“Golden” Yana

On Monday Yana Shemiakina from Lviv won the Olympic gold medal. She defeated Britta Heidemann (Germany) in a fencing tournament. The Day talked to president of Fencing Federation in Lviv oblast Vasyl BUSOL about the fencer’s preparation, difficult training conditions, and why nobody expected Shemiakina to win.

“In order to participate in the Olympics, Yana went through 12 stages of the Fencing World Cup among women. She is an experienced fighter; she has participated in numerous international fencing events and won the first prize at cadet and junior world competitions. Frankly speaking, we were hoping for a medal, though we did not know which one. And what Yana did is a real feat.”

After the victory Yana said she had felt comfortable fencing, because few people had believed in her. She was not burdened by the responsibility for winning a medal, since she was not considered to be one of the favorites.

“It is true, no one ever said Yana had to win. During the last training meeting which was held in Lviv, we just said: “We hope you are going to have a successful performance.” She showed bad result at the Olympic Games in Beijing. This time Yana was more experienced and was better prepared. Practically she already knew all her opponents. She faced them during the World Cup stages and had some time to study them there.”

And where does Yana train? In what conditions do our Olympic champions prepare for the competitions?

“At the present time she trains at Lviv School of Supreme Sportsmanship, her trainer Andrii Orlykovsky works there. During six years she had been studying at Lviv State University of Physical Culture, she is a postgraduate student there now. But if you look at the gym where Shemiakina trains – it is in horrible condition! Especially when you look at how well the sportsmen from other countries are prepared. As usual, sports and physical culture financing is scarce. Our athletes’ success is the evidence of their and their trainers’ fanaticism and deep patriotism.

“When school students come to us, we cannot even provide them with enough foils and swords. Of course, when this happens, a child is disappointed and abandons the sport. Lviv oblast faces even more difficulties in this area. Because the money which is assigned for sports, is not even divided properly. It is historically established that fencing is one of the main kinds of sports in Lviv. The city dwellers had been a part of Polish Olympic team during the pre-war period and had won numerous prizes.

“Starting from 1956, Lviv was represented in fencing at almost all of the Olympic Games. We have had sportsmen win bronze and silver medals. But Yana was the first one to win the golden one.

“It is not right to pay so much attention to football only!”