SynchroNice / Third Edition / 2018

SYNCHRO NICE 21 You already are World Champion, is it possible to find a next goal? It is probably the main dream for any athlete: to hear your national anthem at a World Championship. Yes, our dreams came true! Our next goal is certainly more difficult. We need to prove our strength and we need to prove that we’re worthy of our title and continue this leadership, but we’re sure “Junost” can do it! Luckily the sport is growing… you will get more and more competition? Progression in synchro is the most important subject nowadays. In my opin- ion, our sport has made some huge steps over the recent years. I often watch videos from different years and it really amazes me how much stronger teams from all over the world have become. Synchro programs have more speed, are far more interesting and more spectacular to watch these days. I believe synchro has a wonderful future ahead. Unfortunately, synchronized skating is not very popular in Russia. If you would ask someone in the street about this sport, you will probably hear an answer like: “Synchronized skating? No, you’re mistaken, you mean synchronized swimming???” It’s sad, but nevertheless, it’s true. You’ll also never see any broadcast on any competition on TV and another major disadvantage of being an unknown sport…supporters and fans consist only of our relatives, friends and other teams but we need a bigger audience. Still we find the support of friends and family to be incredibly powerful. Did you know, during summer we even discussed this problem with the Russian president Vladimir Putin at ‘Sirius’ the Centre for Gifted Education, situated in Sochi. We hope that if synchro ever becomes Olympic, it will finally get its deserved audience. By the way I’ve heard that it might be happening in 2022. Synchro deserves to be presented at the Olympics! And it’s the ultimate dream of every Synchro skater, coach and judge. But do you believe other teams from other coun- tries are progressing enough? Nowadays Russia is leading in the synchro. Russian senior team “Paradise” has won Worlds twice and we’re the first Russian junior team who became World champion. I don’t check up on all the progress other teams are making, therefore it’s difficult for me to answer this question. I mainly focus on the potential rivals that we have at the moment. I hope the world will soon be seeing lots of new excellent, highly profession- al teams. But I couldn’t tell you at this moment from which countries these would come. Synchro Skating is evolving rapidly and that’s really cool. Organizations, photo magazines, like yours greatly contribute to this progression by promoting the sport and reporting the latest news and facts. Thank you for that! And we thank you Liza, for your time and answers, we hope you’ll lead your team to victory many more times. Good luck Natalia and Liza.  IMPORTANT IS THAT YOU ALWAYS PUT THE TEAMS INTEREST BEFORE YOUR OWN ‘‘ Team Junost