Ukrainian figure skater Anastasia Shabotova at the Beijing OlympicsHowever, there was no help — Shabotova chose not to perform the most difficult element from her arsenal, the three and a half turn axel, deciding not to risk it, discard one turn and rely on the purity of execution. She did it, but the grades were not impressive. But she impressed journalists in the mixed zone, saying that, it turns out, she was born in Ukraine (although according to all protocols, including the official one, on the website of the International Skating Union — in Moscow), Ukrainian is her native language and she now trains in Kiev. How many new things can be learned from personal communication. Valieva is impeccable, but the intrigue is still alive Next among those who could help «neighbourly», another Anastasia, Gubanova, came on the ice. Exactly the same Russian woman, only not from Moscow, but from St. Petersburg. But standing for the Georgian flag. It’s good that she doesn’t claim that Georgian is her native language. Nastya honestly admits that she has never been to Georgia at all. As they say, why be embarrassed, for figure skating, all this is a normal phenomenon — here strong powers calmly distribute athletes to other federations who do not qualify for the main team of their teams. Gubanova, like Shabotova, also did everything she could, without mistakes. But her grades were a little lower than they could have been. Canadian Madeleine Skizas, who fell in love with herself at the Russian stage of the Grand Prix with a heartfelt performance of a short program to the music from the film «My Sweet and Gentle Beast», and added here, was also given less than 70 points. A thought flashed through: apparently, the judging team does not really want those who, rather, play the role of extras or, at best, are fighting for bronze, to interfere in the dispute between the main contenders for the gold of the team tournament.
