Melnikova burst into tears under a foreign flag, but took four gold from Zagreb

Russian gymnasts were almost left without a visa for the European Championships, and in response they took away half of the gold medals of the tournament. Angelina Melnikova became the best gymnast on the continent, and her teammate became the vice-champion at the age of 17.

The visa was almost canceled a couple of days before the start

class=»notranslate»>__GTAG7__ The European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Zagreb was supposed to be an ordinary tournament for the Russian team — they performed, received medals, and went home, reports xrust. But it didn’t work out: a few days before the start, the Croatian authorities refused to issue visas to several Russian athletes at once, including team leader Angelina Melnikova and her young partner Anna Kalmykova. Victoria Listunova was also included in the list of those banned from entering, as well as part of the men’s team, which was to compete later.

Formally, by this time there had been no contradictions between Russia and the international federations for a long time — both the gymnastics federation and the European Gymnastics Union lifted restrictions for Russian athletes. The problem turned out to be not in sports, but in politics: permission to enter depended on Croatian officials, and they decided to play their own game.

Melnikova reacted harshly. In a commentary to TASS, she noted that since the composition of participants is now determined not by competitions, but by bureaucratic procedures, then this, apparently, is a new way to win — not on the mat, but with the help of pieces of paper and prohibitions.

The scandal reached the level of the Russian Foreign Ministry — the department got involved in resolving the issue, and in the end the visas were approved. The athletes managed to fly to Zagreb literally right before the start of the competition.

Melnikova won everything possible

As soon as the competition itself began, it became clear that the hassle with visas had no effect on the form of the Russian gymnasts — rather, on the contrary, it added motivation. 26-year-old Angelina Melnikova won the individual all-around, took gold in the vault and added two bronzes — on the balance beam and in the floor exercise. Taking into account her victory in the team all-around on the final day of the tournament, this gave her four medals of the highest standard and the status of the best gymnast in Europe — despite the fact that she is already the current world champion.

While Melnikova was collecting a set of awards, the score for her performance in the floor exercise had to be reviewed separately: the judges initially lowered the scores, but after a protest from the Russian side they raised the score.

17-year-old Anna Kalmykova, for whom the tournament was in many ways a debut at this level, took silver in the individual all-around — the only award for Russia in this discipline besides Melnikova’s gold. After their joint success, Melnikova published a photo with her partner on social networks with the caption that everything was not in vain and thanked her for their support.

Team gold and tears under the neutral anthem

class=»notranslate»>__GTAG7__The final chord of the tournament is the team all-around on August 16. The Russian team, consisting of Anna Kalmykova, Angelina Melnikova and Lyudmila Roshchina, scored 165.430 points and took first place, ahead of Italy (161.796) and France (159.263). Two more gold medals were received by Alena Glotova and Elizaveta Us, who helped the team qualify.

At the end of the tournament, the Russians not only won half of the disciplines played — they led the medal standings both in the number of gold awards and in the total number of medals.

At the award ceremony, Melnikova burst into tears. Russian gymnasts performed at the tournament without a flag and an anthem — instead of the national anthem, neutral music was played on the pedestal, although international federations had long since lifted such restrictions and the ban was in effect solely by the decision of the Croatian side. The athlete herself admitted on Match TV that she cried with happiness, but it was a little sad to look at the white flag, which could well have been different.

The Russian Gymnastics Federation in its official congratulations noted that the whole country is proud of the gymnasts, coaches and specialists of the team.

What's next

The women's part of the tournament in Zagreb is completed, but the story does not end there — from August 19 to 23, the men's European Championship will be held there, where Russian athletes are also expected to perform. Considering that the visa saga also affected part of the men's team, the question of whether there will be no organizational surprises this time remains open.

Sources:
sport-express.net
championat.com
sports.ru

Xrust Melnikova cried under a foreign flag, but took four gold from Zagreb