President of the Croatian Gymnastics Federation reveals that visas have been approved for the majority of the Russian delegation, including its biggest stars, after further consideration. Ude and Srbić ready for home turf.
Only three days separate us from the start of the European Gymnastics Championships, which will be held at Zagreb Arena. On that occasion, a cooperation agreement was signed on Monday at the Croatian Sports Museum between that institution and the Croatian Gymnastics Federation (HGS), and the Federation's president, Marijo Možnik, also cleared up any doubts regarding the arrival of Russian athletes.
After media reports surfaced about visa issues for the Russian delegation, Možnik confirmed at a press conference that the best will indeed compete in Zagreb. "The majority of the delegation has received visas; a few athletes initially did not, but after further consideration, their visas were approved today, so most of the athletes who were registered will come," Možnik stated for HRT.
The HGS president specifically highlighted the arrival of one of the biggest stars in world gymnastics. "Melnikova will come. The best athletes will be here," Možnik said, referring to Angelina Melnikova. He added that from the entire Russian team, only one female and one male athlete did not receive visas, but he emphasized that they were not among the key members of the team.
"From the men's and women's teams, if I'm not mistaken, we have one female and one male athlete who did not receive visas and will not come. They were planned, but they have reserve gymnasts for those spots, so they will replace them, and they will have a full team for the competition," Možnik explained. He thanked the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and the European Federation for the inter-ministerial coordination that led to a successful resolution.
Croatia will be represented on home turf by two Olympic silver medalists. Forty-year-old Filip Ude, who won silver on pommel horse in Beijing 2008, revealed that he is competing despite an injury. "Honestly, if this European Championship were held anywhere else, I wouldn't compete and would have already had surgery on my injured shoulder. But in my mind, it was worth risking a more serious injury because I couldn't miss the opportunity to compete on home soil. My only goal is to give my maximum," Ude said.
Tin Srbić, who won silver on the horizontal bar five years ago in Tokyo, has higher expectations. "It's a great honor and pleasure that such a big competition will be held in my city while I'm still active. All my friends have already bought tickets for the final; they're not interested in the qualifications. If I do my routine well in the qualifications, I should make it to the final, and then it's a fight for a medal," Srbić announced.
Možnik invited all sports fans to visit Zagreb Arena, emphasizing that this will be a record-breaking edition of the championship. "More than 600 of them will come from 43 different countries," he said. Alongside top-tier sports action, organizers have prepared a rich musical program, with performances by Mia Dimšić, Ana Rucner, and Baby Lasagna.
Due to the partitioning of the arena, which includes a fenced-off training area in addition to the competition area, the Arena's capacity has been reduced to 5,000 seats. During the signing of the agreement, Možnik presented the director of the Croatian Sports Museum, Danira Bilić, with a set of medals that will be awarded at the European Championships, which will be displayed in the museum.
"This agreement should create a practice where young gymnasts come to the museum and learn about the history of gymnastics and sport as a whole, to stay motivated on their athletic journey," said Director Bilić. Možnik added that it is a duty and responsibility to preserve the memories of Croatian gymnastics' successes and, through this collaboration, connect the past, present, and future of the sport. Ude jokingly added: "Maybe I'll decide to lend my medal to the museum so people can see it. At home, it's just collecting dust."
