Angelina Melnikova talked to TeamRussia.pro about Euros, her short vacation at home and her new car. In Russia, 18 is the legal age for driving, so Melnikova who only turned 18 last month, just got her license last week and posted a lot of pictures and stories with her car which prompted the journalists to ask about it.
A: I spent my short vacation at my parents’, in Voronezh. I used this opportunity to issue a driving license, I got it literally a day after arriving. I finished the driving school at the end of 2017 but I only turned 18 a month ago. I already drove around the city and then drove from Voronezh to Moscow*.
Q: Were you driving the white BMW X4 that you got for the Olympic silver medal in 2016?
A: No, my dad uses this car. I bought myself a new car.
Q: A small “women’s” car?
A: No. About the same size as my dad’s.
Q: Was it hard for you, a beginning driver, to drive an SUV?
A: Why would it be hard? I like driving.
Q: You gave yourself an “excellent” mark for your performance at Euros. Were you later upset because you weren’t able to win a gold medal at any of your three event finals?
A: This is already history. And generally, I always start with my capabilities. The training camp will start now, the new goals will be set for us. I’ll have to improve some things but the most important thing is to keep the consistency.
Q: In Glasgow, you tried the role of the team captain, on a team that had four newcomers. Did you help them by giving advice?
A: Perhaps, only in the organizational issues – what they can and can’t do at a competition of such level where the rules are strict. And during the competition itself, we all support each other.
Q: What did you think of Glasgow?
A: We walked around the city center a bit. Generally, it wasn’t anything special. It’s similar to Birmingham which I visited before. London was more interesting.
Q: Which country did you like the most?
A: Switzerland. There’s a lot of greenery and it’s unusually quiet. In Bern, where the European Championships took place in 2016, there are a lot of unusual fountains.
Q: Do you like the quiet?
A: On the contrary, actually. But I liked Switzerland, it’s a calm country.
Q: But still you admitted that you are thinking about moving to busy Moscow.
A: There are a lot of opportunities in the capital.
Q: Where would you like to travel to?
A: America. I’d like to see New York.
Q: Have you already looked up information on Qatar?
A: Not yet. I had a stopover at their airport once. The airport is modern but I haven’t seen anything else.
*The distance between Voronezh and Moscow is about 500 km or 300 miles.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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