Gymnast Zaikina won gold in the ribbon exercise at the European Championships

The good news came from Bulgaria, where the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships are taking place. After a five-year break, our athletes are once again performing on the international stage with a flag and an anthem. On May 28, the first medals for the Russian national team were won by Alina Kabayeva, a junior student of the Heavenly Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy. The Olympic champion personally participated in the training of the athletes and set them up.

Tricolours are being raised above the stands: Russian fans have been waiting for this day for a long time. They loudly support our juniors — Eva Chevtayeva, Ksenia Savinova and Yana Zaikina.

"I really want Russia to win, always in the first place," said fan Gennady Galkin.

Emotions do not subside: the hoops and balls of our gymnasts fly up to the ceiling, which, by the way, is too low by the standards of the European championships here.

Yana Zaikina, a junior member of the national team, lives and trains at Alina Kabayeva's Heavenly Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy. In the tape exercise, she shows incredible technique, precision, and artistry.

After the performance, there is a bright dance for the audience. Yana gets the gold, and the crowd cheers. For the first time in five years, the Russian national anthem is being played at the European Championships.

And this result was contrary. The training conditions here are so-so: the warm-up area is too small, the gym has low ceilings, and it takes about five minutes to walk to the podium. Yana Zaikina did not qualify very well. Due to the too high humidity in the gym, the tape became sticky, and this prevented the performance of the elements, but on the second day, on the advice of Olympic champion Alina Kabayeva, the gymnast treated it with talc and did the exercise cleanly. Yana won everyone over with her complex technical exercise, which she prepared together with coach Evgenia Eliseeva.

"I was very happy for my country, Russia, that for the first time in a long time we heard our anthem. I was very glad that I was able to do everything that I had worked out," Yana Zaikina, the European champion in rhythmic gymnastics among juniors, shared her emotions.

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Daniel Marinov, the new leader of the men's national gymnastics team, brought another medal to Russia.

Another junior of "Heavenly Grace" and Evgenia Eliseeva's ward, Ksenia Savinova, demonstrates the most complex elements with a hoop to incendiary rhythmic music. This is the second place, our gymnast lost only to the Bulgarian one.

"This is not only my job, it's also the work of coaches, doctors, choreographers, judges who helped me get to these starts, prepared me. Alina Maratovna also came, trained with us, and gave us advice that helped a lot at the competitions," said Ksenia Savinova, silver medalist at the European Junior Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships.

Our gymnast Eva Chevtaeva, coached by Oksana Skaldina, was just five hundredths of a point short of bronze. She performed the exercise efficiently, but there were minor inaccuracies.

The Russian national team has a long way to go, dozens of important competitions, and each time the results are higher. Before the competition, Olympic champion Alina Kabayeva conducted training sessions with the gymnasts of the national team, gave them valuable advice and guidance.

It is well understood here how serious competition the Russian national team, which has returned to the world stage, creates for everyone.

"The Russians and Belarusians who were absent last year have returned. And, I can tell you, they perform at a very high level," said Sofia Raffaeli, a gymnast from Italy, a bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Five years ago, the European Championship was held here in Varna. The victories of our juniors are a worthy return to the world stage with the flag and anthem of Russia.

"Yes, I am a seasoned Russian girl."

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As Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev noted in an interview with Izvestia, the admission of Russian gymnasts to international competitions with a flag and anthem restored the integrity of all gymnastic sports and the Russian national team. He noted that the unification of the Russian Gymnastics Federation and the intensification of international work were the prologue to this.