Luba Baladzhaeva:
The book (2009) is absolutely fascinating and also includes chapters by his coach and his wife. However, it’s never been translated into English and likely won’t ever be. I am currently reading the book and posting the highlights in English on twitter. All the tweets are then assembled into a story on Storify.
His first coach kept notes and wrote that at the beginning Nemov was physically weak, lacked endurance, poorly behaved and was prone to sudden mood changes …
He talks about food and hunger a lot. He still remembers (and holds a grudge) how Voropayev stole his breakfast …
He bought his first car in 1995. At the time coaches didn’t like when gymnasts left the Round Lake territory even on the days off, so Arkayev often confiscated his car keys …
Between 1995 and 1997 there was a huge drug problem at Round Lake. Mostly weed, but some heavier drugs as well …
