The 19th European Athletics Championship made a strong impression not only on Russian fans, whose favorites showed the highest team result in the post-Soviet years. According to the president of the European Athletics Association Hans Jörg Wirtz, Gothenburg has now become a brand.
“It was one of the best European championships in the history of their holding,” Wirtz added diplomatically. Its delicacy is understandable: the leaders of world and European athletics have repeatedly been accused of excessive love for Gothenburg, which hosted both the 1995 World Cup and the current tournament. However, we must admit that the city coped with this task perfectly, and its application for the 2011 world championship will have a high chance of success.
“Sports performances were played out not only at the stadium, but also on city streets. I was especially touched by the live performance of hymns, ”admires Hans Jörg Wirtz.
The organizers for the first time accompanied the competition with a large-scale cultural program, inviting world-famous pop stars to Gothenburg. A cocktail of music and sports attracted an unprecedented number of tourists to the city.
But the Swedes did not forget about themselves. The schedule of performances was designed in such a way that the local public every day had a reason to triumph. Only Russian athletes spoiled her mood - for example, a young high jumper Andrei Silnov or long jumper Lyudmila Kolchanova from the small town of Sharya, Kostroma region.
Our team has 34 medals: 12 gold and silver and 10 bronze each. (For comparison: at a successful World Cup in 1994, the team won 25 medals, including 10 gold.)
Yesterday's medalists of the junior and youth European and world championships were fully revealed at the “adult” level. Five athletes - Elena Isinbaeva, Tatyana Tomashova, Andrei Silnov, Tatyana Lebedeva and Tatyana Lysenko - won in their disciplines with European Championship records. Of the 13 athletes who twice became medalists in Gothenburg, five have Russian citizenship.
The greatest load fell on the female shoulders. Women won 11 of the 12 gold medals that went to our team, that is, almost half of all the Gothenburg “gold” (23 gold medals were won here). For the first time in the history of the championship, Russians won the women's 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay races.
However, men who are still inferior to rivals in throwing and running in middle distances, there was a breakthrough in some areas. This primarily refers to sprinting.
Perhaps the success of the Russians surprised even the national team's mentors - unless, of course, the head coach Valery Kulichenko was not cautious in the forecasts, planning to take away only 18 medals from Gothenburg, six of each merit. Now, in the new role of a European leader, the team arouses new hopes in the public. Have to justify them.