Lilia Akhaimova had a long way to the European Championships. She originally started training in Vladivostok, a city not known for a strong gymnastics program. She later moved to St Petersburg and started training with the Kiryashovs (the coaches of Tatiana Nabieva and Elena Eremina) but for a few years her achievements at local Russian competitions were overlooked and she didn’t get invited to the national team camps. When she finally made the national team, she mostly got B-team assignments and this competition is her big break. She’s also still recovering from a major ankle injury (she had a ligament torn in three places only four months ago) and during the Euros selection camp her ankle started hurting again which made her unable to train hard landings until right before Euros.
Yet Akhaimova managed to make a vault final and to help her team win gold. She talked to the media today about how much this competition meant to her:
“In March, I got injured and only just now I’m almost recovered. I’m happy with my performance today because I was able to manage a strong vault. But in order to win a medal at Euros, I need to add a difficult second vault”.
“Despite my age [21 years old], I haven’t been on the national team for a long time. Yes, I came to camps a lot but I was never able to make the Euros or Worlds team before. But I hoped and that’s why I always fought till the end and never gave up. I was moving towards my goals and years after I was finally able to go to Euros. Now I’ll work even harder and I’ll be fighting to get a spot on the Worlds team”.
“Unfortunately, in the qualification, because of my lack of experience at major competitions, I made a serious mistake on floor. I was very nervous, this was my first routine here. But I’m very happy that I was able to get myself together on the most important day and that I didn’t let my team down”.
Photo: Gymania, Israeli Gymnastics Magazine
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Where’s the link to the original article and interview in Russian?
She talked to the media in the mixed zone, so this is the interview I recorded and transcribed, hence no link. Most of the interviews from Euros were taken by me in person (unless specified otherwise)