Denis sold his car awarded as a prize after his silver medal winning performances in London, and bought a lovely apartment in his hometown, Penza, instead. He does not want to live in Moscow as it is too hectic there.
His injury was a broken heel suffered when he missed a pit landing and hit his foot on concrete. In gymnastics, he says it is considered better to break a bone than tear a ligament. While he was in plaster, he could do conditioning work, and the benefits can be seen in his work on rings, where he has added a strength element. He is not quite ready to vault at his previous level, but says that in general his new programme is well underway.
He expects competition at Europeans to be very fierce – not just from the Russians, but all over. It is a benefit that the competition will take place in Moscow, as the gymnasts will be familiar with the facilities, and also hopefully there will be lots of fans – although Denis says he is usually oblivious to their support as he is concentrating on his work!
He used to work all around, but can no longer do so as a consequence of hand injuries which make it difficult for him to do pommel horse (he had fractures in both hands, one in childhood, and the other practicing on the bar).
Competition is fierce on the Russian team as it rebalances following the departure of Anton Golotsutksov. Denis mentions Mikhail Kudashov as a possible future champion, and also emphasises the strength of Nikolai Kuksenkov as an all round gymnast. Denis plans to work as a coach in future, perhaps specializing on vault and acrobatics, but much may change before he gets to that point.
He responds to a question regarding living conditions at Round Lake – which as a junior were difficult, he says it was ‘impossible to live a normal life’. However, now things are much more comfortable, there is entertainment, the gymnasts can meet with friends, take a ‘coffee with chocolate’ and generally lead a good life. He says the team is very close knit, like a family.
As far as equipment is concerned, they know that they will always have the most up to date models available to work on at Lake Krugloye. As soon as they know whose equipment will be used at a major competition, it will be delivered there and the gymnasts will begin work on it.
In future, says Denis, there will be ‘serious competition’ as the younger generation, the youth team, make their way up to the senior ranks.
