Because the Russian national team usually travels only with the NT coaches, Angelina Melnikova is in Tokyo without her personal coaches. Natalia Ishkova and Sergey Denisevich are cheering on her from home. Natalia Ishkova was Melnikova’s first coach and started coaching her again a few years ago. Sergey Denisevich took over and started working with Melnikova a couple of years before her first Olympics and is now working with her as an assistant coach.
Ishkova said she hopes for a medal for Melnikova in the all-around final:
“Yesterday [in the team final], Angelina had mistakes, of course. Besides the fall on beam, she had errors on floor. But considering the difficult conditions in which athletes have to compete in Tokyo, I think she did a great job and accomplished all her goals.”
“I’d like for Angelina to be more confident in the all-around final. After all, she has everything she needs for a good performance. I’m really worried though whether they’ll be able to recover after the team final. They got to the apartment late and went to eat at 3 am. But I’m still expecting a medal from her, I’m sure she should perform well.”
Melnikova was asked multiple times about whether she will go for Paris-2024 and said she doesn’t know yet. Ishkova said it will depend on Melnikova’s mental health that suffered during the pandemic:
“Regarding the 2024 Olympics, Angelina’s physical state allows her to expect to compete in the next Games as well. But mentally, she’s really exhausted after these 1.5 years when she had to train with no breaks. So, we’re not even thinking about Paris for now.”
Sergey Denisevich talked a bit about Melnikova’s character:
“Angelina and I have been working for 8 years, including the Rio Olympics in 2016 where she also won a medal. After that, she started working with another coach and I’m her second coach now. Since she was a child, we all saw that she was very talented, very hard-working, she’s always trained and competed with fire in her eyes and it’s always been very easy to work with her because she never cried. Hence the results. But overall, all the girls did a great job, the whole team, they’re just heroes.”
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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