Feofanova Updates

[BruceFlorman]

Ah, the first peep out of Svetlana this season. I was kind'a wondering what was up with her. The headline seems a little misleading though.
[quote="«Весь спорт»"]14:54 02.07.2007 - Light athletics - World Championship of light athletics-2007
Svetlana Feofanova will be selected for the World Championships

The silver medalist of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and former world record holder in the women’s pole vault, Russia’s Svetlana Feofanova, will compete this summer season and be selected to participate in the World Championships which take place in Osaka from 25 August through 2 September. Svetlana Feofanova reported about this herself to the agency of sport information “All Sportâ€Â

[BruceFlorman]

I’ve been expecting to see something in the Russian press about Feofanova’s performance in Paris, and it finally showed up this morning on Allsport.ru:
[quote="Natalya Maryanchik"]15:40 08.07.2007 – Light athletics – second stage of the Golden League of light athletics-2007
Svetlana Feofanova: Each of my competitions should end with my victory

In the second stage of the prestigious “Golden Leagueâ€Â

[BruceFlorman]

A brief interview on Allsport.ru following Sveta's victory today in the Russian Champs:
[quote="Yevgeny Slyusarenko"]23:27 31.07.2007 – Light athletics – Russian championships of light athletics-2007
Svetlana Feofanova: I figured today is the beginning of my peak

The silver medalist of the Olympic Games, the former European and world champion, and former world record holder in the women’s pole vault, Svetlana Feofanova once again in her career won at the Russian championships of light athletics, which started today, 31 July, in Tula. In the rain she jumped 4.75 m – this is the best result this season for Feofanova herself, and the third best result in the world, after her compatriot Yelena Isinbaeva and the American Jennifer Stuczynski. After the competition Feofanova answered questions from the special correspondent of the Agency of sport information “All Sportâ€Â

[BruceFlorman]

Another interview from Tula, this one on the Советский Спорт website (from Tuesday). I enjoyed this writer's narrative style, and I've tried to preserve it, so my translation of the opening paragraphs hasn't been as "Americanized" as some that I've done.
[quote="Natalia Kuzina"]FEOFANOVA DID NOT BEGIN TO RISK

... The apogee of the battle in the pole vault sector begins when four participants take 4.50: Svetlana Feofanova and Yulia Golubchikova on the first attempt; Anastasia Shvedova and Tatiana Polnova on the second.

At the following height - 4.55. In unison, also on the first attempt Polnova, Feofanova and Golubchikova go clear. Shvedova drops out, after failing all three jumps.

And at the height of 4.60 Polnova retires. This means that the places on the Russian team to the world championships most likely will be filled by Golubchikova and Feofanova (the final team composition will be set later by the trainers’ council). But which of them will become champion today?

Svetlana, after passing 4.65, declares 4.70 – and again is without a miss! This height does not immediately yield to Yulia, but her third attempt is flawless. Again intrigue!

4.75. First up is Feofanova and... spotless! This is the best result she’s shown this season! Furthermore – the third best in the world after Yelena Isinbaeva’s 4.91 and Jennifer Stuczynski’s 4.88. Thus there’s no doubt – Svetlana is aiming for a high place at her third world championships.

But the competition in Tula is not yet finished – 4.75 confronts Golubchikova. By the way, her best result this season – 4.70 – which she set right in this stadium on 7 July. And this time it remains so: Feofanova is champion!

The official proposal from the secretariat to raise the bar to a new height and compete on her own, Svetlana, with a smile, declines.

- Why? - I interrogate the champion immediately after the end of competition.

- There’s no sense in taking risks – not in these conditions! Whenever I come to Tula it rains. Here today it’s just the same.

- To what height do you plan to raise the bar in Osaka?

- Well, to 5.20 at the minimum! - smiles Svetlana. Then seriously she adds: - Generally, I haven’t made such plans for myself for several years: whatever I achieve – everything I do, no one will take away.

- How do you evaluate this season as a whole? You give the impression of clearing the necessary heights very easily.

- Yes I simply haven’t been tired at all because I began the season late, so as not to waste energy before the world championships. Since the selections are being made now, I aimed to reach peak form precisely in Tula.

- [b]But is this justified now? Maybe you need to be “patientâ€Â

[BruceFlorman]

Yet another short post-Tula interview with Svetlana Feofanova, this one from Sport-Express. It doesn’t really add a whole lot to the other ones, but it was mostly a fairly easy translation.
[quote="Yelena Rerikh"][url=http://www.sport-express.ru/art.shtml?143466][size=117][b]Svetlana FEOFANOVA: “IT’S POSSIBLE TO JUMP EVERY WEEK, BUT WHY?â€Â

[BruceFlorman]

A few quick words from Svetlana Feofanova…
[quote]18:41 10.09.2007 – Light Athletics – Fifth stage of the Golden League of light athletics-2007
Svetlana Feofanova: I’ve gone a long time without a record

The bronze medalist of the 2007 world championships, the silver medalist of the 2004 Olympic games, the ex-champion and ex-record-holder of Europe and the world in the women’s pole vault, Russia’s Svetlana Feofanova, who occupied second place at the "Golden League" stage in Zurich with one of the best results this season in the world – 4.75 m, will compete in the final stages of the series (on September 14th in Brussels and September 16th in Berlin) and World Athletics Final (on September 22nd in Stuttgart) with the intent of improving her personal record – 4.88 m. Svetlana Feofanova stated this herself to the Agency of sport information "All Sport".

“The main characteristic of the last tournament in Zurich was the progression of heights,â€Â

[BruceFlorman]

This was posted on Wednesday, but I didn't get around to doing the translation until now.
[quote]14:31 19.09.2007 – Light athletics
Svetlana Feofanova: the attitude that "there’s Isinbaeva, and the rest – the crowd" was specifically created and is actively imposed

The silver medalist of the 2004 Olympiad, former European and world champion, and former world record holder in the women’s pole vault, Svetlana Feofanova, after two years of injury and subsequent recovery, after winning bronze at the recent world championships, is again showing high results and giving serious competition to the holder of all available titles, Yelena Isinbaeva. Svetlana Feofanova shared her plans and ambitions with the Agency of sport information "All Sport".

“I don’t feel any pressure,â€Â

[BruceFlorman]

Hmmm. It looks like the recent server issues have forced a restore from backup operation that didn't fully grok the UTF-8 characters in the original posts. Oh well, it's better than losing all the old posts, that's for sure.

Anyway, from earlier today on Allsport.ru...[quote]14:21 04.02.2008 – Light Athletics
Svetlana Feofanova: if selected, I’ll appear at the world championships
The bronze medalist of the 2007 world championships, and ex-world record holder, Russia’s Svetlana Feofanova will appear at the Russian winter championships and try to qualify for the national team for participation in the indoor world championships, which take place 7-9 March in Valencia. Svetlana Feofanova reported this to the Agency of Sport Information "All Sport".

“The ‘Pole Vault Stars’ organizers and I have not yet reached a final understanding about my participation,â€