This season, pole vaulter Elena Isinbayeva has changed everything - place of residence, trainer, training methodology. Only she herself did not change: Izvestia columnist Vladimir Raush made sure that the athlete remained as cheerful and cheerful as before.
Question: From the side it seemed that gold was given to you very easily. This is true?
Answer: This is a deceptive lightness. Actually, it was difficult to perform due to the weather. It began to rain heavily at the beginning of the competition, and I was afraid that it would ruin the jumps. Fortunately, the helicopters flying over the stadium were able to disperse the clouds. Then I had to wait a long time for my turn to enter the sector, and I froze. In general, sitting in the sector was more difficult than jumping ( laughs ).
Q: One of your main rivals, the Polish Rogovsk, was injured just before the championship and did not come to Gothenburg. Would competition be higher with her?
A: I do not pay attention to who is in the sector. I don’t even watch the girls jumping. The main rival for me is the bar.
Q: At once, you won two heights only on the second attempt. There were no such errors before ...
A: This does not bother me at all. There was a purely technical moment - I took too soft poles.
Q: Last fall, you left your native Volgograd for Italian Formio. What are the conditions there?
A: The most important thing is that everything is near: a stadium, a restaurant, an apartment. Most athletes live in a hostel, but they gave me a separate house - one of three located in the VIP zone. There are all conditions for recreation and entertainment - tennis courts, swimming pool, internet. You can go to discos and excursions, but I do not visit them - during the season there is simply no time.
Q: What does your daily routine look like?
A: You know how in the movie "Groundhog Day": breakfast - training - sleep, lunch - training - sleep. The next day everything repeats exactly.
Q: Do not get bored?
A: No, no. And then, I do it all for myself.
Q: How does it work with the new mentor Vitaly Petrov?
A: He is very different from previous coaches. It is immediately clear that the person lived in Europe for 15 years. In Russia, even if they don’t tell you anything, pressure is still felt - as if someone was hanging on your shoulders. In Italy, this is not the case. I am free, liberated, and I know very well what I need to do.
Q: Does he often talk about his former student, Sergei Bubka?
A: The former coach told me more about him (Evgeny Trofimov. - Izvestia ), when I was just starting out with jumps. Although sometimes, in a specific situation, Petrov says: but Sergey would have acted like this ...
Q: Now your business is managed by the marketing agency Podium from Monaco. Already managed to conclude some kind of sponsorship contract?
A: Not yet, although there is considerable interest from advertisers. But we decided not to scatter on small firms. Advertising lipstick or bikini is not interesting to me. Negotiations are underway with giant corporations from among the first world five. I think that at the end of the year the contract will be signed.
Q: But do you participate in any promotional events?
A: Now I am actively cooperating with Adidas, which is my technical sponsor. There were many receptions, press conferences, photo shoots. I also participate in one charity project. I will not elaborate on it yet, I will only say that it is associated with children.
The stars we're silent about
At the track and field championship of the continent in Gothenburg, the Russians again were ahead of Europe. Even without taking into account the program of the last day, which ended after signing this issue in print, the medal collection of our team turned out to be more than impressive. By Sunday morning, the Russian team had 28 awards, including 8 gold. Pre-launch forecasts, which promised seven medals of each value, were more than blocked.
Athletics is one of the few sports where we can still be called a superpower. Tournament signs are changing, the composition of participants is changing, but the leading position of the Russian team remains unchanged. So, let's say, ten team leaders in various disciplines did not come to Gothenburg at once: Yulia Pechenkina, Yuri Borzakovsky, Tatyana Kotova ... Their other teams would simply have been knocked down, and ours were acting as if nothing had happened. On the contrary, as in a fairy tale - dozens of new ones appear instead of one retired. The current championship has revealed to the world a lot of previously unknown names: these are high jumper Andrei Silnov, runners Vladislav Frolov with Evgenia Isakova, and decathlete Alexei Drozdov. If you manage to save them for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the team will become even stronger.
It’s only a shame that the Russian team acts as if for itself. We cannot “sell” medals won by hard work. And the point here is not that the world around us is not interested in our successes - quite the opposite. Throughout the championship, foreign colleagues approached the author of these lines with the same questions: why are there no booklets from your team? Why is not a single press conference organized? In response, one could only shrug. Say that there was not enough money - they will not believe. And to admit that nobody cares is embarrassing.
As a result, the vast majority of our champions remained unknown to European fans. The only exception was Elena Isinbaeva. That's who was the real megastar of the championship - she didn’t leave television screens and newspaper pages. It is a pity only, there is no merit of the federation in this. Only the personal charm of Lena herself and the efforts of the managers from the Monaco marketing agency, who are now engaged in her "promotion".
ATHLETICS
19th European Championship. Gothenburg. results
Men. High jump. 1. Silnov (Russia) - 2.36. Running, 400 m. 1. Raquil (France) - 45.02. 2. Frolov (Russia) - 45.09. Walking, 50 km. 1. Dinis (France) - 3: 41.39. 2. Garcia (Spain) - 3: 42.48. 3. Andronov (Russia) - 3: 43.26. Decathlon. 1. Cebrle (Czech Republic) - 8526 points. 3. Drozdov - 8350.
Women. Walking, 20 km. 1. Turov (Belarus) - 1: 27.08. 2. Kaniskina (Russia) - 1: 28.35. Triple jump. 1. Lebedeva (Russia) - 15.15 (European Championship record). 2. Devezzi (Greece) - 15.05. 3. Fifth (Russia) - 15.02. Running, 400 m s / b. 1. Isakova (Russia) - 53.93. Running, 100 m. 1. Gewart (Belgium) - 11.06. 2. Grigoriev - 11.22. 3. Irina Khabarova (both - Russia) - 11.22. 200 m. 1. Guevara (Belgium) - 22.68. 2. Gushchina - 22.93. 3. Natalya Rusakova (both - Russia) - 23.09. Running 3000 m s / n 1. Turov (Belarus) - 9.26.05. 2. Petrova (Russia) - 9.28.05. Running, 5000 m. 1. Dominguez (Spain) - 14.56.18. 2. Shobukhova (Russia) - 14.56.57. Pole vault. 1. Isinbayeva - 4.80 ... 3. Full (both - Russia) - 4.65.