Evgeniya KANAEVA (RUS), London 2012 Olympic Champion

Evgeniya KANAEVA (RUS), London 2012 Olympic Champion, on being considered a legend of Rhythmic Gymnastics:
"It was not my target to be a legend, but I do like the sound of it. I love Gymnastics and I want the audience to remember me."

PROFIL: Yevgeniya Olegovna Kanayeva (Russian: Евгения Олеговна Канаева; born 2 April 1990 Omsk, Soviet Union) is a Russian rhythmic gymnast. Widely considered the greatest rhythmic gymnast of all time, she holds the Olympic record of being the only rhythmic gymnast to win 2 Gold medals at the all-around events at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, while also being a multiple World and European Champion in the all around events for rhythmic gymnastics. Omsk is also the hometown of 2004 Olympic silver medalist Irina Tchachina and she is training with the same coach. At the 2008 European Championships, in Torino she led the field by almost two full points, placing first in every event.''

Kanayeva also beat compatriot Vera Sessina who won the all-around European title in 2006 but was out due to injury and compatriot Olga Kapranova the 2005 World Champion. Kanayeva won her first Olympic gold medal in Beijing 2008 in the women's rhythmic individual all-around final with a score of 75.500 (Rope:18.850, Hoop:18.850, Clubs:18,950 and Ribbon:18.850). In the 2009 European Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan, she got five gold medals of 5 possible. In 2009, at the 29th World Championship in Mie, Japan, she won 6 gold medals and became the only woman rhythmic gymnast in history to have set such record. In 2011, at the 31st World Championship in Montpellier, France, Kanayeva repeated her success by winning all 6 gold medals.

Kanayeva is 1.70m (5'7") tall and weighs 49 kg (108 lbs).


Personal Information

Kanayeva spends most of her time at the gym, she trains six days a week and up to eight hours a day, she weighs herself every morning, takes a balanced diet, and doesn't take any baked goods or snacks that have high calories. Kanayeva has stated in an interview if she wasn't a gymnast, she'd take up dance professionally." I love to dance, and it's an essential part of training for all gymnasts. I love learning new dance moves for routines "

Childhood

Yevgeniya Kanayeva was born on 2 April 1990 in the Russian city of Omsk, Siberia, Her mother, Svetlana, was also a rhythmic gymnast – entitled ‘Master of Sports’. Her father, Oleg Kanaev, is a coach and a former Greco-Roman wrestler, she also has an elder brother named Egor who is also a Greco-Roman wrestler. However, it was her grandmother, a devoted fan of Rhythmic Gymnastics and figure skating, who introduced her to Rhythmic Gymnastics at the age of 6. Despite her young age, the little Kanayeva had already shown enormous potential. Her first trainer, Elena Arais (daughter of Kanayeva’s current trainer Vera Efremovna Shtelbaums), was impressed by her enthusiasm to learn doing difficult elements. Shtelbaums, who worked in the same gymnastic school, also recalled the time when Kanayeva spent long hours practicing even though all other students were gone, with her grandmother standing in the cold dark corridor waiting to take her home.[4] Besides her passion for Rhythmic Gymnastics, the little Kanayeva was well known for her kindness and care for others. She was nicknamed ‘Mother Theresa’ by the training staff and the parents of her childhood friends.

Kanayeva was selected to join a group of young rhythmic gymnasts from Omsk for a try-out in Moscow at the age of 12. Her performance caught the eyes of Amina Zaripova - the person in charge of the youth program. She was then invited to train at the School of the Olympic Reserve. With Shtelbaums being also in Moscow as Omsk native Irina Tchachina’s personal trainer, Kanayeva received good supervision from her and improved quickly. In 2003 Kanayeva represented ‘Gazprom’ as a junior rhythmic gymnast to take part in the World Club Championship (also known as ‘Aeon Cup’) in Japan alongside Irina Tchachina and Alina Kabayeva. She won the junior title. At around the same time, she was noticed by the head trainer of the Russian national team, Irina Aleksandrovna Viner. She was accepted to train at ‘Novogorsk’, the training centre for national team members alone. In Viner’s words, it was a crucial period for Kanayeva because ‘it is better to witness something once than to hear it for 100 times. Alina Kabayeva started in the same way by training among the stars. Oaks do not grow in the desert, they grow among oaks. Kanayeva was lucky in this sense – that there were ‘Novogorsk’ and Vera Efremovna, and we made that decision. She started showing herself as a very clever and very gifted girl in love with Rhythmic Gymnastics.''

Kanayeva’s path to rise to the senior rank was not without difficulty due to Russia’s rich resource in rhythmic gymnasts. Since the end of the Olympic Games 2004, in which Kabayeva and Tchachina won the gold and silver medal respectively, Vera Sessina and Olga Kapranova had risen up and gradually become Russia’s leading rhythmic gymnasts. With Kabayeva remaining competitive, there was simply no room for Kanayeva. Yet, she continually worked hard, and the opportunity came in 2007.

In summer 2007, the team of rhythmic gymnasts, who were supposed to be heading to the European championship in Baku of Azerbaijan, was already known. They were Kabayeva, Sessina and Kapranova. However, due to a serious injury, Kabayeva needed to withdraw on the eve of the championship. In search of a replacement, Viner entrusted Kanayeva from the reserve team to do one apparatus – the ribbon. Despite the short notice, Kanayeva’s first performance on the international stage did not disappoint her trainers and supporters. Kanayeva won the gold medals in individual apparatus and in the team competition. Few months later, she won another gold medal in the team competition at the World Championship in Patras, Greece.

The 2008 Olympics Season

With the opportunity to take part in the Olympic Games in Beijing arising, Kanayeva’s performance in 2008 was breathtaking. All her routines (hoop, clubs, rope and ribbon) were designed with high difficulties and thoughtful music selection to bring out her uniqueness. One of which was her ribbon routine performed with the special edited piano version of ‘Moscow Nights ’.

Kanayeva began her 2008 season under the shadows of Sesina, Kapranova and Ukrainian rhythmic gymnast, the then World Champion, Anna Bessonova. However, by mid-spring she was able to overcome all odds and win all Individual All-around titles in the Grand Prix and World Cup series, as well as the Russian National Championship. At the European Championship in Turin, Italy, she was no longer a replacement or a reserve as one year before but an established senior rhythmic gymnast of the Russian national team. She defeated Bessonova and Kapranova with high scores in all her routines and became the European Champion. On Viner’ mind, by that time, Kanayeva was the automatic first choice for her Olympic team ahead of Sesina and Kapranova. Viner later settled with Kanayeva and Kapranova as the representatives of the Russian Federations in the Rhythmic Gymnastics competition for the Olympic Games.''

Kanayeva was the youngest among all the finalists in the Olympic Rhythmic Gymnastics competition. However, she was also the calmest and made the fewest mistakes. In her words, the Olympic Games were ‘different from all other competitions. You just have to concentrate on yourself, the apparatus and the carpet. You should not pay attention on anything else. I persuaded myself that everything would be alright, that I should not worry.’ With this mentality, Kanayeva won the Olympic title with an excellent score 75.50, ahead of second place Inna Zhukova of Belarus by a margin of 3.50 point. According to Viner, what Kanayeva achieved was exceptional as the huge margin between her and the silver medalist was not likely to be ever repeated by any other rhythmic gymnasts in future Olympic Games.''

Road to 2012 Olympics Season

Kanaeva started her season with making her new program for her Hoop, Clubs and Ball , at the Moscow Grand Prix she finished 2nd in All-around at the 2012 Moscow Grand Prix behind teammate Daria Kondakova, but won gold medals at the individual finals for Ribbon, Clubs and Hoop ahead of Daria Dmitrieva and Daria Kondakova . She followed her win at the Grand Prix by winning the All-around at the International Thiais Tournament. She went to compete on her first World Cup of the season at Pesaro and won the All-around as well the Individual Finals for Clubs, Ball and Hoop. She withdrew from Penza World Cup citing illness. She went back competing at Sofia World Cup where she beat the defending Champion Daria Kondakova and won the event finals in Ribbon, Ball and Hoop but did not qualify for the Ribbon finals because of the two per country rule with Kondakova and Dmitrieva ahead of her in the Ribbon qualifications . She was also the Champion in All-around at the 2012 Corbeil-Essonnes Cup ahead of compatriots Daria Dmitrieva and Alexandra Merkulova. At the 2012 European Championships she scored in the lead in all the apparatus leading to the All-around finals rotation and posted the highest score in her Ball Routine of 29.700 to win her 3rd consecutive European All-around Title. In an interview after the event, she commented on her victories and said: " This Victory didn’t come easy. In the future I have to put effort on executing elements stronger and more precisely. My coaches are satisfied, and it’s very important. I don’t live by victory , but by what I do ”. Kanaeva then competed at the Grand Prix Vorarlberg in Austria, she continued her success winning Gold in the All-around and won all the gold medals in the apparatus finals. At the World Cup Final in Minsk, Kanaeva continued her consecutive records in the World Cup Final by winning the Gold medal in All-around ahead of teammate Daria Dmitrieva ( silver ) and Belarusian Liubov Charkashyna (bronze), Kanaeva also won all the Gold medals in ( Ball, Hoop, Clubs and Ribbon ) at the event finals.

At the 2012 Olympics, during the qualifications she made an unusual errant fumble with the Hoop routine and dropped it scoring 28.100 points, as a result on the first day of qualifications she was ranked 2nd behind teammate Daria Dmitrieva but set herself better for the second day of qualifications, she scored a total of 116.000 score in the qualifications.''

During the Finals. She retained a clean performance and set herself up completing all four apparatus without any major mistakes or drop on the apparatus, she was the only gymnast to score more than 29 points in the ball, hoop and clubs, falling short of that mark only with the ribbon that scored 28.900, Kanayeva scored a total of 116.900 ahead of teammate Daria Dmitrieva that scored a total of 114.500 points. Kanayeva said about winning her second Olympics gold medal and on being considered a legend of Rhythmic Gymnastics: "It was not my target to be a legend, but I do like the sound of it. I love Gymnastics and I want the audience to remember me.": "I am feeling excellent. It was hard for me to get it and I am very happy. It's a very worthwhile medal to have won."

The Record-breaker

With the implementation of the new ‘Codes of Points’, Kanayeva's style was changed drastically in 2009. The transition was not smooth as in early season she struggled against injuries and exhaustion. Although she remained undefeated in all Individual All-around competitions, on a few occasions Sesina and Bessonova finished ahead of her in individual apparatus. Nevertheless, in May Kanayeva won the gold medals for all 4 apparatus at the European Championship in Baku. Then, in July, she collected all gold medals available (9 in total) at the Rhythmic Gymnastics competitions in the Universiade and the World Games. In fact, her 5 gold medals in the Universiade enabled Russia to come top on the overall team ranking. President Dmitry Medvedev of the Russian Federations openly complimented on Kanayeva’s contribution. She was also hailed as the 'Heroine of the Games' by the official website of Universiade Belgrade 2009.''

In September, the World Championship in Rhythmic Gymnastics (Mie Prefecture, Japan) provided Kanayeva the opportunity to become World Champion. Kanayeva qualified for the Individual All-around final by coming first in every single apparatus, each with a gold medal. Besides, her results in individual apparatus also won her a gold medal for the team competition (together with Olga Kapranova, Daria Kondakova and Daria Dmitrieva). As a result, prior to the Individual All-around final, Kanaeva had already won 5 gold medals – equaled the record set by Oxana Kostina of Russia in 1992 of winning the most number of gold medals in one single Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championship.''

Although none expected it to be a record-breaking World Championship, Kanayeva’s determination was clearly seen in the Individual All-around final. After 3 rotations she led second place Kondakova by 0.850. As Kondakova finished her final rotation (rope) elegantly with a high score in 28.400, the atmosphere in the gymnasium turned electrified. After waiting for 5 other finalists to complete their routines, Kanayeva held the ball in her hands and stepped onto the carpet as the last competitor of the day. She gave a championship-winning performance. By a margin of 0.600, Kanayeva won her sixth gold medal and set a new record by winning the most number of gold medals in one single Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championship. With physical and emotional exhaustion, Kanayeva shed her tears when the Russian training staff embraced her.. President Dmitry Medvedev of the Russian Federation acknowledged Kanayeva's new record by sending her a telegram of congratulation.''

On and Off the Carpet

Kanayeva’s success in Rhythmic Gymnastics has not only won her admiration across Russia and around the globe but also continued Omsk’s tradition in producing outstanding rhythmic gymnasts. Sport commentator and former Russian rhythmic gymnast Laysan Utiasheva once described Kanayeva as a combination of Tchachina and Kabayeva. However, Kanayeva had no intention to be a copier of the former greats. Frequently in interviews, when asked about her views on success and future plan, her reply was that she lived only in today and every victory motivated her to improve further. According to Arais, Kanayeva always applies the principle ‘winner or loser’ in life, which has distinguished her from others since her first step in Rhythmic Gymnastics. For Kanayeva, 'victory and defeat both give lessons. In the face of victory, the most important thing is not to be overwhelmed but to stay on the ground, to go on and work and take delight in life. For an athlete’s life does not only come through by one victory, and a real athlete is one who is capable of winning and losing.'

Although Kanayeva's ability to follow her trainers' instructions was well known, she had no hesitation to give her opinions on her routines and performances. Year by year, she has shown desires in trying out new elements and adopting new styles. She stated that her satisfaction in Rhythmic Gymnastics was not merely associated with scores or medals but more with the reaction of the audience to her performance.''

For Shtelbaums, Kanayeva has the quality to become a good trainer because of her attentiveness to instruct young rhythmic gymnasts. Currently, she is enrolled at The Siberian State University of Physical Training and Sports. When asked what she would like to do when her sporting career is over, Kanayeva expressed her wish to learn how to draw and play piano. She has also said in other interviews that she is keen to study a foreign language, such as English, and some computer-related subjects. Her mother Svetlana said her daughter is thoughtful in this aspect as all her prize money is being saved up for future education.''

Liubou CHARKASHYNA (BLR), London 2012 Bronze medallist, on winning her first Olympic medal:
"I'm happy, very happy for my country and my coach and for Rhythmic Gymnastics in Belarus. I think it's a valuation of my hard work and my school in Belaraus. I don't think this medal is my medal, it's for the whole of Belarus.”

Congratulations to the London 2012 Rhythmic Gymnastics Individual All-around Olympic medallists!
Gold - Evgeniya Kanaeva (RUS) - 116.900
Silver - Daria Dmitrieva (RUS) - 114.500
Bronze - Liubou Charkashyna (BLR) - 111.700

She did it! Evgeniya Kanaeva (RUS) becomes the first rhythmic gymnast to win back-to-back Olympic Gold medals in the Individual All-around. Congratulations!

tions!

Daria DMITRIEVA (RUS), London 2012 Olympic medallist, on winning Silver:
"I am feeling excellent. It was hard for me to get it and I am very happy. It's a very worthwhile medal to have won."

Categories: Daria DMITRIEVA 2012 , Evgeniya KANAEVA Rusia , Evgeniya profile KANAEVA , London 2012 Olympic medallist