The anthem of Russia was heard recently in Hawaii. This island, one of 24 Hawaiian islands of the archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, is known in the entire world as a center of tourism and climatic health resort. The international competition "Pacific Alliance" took place there in Honolulu, the capital of the American state of Hawaii, which is located on the Oahu island.
Among the participants to the "Pacific Alliance", there were four Kuban trampolinists. This is what Head Coach Vitaly Dubko described to us in a conversation.
Vitaly Dubko: This thought of a sports vacation was a huge show to promote the sport for the pleasure of the numerous tourists. The organizers included the trampoline to the artistic gymnastics event as trampoline's popularity has grown exponentially since it became an Olympic sport. Countries bordering the Pacific Ocean were all there. The USA, Canada, Japan, China are all part of the elite in trampoline. Even Australia swiftly rises. It already has an Olympic silver medal. In New Zealand, an increased interest for trampoline is observed...
Question: Was the "Pacific Alliance" competition of any interest from a sports perspective?
Vitaly Dubko: Frankly speaking, I do not know what happened on the gymnastics carpet, and on the gymnastics apparatuses, how high the level of the competition was there. In the trampoline competition, it was at the top level. The best teams included not only us but also the Canadians, Americans, Japanese, New Zealanders, the Australians led by
Wallace, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist. The Europeans were not there, of course, particularly the Germans, French, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Danes, Dutchmen, and Englishmen, but the level of competition was very high as was the heat of passions. The Pacific Alliance Championship was in no way different than a World Cup competition. It was also useful to check the forces in presence before a whole series of major competitions which are coming soon.
Question: What was the program of the competition?
Vitaly Dubko: Olympic. Only individual trampoline. Without the synchro and team competitions. Everything took place rapidly, dynamically.
Question: Did the tourists appear interested in the competitions?
Vitaly Dubko: The arena did not empty, and this circumstance made it necessary to come out with the maximum focus.
Question: What happened on the trampoline?
Vitaly Dubko: I let you judge by yourself. What could happen if the victory in the women's competition was disputed by the Olympic Champion and four time World Champion
Irina Karavaeva, the former European Champion, World Silver Medalist in Holland and World Champion in synchro
Natalia Chernova, the sharp Canadian
Karen Cockburn, medalist at the Olympic Games and former World Champion, her teammate
MacLennan, the Chinese
Li Dan... You will agree that it is a bright constellation of stars. The winner was
Karavaeva, who brilliantly performed her already seasoned routine.
Ira won the compulsory, she was first after the preliminaries, and she was the best in the final. None of the five execution marks for the Olympic Champion was below 8.00 pts.
Karavaeva performed the highest degree of difficulty - 14,70 pts. Her victorious total score was 39,00 pts. The performance of the first lady of the trampoline world did not leave anybody indifferent.
The Chinese woman Li Dan was second with 37,20 pts (degree of difficulty - 13,60 pts). She was behind Irina in all areas. Only one judge placed her in her opinion with a grade higher than 8.00 pts, even though she was, as you can guess, the Chinese judge. But Li Dan is a serious trampolinist, from whom it is possible to expect surprises at any moment. Already the fact that she beat Cockburn and Chernova says a lot. The Canadian's difficulty was not sufficient (14,00 pts), and as a result she barely trailed the Chinese woman - 37,10 pts. In my opinion, Chernova had to be in the top 3. Yes, Natasha lacked a little height but her performance did not lose the comparison with Cockburn's, but their degree of difficulty was the same. I think that several judges held back the second Russian athlete. The fifth place was occupied by the Canadian MacLennan, who showed a routine with a strong degree of difficulty (13,80 pts), but her performance was far from irreproachable in execution.
In the men's, Sasha Rusakov (Yeisk), the reigning World Champion, won. His victory is uncontestable. The talented athlete coached by Oleg Zaporozhchenko jumped simply cleanly: with height (degree of difficulty - 16,20 pts), demonstrating an excellent execution (all five marks above the 8.00 mark), landing at the very center of the trampoline. This was a performance of the World Champion. He obtained the remarkable total score of 41.00 pts in the final.
The second place was taken by the Japanese Ueyama, one of best trampolinists in the world, the World silver medalist in individual. The improvement of the Japanese athlete is clearly noticeable. I have no doubt that he will be one of the primary contenders for the victory at the Beijing Olympics along with Rusakov, the Ukrainian Nikitin, and the trampolinists from Germany and Canada. Ueyama is a very strong and promising athlete. It is true nonetheless that the Japanese lost to Rusakov in Honolulu by a significant margin - 0.70 pts after obtaining 40.30 pts in the finals. The third place was occupied by the Canadian Jason Burnett. I have to acknowledge that his performance made a strong impression on me. He is young, daring, and technical. The Canadian had the highest degree of difficulty - 16.40 pts and obtained good marks for the execution. He lost to the Japanese for only one tenth - 40.20 pts, but beat the Chinese Mu Yongfeng by 0.60 pts. German Khnychev, whose organism, apparently, did not manage well the acclimatization, appeared somewhat tired, and took the fifth place - 38,50 pts (degree of difficulty - 15,60 pts). The American Chris Estrada obtained 38,30 pts. The Australian Wallace, the silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics, fell in the final due to stress...
Question: As the coach of the Russian Team, are you happy with the performance of the Russian trampolinists?
Vitaly Dubko: We won both competitions. This is the best possible result. But it is necessary to keep in mind that the athletes did not yet reach their optimal shape. Even though I saw that many times, when the flag of Russia rose in Hawaii in honor of Karavaeva's and Rusakov's victory, when the anthem of the country was played, I had a feeling of pride for its power, for the Kuban region.
Question: You traveled all over the world...
Vitaly Dubko: It was for the first time in Hawaii. Oahu is comparatively a small island: four hour are sufficient in order to drive from one end to the other. Honolulu is a bright and entertaining center. Exotic nature, ocean,...
Question: Did you and your fantastic four have any free time?
Vitaly Dubko: It is amazing, but we never had this much free time. I do not know why, but after the end of the competition, we were stuck on the island for two extra days. What did they do? They disappeared in essence. Well, and naturally, they swam in the ocean. They were collecting forces before hitting the road. Imagine, 20 hours in the air with stops in Paris and San Francisco...
Question: After the wonderfully executed job, is it possible to rest?
Vitaly Dubko: Alas no. Literally, this week, we are flying to Belgium, where the World Cup event awaits us. Then, we will return to Krasnodar, and again, after a short respite, we will join the fight for the medals. In Krasnodar, the traditional international competition in memory of the Soviet airman-cosmonaut and hero Georgi Dobrovolsky and the next World Cup event will take place.
Question: The International Gymnastics Federation, that rules trampoline, must have been happy with last year's organization of the World Cup competition in Krasnodar, since the best trampolinists in the world will compete again in the capital of the Kuban region...
Vitaly Dubko: This is true. I am glad for the people from Krasnodar as they so rarely see their champions. And for the popularity of trampoline, the arrival of world stars is a gigantic step forward.
Question: Is it already known who will gather as guests?
Vitaly Dubko: The preliminary entries are coming from 23 countries, among them - all trampoline powers: Germany, England, France, Japan, China, the Ukraine, Belorussia...We expect the Olympic Champions Anna Dogonadze and Yuri Nikitin, the former World Champions Cockburn and Stehlik, the Olympic medalists Huang Shanshan and Wallace, and also many other stars - the Englishwoman Wright, the Ukrainian Of Movchan, the Frenchman Martin.
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