2024-07-30 19:53:36
Double check for our skier – before and after the successful quarter final
A midnight visit from doping cops didn’t stop Desislava Angelova from being in top form and reaching the semi-finals of the women’s sculls at the Paris Olympics. Until half an hour after midnight, the Bulgarian had to be with doping cops, she managed to fall asleep an hour later, get up early to go to the rowing channel, and at 9.30 in the morning to finish third in the quarter-finals and enter among the most the good 12 who continue the fight for Final A and the distribution of medals. And because checking at night is not enough, Angelova was pulled to give a sample even after the competition itself, which required her to be with doping cops for a long time, instead of spending it for recovery before her next start.
Desi didn’t really pay attention to this fact at all, she just reveled in what she had achieved.
“I am happy that I passed the quarter-finals. This is the first fulfilled goal for me at these Olympic Games. Now I will set myself to give the maximum of myself so that we can be in the top six,” declared Desislava.
She was in the top three boats from the start to the end of the race, with a good lead over the others. “That was the main thing – to save strength, to feel the distance so that in the semi-final I could develop my full potential. The competitors are very prepared. There are 3-4 girls who I think are quite equal for the battle for the top 3 in the semi-final and entering the final. Whoever wants it the most, he will succeed,” added Angelova.
The 22-year-old girl from Pleven did not hide her smile and her emotions.
“I feel good in Paris. I hope the final result is also good. I’m excited, I’m worried. I guess it’s like that for every competitor, because we want to live up to the expectations that people have for us. Many people call us, support personally, I take it as a responsibility because I always wanted to please others, to make them happy. This somehow makes me feel responsible to do everything in my power to succeed,” she said.
She also described the difference in the feeling of the Olympic Games compared to the World and European Championships and World Cups: “I am a debutant at the Olympic Games and here it is much more emotional than the World Championships and other big competitions. There are many people. Here everything is life and death . Looking at how the other contestants behave – they’re having fun, but they always have one thing in mind.”
Desislava Georgieva’s semi-final is on August 1.
Kristian Vassilev failed to make the top three boats in his quarterfinal heat in the men’s sculls. He finished in fourth place and will row for entry into Final C and for the 13th to 24th seeding.
“I am very disappointed, but I also allowed such a development. I felt even after the second World Cup that my preparation did not go as I wanted. I did not have the speeds that I wanted and needed for here. I gave the maximum of my possibilities, but that was not enough to enter the first three places. Now I am outside the top 12, which does not satisfy me at all,” said Christian Vasilev.