Vera Zvonareva (1984- ), Olympic bronze-medallist in women’s tennis
Russian Olympic tennis trainer Shamil Tarpishchev said, “The Beijing Olympics proved Russia’s high ranking in the world of tennis today”. These words came after three Russian girls swept all the singles medals and covered the podium with the white, blue, and red colours of the Russian flag. Gold, Yelena Demtieva, Silver, Dinara Safina, and Bronze, Vera Zvonareva. This was the first time in Olympic tennis history that the awards podium was swept by a hat-trick from one nation. The last thing anything similar happened was in 1908, exactly a hundred years ago, when three British girls won a major tournament.
This is our common victory, and it makes all Russians proud that we managed to do it. Each of the matches was very hard-fought. There was no easy way into the finals. Practically all the matches lasted over two-and-a-half hours. That makes the victory even sweeter. Each of the girls that went up onto the podium really earned it. They did a great thing on the courts of China. We asked Coach Tarpishchev, “Who of the girls were you rooting for most?”
He said, “I have a job that doesn’t allow me to root for anyone. Otherwise, the whole team would fall apart. My job is to encourage first-rate tennis and that all the girls play better and better. I think we managed to do that this time”.
We asked him, “The Russian girls lost in the doubles. Was the cause of that?”
Coach Tarpishchev replied, “Not a single medallist in the singles got a medal in the doubles. And vice versa. This goes to show that the schedule of the tournament which was worked out, was, to put it mildly, unrealistic. In order to win in the singles and doubles, you would have to win eleven matches within seven days! That’s physically impossible!”
We asked, “What’s the reason the Russian men’s players didn’t get any medals? Could call this a failure?”
“I wouldn’t call it a failure. I would call it the luck of the draw, or rather, the bad luck of the draw. All of our boys lost to the world’s absolute top players in the early rounds of the tournament, against those who play just a little bit better. If we had been a bit luckier with the draw, then I think our men, even if they didn’t get the gold, could have made their way to a medal”, Coach Tarpishchev commented.
18 August 2008
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=31264&cid=63&p=18.08.2008 (in English)
