GOLDEN JUMP

It was the first time the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation (AGF) organised the European Championship in Trampoline, Double Mini-Trampoline and Tumbling. The 26th European Championship that took place at the National Gymnastic Arena gathered more than 400 athletes from 25 countries participating in individual and synchronous programs for seniors and juniors in 3 disciplines – trampoline, tumbling and double mini-trampoline.

The current European Championship was a truly remarkable event because the juniors could qualify for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games while the senior athletes for the 2019 European Games.

Azerbaijani athletes delighted the fans with gold and silver medals. Mikhail Malkin had the greatest success after winning the gold medal of the European Championship in tumbling with 77.400 points in the final. The second was Rasmus Steffensen (77.000) of Denmark while Vadim Afanasyev  (76.300) of Russia won the bronze medal of the tournament.

In his interview with R+, Malkin shared his happiness as the first gold medallist in the history of national gymnastics: "It was incredible! I have never experienced such feelings. I’m very happy. Of course, I could not achieve this without the support of my friends. But it is difficult to perform in the home arena because it feels quite different in terms of responsibility. I want to specifically mention the support of our fans. It was a tremendous support indeed. I have little time for rest after the European Championship. Successful performance at this championship raises the level of responsibility in the following tournaments. Now my goal is to win a medal for Azerbaijan at the World Championships scheduled for November in St. Petersburg."

Other winners of the European Championship from Azerbaijan were Svetlana Makshtarova and Veronika Zemlyanaya, silver medallists in synchronous jumps on the trampoline. Anna Goncharova and Marina Makarinskaya from Belarus were the first in this discipline while Ukrainian athletes Svetlana Malkova and Natalya Moskvina became the third.

In her interview with R+, the silver medallist of the European Championship Svetlana Makshtarova thanked the Azerbaijani Gymnastics Federation and her coaches: "It is still difficult to believe that we have the silver medals of the European Championship. Maybe it will take a whole week. This is the fourth competition where we became the second. We hope to show better results in the future."

Speaking about the success of the event, the Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation Altay Hasanov said: "The 26th European Championship held in Baku was another significant event in the sport life of Azerbaijan. We hosted such an important tournament as the European Championships in our capital with the participation of more than 400 gymnasts from 25 countries. As you know, we have enough experience in holding competitions of this level. According to interviews of the athletes and members of delegations, we can say that they were very delighted with the level of organisation. As for the results, our national team realised one of the main tasks of the tournament. Our gymnasts are now completely qualified for the 2019 European Games. The minimum program is accomplished. At the same time, we witnessed the victory of Mikhail Malkin, who passed all the stages of preparation in Baku. This is an important event for him and his coach, for the whole federation. We also won a silver medal in synchronized jumps. Our girls performed successfully. I think that the European Championship was successful. We have reached the goals that we have set before the event."

"I am also happy to mention some organisational innovations introduced during the tournament. For example, a mascot invited from abroad inspires all with his successful performances, raises the mood. For the first time this was applied in Baku. This is the merit and creativity of the staff and leadership of the federation. Without this, of course, it would be boring. The result was that not only the gymnasts and their parents were attracted to the sport and to the stands, but also ordinary people. This year, tourists also came to watch this tournament. We used to, as a rule, drive ourselves somewhere to watch the competitions. Now Baku already becomes the sports centre of Europe. This pleases us, but it does not reassure us, as it forces us to work even harder and think about the future," said Hasanov.

According to him, the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation looks to the future with optimism: "Azerbaijani gymnastics has medals in non-traditional disciplines as well. The trampoline has not been a developed type of gymnastics in Azerbaijan until now. The European Games held in Baku in 2015 had a great influence for the development of this discipline in Azerbaijan. Interest in gymnastics has increased even more, the results have begun to improve," added Hasanov.

The AGF Vice-President added the following: "The Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation has done a great job. This was possible thanks to the president of the federation. It is impossible to fail, not to conquer such peaks under the leadership of Mehriban Aliyeva. In addition, the Federation has a very good team formed by the President of the European Gymnastic Federation (UEG) Farid Gayibov. Now he is very active in his new position. I read in his interview that Farid intends to achieve the development of gymnastics in Europe. I think he will work both for them and for us. This is a great event for the sport life of our country - starting with an ordinary position of a manager at AGF, an Azerbaijani became the president of the European Gymnastic Federation."

The AGF Junior Trophy competition in rhythmic gymnastics followed the European Championships held at the National Gymnastic Arena. The members of the Azerbaijani national team that made their way to all four finals of the tournament finished it with three medals. In individual finals, Darya Farshbaf Shahriyari's performance with a hoop brought her a bronze medal and 15,600 points. Narmina Samedova was also awarded a medal of the championship with 16.050 points. She lost only to a Russian athlete. Arzu Jalilova won the last medal for the national team. In exercises with the band, she received 15,850 points, hence surpassing all competitors and becoming the gold medallist. In the team competition, the Azerbaijani national team won bronze medals. Darya Farshbaf Shahriyari and Arzu Jalilova scored 89.250 points in total. Athletes from Russia and Belarus won the gold and silver medals of the competition, respectively.