Petro Pakhniuk has been having quite a good season so far, winning silver on parallel bars at the European Championships and bronze on floor at the European Games. In 2016, he represented Azerbaijan at the Olympic Games in Rio. Now, after coming back to Ukraine, he will try to help his team qualify to the Tokyo Games. However, he does not like to talk about expectations in advance:
“You never know with gymnastics. We can always dream and set goals but let’s wait until the qualification day. Let’s see what we really deserve, what we are working for. And after the competition, we’ll talk.”
While the preparation has been going well, spending a full week in Stuttgart before the competition begins takes a toll on the gymnasts:
“Everyone on the team is ready both physically and mentally. But it’s always harder to wait than to come and show your work. In the last two months, almost every day, we’ve been doing full routines. And, if statistics is to be believed, the way you’ve been working is what you’ll show. But let us compete already! A whole week before the competition is really a bit much, we’re lying in our rooms all day long. We can go for a walk but the energy… You’re always thinking – oh, I have to be careful, to save the energy, so that I won’t run out, so that I won’t get a cold. You are always worrying about it.”
Pakhniuk said he was quite impressed with the level of the organization at the competition, except for the transportation for the gymnasts:
“I really like the equipment here. Spieth apparatuses are the best, I think. The organisation… we manage to catch the bus only every other time. I have no idea why but the whole time we’ve been there, we only got on two buses on time. The rest of the trips weren’t on time. Today, before the podium training, we waited for the bus for an hour. No one explains to us what’s the reason. Regarding the warm-up gym, the arena, and other gyms – the apparatuses are really good, they’re all the same everywhere.”
Pakhniuk’s teammate Oleg Verniaiev was also quite upset with the bus situation:
“Everything here is fine, but there’s a huge problem with buses. I don’t understand it. Today, when we needed to go to the podium training, the bus arrived an hour late. That’s not normal. First, we sit there for an hour, then we arrive an hour later than we needed. And this happens every day, It’s not ok at all. We come out after practice and stand there for forty minutes waiting for the bus. You are on the street, it’s cold, you can’t sit down, nothing. This is a huge disadvantage but the rest is fine. The gyms are great, the apparatuses are great. I know that people in Germany love gymnastics.”
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