Olga Zaitseva: I won’t forget these six errors for a long time

Falls and Rises

- Our Norwegian performance was not bad at all, I think. – told “Sport-Express” (one of the main Russian sport dailies) Russian chief coach Valeri Polkhovski. Svetlana Ishmouratova was good at the individual race, becoming the second, Olga Pyleva became the second in the sprint and of course Olga Zaitseva, who was the best in the sprint race and the second in the pursuit in Holmenkollen. Unfortunately Olga Pyleva didn’t manage to do it the best way and Svetlana Ishmouratova was not very good at shooting. Instead, Albina akhatova and Svetlana Tchernousova who were not at their own level in the sprint, improved significantly in the pursuit. As for men, Ivan Tcherezov was absolutely the best in the 20 kilometres’ distance.

- What’s happened to Akhatova in the sprint? What was the reason for such a gap from the leaders?

- The weather that day was quite complicated and Albina was not lucky about her skies, she began yielding from the very first metres. But the weather changed by the pursuit and performing greatly on the distance, Akhatova rose from the 23^rd position up to the 13^th.

I’d like to point out the pursuit done by our men. For example, Sergei Rozhkov, rose from the 43^rd starting place up to the 11^th(!) after the finish. Of course such a starting position doesn’t allow to get to the pedestal, but Sergei’s 24 points won are of great importance.

- The Beitostolen hero Nikolai Krouglov was also very impressive. He managed to come up to the top 10 and would have been higher but for his error on the last shooting.

- I’m sure, he’d have been the 4^th. Nikolai is a very intelligent and accurate person. This season seems to become crucial for him. The most important for him now is to avoid big failures so that he should become confident of himself. As far as his 14^th sprint position is concerned, he also had skies problems, as well as Akhatova. And this time we speak not about skies’ preparation, but the skies themselves. Both Akhatova and Krouglov turned out not to have a pair of skies necessary for that type of weather.

- And still this winter Krouglov managed to rise to the top 10 almost in every race, which means a real stability.

- In my opinion we have got a new biathlete able to write new pages in biathlon history and now we’re looking at his first steps. Nikolai’s got everything necessary to progress. He certainly will have both falls and rises, which are necessary for an athlete to grow and become stronger. Well, even now Krouglov’s capable of rising up to the top 3 in competitions of every rank.

When you said about falls and rises, I couldn’t but remember two latest Bjoerndalen’s performances. He was just perfect in sprint, instead in pursuit made 7(!) errors. I think his fans were not far from a heart attack.

And we, in our turn, were about the same state because of Olga Pyleva’s shooting. After two laps she yielded to the French Sandrine Bailly less than a second, but two penalty loops after the very first shooting dropped her position down. But it was not all. Olga Zaitseva did even more – made 3(!) errors at the same range and seemed to have said ‘good-bye’ to the top 3. But she was able to concentrate and be faultless the rest of the distance, which allowed her to win the silver medal. Zaitseva’s a real fighter and she proved that both at the Beitostolen relay’s final leg and in that Holmenkollen pursuit.

New skies didn’t fail

- Our congratulations for the sprint victory! You didn’t seem very much affected by the rescheduling of the race from Friday to Saturday. – this was the first question to Olga Zaitseva.

- Oh, no, I wasn’t really. Friday morning I looked through the window and understood that the race would be delayed. Such a fog doesn’t allow not only to shoot, there’s even a risk of losing oneself in the forest. That’s why I was quite relaxed on my way to the stadium, being quite conscious that we were not going to run.

- Were there any triumphal presentiments the following day?

- No, I was just prepared for my normal rhythm of work and didn’t expect a similar success from myself. The track was icy, especially on the slopes, but in general the skies were well prepared. This year I passed to use the Madshus ones, maybe it was they that helped me to cope with complicated weather conditions. And besides I was faultless on both shooting ranges. Just imagine that I had six penalty minutes in the individual on Thursday. It’s horrible even to think of it.

- And on Sunday the challenge was not easier, to keep the first position.

- Running the three penalty loops after the first shooting, I thought that it was the end of the hope. You may ask, why so many errors? I was too nervous. But when I found myself in the company of the 20ieth numbers I calmed down.

- Was it difficult to get off that swamp?

- At that moment I didn’t think of a high result, but then realized that even after a start failure I still had some chance. I concentrated and it allowed me to perform well the rest of the race.

-This season you’ve already had two sprint races, two pursuits, one long individual and a relay leg. Which of that was the most difficult?

- That very individual race with 6 errors.

- And let me guess… the most pleasant impressions are of the relay?

- Partly. While fighting with Martina Glagow on the last leg I tried to outstrip her and accidentally stepped on her pole. Someone is sure to have thought I did it intentionally, although I couldn’t even think of such things. But for this episode the relay was really wonderful.

- Do you think you’re now stronger than at the start of the season?

- С точки зрения спортивной формы чем больше стартов, тем лучше. Это аксиома. Но и усталость уже начинает накапливаться. Мы ведь еще до начала Кубка мира прошли по пять гонок. Да и дома давно не были, что тоже сказывается.

- The axiom is: the more starts, the better for the sport shape. But some weariness has begun accumulating. Don’t forget that we had done 5 races each even before the start of the season. And besides we haven’t been at home for a long time.

Lina Kholina

http://www.sport-express.ru/art.shtml?96665