It’s feast or famine as usual for Isi’s unofficial perevodchik. There’s a big article by Sergey Butov on the Sport-Express website (
http://news.sport-express.ru/online/ntext/24/nl244793.html) about the Rome press conference, but I’m going to cut to the chase and only translate the highlights for now, since I’m a little short on time and the whole thing covers questions and answers with a whole bunch of athletes, starting with Oscar Pistorius, Jeremy Warnier, LaShawn Merritt, Allison Felix, Sanya Richards and Blanka Vlasic, and concluding with Tero Pitkamaki, Dayron Robles and Asafa Powell.
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When those leading the press conference stated that Isinbaeva can easily speak with reporters in Italian, it seemed a good joke. That is until Yelena, with a noticeable accent, but in fluent Italian nevertheless, gave her opening address. "Bravissimo, Yelena!" The entire room broke into applause, somehow causing Isinbaeva’s cheeks to glow.
“Last year I didn’t do badly here,” said Yelena, switching to English. “I won and set the competition record at 4.90. Tomorrow I’ll try to jump at least no lower.”
The next three questions and answers are all covered in the articles above, and since she answered them in English, I don’t see much point in translating them back again after Butov translated them to Russian. The next one seems to be covered above too, but it’s interesting how different the tone is. I don’t know if it’s just one of the writers who’s paraphrasing her response, or both of them.
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- We ask the question previously posed to Blanka. How much pressure is on you in Russia?
“You know, I recently talked with our president… I’m referring to Russian Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev. He gave me simple but very important words. Lena dear, you’re a normal girl; no one expects miracles from you. Just do good work. I liked this advice. It’s very nice when everyone believes in you, but no one puts on pressure.”
Later, when the conversation with reporters spontaneously moved from the conference hall to the chairs arranged around the pool, Isinbaeva revealed that she also hasn’t forgotten Russian during her stay in Italy.
“My opening speech, of course, wasn’t impromptu. I prepared it in advance,” Yelena frankly admitted. “Italy is not at all a foreign country to me, and I wanted to express this in some way. Speaking exclusively in Italian is still difficult, but I’m making progress.”
"VLASIC PEOPLE" SPY ON SLESARENKO
Here I am, hiding from the scorching sun, when I’m joined by warm "Vlasic people" - her coach Boyan and manager Harry, with whom I became friends in April, when at the IAAF’s invitation I went to visit Vlasic in Split. “How’s Yelena Slesarenko doing there? Where will she compete prior to Beijing? How come there’s so little information about her? What’s she hiding? Look me in the eyes!” In such a tense situation, you can see how I was unable to make a joke in reply. I had to tell them the truth: “Slesarenko’s getting ready for a world record and will undoubtedly set it in Beijing.”
“After Rome Blanka will appear at the Golden League in Paris, then in Stockholm and London,” Boyan Marinovich said. “After two weeks back home, we’ll simulate the Olympic tournament. The plan is the same as before the world championships in Osaka, where Blanka won. I’m confident that in Beijing, like in Osaka, the gold will be contested at a height no lower than 2.05.”
Vlasic joined our group complaining of a headache earned from all the television cameras and sun exposure.
“Are you friends with Isinbaeva?” I asked her, since during the press conference they repeatedly whispered to each other about something. “Well, I wouldn’t call our relation friendship in the conventional sense, but we get along well. We’ve already attended so many press conferences together that there’s no harm in being friendly.”
I will watch the meeting on television tomorrow, hoping that I will see many jumps!