Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Russians studied skill development in sport more than anybody. In weightlifting one of their leading coaches, Medvedyev, had a 7-year plan to take a promising 10 or 11 year from child to international competitiveness, planned down to the day. As the plan progressed, the percentage of work dedicated to different training demands varied. By the time a trainee has pass into the final phase (Master of Sport Internati…
I've heard similar for other sports too... That their Judo and Wrestling training has very little competition and much more drilling and supplementary conditioning.
They had a cadre of sports scientists who worked on a range of sports and shared findings. I'm most familiar with weightlifting because that's my sport, but from one of my textbooks you can see how they applied common principles across a range of sports.