Anna Chicherova of Russia in action in the women's high jump qualification (© Getty Images)
22 July
Today was the most wonderful birthday in my life. In the morning my coach Yevgeniy Zagorulko told me that I should try and have good jumps as a way to mark my birthday. But during the morning training I wasn’t feeling ready to jump, I was still a little bit sleepy.
So we decided to have a second training session in the afternoon. And at 5pm I easily cleared 2 metres with my very first jump. “You made a present to yourself,” said the coach.
Later on, we had a noisy birthday party in the forest with a traditional meet roasted on the fire. For the first time I was among the people who know me best of all. It was a wonderfully warm company.
In the past I didn’t like celebrating my birthdays because it was the summer season and all my friends were away, and I was feeling a little bit lonely. But this year, we are all together supporting each other before the big events of the summer.
23 July 23
Yesterday in the evening I returned to Moscow and continued my birthday celebrations with my boyfriend Sergey, my brother and my uncle. Unfortunately my parents were missing as they are now at home in Kalitva in the south Russian Rostov region.
In the morning, I retuned to Podolsk sports base to renew training. I made a warm up and went in the bath. Tomorrow will be much more intensive training.
24 July
I made some jumps, but my condition is not very good, may be it is the result of my 2.00m jump. I need some more time to recover. There is a weakness in my legs. I stopped the training and went to swim in a swimming pool.
I also started reading a new book. It is “Notre dame de Paris” by the great French writer Victor Hugo.
25 July
In the morning I made the best training for the recovery. We walked in the forest. It was a 3 hours trip for mushrooms but there were also a lot of raspberries. I have never seen so many excellent mushrooms. I like very much to gather mushrooms and it gives very good psychological support.
In the evening I made a strength training session. I see that for the first time I do not need a TV set. I turn it on only to take a look at the world news.
26 July
Today I began my preparation for tomorrow’s competition at the open Moscow Championships. It will be the last competition before the selection at the national Championships. It is very important to test yourself in the situation of rivalry with high adrenalin. Usually it is impossible to clear out your true form at the training.
27 July
I got a good chance to jump at the competition under the guidance of the coach. I made a little bit unstable approach. But I managed to jump 2.00m. My coach then asked me to put an end to the contest.
I did not understand why he did it, I was ready to jump higher may be 2.03m or 2.04m, who knows. But I am very glad that I have no problem to clear 2.00m jump. And for the first time I won the summer championship!
28 July
I returned from Moscow to my sports base. For the first time my way of life is so healthy. It is like an active rest. I get up before 8:00. We have a breakfast at 8:30.
The first training begins around 10 or 11. At 13:30 we are taking the dinner. After it comes time for 2 hours sleep, and at 17:00 we have another training session.
The supper begins at 19:00 and at 23:00 I go to bed. Sometimes we play basketball and tennis. Sometimes my friend and brother come to visit me. I am a person who likes such calm life without big emotions. And I always find the way to entertain myself.
Anna