"It’s a show about dreams that come true because of how strongly we believe.” Evgenia Kanaeva about the EVGENIYA CUP tournament in Omsk

Omsk is set to host the EVGENIYA CUP on April 28-30. The International Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament named to honor the two-time Olympic champion Evgenia Kanaeva will be held for the second time. Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva will be the tournament’s guest. The show wil; be hosted by World champion Yana Batyrshina and commentator Dmitry Guberniev.

We spoke with competition’s host Evgenia Kanaeva and she told us what it has been like to prepare for the tournament, what will be different from last year, and also shared warm memories of her first meeting with Alina Kabaeva.

— Evgenia, this is the second time that the tournament will take place. What do you expect from it? 

Evgenia Kanaeva: I am really happy that the second tournament is about to begin! It’s starting to gain a certain status. Girls from different countries and cities are coming. This year there will be many participants, and for the first time junior competitions will be held in group exercises. Every year, honored guests come to my hometown, which is very nice. This is a big celebration for Osmk.

— Many guests of honor are expected at the tournament. How big is this event? 

The finals in individual events and the show itself will be held at the G-drive Arena, one of the largest stadiums in Russia. Of course, we have made efforts to make this possible. It is very important now to support our athletes who are deprived of official international competitions. We wanted to create the space for them with all the conditions, to have a feel of a big arena with a large number of fans.

The show will be hosted by my first hero Yana Batyrshina and the unsurpassed Dmitry Guberniev. I am extremely happy Alina Kabaeva has agreed to come and support the tournament as an honored guest. She means a lot to my athletic career. I am very fond of her. She holds her own festivals and tournaments, also develops rhythmic gymnastics in every possible way, and does a lot for children. It is of course a great honor. It’s very precious.

Elena Shalamova, Sydney Olympic champion, will be our competition judge. It’s very joyous for us that she came. Also, Irina Leparskaya, head coach of the Belarusian national team, and world champion Larisa Lukyanenko came to the tournament. Omsk resident Ksenia Dudkina, an Olympic champion in group exercise, will also be here both as a “home guest” and an honored guest. She is very talented and I watched her grow up.

— What will be different about the second tournament? 

The scale of it! We spent more time and money. We have new sponsors who helped us to ensure that this tournament would be held at a top level. We’ve been supported by the G-drive Arena, and PhosAgro allocated funds for prize certificates. It’s so nice and wonderful of them. Alina Kabaeva will personally award artistic certificates. I would also like to mention the organizers, Omsk Region First Deputy Minister of Sports Ivan Kolesnik and his team, and the Gymnastics Center itself, all its coaches and employees who do the difficult rough work, preparing the kids for the show. Many thanks to everyone for their support and organizational help.

Every year we try to do something unusual in the show. Last year it was held at the Philharmonic, it was a very beautiful production. Irina Zenovka took part as the main choreographer, main director of the show. She choreographed “The Elements: fire, water, air, earth” performance to my Olympic programs music Bolero, The Rite of Spring, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

Vyacheslav Dyudnev and Marina Davydova ​​were our stage directors, they are our Omsk talents who work at the Philharmonic. And Ekaterina Dementieva’s aesthetic gymnastics students took part in the show. And she was also one of the directors. Our stars Dina and Arina Averina, Lala Kramarenko took part in the opening.

This year, the show will be the final along with a gala concert with the tournament prize winners and medalists. It will have a special segment about having faith in a dream. I’m connected to the word “faith”, it’s very powerful. It’s the faith in God, faith in people, my coach is Vera [Faith ed. note]. And that is how this idea came about, to make a show about the faith in something bright, beautiful. A show about dreams that come true with the help of our strong faith. It will be very beautiful and interesting.

— Under the current conditions, what is the role of international tournaments for Russian athletes? 

I think it's always interesting when there’s competition. Also, the status of international competitions gives inspiration. The word "international" in the title gives an understanding that the gymnast is performing at high-level official competitions. There aren't many of them now. Of course, for our athletes this is a celebration, both to participate in them, to compete. The strongest gymnasts from the Belarusian national team arrived, one of the main competitors of our team: Alina Gornosko, bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and world champion in the ribbon exercise, and Elizaveta Zorkina, winner of the European Junior Championships, a promising young senior. From Russia, we have young Maria Borisova, Alina Protasova and Diana Chugunikhina participating in the competition, together with Belarusian gymnasts they are among the favorites of this tournament.

— There is a story of how you first met Alina Kabaeva, at the competitions in Omsk, it was in 1997. Do you remember that? 

Those are my childhood memories. Alina was at the Galina Gorenkova memorial tournament here. I’d just come to gymnastics and heard that there was this rising little star. Like Masha Borisova came to us now, she won in juniors at the last EVGENIYA CUP tournament and now represents the Russian national team in seniors, and when Alina came here, she was the same age. It was something new, extraordinary. I remember my mother, also a gymnast, was delighted with her. At home, I heard my mother tell my grandmother about how talented this girl was and what potential she had. I remembered it very well and then the next day I ran into her, walked past Alina in the locker room. I was very impressed. She was young then, she hadn’t won any major competitions just yet, only juniors, a rising star.

And then later I saw Alina in Novogorsk, at the first training camp, when I was 11 years old. Of course, this impression hasn’t gone anywhere. This is such an example. Everyone has always looked up to her.