Translated material
Forgiveness of Zavyalova
Our champion didn’t know about Neumannova’s snatch
At the World Championships in Sapporo, the Russian ski team yesterday replenished its award baggage. Olga Zavyalova, the 2007 world champion in duathlon, distinguished herself again. This time, the now two-time winner of the world championship won silver in the 10 km skate. The world champion was Katerina Neumannova from the Czech Republic, who showed a result of 23.54.8 seconds, the bronze medalist was the Italian Arianna Follis, who was 30.2 seconds behind the winner.On the eve of yesterday's race in the center of Sapporo, in the Olympic Park, not far from the Prince Hotel, where the biathletes and flying skiers live, the winners of the women's duathlon were awarded. Zavyalova rose to the highest step of the podium and, to her surprise, heard the former Russian anthem to Glinka’s music. The organizers, having learned about their mistake, simply did not know where to go. And, as Vladimir Loginov, president of the Russian Ski Racing Federation, said, in the evening they came to Zavyalova’s hotel and almost fell at their feet: “Olya, I’m sorry, win another gold and we’ll correct the mistake.”
Yesterday, Zavyalova lacked 26 seconds to win. In the final stretch of the distance, Czech Katerina Neumannova created a solid lead for herself. And on the last lap, 2 km before the finish. “I didn’t know anything about Neumannova’s spurt,” Zavyalova admitted after the finish. - The coaches guided me through the Norwegian Steira. Did Neumannova actually play that much? Well done!"
The Czech woman herself stated at a press conference that she did not expect such agility from herself. “Of course, I ran fast, but I saved my strength for the last push. The hardest part was that ill-fated descent, where people often fall. Most of all, I feared that this was exactly what would happen to me,” she explained.
According to Neumannova, this championship will be her last. “I’ll finish this season and compete at the World Cup, but I’ve already decided for myself what I’ll do next,” she said. As it turned out, the Czech racer has a lot of plans. This includes “paying off debts” to a daughter who misses her mother, tidying up her house in the mountains, and hosting sports programs on Czech television. And the most important thing is to finally relax. But that's all ahead. For now, all the thoughts of 34-year-old Katka, who made her debut in cross-country skiing back in 1989 and won six Olympic medals in her career, are connected with the upcoming women's relay.
Indeed, on the eve of the relay race, the coach of the women's half of the national team, Alexei Prokurorov, who once ran with Zavyalova and now became her coach, announced the names of our women's quartet. The names of three - Korosteleva, Medvedeva and Zavyalova - were known in advance. The only thing that was unclear was who would become the “starter”. Several options were considered: Sidko, Chekalev or Vedeneeva. Sidko won the control estimations, and that decided everything.
Today in Sapporo the men will compete for their medals in the 15 km freestyle race. Among the 121 participants, four Russians will take the start - Alexander Legkov, Evgeny Dementyev, Sergey Shiryaev and Nikolay Pankratov. A repeat hemoglobin test carried out on February 27 showed that Dementyev and Pankratov’s levels were normal. Another problem was quickly resolved. After the flight, Dementiev’s ear hurt due to a traffic jam that had arisen, and the athlete was even taken to the hospital for a consultation with specialists. He went to all training sessions, wrapped in a scarf, so that there were no complications.
However, the medical topic at the championship is not relegated to the background. At yesterday's press conference, foreign journalists again attacked the athletes with questions: what happened to Virpi Kuitunen? Why didn't she start? “What did they say? - Zavyalova later asked our journalists. - I don't understand English. I only sorted out Kuitunen and doping. She didn't start from behind. Kuitunen suffers with his back in the skate. I'm doing the classics, and she's skating. Is she okay? Lord, why scare me like that?”