|
 Considering the somewhat lean field of
gymnasts, the evening still went with a swing, or a fling
as we were in Scotland. As usual the men in kilts brought
a certain amount of curious amusement from the gymnasts.
The saying goes ‘a true Scotsman wear nothing under
his kilt’. Fortunately no one dared to prove this!!!
The buffet got under way, a selection of salads, quiche,
and hot meaty dishes were on offer and much to the great
delight of the gymnasts, a superb selection of desserts,
individual chocolate mousse, various cheesecakes and fruit
tartlets and fruit salad vanished in a matter of minutes.
Some gymnasts taking full advantage of this being the last
competition of the season, gymnasts who shall remain name
less, helped them selves to two or three helpings, their
coaches were obviously not looking!
 Svetlana Kuznetsova seemed in her usual
chatty mood, stating two gold and a bronze medal was ‘the
dessert of the year for Oksana’ or as I put it to her
‘the icing on the cake’. Birgit Schwiegert’s
brother had to help with translation here as Svetlana’s
English began to confuse me! So she switched to German!
Svetlana Khorkina made a guest appearance, having blown
out the actual competition! Looking every bit a Diva, wearing
high narrow healed black boots and a floaty black trouser
suit. She was scheduled to open a new gymnastic club in
Tyne & Wear, near Newcastle (north east England) on
Monday 17th December. She arrived in Glasgow Sunday mid
afternoon and found time to attend the banquet to catch
up with her friends, spending a long time chatting to her
‘Soviet’ friends. Svetlana particularly enjoyed
the fruity cheesecake, playfully posing for photos while
eating it with Chusovitina and her coach. She also whooped
with joy when I presented her with a photo of herself from
Ghent
About half an hour from the end, Alexei Nemov turned up
with Dmitri Karbanenko, his daughter Oksana and his new
wife, whose name escapes me. Oksana is a real darling and
was made a real fuss of by Dmitri’s fellow ‘Russians’.
All too soon the bus turned up to whisk the gymnasts back
to the hotel for a good nights sleep, or out else where,
who knows…
Rowena
Pearce
|
