Yekaterina Volkova celebrates winning gold in the women's 3000m Steeplechase (© Getty Images)
Moscow, RussiaBefore last summer’s World Championships in Osaka, only a handful of Yekaterina Volkova’s devoted supporters considered her to be a favourite in the 3000m Steeplechase. Naturally it was the World record holder in this exhausting race, Gulnara Samitova, who was the favourite for gold. And Samitova was doing her best to impose that impression on everybody, repeating at any occasion that “Everything is under control”.
But Volkova had a strange feeling that it wasn’t exactly so. She was watching her opponent attentively and got to understand that even at trainings Samitova was far away from her best. So Volkova, or Katya as she is called by her friends, decided to challenge the perceived No.1 in Osaka. The coaches of the Russian national team were planning to get two medals in the event, with the gold supposedly to be obtained by Samitova and another by either Volkova or the third Russian on the team, Tatyana Petrova.
Many of Volkova’s compatriots were complaining that the heat and humidity in Osaka were unbearable. Several were even of the opinion that it was like a “living hell”. Strange as it was, Volkova didn’t share that prevailing point of view. Sure, it was far from paradise, but having to choose between the terrible heat of Osaka and Arctic cold she would have chosen the heat.
Son Daniil is her driving force
The humidity didn’t affect her and at the start of the final she was feeling rather calm. And even the tremendous quick tempo by Samitova at the early stages of the contest failed to produce any influence upon Volkova. What she was thinking about at that moment?
“Maybe you won’t believe me but all my thoughts were concentrated on my three year old son Daniil,” she said. “That’s the lovely creature who has to withstand so many hardships, for I’m away from him nearly all the time. And sometimes I even feel guilty for that. When I was pregnant in the ninth month, I went to church and got baptised. And I wear this little Christian Orthodox cross with Daniil’s name and I feel it on my chest during races.”
After giving birth to Daniil, Volkova said she felt as if she was born anew. But nonetheless, Volkova didn’t stay at home for long.
A husband and father’s sacrifice
People at her training stadium were astonished when they saw her running so intensively every day. Her husband, Artem Mostrov, was among the few who not only understood his wife, but even made a sacrifice. A member of the Russian national team, he participated in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney competing in the 800m. But he gave up athletics and devoted much of his time to their son. It was clear that Volkova had a better chance of winning at her distance then he did. Those expectations came true quite soon, when she won her first “serious” medal at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, taking home the silver. She admitted that she had been more happy in Helsinki then in Osaka where she won the world title.
But in order to gain it she had to abandon her son and stay for months in different training camps. And her husband was trying not to let her down and not to leave her alone. Sometimes they even managed to stay together with little Daniil at the training camps, where the father took care of the son. But most of the time Daniil stayed with his grandparents. So such is the fate of the son of the champion.
Dominating performance in Osaka
In Osaka, after Samitova failed to suppress her opponents, it was Volkova who took the lead. She was wheeling to the podium like a monstrous tank leaving the chasing pack far behind. The advantage was unbelievable: en route her 9:06.57 triumph, Volkova had enough time to look back at her rivals and even raised her hand as the sign of the glorious victory. Several observers even blamed Volkova for being negligent towards her rivals. Others thought that it cost her the World record (Samitova’s 9:01.59) and the $100,000 World record bonus.
“But it was not like that,” Volkova exlained. “I wish that the Russian national flag was with me at the finish line. But that was not the case, so I raised my hand to celebrate the victory and to greet the Japanese spectators who supported me with all the enthusiasm possible. And money doesn’t mean much for me at that moment of glory. I’m not the one who is targeted to beat the records. It’s the task of Gulnara Samitova who is striving for that. It’s difficult to set records in such an environment when the stadium is crammed with the excited fans, and my only aim was to win the gold.”
‘Home is where my son is’
Some consider themselves to be the people of the world. Volkova calls herself “a person of my country”. She lives in the centre of ancient Russia in Kursk, as well as in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. But she prefers to say that her permanent residence is the place where her son Daniil is at any given moment. And she repeats, time and again, that after giving birth to Daniil, she revived herself. For before she was regarded as “used material”: in other words, in her thirties, considered too old to be a serious contender for medals. But she proved that it was not at all like that.
No predictions for Beijing
The rivalry among Russians in the Steeplechase is tremendous. When attempting to discuss her chances at this summer’s Olympic Games, she refused to make any prognosis. Volkova insists there are five or six runners in Russian alone who will be fiercely fighting for the three team tickets to Beijing. And she adds modestly that even her Osaka gold is no guarantee for a spot on the team. But in spite of the competitiveness, personal relations between the contenders is very friendly. For instance, Osaka medallist Petrova is considered to be everybody’s friend, and Volkova wishes all the best as well as another World record to Samitova. The two even share a room at their training camp in Vladivostok before Osaka.
So again this summer, they will all be battling for the gold. And maybe the mere thought that she is running for the sake of her son Daniil will give Volkova the extra edge she’ll need in the battle.
Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov for the IAAF
