Anastasia Gurbanko barely made it to the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, where she won two gold medals.
"I was very tired, after the Olympics and many other competitions I have participated in in recent months, so there was a thought of taking a step back and not participating in this world championship," she reveals.
"In the end I decided with the coaching staff that I would come and enjoy. And when I manage to enjoy the competition, good things happen.
"The championship in Abu Dhabi was in short 25-meter pools, not 50-meter Olympic pools, but I knew it was important for me to gain experience for next summer, so there will be competitions in Olympic pools. Because in the end I think it's the real thing, not the short pools. "But I'm happy! It was the first time I won a world championship."
The pleasure that 18-year-old Gorbanko is talking about has been translated into the two amazing wins in the 50-meter breaststroke and the 100-meter individual medley, in which she also set new Israeli records.
The competition in Abu Dhabi also closed a dream year for her, in which she won a gold medal in the 200m individual medley at the European Short Course Championships, and reached the historic Olympic final in Tokyo in the 100m backstroke, where she finished eighth.
The Israeli swimming world has known for several years that a world-class swimmer has grown up here, a tough winer who, despite her extraordinary achievements at a young age, still remains with her feet on the ground, modest and committed to hard work.
"When I won the 50-meter breaststroke, I was surprised," she admits.
"It's not one of my strongest assignments, and winning it was something amazing that's hard to describe.
"On the swimmers' bounces there are red lights, which are activated at the end of the ointment only at the first three places. When I touched the wall, I for some reason did not see the red light in my bounce. For a split second I was disappointed, but then I turned around and saw I was first.
"At first I was in the market, but immediately afterwards I was overwhelmed by a feeling of supreme happiness. I thought to myself: Going to play 'Hope' here, thanks to me! This is what excites me most in the world, to represent my country with dignity.
"After I got out of the water, I was asked in an interview at the pool if I believe I won. I answered no. Even now I sometimes catch myself and can't believe it."
Who did you call after the win?
"Part of my routine is that I do not immediately pounce on the phone and talk to parents or other people, but focus on releasing the body. Sometimes there are also drug tests, and of course there was also the medal ceremony. An hour and a half after the anointing I called home and talked to Dad and Mom. We have a constant joke at home that Dad always says, when I come back from a competition or training camp: 'Get it, world champion!'
"This time too he immediately shouted, 'Accept her, world champion,' and then he said, 'Here, as I always said, you are world champion.' We were very excited. I told Mom and Dad it was thanks to them. There was a very happy conversation."
"I was surprised."
After winning the 50-meter breaststroke, Photo: GettyImages
• • •
But this discipline was discipline, and Anastasia (Nestia, according to her family and acquaintances) did not let the gold dazzle her.
The very next day he faced another end - 100 meters personal mixed.
"After the excitement and success at 50m breaststroke, I was exhausted, so I fell asleep and slept well from 11 at night until 7 in the morning. I always try to sleep at night for eight hours.
"I got up in the morning and wanted to eat my regular oatmeal, but even with that there was a story. In the hotel we were in there was no such porridge. So the general manager of the swimming association, Amir Tito, went out and bought it for me at a local supermarket.
I eat the porridge sometimes with an apple, drink water, and that's it.
Do not want to overload the body too much before the ointments.
"When I get to the pool I do a dry warm-up, a water-warm-up, put on my swimsuit - and I'm ready. Once upon a time, I used to think about the finals. "It was with the psychologist and the coaches. I knew I could finish the top 2 qualifiers, and I was well prepared."
Anastasia advanced to the final, where she defeated three European champions and a world runner-up in Olympic pools - and picked up the second gold.
Golden Girl have we already said?
"At the end of this ointment I gave the water a fist of joy," she smiles.
"I have not yet reached the point where I shout 'Yes!', But it was a real joy. This ointment showed me that I am constantly improving and know how to cope with the busy routine of the competition. It is a very important stage in my path, and I had great satisfaction."
And again Gorbanko stood at the head of the podium, and once again the national anthem was played in Abu Dhabi.
"It's hard for me to explain how proud it is for me to represent the country," she is still excited.
"I'm not just saying that. It's so important to me.
Are you already thinking about Paris 2024? Will recent wins increase expectations of you?
"First, I do not feel it's all about me. We have a young and promising swimming team, and it has other great Olympic athletes.
"Secondly, I still do not think about the next Olympics. Obviously subconsciously I always aim for that, but there is still a long way to go until it comes. This May there is a world championship, and in August the European Championships in Olympic pools, these are my next goals. Paris is still far away." .
Were you happy with the show in Tokyo?
"The 100m breaststroke final surprised me. I thought that if I could make it to the final 200m, it would be the 200m medley, which is my strongest ointment. But it didn't work.
"I was very happy to reach the final. I am young, and the goal was for me to have the experience of an Olympic final. I have no doubt that this is something that will prepare me for Paris."
• • •
Following the success in Abu Dhabi, Anastasia landed in the country last Wednesday at 2 p.m.
"I asked my parents not to come to the airport at a time like this," she says.
"I got home to Kiryat Yam in a taxi, and Dad left the house to help me with the luggage. My mother and my little sister Anna got up and hugged me excitedly. We are very close, family is the most important thing in my life. They made me an exciting gift - a revolving heart with a family photo Mine with the medal from Abu Dhabi.
"The big celebration was in the evening, when my older sister and her husband also came, along with other family and friends, and he was very happy. But it is important for me to say: in our family, I am not measured by success or disappointment."
"True joy."
With one of two gold medals, Photo: GettyImages
After returning, she enjoyed a few days off at home ("It rarely happens, because of my busy schedule"), during which she did not train, and these days she enlists in the IDF, as an outstanding athlete.
She is scheduled to go on an IDF training course that will last three weeks, and as of this writing, she still does not know where she will serve and in what position.
Gorbanko declares that if she were not a swimmer, she would be happy to serve in a combat role, "in the most combat service possible. Because of the status of an outstanding athlete I can not, but it is still very important to me to serve, with all the limitations.
"The recruitment date turned out great, because the next big competition will only be in May, so I will be able to prepare properly. I believe the military will consider me, and that I will be in the base and position that will allow me to go out for training and competitions."
• • •
She was born in Israel and grew up in the Krayot, to parents who immigrated from Ukraine in 2000. A "sandwich" girl between Marina (27) and Anna (9), who also went swimming.
Father Vladimir, 47, a former swimmer and dormitory player, now works at computers.
Mother Larissa (47) is a special education teacher and the family lives in Kiryat Yam.
The beginning of the road was in a completely different industry altogether.
"At age 4 I started practicing artistic gymnastics. At age 6 I learned to swim, but I left after a few months and focused on gymnastics. Only around age 9 did I go back to swimming, and fell in love with it again. I felt in water much more natural than on the mat.
"After a year, my parents thought I had too much load of classes, because in addition to sports I also drew. So they suggested that I give up gymnastics and only continue swimming.
"At first I had a very hard time with it, I cried for two days. Because I had a good social environment in gymnastics, I was there for six years and trained four hours every day. On the other hand, I also had a party that was happy about choosing swimming "The coaches there are tough. I know that the discipline I received there helps me in the pool to this day."
From the moment she domesticated the pool, she did not stop.
From an early age, everyone who coached her realized that a real prodigy was born here who was destined for greatness, with a high work ethic and self-expectations in heaven.
"I swam at Maccabi Kiryat Bialik with coach Ludmila Zlichonok, who raised me. We had a great connection, and she saw my talent in the water, and especially that I work very hard, more than many other people. Pretty soon I started being at the level of the boys in our team. .
"From the age of 11, I trained 6-5 times a week. I studied at ORT Afek Middle School, and the pool I trained at was really close to the school. At school, swimmers were very considerate. We had, for example, three morning trainings from 6 to 8, so in those days we were You only start studying at 9. "
How does a 12-11 year old girl lift herself to training at 6 in the morning?
"I did not always feel like getting up for training. Sometimes in the winter, when it's cold and raining, it's not easy to get out of bed at 5:30 in the morning and go to training. Sometimes I was stressed at night, and I did not sleep well for fear of not hearing the clock "In the end, I would happily get up and do my favorite thing: swim."
Swimming from the age of 6. In her childhood,
At the age of 13, she joined the cadet team, and by then they had realized not only in Kiryat Bialik, but also in the swimming association, that they were dealing with a special swimmer who had never experienced anything like it in Israel.
Her personal trainer told her parents they have a "polished diamond in the house."
Suffice it to take a look at her list of achievements as a girl and the medals she won (gold at 15 in the Youth Olympic Games in the 200m individual medley, silver in the 50m backstroke and 200m individual medals at the European Youth Championships at 16 and the 200m individual medley at the age of 200 17) To understand that a real "water monster" has grown up here.
She set no less than eight Israeli records in long pools and 10 records in short pools in the various anointings.
• • •
At the age of 14, Anastasia received a request from the then national swimming coach, Leonid Kaufman.
"He talked to me and my parents and wanted me to move to a boarding school at the Wingate Institute," she says.
"But I was only in ninth grade, and we thought it was too early. Although I was already quite a bit out of the house, because I swam in the cadet team and there were flights to competitions abroad, but I always came home after them.
"At the age of 15, in tenth grade, after some deliberations that lasted a good few months, I decided with my parents that I would move to a boarding school in Wingate. I was apprehensive. I am a person who is very attached to home, Can help me both swim and learn properly.The school I went to after I moved to Wingate is very much in sync with the coaches and the swimming schedule, it works well together.
"At first my parents and sister would come to visit me once a week because I missed them terribly. I came home every weekend. Obviously life in the boarding school also affected the normal life of a teenage girl, I could not live like everyone else. For example, go out a lot. I had to. Be in athletic discipline.
"But even if I was not a swimmer, I'm not one who constantly wants to be at parties. I think I actually gained, because at a young age I get to experience a lot of beautiful places in the world, get to know different cultures and enjoy lots of special experiences. I was really at home, that's what made it harder for me.
"At first I felt a kind of loneliness outside the house. I used to be in my safe place and the change forced me to leave the comfort zone. Even today, if I am absent from home for a month due to competition abroad, I then come home for a week and really recharge.
"On the other hand, leaving home also strengthened me. The fact that from the age of 15 I was already on the senior team, with people much older than me, something that made me very, very older."
This maturity is reflected in the list of medals she won as a girl and in the number of Israeli records registered in her name, from which it can be understood that a real "water monster" has grown here.
• • •
Three years ago, Anastasia, along with the rest of the team's swimmers, joined a special swimming association project with American Super Coach David Marsh, a senior adviser to the Swimming Association, who coaches at the San Diego Center of Excellence.
Since then they travel to train with him every year, for periods of time that add up to a few months, and he also occasionally comes to Israel, for competitions.
When she's with him, Marsh is Anastasia's personal trainer.
"It's great for me," she says.
"I'm always looking for the places that will challenge me, where I'll have a harder time, because then I'll really get better. If in my association I got to the boys' level or overtook them, then here's another challenge. Myself and learn a lot from him.
"The environment he builds and his mentality are tough, but not like the artistic gymnastics coaches. He's tough of a different kind. Because obviously, he does not choose the easy way for me. And even when I sometimes want to go the easy way, he will tell me, 'Hey, you're Will you go back? '"
Were there times you wanted to leave? Were there crises on the way?
"With every coach I had crises. For success you also need crises, that's part of the way. Yes, there were moments when I got to places I wanted to leave and I was already on the scales, but I knew that if I did it, then everything - everything I worked on and everything I achieved I realized that if I'm still willing to go on, it's another step forward, that I'm just learning and growing from it.
"David and I often disagree, but no matter what I think, because he knows a lot better than I do. He is a coach with a lot of experience, who has been in the big classes many times already, and he is good at taking good athletes and making them the best, or very good. It's fun to have the option of him being my coach.
"To be able to work with David requires a lot of investment from the swimming association, and I really appreciate that. It's not obvious. When I'm in the country, the person who coaches me is Ehud Segal, the sports director of the swimming association.
"He and David are in a relationship all the time, so there are times when I ask myself, wait, who's my coach now? Sometimes it's confusing, even very confusing, and it's not always easy for me with it. But okay, that's part of my plan, and I will not come to coach Mine and I'll tell him, 'I do not want any more things like that.'
"At first I also had a hard time with the English in San Diego, but she improved a lot, and I think I fitted in pretty well there. For example, swimming in training with Kathleen Baker, who was a world champion in the 100m backstroke, was amazing. At first she was faster than me, "
Alongside swimming, she attended the Hof Hasharon Shared High School, near Shefayim, where they helped her a lot.
“I got a lot of support and help from the school, and I fell for amazing teachers, who allowed me to do more jobs and less tests, because I was abroad a lot, on the line between Wingate and San Diego.
I was able to complete a full matriculation, except for the second date I have in math, because at the time of the test I was at the Olympics in Tokyo.
"Everyone helped me - private tutors, teachers from my school who gave me private lessons, and of course, my parents. I was able to cope with that too successfully."
Even professionally she has an embracing shell.
She belongs to the golden staff of the Olympic Committee and the Swimming Association makes it available, as for all team swimmers, personal trainer, psychologist, masseur, physiotherapist, physical abilities trainer, nutritionist, analyst, assistant coach, medical staff and more.
It also has handsome financial support from its sponsors: Bank Hapoalim, the sportswear company "Arena" and the "Danone Pro" brand of Strauss.
The person who accompanies her in the media is her personal manager, Ofir Even.
What does your training routine look like?
"I train nine times a week only in the water, on some days two workouts a day. In each workout - five miles of swimming. I also have a gym every day, and in the evenings after the workouts I spill. Around 10pm I already go to bed."
"Family is most important to me in life."
With her parents, little sister and older sister and husband,
• • •
For almost a year now she has been embracing a partner, who is three years older than her.
"But it's not easy. If you want enough then it happens, but it's hard. It's hard to have a relationship with my murderous agenda, when I'm so busy swimming."
She loves to cook, "make lasagna, which is one of the first things I learned to make, and also patties. I also bake sweets, cakes and cookies. To eat I love sushi and Mexican food.
"My personal menu is meticulous, but because I burn a lot of calories in training, I sometimes have to eat a lot too. At lunch I usually eat rice or couscous, chicken or beef and vegetables. Even in the evening the same thing - carbs, protein, vegetables."
Do you manage to go out with friends?
"Occasionally I go out with friends from the campuses, and also with those from Wingate. It could be some nice bar or a good restaurant. I like to play bowling, sometimes we go out to play."
What about music, TV? Is there time for that?
"My favorite foreign singer is Harry Styles. I have not been to his show yet, but it will happen. In Israel I love Jasmine Mualem, Marina Maximilian, Tuna and Hope 6. The Dollhouse and Ivri Lider are also great.
"I do not have time to watch TV, but I watch Netflix on a tablet or mobile. I like all genres. I really like 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine', for example."
And she has another great love: cats.
There are five of these in her parents' house, as well as a cute pit bull bitch named Moka.
In the crowded schedule, did you even manage to celebrate winning the world championship?
"Usually after big competitions we have parties, but because of the corona there is no more. My real celebration was at home. The family made me a surprise, but I disrupted it a bit because I opened the freezer and found out they bought me an amazing Dudu Otmezgin cake, which I really like. In the evening "When the whole family arrived, we celebrated with the cake and a lot of laughs. I had a short rest at home, with the family and the cats, and now it's army time."
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