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The composition of the national team for the Games in Beijing has been determined in Kazan
Last Sunday, the Russian Athletics Championships ended in Kazan, based on the results of which the composition of the Olympic team was named.In the very word “selection” one can already hear a struggle. Fight for survival. The Russian qualifying championship has never, this is time-tested, been allowed to become a holiday. Because they work there. Both the athletes and their coaches are in favor of getting the coveted place in the national team at any cost. For the latter, very often the struggle does not end even after the competition. On the contrary, it is just beginning - at a meeting where, towards the end of the last day of the championship, the final composition of the team is announced. Rarely does a discipline in the competition program match the intensity of the passions raging there.
In Kazan, at such a meeting, emotions ran high when, for example, the three athletes who would represent Russia at the men's Olympic tournament in the high jump were determined. In this case, a unique situation has arisen. The first, out of competition, was Yaroslav Rybakov with a jump of 2.33, and then seven (!) people with the same result of 2.30. Based on fewer attempts, Andrei Tereshin and the 1999 world champion Vyacheslav Voronin climbed to the podium.
It is curious that the main controversy did not flare up around the bronze medalist Voronin, who jumped 2.30 for the first time this year (and never did this in the past). The candidacy of the silver award winner Tereshin raised doubts. The opponents of his trip to Beijing (from the camp of European 96 champion Andrei Silnov, who occupies seventh place in the world ranking this year with a score of 2.32) can be understood. Tereshin, who showed good jumps at home competitions, has really not shown himself in any way abroad yet, but he beat Silnov in Kazan, and by the strong-willed decision of the President of the All-Russian Athletics Federation Valentin Balakhnichev, the sporting principle prevailed - Tereshin is going to the Olympics.
But no matter what they say, Silnov is an obvious loss for the team, since the same 34-year-old Voronin is unlikely to show high jumps in Beijing. The peak of his athletic form probably came during these qualifying competitions...
Continuing the theme of losses, we must first of all remember the current world record holder in the 400m sprint, Yulia Pechenkina, whose health did not allow her to compete in Kazan. Olympic hammer throw champion Olga Kuzenkova was unable to get into proper shape for these competitions (she ended up only fifth with a score of 67.70). So, having today the strongest hammer throwers (remember the disqualified Tatyana Lysenko and Ekaterina Khoroshikh), when we go to China, we are absolutely not sure that we will be able to win a medal in this discipline (the leader of the Russian team, Gulfiya Khanafeeva, is currently fifth in the world ranking).
The 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the long jump, Irina Simagina, was unable to compete in Kazan due to injury. And European champion ’96, winner of the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships, leader of this season with a jump of 7.04, Tatyana Kolchanova, was only fifth at the Russian Championships (6.59). But she can only blame herself for this. After winning the European Cup in June (it was there that she set the best result of the season in the world), the inspired Tatyana rushed to earn money at commercial competitions and somewhere in one of them she received a fatal injury. In Kazan she said goodbye to the Olympics, and we are sorry...
However, it’s not only Kolchanova who can sympathize. World youth champion Anna Nazarova flew 6.83 in one of her attempts. This result could guarantee her not only second place at the championship (after the undisputed leader Tatyana Kotova), but also an Olympic ticket. But, tragically for Anya, the judges saw a barely noticeable, even with the help of special equipment, a millimeter-long spade. This is the price of a ticket to Beijing! It was eventually awarded to Oksana Udmurtova, another student of Vyacheslav Dogonkin, coach of the famous Tatyana Lebedeva. By the way, as a world champion, she was exempt from selection in the long jump. She performed only in triples.
- Who else, besides Lebedeva, was exempted from participation in this championship? - The Vremya Novostei correspondent asked the head coach of the Russian national team Valentin MASLAKOV with this question.
-- Elena Isinbaeva and Ekaterina Volkova, 2007 world champions in pole vault and steeplechase, respectively. After the semi-final race at a distance of 1500 m, it was also considered necessary to exempt Elena Soboleva from participating in the final. What was the point in running away if she had once again proven that she was head and shoulders above everyone else?
— Valentin Mikhailovich, can you name your most vivid impressions of the last championship?
-- Women's 3000m steeplechase, where Gulnara Galkina-Samitova finished with the season's best time in the world - 9:08.21. In this event we now have the current world champion and season leader. In this regard, is it necessary to talk about our plans in this discipline in Beijing? Gulnara, by the way, will also run the 5000 m distance at the Olympics, which she finished second in Kazan after Liliya Shobukhova. Well, Liliya’s run is, of course, not only for me one of the most exciting events of the championship. The former world record holder at a distance of 3000 m indoors, after a short break, managed to prepare properly and show such a result in the stadium.
I would also note the victory of Yulia Gushchina at a distance of 400 m. And not so much the time of the winner, but the density of the results of the girls who finished after her. This opens up good prospects for us in the 4x400 meter relay.
We were pleased with the results in the women's high jump, the women's and men's triple jump, and the men's pole vault. Have you seen the duel in the discus throwing sector between the 2006 European champion, silver medalist of the 2007 World Championship Daria Pishchalnikova and Olympic champion Natalya Sadova, who returned after a two-year doping disqualification?.. It was very interesting and encouraging. Pishchalnikova today continues to hold first place in the world rankings, and Sadova, after the championship in Kazan, secured fourth position.
—Who was the main disappointment of the championship for you?
— I won’t name names, I’ll just name disciplines. Women's core, men's full (short and long) sprint, and men's 400m hurdles. Nevertheless, of the 47 disciplines presented in the program of the Olympic track and field tournament, there will be no Russians in only two - the men's 5000 m and the men's 4x100 meter relay.
—You said that Galkina-Samitova will perform in two types of programs in Beijing. Are there any other guys like this on the team?
-- Certainly. Lebedeva will do the long and triple jump. Soboleva will run 800 and 1500 m. I don’t mention participation in the relay races, because if we talk about them, Gushchina will certainly become the undisputed leader. Today we are planning her participation not only in the individual 400 m race, but also in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay races.
-- Anastasia Kapachinskaya, 2003 world champion, also planned to run in two distances - 200 and 400 meters?
- No, he and the coach made the difficult decision to focus on only one. So far, however, they haven’t chosen themselves yet.
— Surely you have a medal plan for Beijing. How many awards do you plan to win there?
— If we talk about the official plan, it sounds like this: five gold, five silver and five bronze awards. And then we'll see.
The team consists of 109 athletes
Following the results of the national championship in Kazan, the Presidium of the All-Russian Athletics Federation approved the preliminary composition of the Russian team for the Olympic Games in Beijing. The final composition will be known after its approval by the Russian Olympic Committee. But if there are changes, they will be minimal. The team consists of 109 athletes - 49 men and 60 women.
MEN
100 m. Epishin. 200 m. Smirnov. 400 m. Alekseev, Dyldin. 4x400 m relay. Alekseev, Dyldin, Kokorin, Frolov, Svechkar, Buzolin. 110 m s/b. Borisov, Rewind. 400 m s/b. Derevyagin. 800 m. Borzakovsky, Bogdanov. 1500 m. Shabunin. 10,000 m. Ivanov. 3000 m s/n. Minshin, Usov, Potapovich. Marathon . Andreev, Kulkov, Sokolov. Height. Rybakov, Voronin, Tereshin. Pole. Lukyanenko, Starodubtsev, Pavlov. Length. Malyavin. Triple. Burkenya, Petrenko, Spasovkhodsky. Core. Yushkov, Sofin, Lyuboslavsky. Disk. Pishchalnikov. Hammer. Ikonnikov, Vinnichenko. Javelin throwing. Makarov, Korotkov, Ivanov. Walking 20 km. Borchin, Markov, Morozov. Walking 50 km. Nizhegorodov, Kanaikin, Erokhin. Decathlon. Sysoev, Pogorelov, Drozdov.
WOMEN
100 m. Polyakova. 4x100 m relay. Polyakova, Rusakova, Murinovich, Kapachinskaya, Gushchina. 200 m. Fedoriva, Chermoshanskaya, Rusakova. 400 m. Gushchina, Kapachinskaya, Firova. 4x400 m relay. Gushchina, Kapachinskaya, Firova, Migunova, Litvinova, Veshkurova. 100 m s/b. Kondakova, Dektyareva. 400 m s/b. Bickert, Obedina, Ott. 800 m. Soboleva, Andrianova, Klyuka. 1500 m. Soboleva, Tomashova, Fomenko. 5000 m. Shobukhova, Galkina-Samitova, Zadorozhnaya. 10,000 m. Abitova, Konovalova, Aryasova. Marathon. Bogomolov, Timofeeva, Zakharova. 3000 m s/n. Volkova, Galkina-Samitova, Petrova. Height . Chicherova, Slesarenko, Shkolina. Pole. Isinbaeva, Feofanova, Golubchikova. Length. Lebedeva, Kotov, Udmurtova. Triple. Lebedeva, Pyatykh, Gurova. Core. Khudoroshkina, Ivanova, Omarova. Disk. Sadova, Pishchalnikov, Saikin. Hammer. Khanafeeva, Konevtsova, Bulgakova. Spear. Abakumova, Yakovenko. Walking 20 km. Kaniskina, Sibileva, Kalmykova. Heptathlon. Chernova, Bogdanova, Kurban.