Tatyana Lebedeva celebrates Paris win (© Getty Images)
Russia’s athletes will use their participation at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary (5 – 7 March 2004) as a crucial element in their preparation for next summer’s Olympic Games.
Top team for Budapest
At a press conference in Moscow yesterday (17 December) the chief coach of the national team Valeriy Kulichenko said that there would be no problem assembling a powerful team for Budapest.
“All the top athletes want to participate in Budapest, they have expressed their desire to be there,” said Kulichenko, “and we hope to select a very strong indoor team.”
Kuptsova - full indoor season
Marina Kuptsova, the women’s World High Jump silver medallist this summer confirmed, “my first (international) start in 2004 will be at the meeting in Glasgow in January 23 and then I am going to compete in Budapest."
"My goal is to reach my top form at the indoor competitions. I think (this year) that it will be easier to qualify for a (Budapest) team place at the national indoor championships." NB. She was not in the team in Birmingham last March.
Her coach and father Gennadiy Kuptsov says that Marina must test herself in the big international meetings to improve her mental strength, and that later this week she will make the first of her training jumps. As usual she begins jumping about six weeks before the first competition. This year from the early on she will attack 2.00. “I think that her rivals in Russia are still exhausted after very heavy season,” he commented.
Lebedeva will Long Jump too
After a great season in 2003 in which she retained her World outdoor title, Tatyana Lebedeva rejected the idea that she should take some rest before beginning her Olympic campaign. Lebedeva confirmed that in her first winter competitions she wants to participate in Long Jump but that in Budapest she will become a triple jumper again. It looks like Lebedeva cannot forget her brilliant victory in long jump at Moscow Challenge meeting last September.
Feofanova - Russian athlete of the year
World indoor and outdoor Pole Vault champion Svetlana Feofanova and her coach Yevgeniy Bondarenko, who have been elected as a best Russian athlete and coach of the year were also happy to comment on their plans for 2004.
“Svetlana will decide later about her start in Budapest,” said Bondarenko, “it depends on her jumps this winter and her own desire to participate at the World Indoor Championships. Her first start will be in Glasgow. But it is quite clear that she is aimed at the Olympic Games.”
In Athens, a 200 strong Russian team is planning to win up to 8 gold medals and to take second place behind the USA team. The Athletics team will be under pressure to get as many medals as possible to help the overall Russian Olympic team top the medals table, and Russian coaches expect a much more serious battle in Athens then in Paris this summer.
