Since the retirement of the Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics, Linoy Ashram, the question has arisen whether the young Daria Atmanov will be able to step into the big shoes and inherit her place as the leading gymnast in the world, and certainly here in Israel.
We received the first signal of this last June at the European Championships held in Tel Aviv. Atmanov, only 16 years old, surprised the favorites and won the gold, with a display of four unforgettable exercises that captured the hearts of the audience.
Those who thought this was a one-time achievement were deceived a month later, when Atmanov went on to compete successfully at the World Games in the USA, where she obtained the gold medals in the ball and ribbon and became the first Israeli athlete ever to win gold at the World Games. And if that was not enough, she also added the The money is in clubs.
Finally, she participated in the Challenge Cup in Romania, where she won bronze in the all-around and a host of medals in the individual apparatuses.
Now comes her big and important test, in the World Championship that opens today in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the first tickets to the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 will also be obtained.
Atmanov has indeed come to the attention of the world of artistic gymnastics, but in preparation for the world championships she and coach Ayelet Sussman take things as slow and steady as they can, even when Atmanov achieves some of the highest scores in the world.
Gymnastics team, photo: Israel Gymnastics Association
"I try not to set a specific goal, like winning this or that medal," Atmanov said on the eve of the championship to the official website of the world association.
"I always have the same goal: to feel like I gave it my all and give the best performance on the mat. My love for this sport is what inspires me the most. I just love it. It excites me, and every time I'm on the court I feel the fire inside ".
"I can definitely say that after the European Championship and the World Games I have a higher level of self-confidence," added Atmanov.
"I feel that in those competitions I gave a very good performance and I felt good about it, but there is always room for improvement."
"I think the World Championships will be very challenging. Many good gymnasts from all over the world will be there. As I said, I don't like to talk about expectations in terms of winning medals. I can only say that I will give everything and try to get the best performance."
Sussman, for her part, hopes that her new sponsor will arrive at the World Championships "focused and determined, and will only do what she knows - and of course, enjoy every moment. Daria is an intelligent and very diligent athlete, a hard worker and a perfectionist. She is sensitive, but at the same time very determined and definitely a fighter like Linui." .
Atmanov will not be the only Israeli gymnast in the championship.
Adi Katz, who recently returned from an injury, and the gymnastics team including Ofir Shaham, Hadar Friedman, Diana Svartsov, Shani Beknov and Romi Pritsky will also participate alongside her.
Before the competition: everything you need to know
Who would have believed how time flew by.
Already in the current championship, this will be the first opportunity to get the ticket for the upcoming Olympic Games, which will be distributed to the first three places at the end of the individual melee competition and to the first three teams in the team competition.
It should be remembered that in this championship the ticket is for the country, so that after the games it will be possible to choose who will win it in the end.
Additional opportunities will also come in next year's World Championship and continental championships.
In addition, the format of the competition will be different from what is known until today, when on the opening day the qualifiers will be held in the individual competition in ball and hoop, and already in the evening the final will take place, with the eight gymnasts with the highest score.
Starting tomorrow morning, the bars and ribbon preliminaries will be held, and here the final will also take place on the same day, but a combination of the three best results for each gymnast will buy the place for the first 18 for the all-around final next Saturday, from which the Olympic tickets will be distributed.
On Friday, the all-around final will be held in the team competition, with each team performing in an exercise with five hoops and in the combined exercise with three ribbons and two balls.
On Sunday, the finals will be held for each exercise separately for the first eight teams.
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