Olga Safronova: “The athletics house was built in Ust-Kamenogorsk”
On December 19, the O. Rypakova Athletics Center hosted the first press conference in its history. Her heroines were four beautiful girls, four stars of athletics: Olympic Champion Olga Rypakova (O.R.), who collected a full set of medals at the Asian Games in Incheon Olga Saforonova (O.S.), as well as silver medalists of this competition in the 4-100m relay Svetlana Ivanchukova (S.I.) and Anastasia Tulapina (A.T.). – Have you ever been to Ust-Kamenogorsk before this day? How did our city greet you? – O.S. – We haven’t been to Ust-Kamenogorsk at all yet, so now we have a great opportunity to get to know the city and hold good training camps. I met the city first of all with a new arena, built in honor of our and your Olya Rypakova. It seems that her works will glorify the regional center of East Kazakhstan Region for a long time (smiles). The facility will give more than one record and produce more than one athlete with a big name. After all, young athletes run, grow up and will surely glorify Kazakhstan on the world sports arenas more than once. – Have you already had a walk around the city? – O.S. – Yes, of course we did (laughs). We liked Ust-Kamenogorsk. Yes, it’s cold, frosts, but we are used to it – we are northern. I would like to mention your playpen separately. Probably my words will seem loud to someone, but after building this arena, they built a house for us! Previously, there was a feeling that we were some kind of homeless, that no one needed us, we were kicked out from somewhere all the time, trained here and there. And here they built us a house, our temple! When we arrived, we were just stunned! We are, of course. We have seen a lot, I personally participated in the World Championships and visited similar arenas. But this is ours! Not some kind of foreign one, but ours! We are very satisfied and happy. – Where did your winter training camps take place before? – S. I. – We mainly trained in Almaty, but even there there is no such athletics base in which it would be possible to practice and conduct full-fledged training. There are only three tracks in a circle of only 150 m. It’s very difficult, and considering that the track and field team is very large, it became crowded, everyone interfered with each other. In fact, we are currently having our first winter training camps, when we can train well. The arena was simply amazing in its scale and functionality. Comfortable locker rooms that have access directly to the arena. Coverage, inventory – all this is very accessible, nothing is locked anywhere. That is, everything has been created here so that you can just concentrate on doing the exercises. – How difficult is it to compete in arenas with a standard circle and the same marking after the preparatory period took place in arenas that do not meet the world criteria? – It is really very difficult to move from one to the other. Because absolutely everything plays a role: from the coating to the length of the circle. All of this affects the results. And to produce results when training takes place in such difficult conditions as we had before… there is no need to talk about it. I am very glad that such an arena has finally appeared in Kazakhstan. – How often do they arrange foreign training camps for the National team? – A. T. – Depending on what competitions we are being prepared for. Let’s say we had three or four training camps in the Olympic year. Unfortunately, I did not get to the Games, but the preparatory period is familiar to me. – O.R. – We usually have two training camps: in the off-season and in the autumn period. the rest – depending on the competitions we are preparing for – the World Cup, the Olympic Games, sometimes the Asian Championships. We are going to the training camp, where we are conducting pre-competition training. We mainly spend time where the climate and time zone are suitable for the conditions of the place where the start will take place. There has never been such a thing that the training camps took place at arenas of this level, before we were hosted by Karaganda or Shymkent. But now it is Ust-Kamenogorsk. – Surely, in terms of popularity, your life was divided into two periods: before the Asian Games in Incheon and after them. Have they started to recognize you on the street? – O.S. – Probably the first weeks after the Asian Games, sometimes people came up and said: “And we know you, you won the 200 meters at the Asian Games.” We only remember victories. But now this hype has subsided, and thank God. Still, it distracts from the training process. Let’s say I spend most of my time in Almaty, where I train, and play for Pavlodar. And there are constant calls asking you to come somewhere, to come somewhere, to participate in something, to give an interview. And I understand that it is unpleasant for people who have to be refused, but here there is a choice between training normally and having a chance to further defend the honor of our country on the world stage, or to satisfy something momentary. – O.R. – It’s very distracting. Of course, it happens that they are asked to come at a time when training is taking place. We try to find compromises, and take into account what kind of interview or program or event it is, how much it benefits the development of sports. Then I try to find time, negotiate with the coach. But when, in principle, there is no benefit and result from the event, then, of course, it is better to spend this time on training. But over the past year, I probably haven’t turned anyone down (laughs).
The Kazakhstan national athletics team is training in Ust-Kamenogorsk
The main Kazakhstan athletics team arrived at the regional center of East Kazakhstan Region on December 13. Our squad plans a two–week training camp, which will last until the 26th of this month. The team consists of 20 athletes and two coaches. Among them are such stars as Konstantin Safronov, Anastasia Tulapina, three-time medalist of the last Asian Games Olga Safronova, Svetlana Ivanchukova and other famous athletes. In addition, Olympic Champion Olga Rypakova also conducts her training here. – The current gathering is for informational purposes, – says Olga Safronova. – I will most likely miss the entire winter season, because 2014 was very eventful. In the summer, we plan to participate in the World Relay Championships, the Asian and World Championships. So now the main thing is to approach these starts in good condition. At the same time, athletes from Karaganda, Pavlodar and Almaty hold their training camps in the arena Источник: vksport.kz