After achieving unprecedented success with the Japanese national epee team, Alexander Gorbachuk shocked the fencing world by accepting a new challenge in Kazakhstan. This transition, coming immediately after securing both individual Gold and team Silver medals at the Paris Olympics, raised many questions in the international fencing community. In this final part of our comprehensive interview, Gorbachuk candidly discusses the reasons behind this surprising move and his vision for developing another fencing powerhouse. His insights provide a fascinating glimpse into the realities of international coaching, the challenges of building programs in different cultural contexts, and the evolution of coaching philosophy at the highest level of the sport.

The Decision to Leave Japan

Igor Chirashnya: Let’s talk about your transition to Kazakhstan. While the mentality is similar to what you grew up with – former Soviet Union, Russian language, similar customs, and so on – why Kazakhstan?

Alexandr Gorbachuk: One of the reasons, of course, financial, and we’ll talk later about this. But another very important reason is communication in Russian. Speaking Russian, I understand that I can convey even more information working with the Kazakhstan team than I did in Japan.

IC: In Japan, was it mainly in English or Japanese?

AG: It was a mix – Japanese, English, a bit of French in lessons. Such a mess. Of course, everyone understood, but in your head you understand you have more to tell… Because they also don’t know English well, the Japanese, so it was very difficult.

IG: How’s your Japanese, by the way?

AG: Well, let’s say I understand maybe twenty percent. Not very good. What’s needed for lessons, for everyday life, ordinary phrases – of course, I know this. But to, say, join a dialogue, it’s very difficult, that is, I could understand, but specifically it’s already very hard.

The Challenges of Professional Isolation

IC: You mentioned the language barrier, but were there other challenges in Japan?

AG: Yes, I would call it professional isolation. I suffered from this in Japan – that I had no one to talk to about fencing, no one to point out my possible mistakes. I was alone and tried to save myself by going to competitions, asking to join training camps with Marzoni, with the Italian team, with others, observing something from them, from the Hungarians. But I had no one to talk to, no one to argue with, where we could prove things to each other, find some common compromise, and no one to point to my mistakes. This was very important.

IC: So there weren’t enough training camp where you could exchange opinions with other coaches?

AG: It’s not about camps or competitions – I lacked a good assistant, a good coach beside me who could also talk with me, point to my wrongs. I had my moments. The Japanese guys – they are polite, they’re afraid to speak up. I remember before Tokyo, when qualification started. These were the first competitions, it was in Bern, I think. At that time there was a new rule about reverse substitutions [in team competition] – you could reverse a substitution you made in a previous bout. And we went out to fence with the Estonians for top 16. I’m sitting alone, no assistant. I made a change before and then I decided to reverse it and my fencer goes out. You see, I make a substitution, don’t notify either the referee or the Estonians, send the fencer out. After the first touch, the Estonians raise the question: who is this fencing? And it dawns on me that I didn’t notify anyone. Qualification for entry to 16, first tournament, high stakes. And they gathered a council of referees, the DT, and after a long discussion they said: “According to the rules, you can do a reverse substitution.” I crossed myself, we resumed the match and won for entry to 16.

IC: You can reverse the substitution. But you still need to notify beforehand.

AG: These rules were just being introduced, and they didn’t know yet how to adjust them and thus didn’t disqualify us. They said: “you can perform the reverse substitution – so go ahead, reverse, let this guy return back”. And I crossed myself, we won this. I mean to say, I got rusty, there was no one to tell me: “Sasha, you need to notify them.” There were such moments. That’s not the only one.

Financial Realities in Japan

IC: You had a successful program in Japan. Why couldn’t they negotiate? After all, two cycles in a row proved there’s no better.

AG: Would you believe that my salary before Tokyo was higher than after Tokyo? They increased my salary after Tokyo’s success, I would say it was a significant increase, but after six months, inflation ate up what they added, plus shaved more from my base salary. When I came and said: “Let’s index my salary because my salary is really less than what I earned before Tokyo, that is, with a gold medal, I’m receiving less than I worked before.” They said: we can’t do anything, there’s a crisis in the country, the budget is given in yen, and my contract was in yen.

IC: But still, how could they not try to keep you?

AG: I’ll explain. The Japanese Federation got into a situation where every weapon got medals. That’s great, right?  Men’s Team Foil – Gold, Women’s Team Saber – Bronze, Men’s Epee – Gold and Silver. That’s an excellent situation for the Federation, never before have Japan had such results. But the Federation doesn’t have money.  And there are three French coaches working there – in foil and saber. First, the Federation wanted to fire all foreigners because they couldn’t cope financially. And the French coaches got into a tough situation, because until the last moment they didn’t know what would happen. They wanted to continue to work but lack of sufficient funds put their jobs in jeopardy. Fortunately for them, after I realized that there is simply no money to support me, I took another offer and resigned. I think this helped to sustain the French coaches as my salary went to them.

I had two offers – from Hong Kong and Kazakhstan, and after considering them both, I decided to accept the offer from Kazakhstan.

The Kazakhstan Challenge

IC: How did you assess the team when you arrived?

AG: When I sat down with the Kazakhstan Fencing Federation president, I didn’t hide anything, I specifically told him that Kazakhstan’s team qualified for the Olympic Games not for their fencing level. They got lucky, let’s say. He was so surprised: how so, and started giving me arguments, look, we were the most stable team for a whole year, we never fell out of the top eight, even the French didn’t make it, even the Hungarians didn’t make it, even the Japanese didn’t make the top eight at the World Championships. But Kazakhs were everywhere, how is this an “unstable team”?

I said, I didn’t talk about instability, but that the level of fencing doesn’t yet correspond to Olympic medals. He was so surprised. Although Kazakhs won the first qualification tournament, when still at the very beginning, and somewhere they made it to the top three too.

Building from Scratch

IC: What’s the current state of the team?

AG: When I arrived and started working, the president asked how many people I could handle. Before this, Ferenc, a Hungarian, worked here. He dealt with practically four leading athletes and that’s all, the whole focus was here at the Olympics. I said I understand that the team – both Kurbanov and Alimzhanov – are not at that level anymore, I don’t know if they’ll make it.

I said I would handle eight people. Because I need to raise youth. And if there won’t be competition from young people, then nothing will work in any qualification. This will all be difficult. Moreover, I consider that the next cycle will be one of the most difficult for qualification because the generation will change for many.

IC: Who’s next there from the Kazakhstan’s youth? Who do you have that’s noteworthy?

AG: There’s a good boy Prokhodov, but he’s still quite young, 2007, a kid. Yes, yesterday’s cadet, but he’s first ranked in juniors here. He’s already, I think, in the top eight in the senior ranking. I work with him – lessons, and he’s in the system, and he’s already won combat practices with senior fencers multiple times, taken first place. Therefore, I plan this season – I’ve already announced this, even announced to the seniors – that he will fence matches in team competitions, regardless of his individual results and regardless of what place this decision will bring us in competition. We need to develop our youth.

Analysis of Current Kazakhstan Team Members

IC: Obviously, Kurbanov is currently in the top 16 and the most stable of the Kazakhs. How do you view him?

AG: I’ll say honestly, in terms of fencing, the most experienced is Alimzhanov. His level is really visible, although now he’s obviously aging, but his level of fencing and knowledge is greater than Kurbanov’s, Sharlaimov’s, Sertay’s and all the others. In my view, the most interesting and promising is Sertay. I believe in him, work more with him too.

Kurbanov won’t jump above his head. But this medal of his at the World Championships was well deserved because he’s a professional workhorse. He doesn’t shine with great knowledge in fencing, but regarding professional work, he executes it all, that is as a professional athlete at all levels: training, recovery, medicine. All this is tracked, he looks after himself in this regard. Trully professional.

IC: Do you believe in the prospects of this team?

AG: I believe in the young ones more. I don’t exclude Sharlaimov, who is still young, and Sertay. And to them, I want, of course, to raise two or three more young people. I believe in young people, that they need to be given a chance, developed, and they accept the change faster, have more desire, and more potential, more reserve.

And Alimzhanov and Kurbanov I also need both for developing the young ones and for supporting the team. And the fact that the Kazakhstan team was in Paris, I specifically said that this achievement is not according to our fencing. And paradoxically, the guys themselves understand this. And they are ready to put all the work that needed to bring us there.

The story of Kazakhstan fencing is still being written, and we face many challenges. I think the next qualification cycle will be one of the most difficult because the generation is changing slightly. Teams that haven’t shown themselves yet will emerge. Spain will show itself, Estonia too, Israel as well, Ukraine will return, I think. And those same Americans will regroup if they put in a good coach – they have many talented guys. And Asian teams – China will return, rise up, and Japan too – it will be very difficult to qualify. For this, we need reserves, we need to prepare youth urgently in minimal time.

The Philosophy of Coaching

IC: You’ve achieved historic success over two Olympic cycles. How do you view your own role in all this?

AG: I’m an ordinary rank-and-file coach, I don’t like, you know, showing off – I don’t need this. I did what I wanted. We already talked last time that I was 10 years in the Ukrainian national team, I have European medals, but I didn’t have a World Championship medal and Olympic medals. I wanted to realize this for myself, to achieve what I didn’t achieve as an athlete. Through the guys, I achieved this as a coach.

If a coach says “I’m great, I can do everything, I know everything,” for me a coach who talks like that is a downed pilot. You need to constantly improve, I think, because that’s normal. We forget something, lose something in our work.

There are many talented coaches who develop, who know more than me, this is 100 percent, I’m sure. Each coach is good in their own way. There’s no such thing as “this can’t be done, this can be done.” Everything can be done! Every technique, every action that brings even one touch has the right to exist.

But for me, for my personal philosophy, every coach needs to understand that what he achieved so far is fleeting, that the world is constantly changing, the game continously evolves, that to be current and continue to bring results, you need to learn and adapt every single day.

Through this three-part series, we’ve traced Alexander Gorbachuk’s remarkable journey from transforming Japanese epee fencing to taking on new challenges in Kazakhstan. His achievements with Japan – culminating in historic medals at both Tokyo and Paris Olympics – demonstrate not just coaching excellence, but the power of systematic, long-term program development. The insights shared throughout these conversations, from technical training approaches to team psychology and program building, offer valuable lessons for the international fencing community.

As Gorbachuk begins his new chapter in Kazakhstan, his story illustrates both the evolving nature of international coaching and the universal principles that underpin success at the highest level. His candid reflections on the challenges faced, strategies employed, and lessons learned provide a unique window into elite sports development. Whether working with established programs or building from the ground up, his philosophy emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, youth development, and maintaining high standards – principles that transcend national boundaries and continue to shape the future of international fencing.

We want to express our appreciation for this candid and insightful series of conversations with Alexander Gorbachuk. His detailed sharing of experiences from both successes and challenges provides invaluable insights for the international fencing community. As he begins his work with Kazakhstan’s national team, it will be fascinating to watch how his proven approaches to developing young talent and building systematic excellence translate to a new environment. One thing is certain – the methodical way he transformed Japanese epee suggests that his impact on Kazakhstan’s program will be significant and worth following closely in the years to come.

This interview has been edited down to keep it at a readable length and split into three parts. This is the last part. Parts 1 of this interview can be read here and Part 2 of the interview can be read here. To get a comprehensive picture we recommend reading the full interview sequentially. This interview was approaved by Alexander Gorbachuk for publication.