Insidious bars, sleeves on swimsuits and "Ice Age": what Averins and Melnikova remember after the World Cup in Japan

Top Russian gymnasts have finally finished their long season and returned from Japan.

For two weeks, the fans watched the performances at the World Championships in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics.

Now it's time to hear what the competition triumphants think and feel.

Dina and Arina Averina and Angelina Melnikova gave extensive interviews.

"Everything impossible is possible"

There were enough controversial episodes at the last World Championships in Kitakyushu. In artistic gymnastics, Russia missed the gold medal in women's floor exercise. The victory was won by the Japanese woman Mai Murakami, and Melnikova became the second. Initially, the athlete received fewer points than the Russian woman, but after the requested "challenge" the judges increased her score by 0.1 points. This was enough to get around Angelina. At the same time, the result of Melnikova could also be revised if the Russian delegation had filed a protest in time. However, in this whole story, the Olympic champion in Tokyo was upset not by the silver, but by the attention that fans and journalists paid to him.

“This is quite a shame, because everyone was discussing not the medal that I won, but the medal that I lost.

And now, instead of enjoying the victory, I fell into some kind of negative pit.

Initially, I did not have any special emotions in this regard.

Everyone saw what happened, we were simply late in filing a protest.

According to the rules, this is only four minutes.

Perhaps, if they did, the outcome would have been different.

So I'm more annoyed that we didn't even try to compete for the grade.

It would be less offensive if they had time, but the protest was rejected, ”Melnikova said in an interview with Lenta.ru.

The Olympic champion was upset by the fact that the world championship in artistic gymnastics was not shown on Russian television.

As Melnikova admitted, at that moment she felt unnecessary.

“It's unpleasant.

It so happened that the Olympic Games were held, and gymnastics was everywhere.

We have shown such a boom, two historic victories.

Not that everyone was running after us, but we were definitely in the spotlight.

And then, two months later, the world championship, and no one needs you anymore.

Zero.

There were broadcasts on foreign sites, and the Russian media were completely uninterested in covering this tournament, ”Angelina explained.

Remembering the Tokyo Olympics, Melnikova spoke about the most difficult moment of the tournament: falling from the uneven bars during the final on separate shells.

The athlete admitted that she relaxed after performing in the all-around.

“There was a good chance, but I missed it, unfortunately.

At the Olympics, I had 16 outs.

This pace is difficult both physically and psychologically.

After the gold medal in the team and after the medal in the all-around, I relaxed a little.

Lack of concentration due to the fact that I spent it in the previous days.

The most important thing was, of course, the team all-around, and there we simply gave all our strength, ”the gymnast explained.

At the same time, she noted that, first of all, the Games in Tokyo, in addition to medals and awards, gave her self-confidence.

“I understood: the impossible is possible!

I performed so much before, and America was just impenetrable.

Even if we passed everything perfectly, we could not defeat them.

This has now changed.

You think: "How has it changed?"

Then you understand - it's just that time has passed and nothing lasts forever, ”Melnikova is sure.

Talking about the complexity of her sport, Angelina admitted that she is still scared in training, since gymnastics is very grassy and you never know at what point you will get hurt.

The most difficult for the Olympic champion, according to her, are the uneven bars.

“You will not train them in any way if you don’t practice aiming.

If, for example, on a balance beam you can just walk and work on coordination, do not do it for a long time, but in the end everything will work out.

It won't work on uneven bars.

Well, free - it's very difficult, physically and functionally it's just crazy, "- admitted the Russian woman.

Speaking about the fans, Melnikova noted that she never felt negative in her direction, they often write messages to her on Instagram, and once she was even called to get married.

The girl said that in her free time she loves to read, and recently began to engage in digital drawing.

According to the Olympic champion, she was always drawn to be creative.

“

Since childhood, I loved to draw, I have it in me.

Even in gymnastics, I remain a creative person.

In general, I have always wanted to become a clothing designer, ”said the athlete.

"We'll think about retirement later"

If Melnikova went to the World Championship in the status of an Olympic champion, then the Averin sisters, after the scandal in Tokyo, had to return their lost positions.

As the girls admitted, the hardest thing was to force themselves to start preparing for the tournament: they were tormented by doubts about whether they could perform with dignity.

“When we just returned to the gym, we immediately told Irina Aleksandrovna (Viner-Usmanova -

) that we were afraid of a repetition of refereeing.

She replied - do not worry, everything will be fine.

Then there was a question whether the world championship would be held, in principle, because of covid.

We were not sent information about where we will live, what schedule, ”Dina said in an interview with Match TV.

At the tournament itself, the athletes were reassured by the thought that they were performing with these programs for the last time.

Although it was very difficult to abstract from external factors.

“We went out a little relaxed.

They were just blissed out.

We tried not to think that the refereeing could be repeated, ”admitted Arina.

The personal trainer of the Averins, Vera Shatalina, endured the hardest drama in Tokyo.

Instead, Yulia Barsukova flew to the world championship with gymnasts.

The girls also thought for a long time whether to continue their careers.

Irina Viner-Usmanova called on time and found the right words, otherwise Russian fans would have seen the sisters in the Ice Age.

“

We then decided to end our careers and went to the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod, which was arranged by Ilya Averbukh. We talked with him about figure skating, because Arisha and I wanted to skate for a very long time. And since we train, we cannot - you never know, an injury. And he invited us to the Ice Age. We say - great, in a few days we will fly to Moscow, then we will try. We practiced for a couple of days. We were taught to skate, we rode with partners, gave support - everything was very cool. Then, unexpectedly, a call from Irina Aleksandrovna - and we are already in the hall preparing for the World Championship, ”said Dina.

Talking about the swimsuits in which they have to perform, the girls admitted that not all of them are comfortable. So, suits with sleeves usually make it difficult to perform the elements, but at the World Championships they helped Dina during the ribbon exercise.

“I could never go out with this item in a bathing suit with sleeves, but this time they made me such a beautiful, red one. It was sewn by Svetlana Gerasimova and brought to training on the last day before departure. He was simply luxurious, but with heavy sleeves studded with stones. The biggest problem with the tape is rolling. I have three of them in my program. And every time I concentrated on them very much, because I was not used to making an element with sleeves. But in the end it turned out to be a huge plus, because the hall was very stuffy and humid. The sleeves were saved - the tape did not stick to the hands. Therefore, I am very glad that I had them, otherwise I don’t know how the performance would have turned out, ”Averina admitted.

However, not everything worked out perfectly with the ribbon exercise.

Dina, although she performed cleanly, became only the second.

Gold was won by Alina Gornosko from Belarus.

Averina reacted emotionally to her assessment and, removing her mask, cursed.

The Russian woman admitted that she usually never does this, but at that moment she could not restrain herself.

“It was really on emotions, and now I am very ashamed.

I just shouldn't have behaved like that, but, unfortunately, I could not cope with myself.

I understand that now there is no way to fix it.

I hope everyone will just forget this.

First of all, by the way, I am ashamed not even in front of the audience, but in front of the judges.

I think they saw it.

I apologize to them - this will definitely not happen again, ”promised Dina.

At the same time, the girls have not yet decided whether they will continue to perform or still end their careers.

According to them, they spent their whole lives in the gym and now they really do not want to leave it.

“It’s difficult to decide on this and accept leaving.

After the Olympics, we wanted to finish.

It seems cool, everything - decided!

And when they returned to the hall, they realized that they were really bored.

If we had finished then and had not gone to the World Championship ... Maybe we would have regretted it all our lives.

So we will think very thoroughly, ”explained Arina.

However, even if the girls stay, they will have to prove again and again that the Averins have no equal, because in rhythmic gymnastics the rules are changing, which will only increase the already significant competition.

“We, in Russia, have a huge bench.

You have to come every day and prove that you are the best.

Everyone will adjust to the new rules.

God forbid, and we will try to do it.

Let's see what will come of it, ”says Arina.

In the meantime, the gymnasts have time to rest.

Immediately after the World Cup, the Averins go to Dubai, and then to Spain to conduct master classes and think about continuing their careers.