of their new physical trainer. Furthermore, Kapitanov himself is extremely seriously prepared for work. Along with the team, he runs, jumps, and at least for now in the very beginning of the preseason, awards his "wards" 100 points-or at least close to it, in advance.
Kapitanov has even begun to be interested in Hockey and has moved to Moscow from his beloved St. Pete.
-Everyone knows that you have a lot of great experience with hockey players. However, as I understand it, working with a the entire team of a hockey club is something new for you? Your championat.ru correspondent started the interview with this question.
"This is, of course, something new for me. This is a team. Although last year I had almost an entire team of hockey players. No matter, this is something different."
-How did it come about that you accepted Dynamo's offer?
"Basically, it all boiled down to the fact that I had worked for the club. Because I had achieved a certain experience. And because I could allow myself to do it. I had enough free time. Well, and Sasha Ovechkin put my name in."
-Because of this you moved to Moscow...
"Yes, I never thought that would happen, because I really love St. Petersburg. But I know that in America, for instance, it is easy to move from one place to another. That is how work goes. And when they retire, they move wherever they want to."
-General Physical Trainers quite easily move from sport to sport. Is it something like that?
"I wouldn't say it was quite like that, but there are some similarities. Every trainer knows this: the workings of the heart and the workings of the muscles. Different sports use different groups of muscles. An experienced trainer will know which groups of muscles to train for any particular sport. Therefore he could be qualified to work in boxing or in swimming, and his work will be successful. This is more a question of qualifications and experience rather than the type of sport."
-You surely followed the season of those hockey players who you trained during preseason last year?
"Yes, and everyone felt really good. I gave some advice to players when they started their vacations, then when they were training, and then when they returned to the NHL, I wrote out training plans for them. I even went there and they consulted with me. We built the fundamentals during the summer. This was the foundation. This was the most important thing. This is what we are doing now with Dynamo. I am preparing a foundation for (Dynamo head coach) Vladimir Buitek, and he is already starting to decide who to put in the majority and who to put in the minority. When a player is well prepared, when you have done everything you can for him, he will be in shape."
-You yourself are not a hockey fan?
"Little by little I am becoming one (he smiles). I am not yet familiar with the Russian league-- not yet. I am familiar with the NHL, as I have been over there. I have taken a liking to it."
-Which teams do you root for, if it is not a secret?
"Pittsburgh and Washington, of course."
-And who from the NHL would you like to work with?
"I am interested in everyone, because they are all professionals. It is always interesting to work with those who want to work. Now with this guy (Kapitanov slaps Alexander Ovechkin, who had just walked up, on the knee) it is very interesting to work. (Ovechkin, as always, gives a wide grin).
-Did you watch the Euro cup?
"I watched it."
-There was a lot of talk about the physical preparation of our football players. Can you shed a little light on this?
"I read all the comments. The physical trainer for them said: "all the football players were cussing me out". Because he was making them run a lot, and do exercises right after they had done some ball work. And then they all came to thank him. A professional always goes and does what is necessary. A trainer doesn't make things worse. Things will only be improved."
-After the Russians ran more than anyone else during the first round of the Euro, the European press started to write "they couldn't have done it without doping"...
"No, no. This is idiotic. Ovechkin doesn't even take vitamins, and neither does Malkin. I am talking, mind you, about world class hockey players, who are considered the best in the world. If they properly prepare, they have no need for doping. I am serious.
-What do you think: can you beat out a class purely on physique?
"It is possible, because we are currently training with Andrey Nikolishiny. He has said quite a bit. He considers that some will win from talent, some from class, and some from physique. If there is a universal man in which all three components are combined, he will be a king, no doubt. Or a god. I am not convinced that such a person exists. Maybe someone like that will appear in the future. In Ovechkin all these components exist."
-As far as sportsmen go, I see he is your favorite.
"They are all good. But I really like Sasha as a person. We are friends, and we work together."
-And how do you like Dynamo's new recruit Denis Tolpeko?
"I haven't had a chance to take a good look at him. Something seems good about him, and something not so good. There is a law in hockey now that says that we can only train from the 15th of July." (He is talking about the KHL policy which states that no team may start preason organizing before this date. This does not apply to each player individually, and many of them started to "fill out the form" long before the deadline).
-As a physical trainer what do you have to say about this rule?
"I will say that it is a good rule. It is correct. Just like in the NHL. But many people simply do not know how to prepare on their own. There are physical trainers all throughout the NHL who will draw up training plans for players at the end of the prior season. And they will write: if you don't understand something, find yourself a trainer. It is written in black and white. This is still something new for us."
-Right now all the players have run in front of you (the conversation with Kapitanov took place at Dynamo's training camp and the entire team just now ran across in a cross country run). -How does it look to you-- is everyone ready to come off of vacation? (pause, smile) "No, I'm not going to answer that question, if you don't mind, OK?
Click on icon above for original story in Russian at championat.ru