Hard to tell - I actually read the interview, and it was unintelligible. More than half was him not admitting/avoiding anything about doping.
Sounds as though the system in Russia was to have coaches pick out kids at young age, and they trained them for their entire career - they basically ‘owned’ the athlete. In US, the ‘system’ is a more diffuse filtering process, where individual motivation (and funding) is what drives best talent to different levels and different coaching for the different levels.
The Russians still dope and they are good at avoiding or masking the drugs. Another Putin miscalculation was getting caught as state systemic doping.
Now, they can’t even have a Russian flag or logo. They operate as Russian Olympic Committee ROC. Another complete blunder by Putin.
Now you have the young start figure skater, who is so far above the rest of the competition, given drugs. They still think they are the powerful USSR, and perhaps they never were. Every one of those USSR medals is questionable, due to PEDs.
I think it was a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell Freakenomics where he pointed out the birthdates of pro level hockey players in these types of countries. Birthdates were always heavily stacked to January. It was concluded that the skills development at the young ages of children made a huge difference in who was selected for more advanced training. When the kids started out, they were put in age groups. A 5 year old born in Jan has a HUGE developmental advantage over a 5 year old born in Dec. when comparing them for athletics.
I think it was a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell Freakenomics where he pointed out the birthdates of pro level hockey players in these types of countries. Birthdates were always heavily stacked to January. It was concluded that the skills development at the young ages of children made a huge difference in who was selected for more advanced training. When the kids started out, they were put in age groups. A 5 year old born in Jan has a HUGE developmental advantage over a 5 year old born in Dec. when comparing them for athletics.