VICTORY IN HOME REGION
Of more than three dozen St. Petersburg Olympians with a gold medal, only returns from Tokyo gymnast Lilia Akhaimova… Together with Angelina Melnikova, Victoria Listunova and Vladislava Urazova, she won the team all-around. Of course, the refusal of the famous American Simone Biles turned out to be in the hands of the Russian gymnasts. Unsuccessfully completing the vault, she refused to continue fighting in the team tournament, and then withdrew from the individual all-around. Only these are American problems that in no way detract from the achievements of Russian gymnasts, who were ahead of their closest pursuers by more than three points.
Akhaimova moved to St. Petersburg from Vladivostok, where the promising gymnast simply had nowhere to train. In the school of the Pushkin region, she got the opportunity to improve herself under the guidance of the best coaches in the country. The problem was that Lilia came to St. Petersburg at the age of 15 and immediately faced the problems of adolescence. My back hurt so much that it was hard to walk down the street, and not just to learn the most difficult elements. Fortunately, there were qualified doctors in St. Petersburg.
Otherwise, there were no problems with adaptation. Akhaimova literally immediately got into the youth, and then the adult national team of Russia. Before the Tokyo Olympics, coaches had a difficult choice to make. Three gymnasts were considered 100% candidates for the national team. It was necessary to choose the fourth one, which would not let the team down. They chose between Akhaimova and 16-year-old Elena Gerasimova. Both were brought to Tokyo, but the veteran Lilia was entrusted to compete in the competition. In gymnastics, 22 is, if not retirement, then close to this age.
Personal trainer of the St. Petersburg gymnast Vera Kiryashova does not exclude that Akhaimova’s farewell benefit was held in Tokyo. After the Tokyo triumph, she herself said that she would fight for getting into the team at the 2024 Olympics. She will be only 25, and 46-year-old Oksana Chusovitina competed at her eighth Olympiad in Tokyo!
Twin sisters Dina and Arina Averina, representing St. Petersburg along with Moscow and the Nizhny Novgorod region in a parallel standings, were considered favorites of the rhythmic gymnastics tournament. Only instead of two medals of the highest standard, they managed to win one silver, which went to Dina. So much has been said about the refereeing lawlessness that accompanied the Olympic tournament that there are no more words that can be published. Dina’s deserved gold was taken to Israel by Lina Ashram, and Arina’s deserved bronze was taken to Belarus by Alina Gornosko.
The conscience of the judges was not awakened by the start of the competition in groups. The gold was given to the Bulgarian team, which was in no way superior to the Russians. Our Alisa Tishchenko and Angelina Shkatova have only silver.
GIRLS WITH OAR ON A PEDESTAL
If the silver medal of our gymnasts-artists is a disappointment both for the athletes themselves and for the fans, then similar awards in rowing are a pleasant surprise. Russian athletes have not had any awards in this discipline for more than 20 years, since the 2004 Olympics in Athens. By and large, there are no decent conditions for full-fledged training in our city, which is the birthplace of rowing in Russia.
On the site of several rowing clubs, elite cottages were built for judges of the Constitutional Court, who are in no hurry to move to St. Petersburg for permanent residence. And as if in a mockery, in the bend of the Malaya Nevka, a huge sculpture “Girl with an oar” was erected. One of the symbols of the Soviet era, when rowing was a popular sport. Although in other regions there are no conditions for rowing at all.
From the small town of Salsk, in the Rostov region, came to St. Petersburg Elena Oryabinskaya. For some time she tried to achieve success in the eight, but then together with Vasilisa Stepanova, which also failed to gain a foothold in the most prestigious crew in this sport, Oryabinskaya sat in a double swing. And got to the silver in Tokyo. Like Anna Prakaten, who moved to our city from Minsk. The Belarusian rowing school has preserved the victorious Soviet traditions, and it is quite difficult to break into the national team of a friendly country. So Anna changed her sports citizenship after Rio – and did not regret it.
SILVER OVER THE NET, BRONZE IN MARTIAL ARTS
Russian volleyball players were very close to gold medals. In the final, losing 0: 2 in sets to the French, the wards of the Finnish coach Tuomas Sammelvuo, who also heads the St. Petersburg Zenit, equalized the score. Alas, the French were lucky in the decisive game. The vice-champions of the Olympics return to St. Petersburg three Zenit players: Egor Klyuka, Viktor Poletaev and Ivan Yakovlev.
Two bronzes are among the assets of the St. Petersburg masters of oriental martial arts. About success judokas We told Madina Taymazova in detail in the last issue of MK in St. Petersburg. And the very first “St. Petersburg” medal in the piggy bank of the ROC national team brought Mikhail Artamonov, who competed in the category up to 58 kg in taekwondo. The height of this master of the popular oriental martial arts is 180 cm. Every time, before important competitions, you have to lose weight. After the end of the Olympics, Mikhail even shared his plans to move to a higher weight category.
In the meantime, the pupil of the “Kometa” school has a ritual. Immediately after the checkweighing, he goes to the nearest McDonald’s and lays on burgers. It was problematic to find a fast food restaurant in Tokyo, but after returning to St. Petersburg, the bronze medalist of the 2020 Olympics made up for lost time.
Of course, not only the champion and prize-winners deserve kind words. Are not the swimmers Evgenia Chikunova, Andrey Minakov, Veronika Andrusenko, Kirill Martynychev, who took part in the final heats, or boxer Ivan Veryasov, who lost in the quarterfinals to the two-time silver medalist of the World Championships Kamshibek Kunkabaev from Kazakhstan, are not admirable? It’s a shame for the champion of London and the silver medalist of Rio Natalia Vorobyova. She was very well prepared, but maternity leave still affected her combat form. In the second round Natalia lost to Ayperi Medet from Kyrgyzstan. There was still hope for bronze in the event that Medet reached the final, but alas. I am convinced that weightlifter Kristina Sobol, who in the weight category up to 49 kg did not take the starting weight in the snatch, also deserves words of admiration.
HOLIDAY IN GATCHINA, IN KIRISHI
The Leningrad region in Tokyo was represented by eight athletes. In the individual road cycling race, Alexander Vlasov from Vyborg closed the top twenty. Six water polo players of the KINEF-Surgutneftegaz club from Kirishi went to Tokyo, dreaming not only of repeating the achievement of Rio, where the bronze was won, but of aiming for medals of a higher standard. In the semifinals, the Russian water polo players gave a real fight to the recognized favorites – the Americans, but lost.
In the bronze medal match, like at the 2016 Olympics, we met with the Hungarian team. Only this time they could not beat her. It’s a shame. After all, the 19-time champion of the country as part of KINEF-Surgutneftegaz Evgenia Sobolev announced even before the start of the Olympics that this would be her last tournament. And Nadezhda Glyzina, who ended her career, even managed to work in one of the divisions of KINEF LLC, but returned to compete for an Olympic medal.
In Kirishi, with a population of 50 thousand people, there are three swimming pools, where all children of kindergarten age learn to swim. Is it any wonder that KINEF-Surgutneftegaz wins prestigious European cups without legionnaires, and there are only two girls in the team from other cities! The residents of Kirisha share their water with the pupils of the Gatchina synchronized swimming school, who hold training camps in the neighboring city.
In Rio, talking with the author of these notes, Svetlana Kolesnichenko, who became the Olympic champion in the group, asked: “Can you ask the Governor of the Leningrad Region a question if a swimming pool will be built in Gatchina?” The request was fulfilled. Governor Alexander Drozdenko promised. Indeed, so far in Gatchina there are conditions only for beginners to study. To become an Olympic champion, Kolesnichenko had to leave for Moscow. In Tokyo, she won two more gold medals, in a duet with Svetlana Romashina and in a group. Maybe a new triumph will speed up construction?
Finally – about the most unexpected “St. Petersburg” Olympic gold medal. She was crowned the winner of the winning goal in the final match of the football tournament Malcolm… Agree, he has even more to do with Peter than Averina’s sisters. In addition, Malcolm will bring not only a gold medal, but also his partner in the Olympic team, the top scorer of the Brazilian league, Claudinho. Having become an Olympic champion, he signed a contract with Zenit.
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