Yelena is one of Russia's brightest newcomers, she will be one of her countries main team leaders going into 2000 along with Kuznetsova, Proudnova and Kovalyova.
At 15 Yelena hasn't had very much international exposure, because the rules make her too young to compete in world events, but she was able to compete in the junior European Championships in 1996. Here she lead her team to the gold medal and finished second on vault and 5th all around.
Earlier in 1997 Yelena won the South African Cup and other small European competitions as well as finishing 5th at the Russian Cup, this was high enough to make the world championship team - but unfortunetly she was too young!
She looks up to 1997 world champion Svetlana Khorkina because she has fought so well in a sport designed for short people, and finds it an honour to train with Khorkina
Yelena's goals for 1997 and 1998 include making the Goodwill Games team and winning all the competitions she can, she would allso like to learn a difficult double front somersault and make her routines more difficult. She will be eligable to compete at the world championships in 1999 and here she would like to win individual medals! She has a huge future and is in contention to win the Olympics in 2000, if she has a good build up and avoids injury.
� 1997 [email protected]
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