European Athletics (EAA) – News – Paris gold medallist Darya Klishina: ‚Defeats quickly forgotten but also victories‘

Russia's Darya Klishina won the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships long jump title last month to add that honour to gold medals she won at the 2007 World Youth Championships and the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships.

Still only 20, Klishina is one of the bright hopes of Russian and European athletics for a medal at this year’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, and next year’s Olympic Games in London.

Klishina recently talked to the Russian newspaper Sport Express, and the subjects she addressed included getting over her psychological problems of last season and the world record in her event.

Sport Express: You are born in Tver so did you move to Moscow long ago?
DK: Six years ago. I like it in Moscow. I generally like big cities.

You were very young, how did you cope?
I lived in a dormitory. It was a residential school run by the Olympic committee but when I finished 11th grade, I moved to an apartment. I’ve moved only once. In my opinion; to move, it's awful.

You’ve said that your winning distance at the European Athletics Indoor Championships (6.80m) was not that impressive. Is that true?
It was not at all impressive but it was my first win in a major championship as an adult so that was important.

You seemed to struggle at times last year. You had some success in the Samsung Diamond League and jumped 7.03m (in the 2010 Znamensky Memorial meeting) but finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Doha and also didn’t get selected for the European Athletics Championship in Barcelona.
To some degree, that’s right. I had some psychological problems at the Russian championships last year, which was the selection meeting for Barcelona. Last season, I felt under pressure from all sides, and it was the first time in my life that I jumped at the adult national championship, and I failed. But the defeat wasn’t harmful but was helpful. I travelled with a clear conscience to the rest of the meetings last summer and didn’t feel under any pressure at them, and that felt great.

How do you get on with other elite long jumpers?
Not too bad. I sometimes think that for some I’m like a red rag to a bull. You can see a terrible look in their eyes, but I have learned to disengage when I’m competing. Nothing distracts me, I never pay any attention to whether I am in a big stadium, I don’t hear any applause, and I cannot hear anything before the jump.

Is there any intimidation between the women long jumpers?
I’ve heard stories about how some people have had their spikes stolen before a competition but I haven’t experienced such things. In general, I think many jumpers perceive me as some new blood for the sport and something that’s good.

What next?
With me, not only are defeats quickly forgotten but also victories. Well, I’ve won the European Athletics Indoor Championships, but this is not the World Championships or the Olympics, right?

Tatyana Lebedeva expressed the opinion that you seem close to your coach Olga Shemigon and she doesn’t want to see a repeat of the story of the breakdown of the relationship between Yelena Isinbayeva and Yevgeny Trofimov.
I think the relationship between Isinbayeva and Trofimov is not the same as the one I have with Olga Shemigon. We get on well and clearly communicate, not only in training. I clearly see the results of her work and I do not know another coach who has got such a good eye for what I do. She does not stand still; as a coach she is constantly and methodically searching for new ideas. Every day she comes up with something new during training.

Your coach has said that you are by nature very placid and she tries to get you angry in competition. Is this true?
Yes, I train together with Pavel Shalin and he is completely different. With him, I’m always calming him down, telling him: 'Pasha, everything will be fine; Pasha, now go and jump.' In the stadium, Olga is usually trying to lift me from the stands. She shouts: ‘Shall we start fighting?’ or ‘It’s time to stop messing around’ and that usually winds me up I don’t mind. In fact, when she is not there I choose another object for my anger. It might be an annoying spectator or a photographer who puts his equipment almost on the track or someone who knocked my marker that I’ve put on the run-up. I choose someone, they are the focal point of my anger, and then I start jumping.

You once said that your coach has made a list of your technical errors. Was it a long one?
The most important one is my problem with my run up. I’m consistently not hitting the board. Even with my 7.03m jump, I was behind the board. Another mistake from which I can not seem to get rid of is that I lower my head down during a jump. It’s believed that lowering the head pulls down the body and legs. Olga Shemigon shows me a finger at every single workout which says: ‘Look up.’

Heike Drechsler said that the world record by Galina Chistyakova, which is 7.52m, may well last forever. Do you agree?
Actually, I think it can be beaten but everything needs to come together, including having some wind behind you. However, you know, everybody thought the record for the 100m would stand forever and then came Usain Bolt. Others have said that the high jump record of Javier Sotomayor would be an eternal one but Ivan Ukhov has got close.

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