BruceFlorman wrote:I've posted my last two Russian translations to the wPV thread in the Olympics forum, but I thought I'd link them here in case someone is looking for them later. Of course I may have to re-link them next week after Becca closes that forum, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.
sovsport.ru wrote:Double Olympic champion Yelena Isinbaeva: I would like to become a mother-heroine
Beijing-2008
Olympics Chronicle
20 August, 2008, №120(17604)
REPORT FROM THE "RUSSIAN HOUSE"
— Today your performance was simply a Hollywood plot. This was your plan?
— You can’t plan something like this. I generally try for ‘O’s at all four heights. It’s difficult for me to comprehend what happened for me today.
— Still, what is it that you whisper to yourself under your breath prior to jumping?
— For the thousandth time I won’t tell. And beneath the towel I was hiding from the TV cameras.
— On subbotnik(1) thousands of comrades helped Lenin carry a log. You have a similar story: everyone wants to be with you in one car, to give you a hand, to go with you on stage. The latest example: Svetlana Khorkina said that she studied with you in one gymnastics school.
— Svetlana came from Kursk to Volgograd, to our school for a training camp, and she was my idol. Since then our roads have diverged, but she has been successful, and I’m extremely happy for her.
— Khorkina considers you to be an international class master of sport in gymnastics…
— She exaggerates my merits. In gymnastics I’m altogether just a master.(2)
— Where did the last phase of your preparations for Beijing take place?
— In Japan, along with the Swedish team. It was hotter than in Beijing there, and I was worried about the heat and smog. But here everything is lovely.
— Did you follow the performances of Russian athletes at the Olympics?
— I didn’t dare. I always get too involved when watching TV. I was afraid that my emotions wouldn’t be enough for myself. Therefore, I watched nothing and spoke to no one on the phone. My coach Vitaly Petrov just gave me a little political information.
— How long do you plan to stay in Beijing?
— Until August 24th. I’m here for the first time, and I really like it. I want to visit the shops, buy souvenirs, climb the Great Wall of China, and see the Forbidden City. I’ve got meetings and [official] activities ahead, then I’ll drop into Monaco for two days before heading back into battle. This season I still have five more starts, and then I’ll go home to Volgograd to rest.
— What competitions do you plan to visit during the Games?
— It’s better if I don’t show up in the stands, as you see how people react. I get to see nothing myself, and it interferes with the other spectators.
— Are you not tired by such a furious pace?
— I’m not complaining, where else will you find such human love?
— What new heights do you dream about now?
— I want to become a mother-heroin - laughs Isinbaeva infectiously.
BEIJING, Aug 26, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Three of OMEGA's brand ambassadors reflected on their experiences at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the final scheduled event at the Swiss watchmaker's Pavilion on Olympic Green. Sprinters Tyson Gay and Kim Gevaert were joined on stage by pole vaulting champion Yelena Isinbayeva and they discussed the highs and lows which characterize every Olympic Games.
For Isinbayeva, a Russian who has established herself has the greatest woman pole vaulter in the history of the sport, there were mostly highs (literally) as she defended the gold medal she had won in Athens by setting a world record of 5.05 metres.
more
Elena Vaitsekhovskaya wrote:Among the principal heroes of the Olympics were American swimmer Michael Phelps and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbaeva. The journalists went after them in swarms, catching every word, and the price of exclusive interviews with these stars, they say, was in excess of a hundred thousand dollars. Fortunately, "SE" didn’t have to pay such money: our opportunity to speak with these famous Olympians, one on one, came about thanks to our long-standing friendly relationship with the Omega company – chief timekeepers of the 2008 Games.
Elena ISINBAEVA: “I WANT MY RECORD TO STAND FOR A HUNDRED YEARS”
Elena VAITSEKHOVSKAYA
from Beijing
It happens that in the entire time that Isinbaeva has been performing at the international level, I have never had the opportunity to get acquainted with the athlete herself. Although I can say we’ve met. Eight years ago I was returning to Moscow from Vienna, and in neighboring seats on the plane sat a coach and a very young athlete. The girl wept. And her mentor didn’t comfort, but rather scolded her: “Understand this; you are not weaker than she was. You must simply believe that you are able to win yourself. And then she will be no competition at all for you.”
The world has long ago learned to recognize Isinbaeva at first glance, but every time, looking at the way she wins, I recall this old story: Lena crying and her coach, Yevgeny Trofimov, there in that plane.
It seems that it was even slightly unusual for the sportswoman to switch back to her native language. Isinbaeva’s managers arranged her schedule so that after her triumphant performance, her attention mainly favored foreign television networks. But the Champion was in a good mood. I expressed my sympathy regarding her busy schedule of meetings with the press, and she smiled: “No problem. There’s not much left.”
- I’ve been following your appearances with great pleasure for a long time. Who first put it into your head to turn your competition into a spectacle, and who so brilliantly brought this notion to life?
Isinbaeva sincerely laughed:
- Nobody thought up anything. This all happens spontaneously, live, so I don’t even know how you got this opinion.
- Because the competitions in which you participate are most reminiscent of a well-prepared show, where every step, every detail, is thought through and produced.
- Maybe the fact is that I prepare for every competition equally? If I shut myself off from everyone with a towel, I do this at all my tournaments. I prepare to jump the same way too. It’s another matter regarding which attempt at a height it is. Whether it’s the first attempt or the second. But I’m pleased that people perceive it that way. It’s great when the public goes to the stadium as if to a show.
- You want to say that even the white, red and blue blankets (in complete coordination with the colors of the Russian flag) with which you covered your head during the competition, this was also impromptu?
- Of course. We were simply outfitted this way. I used them, without thinking about taking them in a particular order.
- You usually complete the competition, when all the other athletes have already finished competing. You do this intentionally?
- No, of course. It just comes out that way. I always start the competition at the same height - 4.70. It’s not my fault that the other girls are starting from a lower altitude and I have to wait for them. Some sportswomen generally don’t reach my starting level. That’s just the way it is.
- And how are you most comfortable - to compete when other events are going on in parallel with your jumps, or when you remain alone in front of the whole stadium?
- It’s hard to say. I love it when I’m alone. When all the attention is drawn to me only, when everyone supports just me. But this has it’s own difficulties too. After warming up, I have to wait around for an hour and a half or two, and my muscles cool down. My adrenaline goes away. True, when I do get onto the runway, it comes back. In fact, I don’t think about it very much – I’ve become accustomed to it. But if you say that my performance looks like a spectacle, I’m glad. This shows that I’ve managed to play my role beautifully.
- Therefore I thought that you must work with a whole team of people responsible for the scenario of your behavior.
- No, this isn’t so.
- And do you ever use the services of an image-maker?
- No.
- And how are you left to yourself during big events such as the Games?
- I’m generally not. Everything that I’m doing here is due to some obligation or another. But right now I’m appearing solely for myself.
- Doesn’t it irritate you that your every move is scheduled in advance down to the minute, regardless of your wishes and feelings?
- It’s rarely this way – only after success at major competitions. The photo sessions I have three or four times a year, are another matter, where in one such session I have a lot of photos taken, which then get published for a long time, almost continuously somewhere. I can understand how someone might actually get the impression that I’m generally not involved with pole vaulting, and deal exclusively with secular life: advertising projects, press conferences…
- I suspect there’s not a person left in Beijing who doesn’t know that you’re in love. But was it necessary to feel terribly lonely, so that everything on the sports side would be in good order?
- It happened. And I’m glad that these moments are behind.
- Is it easy for you to get together with people; make new acquaintances and contacts?
- Now, yes. Generally I don’t have to do anything for this - people come to me. But to get acquainted and begin associating easily, it’s much harder to truly believe the people who surround you. When an athlete is on a wave of success, there’s no end of friends and acquaintances. Those who constantly offer assistance, approach with some business proposals, simply wanting to make friends. And to understand who is who, is much more difficult now than a few years ago, when I was nobody. Although, by and large, no one has ever betrayed me. Probably because I’ve never trusted anyone completely.
- Have you been burned?
- Not in this case. I simply don’t believe that someone can make better decisions for me than I can make myself. I don’t believe that if I open my soul, people will sincerely help me. Of course, there’s a circle of people where this attitude doesn’t apply. My parents, my sister, and now – my dear friend. They will never betray me.
- Lena, where do you now find the motivation to continue competing?
- I don’t know… To be the center of attention, to achieve success, to popularize my event so children will follow my example. I often receive letters in which children write that they’ve started pole vaulting and want to be like me… They write that they always follow my competitions and are energized by them. That watching me, they understand that anything is possible. These words drive me forward. And on the other hand – what else can I do? Furthermore, I have only four more years in the sport. Then a completely different life will begin. Not so rich. Maybe even boring and monotonous.
- Are you afraid of this moment?
- A little bit. I’m sure that I won’t disappear: I’m surrounded by good people. The home front is strong, so I’ll find my place in life.
- At least approximately, what would you imagine being involved with so that your new profession brought the same excitement and pleasure that sport brings you?
- There are no such occupations. And such emotions I’ve never and nowhere experienced more strongly.
- This must frighten you most of all.
- Oh it does. On the other hand, I can’t completely rule out that in four years I could be so very tired of the sport that I’ll want a quiet life. Or rather, I’ll want to find something that will inspire me in a completely new way.
- But are you afraid of losing?
- Strong people don’t think about defeat. Thus I don’t think about it.
- Is your schedule for this year now finished?
- No. I still have five competitions remaining, the first of which will be on August 29th in Zürich. Then Brussels, Stuttgart, Shanghai and Korea.
- How do you manage to keep yourself in form for so long?
- It’s difficult, of course. Even now I feel exhausted from the stress of all this attention. On the other hand, to perform in any other tournament after winning the Olympics is like coming to a barnyard competition. I’m prepared for these starts, naturally, focused, but psychologically I feel completely relaxed about the result.
- At one time I was well acquainted with Sergey Bubka and still sometimes recall that he never achieved the full results that Sergey was capable of in his prime. Like you, he preferred to break world records, adding single centimeters, then simply ran out of time. You now have a huge margin over the bar – it’s obvious to everyone. Does the thought never enter your mind to go out and really blow it up?
- Okay, in 2012 I’ll blow it up – and leave.
- And where is your limit?
- I don’t know. Vitaly Afanasevich (Isinbaeva’s current coach Vitaly Petrov – ed.) says that it’s around 5.15 - 5.20. So I’ll jump 5.20 in London. I think this will be enough so no one ever smashes this record. So I’ll remain unconquered in athletics.
- Well, you know, even Michael Phelps, who won his eighth gold medal in Beijing, said that he absolutely doesn’t believe that the record must remain in history forever. Because, in his view, no record should stand forever.
- I’ll be satisfied if mine stands for a hundred years.
#!@^% Yelena Isinbaeva kept suitor secret from her mother
Natalya Isinbaeva, the famous Olympic champion pole vaulter’s mom, acknowledged that the fact her daughter has a significant other was news to her.
Recall that Yelena declared for the first time about Artem to the whole world after her triumphant leap at the Olympics in Beijing when she cleared the fantastic height of five meters, five centimeters, setting a new world record. Yelena then expressed greetings into the television camera to Artem and dedicated the jump to her mom, whose birthday was that day.
“That was the first time I heard about this Artem,” said Natalya Petrovna. “After the Olympics Lena called me from France, and I said to her: Daughter, why have you told me nothing about Artem. And she laughed and said: Mom, this isn’t for a telephone conversation, but you’ll learn everything when I get home. I only know that Artem is also an athlete. But just what form he’s involved with, I don’t know.”
Now mom is looking forward to when Yelena returns home to Volgograd. The Olympic champion, who has intrigued the entire country by sending greetings to her mysterious young man, is expected home in October.
Suitors
The relationship with Artem the athlete from Donetsk, where Yelena now trains, is the famous Champion’s second romance. Several years ago she was involved with the athlete Igor Alekseev, who was also training with Yevgeny Trofimov, Yelena’s coach at the time. Igor is an international class master of sport in pole vaulting, but the common interest wasn’t sufficient to keep the young people together. And after some time they separated.
“Igor now lives in Belarus, where he has a close girlfriend,” Tamara Trofimova, wife of Isinbaeva’s former coach, tells us. “But I don’t advise you ask about his past relationship with Lena. You understand, he has a new love. And previously he’s always gotten angry when asked such questions.”
Journalist:
Andrey Muravev
A. Vandenko wrote:Olympic champion Yelena Isinbaeva: Let my rivals see me as a harpy!
August 27th, 2008, №124(17610) A. Vandenko
LIGHT ATHLETICS. "GOLDEN PEDESTAL"
BEST ATHLETE OF JULY
Following a vote by viewers of the "Sport" television channel, Yelena Isinbaeva has been named best Russian athlete of July. In the July pre-Olympic competition she outscored tennis player Dinara Safina, fencer Sofiya Velikaya, volleyball player Maxim Mikhailov and water polo player Ekaterina Pantyulina. The fans’ confidence in Yelena proved fully justified in August, as she became the Olympic champion in Beijing and set a new world record in the pole vault.
This interview cost me two complete sets of Russian Olympic team uniforms. To be precise, not me, but the "Bosco di Ciliegi" company. Yelena’s manager, a Swede named Andy(1), transparently hinted to Olga Yudkis, who was responsible for the Russian Bosco Club’s contacts with the outside world in Beijing and who graciously agreed to help arrange my meeting with the prima athlete, that he liked our team’s garments. And, he said, Isinbaeva’s personal coach, the Ukrainian Vitaly Petrov, did as well.
He didn’t have to repeat the phrase twice - the people working for "Bosco" are sharp, catching everything on the fly. In short, two red bags moved from the trunk of one car to the cabin of another, and I received a forty-five minute tête-à-tête with Yelena. In my opinion the Swede sold too cheaply: A world-class star is expensive. Our Yelena especially!
ABOUT LENIN, MONACO AND ARTEM
– Have you not yet been compared with Lenin, Lena?
– In what way? In Russia’s pride it’s been gold and even diamonds, but so far I haven’t heard about the leader of the world proletariat. This is something new!
– On subbotnik Vladimir Ilyich absently touched a log. It later turned out that several hundred people had been involved with helping him carry the heavy weight. Similarly, after your triumph in Beijing, all sorts of people are willing to share your burden of victory. Even Svetlana Khorkina recalls that she once trained with you.
– Yes, I started in gymnastics, and somehow Sveta came to one of our training camps in Volgograd. I looked up at her so: she was a star, an idol, and I – a shmakodyavka(2) seeking hope. I’m surprised that Khorkina hasn’t forgotten that meeting!
– And have you heard that the fountain in front of the "Vysota" cinema in Moscow has been named after you? Probably they’ll give you tickets to the premieres for free.
– That can’t be! You’re pulling my leg! Even with one eye that’s how it looks!
– Come see for yourself.
– I won’t be able before October. Now I’ll drop in to Monaco for a couple of days, to change clothes as they say, and then it’s back into competition: Zürich, Brussels, Stuttgart, Korea, Shanghai…
– You’ve gotten used to Monte Carlo?
– Completely. I’ve made acquaintances, friends, begun to socialize more freely, to understand the languages - English, Italian.
– Yes, I saw in "Casa Italia" in Beijing, you spoke with the owners and were not, as they say, at a loss for words.
– Thanks for the compliment, but as yet I can only converse about general themes, and have yet to grasp all the subtleties and nuances of the language. This will take more time. Yet I’m teaching myself the language, without tutors, as I believe that with practice anything is easily mastered.
– You will eventually settle on the French Riviera?
– I haven’t yet acquired living space. I’m renting an apartment, but I want to buy something of my own. Most likely, I’ll live in two homes – part of the time with my parents in Volgograd, and part in Monte Carlo. I can’t leave my homeland altogether, but I also need to think about my children. Certainly it would be more comfortable for them to grow up in Monaco, with idyllic conditions for life: the sea, cleanliness, beauty.
– Excuse me Lena; I missed something in the conversation, what children are you talking about?
– About my own. In the future. I won’t jump forever, right? Sometime I’ll have a family, a husband, and children.
– Well yes, now the whole country knows about Artem, about whom you yourself honestly spoke of after your victory in Beijing.
– I was asked, and I answered. And why hide it, if it’s true?
– A Ukrainian lad kidnaps the beauty of Russia!
– We got acquainted awhile back in Donetsk… I’m curious about how, among my friends, is it possible to kidnap me if I didn’t want it myself?
ABOUT HER DEAR POLES
– Do you have a lucky pole, a champion?
– Yes they are all like my relatives, beloved. You see it: I even talk with them before I jump…
– How much do your dear relatives weigh?
– I’ve never been asked this question. I think two and a half kilograms. But when you take the pole and try to raise it, of course you need to apply more effort. During training I usually make 12-15 jumps. I can’t say the load is all that heavy, but I feel it.
– Vitaly Petrov says that Sergey Bubka took 6.20 in training. You assert that outside of competition you don’t even attempt record heights.
– That’s right. When I was younger I could pump myself up by competing against myself. But now what’s the point? I haven’t had anything to prove for a long time. Much less to myself. Vitaly Afanasevich pays so much attention to my jumping technique. If there’s no problem there, I’ll always be able to fly over the bar.
– At first glance it appeared that neither the American Stuczynski who was second, nor bronze medalist Feofanova, congratulated you on your victory in Beijing.
– I don’t need their words.
– Even spoken by a compatriot?
– We’ve never been friends. But this doesn’t mean I hate Svetlana. I don’t care. I don’t seek relations with my rivals, since I don’t believe in friendship between strong people fighting for one place in the sun. This is my position. Let them see me as a [female dog](3) or harpy. Maybe it’s for the best.
ABOUT THE RUSSIAN FLAG
– When our basketball team departed ignominiously from the tournament, I doubt I was the only one who briefly thought: eh, we shouldn’t have entrusted the Russian flag to Kirilenko at the opening ceremony, but to Isinbaeva.
– I learned from the newspapers that I allegedly first agreed to be the standard-bearer, and then later refused to. In reality, Athletics Federation president Valentin Balakhnichev called me and said that they considered my candidacy but decided not to disrupt my preparation schedule for the Games.
– And if they’d strongly urged you to?
– I think Russia values my gold medal, and not the formal walk into the Beijing stadium. In the end, I did a lap of honor there after my victory. And in four years, I’ll gladly carry our flag in London.
– The question is decided?
– I've already promised. The 2012 Olympics will be the last for me, and I want to participate in both the opening, and closing. Indeed, in Beijing I essentially saw nothing, and didn’t go to any competitions. I didn’t watch myself or anyone else. I never expected that I’d be the focus of attention wherever I went. Of course it’s difficult to constantly have cameras aimed at you, but at the same time, I’m really happy that I was received this way. When else have I found such human love? I tried not to deny any requests for autographs, or to be photographed together. I always recalled how I approached the famous and asked about a photo for a keepsake.
– For example?
– In Sydney I had a comical episode with Aleksandr Lebzyak, our renowned boxer. After a fight Sasha’s nose had a strange bluish color when viewed from the side. Apparently he took a hard hit. And I, the eighteen-year-old fool, blurt out, what’s this, a mole with you? Lebzyak looked at me and replied: “Yes, a saber caught me while fencing.” Only later did I learn who I’d been speaking with, and I felt like such a plug! I thought: “Mamma, how I’ve disgraced myself!” I sought out Sasha, apologized, and asked permission to be photographed with him. He laughed a long time…
ABOUT CHARITY AND FARIES
– I heard you’ve taken up charity, Yelena?
– It’s loudly said!
– And how’s it going?
– I’ve spent a bit for children.
– You’re forcing me to ask leading questions: For what?
– At an orphanage in Volgograd. I bought gifts. Things which the kids themselves asked for.
– You were prepared to fulfill any desire?
– So I said. Initially the children didn’t believe, but I handed out paper and asked them to write a cherished dream. Just one. Many were quite modest, limited to balls, mobile phones, bicycles, roller skates. I collected the notes, went to a store, bought everything, and brought it the next day. The children went nuts and looked at me like a fairy. I won’t deny it was a pleasure. And this isn’t a singular act devised for myself and brought to an end. I will get around to all the Volgograd orphanages. Though true, not right away.
– Andrey Kirilenko established a charitable fund in his own name, chose several sports schools, orphanages, and the department of children's oncology in his native St. Petersburg, and regularly helps support them as much as possible. The strength, you must understand, exists. In five years Andrey has invested more than a million hard-earned dollars in this cause.
– Yes, I’m thinking of something similar, but I really don’t want to give cash. It’s better to provide concrete aid. It’s less likely for anything to get lost along the road. Of course you need some structure to take on the organizational issues. There’s little good from shoddy work. True, in Russia the attitude toward charity is, let’s say, ambiguous. It’s as if by being unselfish, giving from your soul, you make yourself look suspicious. Evidently, I’ll register my fund in the West, but it will work in Russia. I have already asked my manager to work out the legal nuances.
– And why, incidentally, is your agent a Varangian?
– Yes for the same reasons I just spoke of. It’s simpler, more convenient and safer.
ABOUT SEVENTH HEAVEN
– You’re tormented by the question of how high you intend to jump, but you answer evasively.
– Everyone knows about my singular goal: I dream of setting thirty-six world records, at least one more than Sergey Nazarovich Bubka. He had exactly thirty-five such achievements, as you know. I won’t predict a specific figure to which I’ll raise the bar. I understand that there’s no limit, there is always something to strive for. I would reach out to the heavens!
– Which of them is it for you, Lena?
– The seventh!
Okay... not quite as "colorful" as I'd thought.Lynxyara wrote:Shmakodyavka means girl-teenager
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