Tasked with helping British Diving make a splash on the world scene, Alexei Evangulov took over at the head of British Diving on 1st March 2009. Replacing the former National Performance Director (NPD) Steve Foley, who resigned after the Beijing Olympics, Evangulov is relishing the prospect of working with a number of talented divers coming through the British ranks.
“I knew Britain had a number of good divers but now I am seeing more talent coming through. We are able to select not just elite divers but some very good and very professional young divers. I have been carefully watching British diving over the last few years and it has grown and developed into a strong nation on the world stage,” he said.
Evangulov brings with him a wealth of experience having spent 16 years managing the Russian diving programme. This included four Olympic cycles taking in the Games in Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and of course Beijing. Selected with 100 per cent backing from the Russian Olympic Committee for an unprecedented fifth Olympic cycle, Evangulov turned his back on Russian Diving in favour of the British NPD post.
Despite looking forward to his new role within British Diving, Evangulov admits it was a difficult choice to leave Russia. He leaves behind two parents, who both aged 79, still work at a diving club in Russia.
Evangulov admits the decision to move was made more difficult by the birth of his son on 1st December 2008, “When my son Andrei was born I began to doubt moving to Britain because of the upheaval it would mean for my family, but I knew that I needed a change and a new challenge.
He went on to say; “After the Beijing Olympics I had broken all Russian records, I had been Head Coach for four Olympic cycles which is unheard of in any Russian sport before. I thought it was dangerous for Russian Diving to have the same person at the top for so long. Russian diving needs new blood and new ideas from young people so I moved over to give younger people a chance.”
In spite of the success of his Russian programme Evangulov does not see himself overhauling British Diving completely; “I have been told it is up to me and I can change whatever I wish. I have been giving some thought for a while about how to act here and I decided not to make any revolutionary changes straight away. I promised the coaches that I will not scrap their system and switch over to the Russian system. I have also promised them that I will give them my best experience and try to improve things where I can,” he said.
Although clearly fluent in English, Evangulov admits that difficulties with the language are one of the biggest hurdles for him to overcome, “One of the biggest challenges for me is speaking English, because the language is very hard for me.”
Although moving to a new country is a daunting prospect, Evangulov is not short of friends in Britain having been involved in the sport for so long.
“I have good friends here in British Diving who I have known for many years. I have known Steve Foley for many years as well as British divers and coaches. Now I will start working with British Diving from the inside which I find very interesting,” Evangulov said.
Evangulov sees a great deal of benefit to be gained from having more training camps and developing the team as a unit. “When I look at the current British programme I see that there are not many training camps planned. When I was head of Russian Diving we tried to organise as many training camps as possible.
“Looking at the Chinese system they have 365 day a year training camps. To try to implement the Chinese system here would of course be impossible because they are inherently different, it is not about money, it is just a different mentality. There will obviously be differences in culture but I am flexible, I am not stubborn.”
As a former diver himself, and former Russian National Champion, Evangulov has a clear understanding of what it takes to develop elite divers and the areas that British divers can work on. “In my opinion we have to use more video materials and software to analyse and develop technique.”
He went on to say, “We also need to improve some of the choreography preparation. It doesn’t mean that we need extra choreography coaches but we can improve the culture of beauty and elegance around the sport. The Chinese divers are very beautiful and the Russians too. Russian diving is traditionally based on Russian ballet so I can bring more beauty and elegance to British Diving.”
With the London Olympic Games in 2012 now the major focus for British Diving moving forward, Evangulov looks back to the British Team’s Beijing performance. “There are two sides to the coin. Firstly there were unfortunately no medals, unlike in Athens where there was a medal, and that has to be seen as a disappointment. On the other hand the British team made seven finals; which is their best result ever. This result indicates that there is a lot of potential here. To have seven finalists bodes well for the future, if you have just one medallist then this is good for the present only, but does not demonstrate much depth. The situation we have in Britain now is strong looking to the future.”
While Evangulov sees a great deal of potential for 2012 he is very aware that the competition will be fierce. “It won’t be easy of course because the Chinese will be very strong, the Australians have a lot of potential and the Russian team will be very strong, especially on the platform. There will be a lot of competition but it is possible to get medals. If I didn’t think there was a realistic prospect of medals then I would not have taken the job,” he said.
“My dream for the future is to make Great Britain a strong diving empire because I can see possibilities. I am not only a dreamer; I am a practical person too.”
With a young and developing squad working towards the London 2012 Olympics and new ideas coming from the top the future looks exciting for British Diving.
