London appearing on the horizon

Фото: ITAR-TASS

Фото: ITAR-TASS

Фото: Valentin Balakhchiev (ITAR-TASS )

Изображений в галерее: 3Посмотреть

Фото: ITAR-TASS

The most prominent events of this track-and-field season are World Championships in Berlin, World Cup finals and the Golden League tournament.  Watching the rise and fall of our young sports stars and their struggle for  ascension to the national squad, as well as various estimates of our prospects for  the four years ahead – all these things matter to the public and draw it attention  in no less measure than victories at top tournaments. What’s up in our track- and-field team a year after its return from Beijing? What are the expectations for the London Olympics in not that far away future?

"DON’T FORCE TRUE TALENT INTO COMPLYING WITH STRICT RULES"

The new season was marked with our team’s excellent performance at the European Winter Championships in Italy.  With our heroes of Beijing taking their breath, their younger team-mates grabbed the spotlight. Winning ten golden medals in Turin, the national team, which by that time was  renewed by fifty percent, had gained victory in team qualification. Our athletes also carried away four silver and four bronze medals. The previously announced federation’s plan for medals was exceeded twofold, which was a pleasant surprise  even for the head coach of the team, Valentin Maslakov, who said: “We’ve obviously marked down our capabilities  when we spoke of five or six golden medals”.

It is too early to tell whether those who grabbed success in Turin will be fighting for victory in London. However, it is worthwhile having a closer look at some of these champions.

Probably the most prominent of them all is Ivan Ukhov, a high jumper from Moscow. A couple of years ago he came into the spotlight setting national records for indoors competitions among adults. During the present year he improved six of his own records setting an absolute  record of Russia when he conquered the height of 2.40  indoors. In the current season he was also the first to overcome the 2.36 mark outdoors.

"Ivan is typical workaholic", - says his coach Segei Kliugin.  “We know each other for a long time. We became friends the day we met in the national team, all the more so since we  both trained with the same coach – Evgenii Zagorulko. Why did Ivan leave him? Simply because two bears can not stay together in one lair. There was hard competition between him and Andrei Silnov. Then one of them became Olympic champion and the other did not although he could have... I think that working with such talents as Ukhov the hardest thing  is to get a feeling of what matters to him and what are his  dreams. Enjoy jumping! This is my and Ivan’s motto. I don’t try to force this true talent into complying with strict rules.”

We should also single out Antonina Krivoshapka, a runner at 400 meters distance. She has confidently won the qualification tournament of Russia and had world’s second best result of the season on the eve of Berlin with the legendary American, Sanya Richards, being the best.

DO YOU THINK IT IS EASY TO OVERCOME YOURSELF?

The hero of Beijing, Andrei Silnov opened his season with a tournament of the IAAF Grand Prix Series in Eugene, OR, USA.  Unfortunately, his top mark was only 2.21 and he was the fifth.  Later on it became clear that the entire season is likely to be wasted for the author of one of the most sensational Olympic  victories. His leg trauma demanded an operation followed by a prolonged recovery.

Health problems prevented the silver- medalist of 2008 Olympics in pole vault jumping Evgenii Lukianenko, as well as  Svetlana Feofanova from taking part in  summer events. Lukianenko suffered from joint pains and he will be undergoing an operation on lymphatic system,  while the ex-champion of the world Feofanova has a broken  hand. In the female squad of the national team we luckily have those who would save the situation in case Elena Isinbaeva steps aside. Without Lukianenko it would be hard for us to jump high enough to fetch medals.

 By the way, Elena Isinbaeva had also acquired a trauma. It was nothing serious but knee pain caused the twofold Olympic champion - for the first time in five years - to lose the London Grand Prix to Monika Pyrek. No one has yet jumped higher than Elena, of course, but her rival was more lucky in the struggle for the 4.68 meters mark.

“Do you think it is easy to overcome yourself?” - she exclaimed.  “My records give the wrong impression that people can celebrate my victory in advance. Some athletes may envy me for this but believe me when I say that performing  in such situation is much harder than when you’re facing  tough competition. I am not back to my best shape just yet, I think I am simply rather tired,” - Isinbaeva explained after her London defeat.

Another champion of Beijing Olympics, Yulia Guschina thinks that motivating herself for better results is rather hard during the first year after the Olympic battles. “This is  what I said to myself: if I fail this year the next year no one  will be expecting anything from me at all,” - she remarked  with a smile. “Seriously, we trained more and we trained harder on the eve of Beijing. Now it is not so intense and the responsibility is less pressing”.

MOSCOW OPEN: DUELS IN THE SKY

Moscow Open for the prizes of Moscow mayor and Moscow  Track-and-Field Athletics became one of the most important  events of this season. This year the competitions took  place at the stadium of the sports city in Luzhniki for the  third consecutive year. This time the spectators have seen  practically all the strongest athletes of Russia. Among them was the winner of five Olympic medals of different  denomination, Tatiana Lebedeva; the winner of Athens  Olympics in 800 meters, Yurii Berzakovsky; our most reliable  jumper, Yaroslav Rybakov, as well as the winner of the  European winter championships, Ivan Ukhov.

The high level of athletes in the shot putting and hammer throwing sectors was remarkable. All of them were Olympic, World and European champions and prize-holders, both Russian and foreign. Among them was the winner of 2003 World Championships, Kim Collins.  However, he was unable to show high result due to false start.

The crowded grand stands witnessed serious struggle. No preliminary starts or qualifications, just finals! To public’s  great enjoyment Russian athletes carried away almost all  the golden medals, however they later unanimously asserted  that victory at the tournament wasn’t their objective, the important thing was gaining good shape in view of the  World Championships in Berlin.

 Certainly, the most interesting competitions took place among the high jumpers. The dispute was between two Muscovites: Rybakov and Ukhov. It is amazing how different these two jumpers are. The former knows how to withdraw within himself, while the later, on the contrary, emotionally engages the public. Their duel became the hallmark of the tournament. Both conquered the height of 2.34, however Rybakov lost on points.

"I SORT OF SPREAD MY WINGS AND FLEW UP IN THE AIR"

What was special about the latest national championships in Cheboksary? First, there was world’s best result of the season in triple jump by Nadezhda Alekhina: 15.14! This athlete had no previous accomplishments and was contemplating ending her career, when she decided to make one final nice try. At least this is what she claims, adding:  “I sort of spread my wings and flew up in the air. It means I should learn how to catch those wings in the future.”

Second, the return of hammer thrower Natalia Lysenko from two years of disqualification was a powerful one. At her very first appearance she showed 76.41 m, which was world’s third result for the season, and immediately qualified for the national squad traveling to Berlin. However, she was all alone in her discipline, with this gap in the ranks of the Russian athletes still to be resolved.

Finally, the Olympic champion in discus throwing Natalia Sadova has given everyone a big surprise. She showed world’s second result for this season: 64.40m, securing her place in the team traveling to Berlin. Notwithstanding her years she promised to be in London for the Olympics and maybe even appear at 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

PUNISHED BUT LEFT WITH A CHANCE

The issue of seven Russian athletes who were prevented a year ago from taking part in Beijing Olympic Games and later disqualified for two years by the Russian Federation  of Track-and-Field athletics on suspicions of substituting  dope probes. The complaint was filled at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne by IAAF, which was unsatisfied with such term of disqualification for Elena Soboleva, Daria Pischalnikova, Gulfia Khanafeyeva, Tatiana Tomasheva, Svetlana Cherkasova and Olga Egorova.

IAAF stated DNK mismatch in athlete’s probes during years 2007 and 2008as as the reason for the legal move. After lengthy proceedings the athletes’ were not proven guilty for the anti-doping agency of IAAF failed to present any incriminating evidence. The court however banned them from competitions till April 30, 2011, annulling all their results since April-May 2007, i.e. the moment the first arguable probes were obtained, which included the European record of Elena Soboleva and Gulfia Khanafeyeva.

According to the president of the All-Russian Federation for Track-and-Field athletics,  Valentin Balakhchiev, the case of Russian athletes is a serious precedent, which will affect world’s track-and-field athletics. It has to do both with the method of obtaining incriminating  evidence and its retrospective nature.

Elena Soboleva couldn’t hide her disappointment with this decision and is looking forward to 2012 Olympics, while Olga Egorova had earlier announced her intention to end her sports career... What will be the decision of the younger athletes, Daria Pischalnikova and Gulfia Khanafeyeva? From the one side, the decision of the Supreme Court for Sport in Lausanne gave them the chance to appear at both global events in London in 2011 and 2012. From the other side, they were hurt by the decision to annul all their results and the demand to refund all their prize money. A lot will depend on whether the clubs and sports organizations that they  appeared for will be able to support them financially.

We are left with the hope that they will all return to the ranks and expect them to show as good results as the ones Elena Soboleva, Anna Alminova and Maria Savinova had previously achieved. By the way, both of them have already been listed as world leaders of the current season.