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Following the men's team, our girls also won the European Championship
The Russian women's team has regained the title of the strongest team in the Old World, lost two years ago. In the final match of the European Championship at the Sports Palace in the Italian city of Chieti, Igor Grudin's team defeated Spain - 74:68. Forward Olga Arteshina and center Maria Stepanova were included in the symbolic five of the tournament. The prize for the most valuable player of the championship was given to Spaniard Amaya Valdemoro, who plays in our Super League for the capital CSKA.At the post-match press conference, Grudin said that the team decided to present this victory as a gift to the country's President Vladimir Putin, who celebrated his 55th birthday. President of the Russian Basketball Federation Sergei Chernov noted the uniqueness of Sunday's success, coupled with the sensational triumph of our men's team at the recent European Championship in Spain. “We have been waiting for this moment for 22 years. The last time our national teams managed to achieve such a golden double was in the 1985 season,” Chernov said. - As far as I know, no one except basketball can boast of winning two European titles in a row for men and women in team sports. I think that it was even harder for the girls in this final than for the basketball players three weeks ago. In Spain, having received the right to fight for gold, we had already shown a successful result and earned ourselves a ticket to the Olympics, but here the women’s team had no right to lose even in the decisive match. Both the federation and the athletes themselves have set such a high bar, especially since tickets to Beijing following the results of the continental championships are guaranteed only to their winners.”
The best basketball player in Europe for the last two seasons, Maria Stepanova and the company put a bold exclamation point on the autumn chronicle of the unprecedented Russian-Spanish confrontation in team sports. In the middle of last month, our basketball players in Madrid snatched victory from the hosts of Euro 2007 in the last seconds of the final; on the same day, at the continental volleyball forum in Moscow, the Spanish team unexpectedly prevailed over the Russians in five games. Moreover, in both cases the favorites suffered defeat. The finale in Chieti had another subtext. After the collapse of the USSR, the best in the Old World at all seven past championships were teams from different countries, including Spain (1993) and Russia (2003). Following the results of the semi-finals, breaking tradition became inevitable.
Playing every other day in the second group stage, the Russians, like the other eight participants in the knockout tournament, had to take to the court three nights in a row in the playoffs. Grudin’s team successfully passed the double Baltic barrier in matches with Lithuania (75:58) and Latvia (67:36). The Spanish team knocked Belgium out of the fight (72:53) and stopped the much-noisy Belarusian team (70:54), which eventually won bronze medals.
The main match of the championship, with its positive outcome for us, still left food for thought for the future, because the Olympics are ahead with more serious rivals - the USA and Australia. The beginning of the meeting was like a continuation of the previous match with Latvia - the Russians demonstrated an extremely collected game in defense and scored their points in attack. In the first five minutes, Arteshin made three accurate shots, Stepanova successfully opened up under the opponent’s hoop and hit the target. The advantage grew inexorably, all of our leading basketball players acted quickly, gracefully and effectively. When, after hits by Oksana Rakhmatullina and Irina Osipova, the score rose to 33:15, Valdemoro’s three-point response alerted only Grudin, who immediately asked for a timeout. Before the long break, the Russians managed to increase their advantage to 20 points, and, as Grudin noted after the match, some relaxation set in.
The Spanish women returned from the locker room to the court as an unrecognizable team. Our seemingly solid margin of safety began to melt away at an alarming rate. Confidence was replaced by some confusion; the girls lost the ball in attack, making inaccurate passes and making runs. If it weren’t for Osipova, who kept her composure, and methodically beat the Spanish players at their ring, in the third quarter the Russians’ previous advantage could have remained less than the 8 points recorded on the scoreboard (53:45). In the final period the situation became threatening - 53:49 as a result of shots from Palau and Zurro, again after our losses.
Our basketball players spent the end of the match more collectedly. Five points in a row by Ilona Korstin, a key interception by Svetlana Abrosimova, and a blocked shot by Stepanova allowed us to increase the lead and bring the moment of victory closer. True, the rivals did not give up; Valdemoro's throw from behind the six-meter line in 51 seconds again instilled hope in the fans of the Spanish national team - 69:65 in favor of Russia. In the next attack, Amaya literally went straight into the pass and the ball almost flew into our hoop, bouncing around the arch. The nervous atmosphere of the final was safely defused by Tatyana Shchegoleva, who hit the target.
Russia, as European champion, can make plans for the Olympics. Silver medalist Spain, bronze medalist Belarus, fourth and fifth place finishers Latvia and the Czech Republic received the right to participate in the world qualifying tournament, which will take place in 2008. The remaining teams completely lost their chances of qualifying for Beijing.