Ginnastica Artistica Italiana did video interviews with Enus Mariani and Elisa Meneghini and their English translations are brought to you by Alessandro Sola, a gymnast and gymnerd from Italy.
Enus Mariani
“This year, for me, is going to be very special because at the moment I’m not training, I have to wait for the ok from my doctor to start training again. However, it won’t take too long. I will resume training and I will be competing in the Serie A championship with a new club “Gal Lissone”. For me, is not a new “family” because we have always trained together, they immediately welcomed me and they always make me feel at home. I’ve always felt good with my teammates and they are like sisters to me”.
“I’ve also started a new “career”, I’m not calling myself a coach yet because to become a real coach I have to gain more experience over the years, but I started coaching in my old club “Ginnastica Meda” with another coach, Gabriella Beretta. We are training a group of gymnasts, the oldest is 14 and the youngest is 5. They haven’t started the Gold championship level yet, they are doing the Silver championship, but we’re hoping that with our help they’ll have a successful career. I think I’m quite a good coach because when I’m training them I’m thinking about me during training so I try not to do to them what I don’t want others to do to me. I scold them but not too harshly because they’re not doing gymnastics at a high level, so I’m scolding the right way, when needed and when they risk getting injured. At the beginning I was a stranger to them, They knew me as a gymnast, but not as a person. When they got to know me better they understood that they could talk to me about everything. I thank my new coaches for welcoming me and for following me every day like they’re training me since forever”.
Elisa Meneghini
“For me, 2017 came to an end, it was a year of recovery because it’s known that the year after the Olympics is always harder, and I took longer to be at my best. I’m still happy because I prepared for the “Assoluti” in a week, but it did not go as planned. However, I finished at my best at the last Serie A competition in Eboli, where I competed all my elements from Rio”.
“Now I’m preparing for next season with the Serie A. I’ll try to do my best and to improve my D-scores with new skills. I’m trying to work on all 4 events, but in particular, I’m going to add new skills on floor and maybe on bars where I’m going to try a Shaposnikova, it’s been a while since I started training it. On beam, I’m adding a new dismount, a full-in, on vault too – a DTY and then I’ll be OK!”
Photo: Federazione Ginnastica d’Italia
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