The Belorussian WAG has experienced a downfall in the recent years. In 2015, the federation even chose to recruit two US gymnasts to send them to the World Championships as they didn’t expect their own gymnasts to be able to qualify to the test event and then to the Olympics. However, in 2016, Oleg Ostapenko came to Belarus from Brazil and started the groundwork for restoring the program. Ostapenko has since left for Ukraine but the gymnasts he recruited back in 2016 competed at the European Championships in Glasgow. The junior team had a nervous showing at their first major competition but the potential is there and Olga Barkalova, the current WAG head coach, hopes that the current juniors will go far. Three of the gymnasts who competed in Glasgow will turn senior next year and since Minsk is hosting the 2019 European Games, the gymnasts will be under significant pressure to show good results there.
Gymnovosti talked to Olga Barkalova during the European Championships in Glasgow.
Q: In the past two years, the team had several head coaches. How did it affect the team, how do the gymnasts manage?
A: At the moment, we gathered a team of professionals: people who want to work, want results. I hope that all the changes are already in the past and now we’ll only be working towards the results.
Q: Do you think you’ll be able to qualify three spots to the European Games that will take place in Minsk?
A: I think we have good chances.
Q: What are the nearest competitions?
A: The Youth Olympic Games are soon.
Q: Do you already know who will represent Belarus there?
A: We will have a selection among the gymnasts but we have already qualified one spot. At the moment, this is generally the only serious competition that the junior team will have this year. And then they’ll have to compete as seniors, there will be a lot of serious competitions where they’ll have to compete with the masters of gymnastics. The girls’ eyes are lit, they started treating the sport very seriously recently. They used to be a bit too young but now they’re growing up and starting to understand what gymnastics is and they just start to understand everything and want it.
Q: Are your seniors currently injured since they didn’t come to Glasgow?
A: Not all of them, we just didn’t have a senior team, we decided to leave them home. We’ll be trying to prepare for the World Championships. We’re going to have a team there and, of course, we’ll try to make the top-24 in order to give a chance to these girls [the current juniors]. The plan is to have three girls on the Worlds team: Hanna Traukova, Mariya Lastouskaya, and Aleksandra Netyazhenko. Three girls should be enough. We’ll try, we’ll prepare and we’ll hope that everything works out.
Photo: Getty Images
