Anyone who has recently passed the Wingate Institute may have noticed an unusual structure that looks from a distance like a giant balloon.
The same balloon is actually a tent built just before the corona, on an area of about 2,000 square meters and 14 meters high, at a cost of more than 6 million shekels. The Olympic gold from Tokyo is on her neck, and since then, as is well known, Ashram has decided to end her successful career, and now, about 800 days before the Olympics, five other young women are training there, who dream of being Israel's next ashram.
Ofir Shaham (17), Diana Svertsov (17), Hadar Friedman (16), Rumi Paritzky (17) and Shani Baknov (16) make up Israel's new artistic gymnastics team, whose first test will take place in less than a week at the Tel Aviv Expo, Europe, and the interior - to Paris 2024.
"We will continue to work hard to get there, it's a dream from a young age," admits Ofir first.
"I do everything for it, sacrifice what it takes - everything to get to the Olympics."
"The Olympics for me is something that not everyone gets to," Diana adds.
"When I saw the competition in Tokyo, it occurred to me that one day I would be the one to be there. I want it. I do not know if I will succeed or not, but I know I will give my all."
After the achievements in Tokyo there will be a lot of expectations then. Any concerns?
Shani: "We work hard. The industry has reached achievements, we have an amazing team and great coaches, who do everything to make us successful."
Rumi: "It was stressful to watch the Olympics. We knew everything that went on behind the scenes and saw how hard they worked to achieve their goal."
What do you think sets the new team apart?
Hadar: "We are together every day from morning to evening, it is very solidifying, but we have more things to improve in the exercise and more to connect, because we are a new team."
Ophir: "Some of us, including me, were not on the young team. Each one brings what she went through in her association to the team, and we complement each other. Helping in what it takes to crystallize and be the best."
Why do you think they chose yes?
Rumi: "I think each of us gives one hundred percent. I know I have shown in every training that I really want it and can face the team."
Top row, from right to left: Alona Kushevetzky, Natalie Malka, Natalia Stepanova, Ayelet Sussman, Ella Smolov, Natasha Asmolov, Ida Meirin.
Middle row: Amelie Malka, Amit Hedvat, Ofir Shaham, Michaela Moshe, Shani Katiev.
Bottom row: Diana Svertsov, Shani Baknov, Hadar Friedman, Rumi Paritzky, Photo: Oded Karni, courtesy of the Israel Gymnastics Association
Listen to the soul
One of the most memorable moments from the Tokyo Olympics was the retirement of Simon Bailes, one of the most esteemed and popular athletes in the US, from one of the exercises, due to mental stress she experienced. The professional is aware of the matter, while former gymnast Neta Rivkin backs up the team with mental guidance for the young women.
"The amount of exercises, the need to keep fit and the pressure before competitions - is very difficult, and we take into account that there is a lot of spectators who come to see," says Diana.
"Sometimes we get a little upset with each other, it's hard to deal with mentally, but in the end we are supportive. Despite the difficulties it is important for us to succeed, and we will not leave the hall until we feel safe. We do not want to disappoint anyone and we want to show we can."
Shani: "When there are difficulties, we pick each other up. The parents also help, and we also have Neta Rivkin as a consultant that we can turn to when we have problems."
Rumi: "Our field requires a lot of mental strength. Because it's a team we have to pick each other up, not just think about yourself. It takes twice as much power. Sometimes you break down, but until you get it, you will not know if it was worth it. This".
There are situations where you get up in the morning and wonder why you would need it?
Ophir: "I think every gymnast has it, but we are here voluntarily, we always remind ourselves why we are here and why we work so hard."
Do you sometimes feel like you're losing your childhood?
Diana: "I used to think like that, that I missed something in life, that I have no friends and I do not go out for fun. But when I open my eyes and look, here around these are my friends with me in the hall, they are the ones who support and help, I can call and they will come to help. An ordinary girl flies four times a month abroad?
This is amazing.
So there are those who think I miss something, but I think I get a lot more. "
And so you have the Linoy Ashram for inspiration.
Hadar: "Every time she comes we say we want to come like her, as high as possible, and that the goal of every training is to move forward more."
Shani: "I come to consult with her when needed, she gives us tips, tells what she had."
Rumi: "Linoy's presence is very helpful to us. She was also a gymnast and knew how to do anything, maybe even more than the coaches themselves, because she experienced it for herself."
How do you build a team?
The European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships will take place over six days, starting June 15.
The competition will include representatives from 39 countries and the presence of the Israeli audience is of great importance for the security of the team - and for evidence, the huge success at the 2016 European Championships held in Israel, with three medals, one of which is gold.
"The audience helps us overcome the pressures," Hadar confirms, "there is nothing like the backing of a supportive, shouting and loving audience."
"In the last competitions we were in, we heard in the audience the team and Linoy screaming their souls in the audience, and it helped us so much in the middle of the exercise," Ofir adds.
"The film is on the air and suddenly you hear 'Catch!', So you catch on, react faster. The crowd that comes to the European Championships will lift us and encourage us and make us perform and compete much better."
Diana: "Here's something I took from an interview with Nicole Zelikman - we're competing against ourselves, I'm not thinking about the other competitors, but just how to do better than the previous time."
As mentioned, in Tokyo the industry reached its peak with the historic achievement of Linoy Ashram, who broke Russian hegemony at the top.
She was joined by Nicole Zelikman, who finished in seventh place.
On the same surface in the "Aryaka" hall in the Japanese capital, the Israeli team also recorded an impressive success, when it finished the final in sixth place and thus equaled the record ranking in the Olympic Games.
Since then, head coach Ira Vigdorchik, who led the team, has moved on to coach the Russian national team and appointed a new and fresh team.
The new team is headed by Ayelet Sussman, who was an integral part of Ashram's gold, and in the upcoming campaign will try to recreate the impressive achievements.
Sussman has built a large team around her that includes the three coaches Ella Smolov, Natalia Stepanova and Natalie Malka, assistant coaches Ida Meirin and Alona Kushvetsky and team manager Natasha Asmolov, and in addition there are professionals such as nutritionists, physiotherapists, ballet teachers and more.
Last September, gymnasts from all over the country and from the various clubs were invited to participate in the screenings.
30 young women started the journey in order to fulfill their Olympic dream, but at the end of the initial screening, only half of them remained.
The 15 survivors underwent a month of grueling training that included fitness and flexibility tests, instrument training, ballet classes and medical tests, while the team gathered and discussed which of them would fit into the group.
"We took the strongest girls," says Sussman.
"We let them rub shoulders with the competitions to see who can adapt to stressful situations, who can work as a collective and who can not. "In extreme cases, they work ten hours a day."
Sussman shares an analogy to the strength of a fist versus five individual fingers.
"Personally it's much harder because there is no one to sing you, it's just you in front of the coach. In my team they are with each other. Once they are better friends and crystallize together - then it will be much easier for them too."
Happens to someone breaking down?
"When I see one of the girls break down, I talk, ask, get interested, have a conversation with the whole group. It happens a lot, but it's something that needs to be done."
Expectations are high after the success in Tokyo.
"I do not look at it that way. I look at a fresh team, a young team. We as coaches always strive for a medal, expectations from others is less interesting. It is a team that has been working together for less than half a year."
Is the presence of an Olympic champion inspiring?
Sussman: "Certainly. We were in Portugal together now and everyone was really excited. The girls see her as an admirable figure, it adds and inspires. By the way, it also has an impact abroad - in all of Western Europe they saw it possible and took a lot from it."
Smolov: "Linoy's presence in the hall is something rare. They see in front of them that anything is possible. They understand that the level of Israeli gymnastics is worth a medal in every competition."
How will the fact that the European Championship is held in Israel affect the young team?
Sussman: "The encouragement from friends and the crowd will strengthen and push them forward. I remember how at the 2016 European Championships the girls said it lifted them. I want them to experience the competition in the country, draw strength from it and experience for the future. If they do what they know, ".
Smolov is also optimistic but realistic, and very aware of the pressures on the athletes.
"There are girls here who have come from all over the country, some have never competed in the team. They start to get excited and get a different look at life, and become much more intelligent. All the girls look great but it is important to maintain their health. It is easier to adapt to physical difficulty. That is, and the girls know that in any problem they can come to any of the coaches. "
Is it harder to coach a whole new team?
Sussman: "I really wanted Zelikman to compete in my team and we have already put around an exercise, but I really understand her, that not everyone after the Olympics should or can continue. She tried and took time to think about it and eventually retired."
Asmolov adds: "Although they work together for a short time, we went through a process and we have four artists who went through the Olympics. They know what to do and how to solidify the girls, teach Pargan to each other and lower their egos."
The members do not understand how they are in the hall for so many hours.
Israel's artistic gymnastics team, Photo: Kfir Zo
"Nothing is missing from them"
At the end of last year, among all the changes the team went through, another change took place, when Avi Sagi was appointed chairman of the gymnastics association.
Sagi, 75, from Rishon Lezion, was a member of the board of the Football Association and chairman of Hapoel Petah Tikva.
The new chairman came at the height of the industry's boom. Apart from the achievements of Ashram, Zelikman and the team, Artyom Dolgofiat also returned with gold in gymnastics at the last Olympics. "I got into very big shoes," Sagi agrees, "and now we have started building a young team.
There is art at the highest level, nothing is taken away from them.
I provide them with all their tent needs, including private wardrobes. "
Any expectations from the European Championship?
"The first thing I did in the union was a decision they did not make for 20 years - to approve Ayelet as a head coach. I gave them peace of mind until Los Angeles 2028. Go to work properly and bring results. I have no expectations from the European Championships and the Olympics - all we bring now is a bonus" .
The European Championship marks another major production of the union. What awaits us?
"I know it's not football - but after all the achievements in the Olympics, I think it is up to these girls to come and cheer for them. There is a lot of talent there, people will sit gaping," Sagi promises.
"Everyone is focused on the championship, we also took on the production and we will do everything to make it successful. We want as many audiences as possible to come.
"On a personal level I would like to see Linoy continue, because she is a symbol, but we caught her in the system and she is not allowed to run away so quickly, because whoever does not remember the past, has no future. But there are young and promising talents, I see the commitment."
Always on the right foot
The young women have been training together for only half a year, but their group formation and the special experience of the group can be felt immediately.
Part of this is Shani, for whom the young women testify that "she laughs at everything and it infects us."
Who cries in training?
(Laughs unanimously): "Diana."
"Yeah, I'm sensitive and hurt by everything," she agrees with a smile, "when something doesn't work out for me I just get stressed and upset."
Who is the most relaxing?
Hadar: "We reassure each other. They are all supportive, otherwise we will not succeed."
Do you have common superstitions?
Diana: "We always go to the surface on the right foot and each one has her own mascot, her towel or the doll, or some movement before she's used to doing. If sometimes it just seems nonsense and only in the head, it is something that calms and gives a sense of security. "
When I ask if anyone has time for a friend, they all turn their eyes to Diana.
"I do not have time for him," she laughs, "but it is important to me that I have the person who is not connected to the field and will always support me. Even if I know I am guilty, I need someone to support me from the outside."
How does the environment react to your profession?
Rumi: "They don't really understand what we're going through, they take it for granted, like it's just another kind of work."
Ofir: "They can not understand how I spend so many hours in the hall, even on Saturdays and holidays. Surprised and do not understand the magnitude of the matter. But we have the support of the families."
Hadar: "My parents came from sports and my mother is a volleyball coach. She knows what I'm going through."
Diana: "At my school, Shimon Peres in Jaffa, the children are very proud to have a gymnast on the Israeli team. They approach me and tell me that they have seen the exercises. Everyone also helps me."
Sometimes you get tired of each other?
"In the end, it does not matter so much because we have the same goal," Rumi states, and Ofir adds: "By Paris we are like a family."
shishabat@israelhayom.co.il
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