A legend in the making
A young Russian 800m runner may well be the greatest athletic talent of his generation. Nikolai Ivanov reports on the teenager whose talent has been called "supernatural"
"Do you know what is the most wonderful thing about Yuriy Borzakovskiy? He still does not understand the significance of his achievements." This was the verdict of Russian middle distance runner Sergey Kozhevnikov after watching his team-mate win the 800m final at the recent European Indoor Championships. "Yuriy could run 800m in 1.42 or even 1.41 and believe he is doing nothing very special. He has fantastic potential. We must understand that he is an extraordinary runner, very different from the rest of us. Sometimes nature produces people with abnormal traits, for example, with six fingers on their hands. To me, Borzakovskiy falls into this category because of his gift for running."
For years, Russian coaches did not even dream about finding such an outstanding athlete. They thought that the only way to have world class middle and long distance runners would be by inviting some Kenyans. And that is why the federation is handling this wonder boy from Zhukovskiy (a small city near Moscow) with extreme care. Indeed, they did not even send him to compete in Seville last year at the World Championships because they were afraid of over-burdening his still-developing body and mind. Borzakovskiy will be 19 years-old on April 12, 2000.
"Yuriy is the winning result of a game played by nature," says his coach Vyacheslav Evstratov. "His physical system is fantastic - only perfect nerve signals are passed to his muscles. He also has an unusually low heart rate. That is why in training he needs to run 600m at faster than 1:20 pace to raise it. He recovers after hard runs extremely quickly. No-one in the team recovers like Borzakovskiy. At first I did not believe that such a speedy recovery was possible and thought that Yuriy had made a mistake while measuring his heart rate. He can return to a normal condition and feel good just 5 minutes after a competition. At training sessions he is doing the same things as all the other athletes in my group but the result is very different."
Evstratov's athletes are used to spartan conditions when they train. Borzakovskiy runs cross-country in a huge local forest, works out in the gym (and plays football) and in winter also travels twice a week to Moscow. There, he runs on the indoor track at the stadium of the army's Central sports club. In winter he usually runs about 300 km a month with a maximum of 440 km when resident at the training camp in Kislovodsk. Previously, he was running 18-20 km in cross-country. But now, he covers no more then 12-15 km, thus freeing more time to play his beloved football -under careful supervision of his coaches of course!
Over the last two years Borzakovskiy has been honing his "long finish" - a deadly acceleration over the final 250 metres of a race. His coach has taught him not to lose touch with the leaders from the start, although Borzakovskiy is very confident of his superiority in any position.
Borzakovskiy's coach was against his participation in Seville and did not agree with the decision to send the youngster to Ghent. He believes that his charge is still a child and should not have had to cope with the pressures of competing at the European Indoors.
"Of course I am still a child," admits Borzakovskiy. "I feel it myself. All my reactions are still childish. Sometimes I cannot control my emotions. But now I have no fear on the track. The great runners have become not so great to me. At the same time I respect my Kenyan rivals and never say that I am going to crush them all."
At Ghent, Borzakovskiy was chaperoned by Liubov Miroshnichenko. She is his "second coach" and has known him for many years. She helped him overcome some traumatic periods during his not-so-happy childhood and has become a second mother to the prodigy, helping him confront any psychological problems. Miroshnichenko has also come to consider the athlete as a son. She is very afraid for his safety and does not like reporters asking him about his earnings from the sport, because provincial Zhukovskiy is far from safe for people with money.
"Yuriy is a golden boy with a big and kind heart," says Miroshnichenko. "And he is also a clever boy who wants to achieve great goals. Last year a new boy came joined our group. He had nothing, not even running shoes. And Yuriy gave him his favourite shoes, the ones he had used to win at the European Cup. 'He needs them more than I do,' - he said to me then. 'I remember how other runners helped me when I was a small boy.'"
Borzakovskiy is a big sports fan who loves running. But he must also be patient. After the last race of his indoor campaign, he will not compete again until the middle of June and has very few races scheduled before the Olympic games. His friends on the team are convinced he can beat even his strongest rivals. Russia's middle distance runners are already planning the celebration party for when their boy beats Wilson Kipketer in a fair race!
Nikolai Ivanov writes mainly for the Russian Track and Field Magazine Legkaia Atletika. The uncondensed version of this article will appear in the next edition of the IAAF Magazine.
Photo copyright Allsport (c)2000
