Yana Yegoryan won gold at the international Grand Prix Sabre fencing tournament in Incheon, Korea. In an interview with the ROC press service, the athlete told how difficult this victory was for her and why she considers it especially valuable, and also shared her feelings about returning to the first place in the international sabre rankings.
— This is a very important victory for me. I'll start with a little background. The fact is that due to some events in the world, our competition schedule has shifted. In mid—April, the World Cup in Greece was held, which was postponed from March, and immediately after that, the Russian Championship in Kazan. And just two days after the end of the championship, it was time to fly to Korea. This whole period was not easy: heavy flights, with long transfers of seven to eight hours. In addition, before the Grand Prix, I had some minor health problems - I suffer from migraines — and the question was whether it was even worth flying on an airplane in this condition.
But the most important reason why this medal is very valuable and dear to me is that on that day, May 3, my son turned five years old. It was very difficult to leave him, because this is the child's first anniversary. Besides, I haven't spent much time with him in the last two months because of training and a lot of other things. That's why it was incredibly important for me to win, by hook or by crook, no matter what the opponents were. I thought that by skipping my son's birthday, I had no right to return to him empty-handed!
— You can't think of a better motivation!
— It was difficult to start the competition right away. I had a heavy net, very serious opponents, and every fight I overcame myself both physically and mentally. She fought as hard as she could, cried right during the fight, and then fell to her knees from exhaustion and joy. The girls from our team, knowing how hard it was for me, shouted: "Yana, breathe, breathe!" so that I could recover at least a little between blows.
And when this long-awaited gold was in my hands, I was incredibly relieved. A dream come true! After all, I still have the strength to win. It's not enough to be able to fence well, you need to love this sport very much. You need to believe very strongly in yourself, in your victory, and also in the fact that the people around you are sincerely happy and rooting for you.
— Did your son appreciate that you managed to accomplish a feat for him?
— Of course, he is happy, but he is still small and cannot understand everything. We had a funny situation. I won silver in Athens, and my husband and child recorded a "circle" for me. Luka says, "Mom, congratulations on taking second place!" And Dad asks him, "Which place should I have taken?" The son answers: "Third!" And what do you think? We have the Russian Championship next, and I'm in third place. As they say, a child's desire is the law (laughs). Well, after the second and third, it was necessary to take the first, finally!
— The victory in Incheon brought you the first place in the world ranking.
— Yes, it turned out that I topped both the Russian and international rankings. And it's triple cool! Because I'm 32 years old, and sometimes it feels like they're already trying to write me off. But I'm trying to prove that it's still too early!
On the other hand, some people take my victories for granted. Yana entered the top three, won – oh, well, of course, she's an Olympic champion. But, to be honest, it was very difficult for me to return to the international stage after such a long time. The level of athletes has grown enormously, and some countries that had not shown any results before are now among the leaders. Therefore, my current achievements are not only my work, desire and talent, but also to some extent a miracle and luck.
— You have already risen to the first place in the rating in your career. Are the current feelings of returning to the top different from those that were before?
— Of course! It's one thing to win competitions when you're 20 years old, when you have a lot of energy and strength, and there's nothing but sports in your head. It's quite another thing when you're already 32 years old, your family has survived covid, and the world is in such an unstable situation. And besides sports, you have a husband, a child, a job, a lot of different things, including social activities. We must not forget that I conduct children's competitions and try to develop children's fencing in the country. So, when you have a thousand other things besides sports, and you win and top the international rankings, you turn out to be the best in the world, it's some kind of fantasy, an incredible miracle. Although, of course, it is backed up by a lot of hard work, love and a huge number of professionals who are with me and help along the way.
— This season is not over yet, and it's too early to sum up the results, but how satisfied are you with how it is developing? And do you set a goal for yourself to hold the leadership in the world ranking until it ends?
— Like a small child, I am happy with every step. For example, we recently won team gold at the World Cup in Tashkent for the first time in seven years. Can you imagine, for seven years we haven't had a gold medal in the team competition! And three young girls, Alina Mikhailova, Milena Sergeeva and Anastasia Shorokhova, and I did it. I tell you, and I even get goosebumps, because it was something incredible. A cool, close-knit team, excellent fencing and self-belief. This is a new story that we are creating. And that's great!
As for the rating, I would not like to make any plans for the future. I will say this: any athlete always strives for victory, a coveted gold medal and maintaining their leading positions.
Olga Teselko
