I.B. Kazikov
Russian Olympic Committee, Moscow

Keywords: Training Concept, Targeted Integrated Programs, Training assistance program, Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, Russian Olympic Committee, Expert Council, National sports federations.

The efforts of athletes and coaches are not enough to ensure high results at the Olympic sports events – proper strategic planning and management of the training process are also important, especially at the final stage, which may help an athlete achieve the peak of sports’ form or, in case of some mistakes, ruin all the great job done.

Beyond any doubts, the strategic planning and management system exists in all the leading sports nations of the World, and our country is no exception.

National teams competing in the Winter Olympic Games are directly managed by the Operations Control Unit normally headed by one of the Russian Olympic Committee top managers. On the whole, the strategic planning and direct control of the national Olympic team training process in preparations for the Winter Olympic Games is governed by a few regulatory documents that set the frame for the process control including the Pre-Olympics Training Concept and Target Integrated Programs for specific sport disciplines.

 The above system was implemented more than 40 years ago under leadership of A.I. Kolesov, renowned Soviet and Russian sports manager and Olympic Champion, with valuable contributions from leading Soviet sport scientists including V.K. Bal’sevich, N.G. Ozolin, L.S. Khomenkov and some others. The system has long been in service and proved so efficient that it is still in effect and demand by every contributor to the pre-Olympic training process.

The Pre-Olympic Training Concept developed by the Russian Ministry of Sports and other relevant top government agencies forms a basis for the strategic planning process. The document is designed based on analyses of the Russian national team performance in the prior Olympic Games versus the planned competitive accomplishments (the medals won), with a special attention to the reasons for the past underperformance; followed by the practical recommendations on how the competitive accomplishments may be improved in the upcoming Olympics. The Concept also sets the general objective that shall be attained in the upcoming Olympics.

Till recently, the Concept included a Consolidated Training Plan that set forth specific medals-winning goals for the Russian sport federations and the relevant regional physical education and sports management agencies including the national team training plans with specifications of the training bases and sport facilities designated for the pre-Olympic training purposes, plus cost estimates for the pre-Olympic trainings of the Russian national teams.

Presently the Consolidated Training Plan is designed separately from the Pre-Olympics Training Concept and is composed of a few regulatory documents by the Russian Ministry of Sports and Russian Olympic Committee that spell out every above-mentioned matter of the pre-Olympics training process.

Specific programs, plans and the pre-Olympics Training Concept implementation tools with the sport-specific changes and amendments are provided by the relevant Target Integrated Programs (TIP) for each sport discipline or sport class, with the downstream detailed strategic plans designed for the lower sports management system levels, with indication of the practical progress rating milestones and factors of the pre-Olympics training process.

It is the Russian sport federations that are directly responsible for the TIP development and implementation process, with each TIP including at least the following sections:

- Primary situation and sport development level in Russia;

- Goals and missions of the national team pre-Olympics training process;

- Forecast competitive accomplishments of the Russian athletes;

- Key provisions for the pre-Olympics training process;

- Selection systems, i.e. the national Olympic team formation logics;

- Research, practical and medical provisions for the pre-Olympics training process;  

- Training facilities and sport bases dedicated for the pre-Olympics training process;

- Lists of candidates for the national Olympic team; and

- Target Integrated Program (TIP) performance control system.

Based on the TIP, the national team coaches shall work out their individual training plans for the candidates for the national Olympic team, with each TIP spelling out in detail the precompetitive training process with the expected yearly progress rates and training process goals in the pre-Olympics training process. It should be noted, however, that TIP is never a final document as it may be amended in the training process. At the end of each year, the Expert Council of the RF Ministry of Sports and the General Coaches’ Councils under the relevant Russian sport federations consider progress of the pre-Olympics training process to make changes and amendments to the TIP when necessary.

In addition to the above regulatory provisions, the Russian Olympic Committee offers its own Pre-Olympics Training Program. This program normally goes as an attachment to the Pre-Olympics Training Concept as it supports the Russian sport federations in the relevant research and practical matters and provides financing for the cost elements that cannot be legally covered by the Ministry of Sports. The Pre-Olympics Training Program of the Olympic Committee sets forth the following: background; Program implementation provisions; Program implementation mechanisms; resources for implementation; deliverables with the progress milestones; and Program implementation control provisions. The Pre-Olympics Training Program of the Olympic Committee is formed based on the financing requirements of the Russian sport federations for the following training process cost elements:

• Research and practical support costs;
• Design and engineering project costs;
• Foreign specialists’ service remuneration costs;
• Costs of the education and training programs of the Russian sport federations in preparations for the Olympics;
• Material and technical procurement costs; and
• Costs of the national team participation in the Olympics.

The actual practice has shown benefits of the separate Pre-Olympics Training Program of the Olympic Committee – that is never alternative to but supportive for the relevant programs of the Ministry of Sports and Russian sport federations; since it provides additional finance and support for the national team progress and competitive accomplishments in the Olympics – as verified by the successes of the Russian athletes in the 2014 (XXII) Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and the 2016 (XXXI) Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, despite the relatively low team standings that were due to the commonly known political reasons.

In preparations for the 2018 (XXIII) Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, the above regulatory documents were timely provided to support the training process to secure the national team success in the Games. As for the 2020 (XXXII) Olympic Games in Tokyo, the relevant Pre-Olympics Training Concept and Target Integrated Programs are ready at this juncture; and the Olympic Committee is developing its own Pre-Olympics Training Program for the national team that, upon endorsement by the Olympic Committee Executive Board, will be implemented by the relevant national sport executives. 

Conclusion

1. The existing national pre-Olympics training system was designed back in 1970ies and since then proved highly efficient and still relevant in the modern social, political and economic conditions.
2. The pre-Olympics training process is planned from top to bottom – first by the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation that develops the Pre-Olympics Training Concept and downstream by each of the Russian sport federations that work out, based on the Concept, their sports-specific Target Integrated Programs (TIP) of the pre-Olympic trainings compulsory for the lower-level training process planning entities down to the coaches that develop the individual training plans for the competitors.
3. The Target Integrated Programs are changed and amended on a yearly basis to factor in the competitive progress of the candidates for the national team in the seasonal top-ranking events. The changes and amendments are made by the Expert Council of the Ministry of Sports and the General Coaches’ Councils under the relevant Russian sport federations.
4. The Russian Olympic Committee offers its own Pre-Olympics Training Program that provides the efficient and effective progress support tools for the Russian athletes competing in the top-ranking sport events under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee.

References

1. Kazikov I.B. Sovremennaya sistema podgotovki rossiyskikh sportsmenov k uchastiyu v Igrakh Olimpiad [Modern system of training Russian athletes to partake in Olympic Games], Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport publ., 2004.
2. Programma sodeystviya podgotovke rossiyskikh sportsmenov i obespecheniya uchastiya olimpiyskoy delegatsii Rossiyskoy Federatsii v XXII Olimpiyskikh zimnikh igrakh 2014 goda v gorode Sochi (na zaklyuchitelny period 2013-2014 godov) [Program of promotion of Russian athletes’ training and participation of Russian Federation’s Olympic delegation in the XXIInd Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi (final stage 2013-2014). Poligraf-Plus publ., Russian Olympic Committee, Moscow, 2013.