This year's most important athletics forum, the European Championships, kicked off in Gothenburg, Sweden. During the week, awards will be played in 46 disciplines. Last night, the names of the first winners became known yesterday: in women's 10,000 meters run and in the shot put in men.
The World Athletics Championships are held every two years. And the European Championship - once every four years. Nevertheless, there are much more European athletics champions than world champions, because the history of continental championships began in 1934, and the first world forum was held in 1983. The last one, held last year in Helsinki, had serial number 10.
The current European Championship is the 19th. And he already claims to be exceptional. Only two countries out of 50 members of the European Athletics Association - Armenia and Liechtenstein - did not send their teams to Gothenburg. Total 48: a record number of team appearances at the European Championships. The number of athletes who arrived was also a record - about a hundred people more than in the previous two championships. The organizers are satisfied.
Another feature of the competition in Gothenburg is the opening ceremony, transferred directly to the streets. The hometown of Olympic champion Christian Olsson and world champion Kaisa Bergqvist is counting on the triumph of his favorites, their images - at every turn.
But among Russians there is someone to hope for. Our team is the largest in the championship. In the application list, covering all disciplines, 136 athletes: 63 men and 73 women. The Russian landing, which will arrive in parts of Gothenburg, has a clear task - to win the team event. In the previous three championships, our team failed only once. In 1998, we were beaten by the English and German athletes in the team event. In 2002, the Russians regained the title of strongest, having won 24 awards, including 7 gold. This time, the coaching staff counts on 18 medals: 6 of each merit.
The forecast is risky: we have not so many 100% winners. On the eve of the championship, several leading athletes refused to travel for various reasons. For example, our two three-time world champions Gothenburg will not visit. Olympiad Ivanova, the master of sports walking, took second place in the World Cup and decided to relax and skip the season. Jumper Tatyana Kotova donated the championship for the World Cup finals. Only by the end of the Cup does the world champion in javelin throwing Sergey Makarov hope to recover. Injured winner of the 2001 World Cup hammer thief Ilya Konovalov.
Particularly noticeable losses in the list of the male half of the team. The absence of big names detracts from the already low interest in the performances of our men. However, here you can expect surprises. The leaders were replaced by young talents, awarded with medals of junior championships. When watching broadcasts from the championship, do not forget that most of its participants will go to the Beijing Olympics.
Today, “Gazeta” announces the most interesting duel for the domestic fan of the European Championship.
Pole vaulting
This summer, the results of Elena Isinbayeva are affected by her recent transition to another coach and a change in jumping technique. Two weeks ago, here in Sweden, she barely took 4.62 - the height that had previously been conquered by a joke - and was defeated by a Polish girl, Monika Pyrek. True, a few days later the Russian woman rehabilitated by jumping 4.91. However, her reputation as an invulnerable rival was shaken. In the absence of Anna Rogowsky, who heals the Achilles tendon, the same Pyrek and Svetlana Feofanova, who occupies the 4th line of the world ranking, will become Isinbaeva's competitors.
Hammer throwing
24-year-old Gulfiya Khanafeeva missed the Olympics due to injury and only now made her talk about herself. This year, the athlete challenged the bronze medalist of the World Cup Tatyana Lysenko and on June 12 took the world record from her, sending her shell 20 centimeters further (77.26 meters). Two weeks later, the experiment nevertheless prevailed, and Lysenko regained the title, adding another 15 centimeters to the result of Khanafeyeva. These events took place before the eyes of the Russian public - in Tula and Zhukovsky. Gothenburg will host the third full-time duel between Khanafeyeva and Lysenko.
800 meters
The biggest competition in the Russian team is precisely at this distance. The desire to win is so great that sometimes it interferes. At the last world championship in Helsinki, Russians lost the distance due to neglect of team tactics, although our country could have owned the entire podium. As, however, at this European Championship. There is no doubt that in the final race our runners will meet Svetlana Klyuka and Olga Kotlyarova.
400 meters
At the Cup of Russia Olga Zaitseva ran this distance to experiment. And in passing, she established the second result of the world season and the first in Europe - 49.49. So the European champion among juniors will have to defend this title at the adult level.
1,500 meters
At this distance, Russia took the “gold” and “silver” of two world championships: outdoors and indoors. And able to do the same in Gothenburg. The leader of the season is Yulia Chizhenko. She is in great shape, won the Golden League in Paris and won the world championship. But if someone does not let her sleep peacefully, it’s Elena Soboleva. In Paris, considered the favorite, she lost to Chizhenko in just a second. And in February, at the Russian Championship, Soboleva ran according to the schedule of the world record.
Steeplechase
Our team has three high-class runners: Lyubov Ivanova, Tatyana Petrova and Elena Sidorchenkova. But in early July, Russian hegemony was dealt a crushing blow. Polish runner Violetta Yanovska ahead of Ivanova and Petrova, setting a national record. A wonderful middle-aged woman - she ran 1,500 meters - all she could do was learn to overcome obstacles. Now the runner dealt with this problem, and her capabilities were equal to her ambitions.
High jump
Yaroslav Rybakov and pole vaulter Svetlana Feofanova are the only reigning European champions of the 2002 model in the Russian team. And Rybakov, like Feofanova, will not be easy to defend his title. Although Yaroslav won the “winter” world championship, he will face a war of nerves in Gothenburg. After all, the hope of the local public Stefan Holm will confront the Russian. In July, he took the grandmaster 2.34 and is now considered the full king of the sector. An additional intrigue in this confrontation may be made by the Russian nugget Ivan Ukhov. In case of failure of the leaders, balanced Ukhov is quite capable of taking advantage of the situation.
Walking 50 kilometers
Gothenburg may witness a repeat of the World Cup finals, when Denis Nizhegorodov beat opponents by more than three minutes. The hero of Athens, in a half-fainting state, reached the Olympic "silver", after a year's rest, again in uniform.