"It is an honor for us to conduct training in such magnificent conditions." Olga Ilyina, coach of the Bryansk Region team, talks about training at the Martial Arts Academy

Olga Ilyina, the coach of the Bryansk Region team, shared her impressions of the training sessions at the Martial Arts Academy:

"We are thrilled to train in such a gorgeous gym, because rhythmic gymnastics in the Bryansk Region has only just started developing. Our Federation is very young; we have absolutely no facility conditions yet, we are just barely moving forward. So for us, it is simply an honor to train in such spectacular conditions and to watch the Sky Grace team perform their Candidate for Master of Sports group routines. By the way, one of my students is in that lineup."

The specialist also spoke about supporting Russian gymnasts at the European Championships and thanked Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva for the opportunity to participate in training camps and to travel to international competitions as fans:

"I really like Arina Kovshova. I just absolutely adore her. Masha Borisova. Veronika Malinina. Yes, this is sort of the new generation, Eva Kononova too. First of all, we saw all of them at the European Championships. That was a moment, you know, when we were there with our flag and our anthem. It was just amazing, such an incredible drive, especially since we had just been allowed to compete. It felt like we were out-cheering everyone and everything there. And again, thank you. Alina Maratovna was the one who invited us. Yana Zaikina was our pioneer, winning the first gold, and then Sofia Ilteryakova won gold too. They did an absolutely incredible job, of course. We were so proud, and it felt like the entire arena was cheering for us. You know, you'd just be walking down the street, and people would stop you, we were still holding those Russian flags, saying, 'Thank you for coming. It’s so wonderful that you were brought back.' Huge thank you to Alina Maratovna Kabaeva because this year we had actually the Bryansk Region team attending the European Championships, and now we were able to come here solely thanks to the Sky Grace and the Alina Kabaeva Charity Foundation. Thank you also to our coordinators."

Previously, Olga Iosifovna trained gymnasts in Severodvinsk. Among her students is Alina Chistyakova, a member of the junior national group exercise team. 

Thanks to the Sky Grace International Association, fans from various regions of Russia traveled to the European Championships.