Dmitry Rigin - Russian Men's Foil FencerThe Russian Fencing Federation just published a video interview with Dmitry Rigin, one of the world top men’s foil fencers. Hailing from Russia, Dmitry is currently ranked #4 in the world. When I listened to this interview I immediately thought that there were just so many interesting points, things that are important for every competitive fencer to hear. There’s also some fascinating perspective on the competitive teams from Great Britain and the USA.

This interviewer is Elena Grishina, special correspondent of Russian Fencing Federation and was published on February 16th, 2016

Elena Grishina:

Dima, first of all I want to congratulate the team on your victory and on qualifying for the Olympic Games. At some point, not that we were really concerned that the team would qualify, but we were somewhat worried about your performance. For a while there you were either 5th or 6th or 7th place, and then suddenly won the tournament. What happened to the team?

Dmitry Rigin:

Well, it was enough to loose, I think! The real question is not what happened now at the end but then, when we were losing and earning low rankings. I think the biggest reason for that was our motivation, to some extent our team’s motivation and to some extent the other team’s motivation, because in reality the question of being qualified after the last World Championship was quite relaxed.  We knew we would qualify because not qualifying would have meant that we had failed completely in every tournament. On other hand, other teams needed to prepare for every tournament very seriously. In fencing motivation is the key factor, getting into focus for every meet. That was the major reason for us losing so many tournaments.

Elena Grishina:

After the matches did you understand what’s going on? Did you discuss it?

Dmitry Rigin:

We constantly discussed it. To be part of the winning team is much nicer, so we constantly discussed everything among ourselves. We as a team practically live together all the time (with constant trainings and camps). But to tell the truth we didn’t discuss anything specific prior to the Bonn’s World Cup, somehow it happened by itself.

Elena Grishina:

(laughing)

So at some point the team was put into a position that was what it needed for motivation.

Dmitry Rigin:

Yes, sure. First of all, as minimum, we wanted to win, as every athlete wants to win.

Elena Grishina:

So at some point you understood that enough is enough. Tell me, is it really that simple, deciding to win and then winning?

Dmitry Rigin:

No! Of course it is absolutely not that simple! But this is what happens when you decide.

It is very difficult to explain how four athletes can compose a winning team, how they piece together psychologically. It is a continuous process of becoming such a team. At the last camp we had a team competition where we fenced with the same members as at Bonn (me, Artur Akhmathusin, Alexey Cheremisinov) and during the match we were very much behind the other team, almost without any hope to recover. Eventually we succeeded in recovering and went on to win the match in this practice team competition. We had a feeling then that we fenced with the same quality that we fenced with at the World Championship in Moscow, when as a team we succeeded in recovering from a big deficit.

Elena Grishina:

In the finals you fenced against Italy, and in this season after the Worlds you didn’t fence against them. So we can compare these two final matches – at the Worlds in Moscow and now at the World Cup in Bonn. What is the difference between fencing them now (when the Russian team won) and then (when Italy won the championship)? Did you had any conclusions?

Dmitry Rigin:

These two matches were very similar. The difference was that this time we succeeded in breaking them and keeping the advantage. At the Worlds we were bouncing between being behind 1-2 touches, and then maybe leading 1 touch, but this time we succeeded to pass this “0” difference and get into a “plus” zone and keep the position of our advantage.

Elena Grishina:

In your opinion, which teams would be very dangerous at the Games? Of course, there are only 8 teams at Rio and every one is very strong and dangerous, but which team in your opinion can surprise?

Dmitry Rigin:

Suprise? Well, I think Great Britain is such a team. This is a very challenging team.  They have very strong fencers like James Davis, and Richard Cruze very strong. They can play many different combinations, can score a lot, but they also have very strong 3rd team member that can get into a “bunker” – he is a very inconvenient opponent, working mostly in a defensive mode and it is very difficult to score a lot of touches on him. Thus it is very challenging to fence against Great Britain. They are not considered favorites of the world fencing, but they are a very dangerous team.

Elena Grishina:

What about the Americans?

Dmitry Rigin:

The Americans by default are a very strong team! They have very strong team members, composed of world class names. When they fence as a team they are not stable, I would even say very unstable. In America the team competition almost does not exist, even at the USA Championship level.  What they have is very nominal, and the leaders do not get into the team competitions inside the country, only individual. So this is a plus for us. But nevertheless the team is very strong because of its individual members.

Elena Grishina:

During this season’s World Cups there was a big turbulence at the podium, teams switched and it seems nobody is stable this season. What the reason for such unstable performances in your opinion?

Dmitry Rigin:

I don’t think this is characteristic of this season alone. Last season’s winners were also very different teams. We, the French, the Italians and the Americans all won some tournaments. In men’s foil the teams often change on the podium. This discipline I think is the most competitive in fencing.

Elena Grishina:

Well, given there is such fierce competition among the 8 qualified teams in Rio, and each team can win, what would be the major factor that will decide the winner?

Dmitry Rigin:

In my opinion, in every competition the winner is the one that did not come to win this competition, but came to bring his best fencing. I don’t think the Games in Rio are an exclusion – I think that the team that will succeed in bringing its best qualities will win, and the team that comes to win the Games will not succeed.

Elena Grishina:

I understand. Tell me, you didn’t make it to London 2012 and now you are very close to making it to the team. What is the difference between Rigin model 2012 and Rigin model 2016?

Dmitry Rigin:

I think the major difference is exactly what I told you just now – the difference between winning and process. If you focus on the process, on what you do on the strip and have fun just fencing, then it is much simpler to fence and you fence much better than when you focus on your desire to win the tournament.

Elena Grishina:

How did you come to this understanding?

Dmitry Rigin:

(laughing)

Via challenges, failures and hard work. I think I tried all of the other ways and nothing worked, and then I thought – the hell with winning, I just need to relax and have fun!

(laughing again)

Elena Grishina:

Great recipe!

Rigin and Grishina go onto talk briefly about his charity work in the community and with children, which is commendable and worthwhile to be sure.

The full interview in Russian is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zndPj3b5mJo

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There is so much here that fencers can take home to their own practice of the sport! Most notably that it is our love of fencing for its own sake, rather than our desire for a medal or a trophy, that really makes us champions.