Senior coach of the Russian women's biathlon team
German biathlon coach and skiing, senior coach of the Russian women's biathlon team since April 2011. German customs officer. In the past - head coach Swedish women's biathlon team (2010-2011), head coach of the Swedish biathlon team (2002-2010), personal coach of Swedish biathlete Magdalena Forsberg (1995-2002).
Wolfgang Pichler was born on January 23, 1955 in Ruhpolding, Germany, where he spent his childhood. His father founded the biathlon stadium in Ruhpolding and Olympic Games In 1972, in Sapporo, he helped the German biathlon team, taking on “all managerial responsibilities.” The team also included Wolfgang Pichler's uncle, who was also involved in biathlon.
Pichler himself was involved in cross-country skiing from the age of 18 to 33, but did not achieve significant success. At the age of 23, he tried himself in biathlon, participated in the German Championship and once in the World Cup. Pichler's biathlon career lasted only three years, after which he returned to cross-country skiing. In 1973, he began serving with German customs. That's where it started coaching career Pichler - he became the senior coach of the German customs team in cross-country skiing and biathlon at the age of 27. According to other data published in the press, Pichler became a customs officer at the age of 33 - after completing his career as a skier (that is, approximately in 1988-1989 - editor's note).
After some time, Pichler began working with the German biathlon team, which he coached until 1991. Pichler gained fame as a fierce opponent of doping, in particular, he tried to fight doping in German biathlon. According to the coach himself, he lost his place on the German team after the reunification of Germany, when he accused the leadership and biathletes from the former GDR (according to other sources, these were German athletes) of indulging athletes who took doping.
In 1992, Pichler’s first serious success in the coaching field was marked - it became gold medal in the relay at the Albertville Olympics, won by his ward, the German Jens Steinigen.
In 1995, Pichler began working for Swedish biathlon. According to the coach, he “had to start almost from scratch” because “there was no professional biathlon as such in Sweden.” Pichler achieved significant success as a personal trainer of Magdalena Forsberg: the athlete won 6 gold medals at the World Championships and 42 first places at the World Cup stages. In 2002, when the famous biathlete finished her career, Pichler was offered the position of head coach of the Swedish national team. Under his leadership, Anna Carin Zidek (before her marriage Olofsson) won gold and silver medals at the Olympic Games in Turin in 2006, and the team consisting of Zidek, Helena Ekholm (before her marriage Jonsson) )), as well as biathletes Bjorn Ferry and Carl Johan Bergman, won gold in mixed relay at the 2007 World Championships in Korea. In 2009, Ekholm won the World Cup.
In 2007, Pichler was expected to become coach of the German cross-country team. However, this did not happen: according to media reports, “the German ski federation did not provide Pichler with all the necessary conditions for coaching work,” and he remained the mentor of the Swedish national biathlon team. In 2010, changes took place in the Swedish team: Pichler remained at the head of the women's team, and Jonas Johansson became the head coach of the men's biathletes.
For several years, Pichler accused the Russian team of systematic doping. In 2008, he proposed that if the same country had two or more athletes caught doping in two years, the entire team should be disqualified. At that time, only Russia and Austria could fall under such a rule. In the spring of 2009, after doping scandal, followed by the disqualification of Russians Dmitry Yaroshenko, Albina Akhatova and Ekaterina Yurieva, Pichler proposed that Russia be suspended from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He expressed confidence that the remaining members of the Russian team are also doping. Meanwhile, in the same year, in an interview with the Sport-Express newspaper, Pichler said that he “could work with the Russians if life turned out that way.”
Pichler said in 2008 that he planned to stay with the Swedish team until the 2014 Olympics. But at the beginning of April 2011, following a disastrous season for the Russian national team, when the team did not win a single gold medal at the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, and the senior coach of the women's team, Anatoly Khovantsev, was fired right during the women's relay race, , , , representatives The Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) offered the German coach to head the women's team. On April 27, 2011, Pichler broke his contract with the Swedes and signed a contract with the SBR for three years. He became the first foreigner to occupy such a position high post V coaching staff Russian biathlon team. Transfer from the Swedish team to the Russian team German coach called it the most difficult decision of his life. RBU President Mikhail Prokhorov, commenting on the appointment of a German specialist as the senior coach of the women's team, called Pichler the “biathlon Hiddink”, comparing him with the Dutch football coach Guus Hiddink, under whose leadership the Russian national football team achieved significant success, in particular, became a bronze medalist at the 2008 European Championship.
After the scandal in Khanty-Mansiysk, the leading Russian biathlete Olga Zaitseva announced the end of sports career, . However, after Pichler’s appointment, the athlete agreed to return to the national team.
In an interview that Pichler gave after joining the Russian national team, he announced that he “intends to prove that in Sochi... the team will be able to successfully perform and win without the use of prohibited drugs.” He said that the main training base for the women's team this season will be Ruhpolding. At the same time, when working with Russian biathletes Pichler was going to stick to his usual tactics: hold short training camps, between which the athletes would have time to see their families. In the periods between training camps, he planned to carry out daily monitoring of the implementation of the training plan via the Internet (it is known that he communicates with his players on Skype).
Pichler increased the workload on Russian biathletes (it was reported that they “had training sessions through tears”), but he failed to achieve success: the 2011-2012 season turned out to be a failure for the women’s team. If at the beginning of the season, especially at the World Cup stage in the Czech Nove Mesto, the team managed to perform successfully, then at the main competition of the end of the season - the World Championships in Ruhpolding - the team won only two bronze medals , .
Pichler was twice a winner of the Biathlon Award founded by the German Helmut Hanus; its jury, in addition to the founder, includes representatives International Union biathletes (International Biathlon Union, IBU), athletes and journalists. In 2006, Pichler received the award as the best women's coach, and in 2009 simply as best coach(at that time the award no longer divided into female and male coaches). In 2011, he was again nominated for the Biathlon Award as the best coach.
It was noted that Pichler does not know Russian and does not intend to learn it: he planned to work with the Russian team with the help of a translator. During 16 years of working with the Swedish national team, Pichler never learned Swedish.
While studying coaching work, Pichler worked part-time as a customs officer on the German-Austrian border. At the same time, he was on unpaid leave 200 days a year in order to be able to train biathletes. For the sake of Russian biathletes, Pichler took a long-term vacation in the spring of 2011 - until the end of the Olympic Games in Sochi. The coach did not deny the possibility that for the sake of working with Russian team he can leave the service at customs, , , .
The media wrote that Pichler is fond of tennis. His favorite dish is spaghetti with salmon. He has two children from his first marriage, Johannes and Julia, who were 20 and 18 years old respectively in 2008. According to media reports, the coach lives in a house with an attic in Ruhpolding with his girlfriend. Pichler has two brothers, one of them, Klaus, became mayor of Ruhpolding in 2008. Walter Pichler, Wolfgang's cousin, who also trained with him in the past, was also mentioned in the press. Jokingly noting that his family “even has a blood connection with Russia,” Wolfgang Pichler said that his cousin “perestroika allowed ... to marry a Russian,” , , .
Materials used
Alexey Dospehov. We agreed. - Kommersant, 23.03.2012. - № 51 (4836)
Ekaterina Brui. The “Pichler system” led to the failure of the biathlon season. - RBC, 20.03.2012
Elena Vaitsekhovskaya. Wolfgang Pichler: "Women are inventive and cunning." - Sport Express, 14.06.2011
Konstantin Boytsov. Leave to return. - Russian Biathlon Union, 26.05.2011
Olga Zaitseva: after much thought, I decided to continue my career until 2014. - All sports, 25.05.2011
Alexander Borisov. Wolfgang Pichler: “I don’t recognize authorities, I’m not afraid of resignation!” - Sports day after day, 22.05.2011. - № 1740
No one really knew these guys, but the wards of the ex-coach of the Russian national team are creating a sensation in Korea! What should we do now? Bite your elbows?
SCRIPT FOR OSCAR
Remember the famous - “Suitcase, station, Ruhpolding”? Dmitry Guberniev somehow abandoned him in his heart... Admit it honestly - at that moment you did not agree with the commentator? Or did they continue to believe that Wolfgang Pichler was capable of making superstars out of Russian women?
I can’t speak for everyone, but I think I won’t be mistaken - the majority of our fans were on Gubureniev’s side then.
The history of Pichler's work in Russia is a ready-made plot for a Hollywood drama. Whoever writes a decent script and handles the production will definitely receive an Oscar! In 2009, the German coach himself collected signatures, demanding that our team be removed from the World Championship (which, by the way, took place in Pyeongchang). Loud doping scandal, which actually ended the careers of Dmitry Yaroshenko, Ekaterina Yuryeva and Albina Akhatova, then made a lot of noise. It seemed like the whole world was up in arms against us! Oh, we, naive... We didn’t know what awaited us a few years later...
Pichler's striking performances angered our fans - and even led to direct threats. It’s not for nothing that Wolfgang demanded security guarantees before his visit to the World Cup stage in Khanty-Mansiysk! Then everything somehow calmed down. Then, in 2011, something strange happened.
He was appointed head coach of the Russian women's team!
THE ADVENTURES OF A GERMAN IN RUSSIA
Nonames are attacking. Dahlmeier sensationally lost in the Olympic individual
Of course, from the point of view of simple pragmatism, Wolfgang's invitation seemed logical. He raised the great Magdalena Forsberg, making the Swede a real legend. He turned Helena Ekholm into a superstar. In a rather average Swedish team (certainly not like the Norwegian and German or ours!) Pichler managed to find diamonds and cut them with dignity. A crisis was already brewing in the Russian team. It seemed like he was the guy who would fix everything!
Wizard. In a blue helicopter.
Everything turned out differently.
Wolfgang made the press fall in love with him. Not only interesting and frank interviews. Charismatic, smiling grandfather! Uninhibited, sometimes even excessively. He loved to joke about sex, invite journalists to the sauna (hello to Harvey Weinstein!), and was not shy about drinking wine during parties after races... Of course, the exemplary family man Herr Pichler did not seriously allow himself anything like that. Everyone understood that he was simply living a high life. In an informal setting, I relaxed. At work, he behaved like a real pro.
But there were no results. At least not like everyone originally dreamed of. Pichler worked with our women's team from 2011 until the spring of 2014. At three world championships, our team at this time won only one medal (bronze by Olga Vilukhina in pursuit in 2012). There were more awards at the World Cups, but most of them were brought by Olga Zaitseva. We were waiting for Wolfgang to instantly open, find and grow our Ekholm for us! But nothing like that happened. With him, we heard the names of Vilukhina or, say, Ekaterina Glazyrina. However, in general, the level of the team did not become higher.
From here the fans' dissatisfaction grew. The leadership of the RBU was accumulating anger. In the spring of 2013, he was removed from his position as head coach. They assigned a simple one, dividing the athletes into two groups (the second was handled by Vladimir Korolkevich). It definitely didn't get any better. Although the same Zaitseva, like Yana Romanova, and Ekaterina Shumilova, noted right up to the separation of the national team from Pichler - they are happy with the joint work!
But the flywheel of unfulfilled hopes spun into full swing. Two silver medals at the home Games did not affect the situation. The contract ended and Wolfgang left Russia.
The head coach of the Swedish national team, who worked with the Russian team for four years, gave an exclusive interview to a special correspondent of Match TV.
The German was initially considered something of an indicator of the situation in Russian biathlon. If he can’t get along with us, then no one will get along - this is how the situation looked at the time of his appointment to the Russian national team in 2011. Well, time has shown: we had problems before Pichler, during Pichler and after Pichler.
This allows us to place emphasis, but many continue to believe that the main biathlon problem in Russia lies in the coaches.
Now Pichler is confidently exceeding his “litmus” program. He was successful before working in Russia - he is successful now, working with the Scandinavians. The unpresentable Swedes have already won two medals in the biathlon program of the Korean Games: 20-year-old Sebastian Samuelsson became second in the pursuit race, 22-year-old Anna Oberg sensationally won the individual race.
I turned to the coach himself for an explanation, waiting for him on the artificial Korean snow after training.
- In Russia, many still respect you for your professionalism and position. Do you know about this?
Certainly. I read the Russian press, I am interested in everything that happens in Russia. I know people's reactions.
Two Swedish biathlon medals were won by very young athletes. Why did you manage to achieve this in Sweden, but not in Russia?
There are many reasons, both big and small. But first of all this proper preparation. We had a three-year work plan before PyeongChang and tried to fulfill it as accurately as possible. In addition, after my return to the Swedish team, a rejuvenation strategy was immediately chosen. We didn't get rid of age riders artificially, but other things being equal, they gave preference to the young, always remembered them and tried to develop them in every possible way. Now for many people the success of Samuelsson and Oberg is a surprise, but we really worked a lot and hard to achieve this.
One more thing - we tried to simulate Korean conditions in preparation. In this sense, we are lucky: Östersund is very similar to Pyeongchang in terms of the route profile and wind rose. We deliberately skipped the stage in Antholz in order to work closely in Sweden, where it is also cheaper, since our house is there. The Olympics proves that everything was done correctly.
- What did you do differently in the Swedish team than in the Russian team? Where were our young people and our medals with you?
In the first year of working in Russia, I did exactly the same thing! No deviations! And then criticism and opposition began. You know as well as I how it all developed. They fought with me in many directions, divided the team into two, prepared it according to different methods. It was mistrust expressed in concrete actions. Even when we won the overall World Cup and took podiums, I felt a lot of resistance. Then the World Championships happened in Nove Mesto. In 2013, Zaitseva was in great shape, but we mostly scored in fourth and fifth places. The preparation was the same, run-in, only we were no longer lucky. Zaitseva was leading the World Championship race, she was hit by Flatland, the Norwegian was punished, but the gold medal floated away. This further increased the negativity towards me.
- Who specifically prevented you from working?
Tikhonov criticized me most of all. And after him many personal trainers female athletes This seriously interfered with work and created pressure. Although, I repeat, I did everything correctly in the first year of work in Russia. Professionally. There are no differences from what I do now in the Swedish national team. This is almost a computer story; it can be easily verified using objective indicators. And this is the technique that I have been using since 1992, which I know for sure: it works! Without this technique, there would have been no success for Ferri, Ekholm, Bergman, and partly Zidek. I'll tell you that in Russia at first I had a super team. For me and my assistants, we must not forget about them. And technically we were packed as needed. Everything was going well until the pressure started.
How do you find Swedish talent? Here is a diamond like Eberg, where did you look for it, in what wilderness, at what age?
Yes, she didn’t look like a special diamond, to be honest. Check out her junior achievements: personal races Until the year before last, nothing special. She's a diamond now, yeah. Because I found myself in the right environment. In general, there is nothing secret in the search for talent: all the youth “cream” get into the main team. And then they either accept the methodology or they don’t. In the first case, progress is inevitable.
Here is another example - Kaisheva. I wanted to take her to the national team when she was 18. But what did I hear? "She's too young." Where is Kaisheva now?! Then there was Podchufarova. Same story: “It’s too early for her.” Before Sochi, Olga ended up in Korolkevich’s group, didn’t really show herself, and no one can figure out what happened to her next. If you understand, I’m not scolding Russia or Korolkevich at all now. I love Russia, I love Russians and I am absolutely sure that I had a great team. Victories would have come if work had not been interfered with.
I had great helpers! Rostovtsev, Zagursky are excellent specialists. Is Gross not your coach? Come on, he's a professor, a wizard! And the doctors on my Russian team were excellent. A brilliant team has come together. With good communication between me and the athletes, with an honest attitude towards each other.
- Are Russian and Swedish women mentally different?
No. People are different even within the same team, but nationality has nothing to do with it. Do you think that only good people live in Sweden or Germany, and only lazy or absurd people live in Russia? The percentage of scoundrels, smart, honest, vile people all over the Earth is the same. It's the same in sports. The main problem in Russia is that everyone is fighting against everyone there. Everyone with everyone. Always. I talked with other coaches who worked in Russia - they had the same opinion. It's terrible and it's a problem. Prokhorov wanted to change something, but it didn’t work out. He's not a fool, and he has a lot of money. Why not make sure that this money actually helps the sport and not harm it? But the belligerence that anyone who conceives something worthwhile stumbles upon in Russia destroys the idea in the bud.
- Do you know that Prokhorov undertook to help Zaitseva and Romanova prove their honesty in the courts?
Certainly.
- Why, in this case, has not yet investigated the case of Yuryeva and Starykh, found the perpetrators, and made it public?
Maybe because he already knows how everything really happened? Or because this matter is broader than sports? Don't know. But Yuryeva is definitely doping, she has been caught more than once. And this is a huge difference from Zaitseva and Romanova, who were never found to have illegal drugs. They are even in different groups were preparing for Sochi: Starykh and Yuriev with Korolkevich, Zaitsev and Romanov with me. In addition, in any business there are organizers and performers. And if you conduct an investigation, then you need to identify not only the latter, but also the former.
Did the Swedish team really bring a grinding machine to PyeongChang that you share with the skiers?
Yes. This joint project is very helpful. It is only important to understand that it is impossible to do something in the last two weeks if there was no powerful two-year work before that. The result is that we have simply magnificent skis here.
- Which Samuelsson kisses at the finish line in gratitude.
He can be understood. When hard work bears fruit, that is happiness.
- The Swedish Federation is not very rich, but was it able to afford a grinding machine in Korea?
Almost all leading teams have them. But in sports, money has no final say. Regardless of whether there are many or few of them.
- Are you going to the World Cup in Tyumen?
No. I’ll go to Holmenkollen and Kontiolahti, then I’ll start preparing for the next season in Europe: meetings, negotiations, etc. But I will definitely find an opportunity to visit Rostovtsev in Russia.
Photo: globallookpress.com, RIA Novosti/Alexander Vilf, RIA Novosti/Alexander Vilf
Wolfgang Pichler(German: Wolfgang Pichler; born January 23, 1955 in Ruhpolding) - German cross-country skiing and biathlon coach, since April 2015 coach of the Swedish biathlon team. He achieved his greatest success working with the Swedish biathlon team in the 1990-2000s.
Biography
He was involved in cross-country skiing. After finishing his career, in the late 1980s he served as a customs officer on the German-Austrian border, and in the 1990s he began combining service with coaching.
Wolfgang Pichler was the first coach of multiple world champion and World Cup winner Magdalena Forsberg. After her departure, he remained as the coach of the Swedish national team. At the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Anna Karin Olofsson-Zidek, who only 4 years earlier had switched to biathlon from cross-country skiing, won silver in the sprint and gold in the mass start, which became highest achievement Swedish biathlon at the Olympic Games since 1960.
On April 27, 2011, it became known that Pichler agreed to become the head coach of the Russian women's biathlon team, breaking his agreement with the Swedish national team. The contract with the coach is for three years. Another of his former charges, Helena Ekholm, expressed disappointment with Pichler's appointment and said she felt "broken."
After the end of the 2012 Biathlon World Championships, which took place in Ruhpolding, Pichler spoke negatively about the coach of the Belarusian national team Klaus Siebert, calling him a “dopingist.” Many view Pichler's words as an insult to the weak performance of his players, the leaders of the Nations Cup, who were able to win only one bronze, while Siebert's team, Daria Domracheva, won silver and gold. As Belarusian biathlete Lyudmila Kalinchik reported, “Pichler personally apologized to Domracheva for doping accusations... After the scandalous statements, Pichler was called by the President of the International Biathlon Union Anders Besseberg and insisted that he ask Daria for forgiveness. And he personally apologized to her.”
Pichler's training methods and the results of the Russian national team's performances under Pichler's leadership were repeatedly harshly criticized by many leading Russian coaches. In April 2013, the SBR Board removed Pichler from the position of head coach of the women's team, dividing the women's team into two groups and appointing Pichler as the coach of one of the groups. The group led by Pichler, having lost various reasons Sleptsov and Glazyrin, had another generally unsuccessful season in 2013/2014. The only biathletes remaining in his group at the end of Pichler’s contract: Zaitseva, Romanova, Shumilova expressed confidence in the coach and regretted his departure from the post of coach of the national team. At the RBU Coaching Council held at the end of the 2013/2014 season to report on the work and sum up the results of the season, despite the contracts that had not yet ended, neither Pichler nor his shooting assistant Rostovtsev showed up. Now the coach works in the Swedish national team.
Family
- Cousin - Walter Pichler, former biathlete and coach.
- Brother Klaus Pichler has been mayor of his town since May 2008. hometown Ruhpolding.
