“Our goal is to promote rhythmic gymnastics.” The Congo team on Academy training and participation in the Alina-2024 festival

After meeting at the airport and a short tour of the Academy, team members from Congo spoke about the development of rhythmic gymnastics in their country.

The technical director of the National Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics of the Republic of Congo, Armel Coulombo, noted that our sport has only recently become popular in the Congo.

“We’ve gotten acquainted with rhythmic gymnastics in the Congo not that long ago; we did not have a national team. The girls have been mastering rhythmic gymnastics for the third year, but we haven’t participated in competitions yet. They had never been involved in this sport before. Our goal is to promote rhythmic gymnastics so that our children meet other athletes of a higher level in order to learn and develop. After all, Russia is a great power in rhythmic gymnastics. And we would really like our children to be able to learn from the experiences of others,” he said.

He also expressed gratitude for the opportunity to come to the training camp at the Academy and take part in the Alina-2024 festival.

“We are very grateful to the Alina Kabaeva Charitable Foundation for the opportunity to take part in this big festival, which unites many countries. We say thank you from the bottom of our hearts and hope that this cooperation will continue in the future,” he added.

Gymnast Messi Malanda Mayinga explained what motivates her personally to be involved in rhythmic gymnastics.

“I’ve been involved in rhythmic gymnastics for about a year and a half. I only trained at home before. I always really liked rhythmic gymnastics, but during my school years my parents did not want me to take part in this sport. - But when you like something, you don’t listen to anyone and just decide to start doing it. I think it’s a very good idea to organize this festival, since you can learn a lot here in order to become a champion in the future,” she said.

Gymnasts from the Congo came to the Academy for the training camp, which was organized by the Alina Kabaeva Charitable Foundation, which paid all of the expenses. The gymnasts will also take part in the Alina-2024 festival.