By Caroline.

Elena Gomez: the most Russian of the Spanish girls.
(part 2).

Indeed, Elena and her fellow Spanish gymnasts benefit from one to one and a half hours of ballet training each day. This is taught by a choreographer from the national ballet in Madrid, who also directs Elena in her work. Such hard work moulds the body and mind. The Spanish girls are admired by all for their impeccable bodyline, their grace and their flexibility.     Elena the balletic gymnast is also very impressive on beam (at the Ghent Worlds she was the only gymnast with a Start Value of 10.00 on this piece!) On bars she performs the rarely seen triple twist dismount. "Ever since I began gymnastics I've always felt more at ease in twisting elements, maybe that's why I'm able to perform the triple twist. On the other hand, I've had to work very hard on my body position on bars. But I still have a lot of progress to make. On floor I want to perform my first tumbling run in piked position."   With this in mind, she began training once again, going home to the national centre at Madrid where she practises twice a day in an almost monastic environment. The national trainer Jésus Carballo is certainly a most demanding teacher, both during and outside of training. At Madrid, as in competition, the Spanish female and male athletes are not allowed to mix, and the girls may only talk occasionally to the boys.     Elena doesn't appear to suffer as a result of these training conditions; she knows that high-level sport requires sacrifice, and when asked what she likes most about gymnastics, she points to the moral values that the sport instills: the setting of new targets for oneself, the commitment and continual learning. Her mother then intervenes in the discussion: "Elena has always been a calm, sensible and disciplined person, qualities that are needed in gymnastics. That's why this sport suits her perfectly and she has thrived in it. She is also a girl with lots of character, in the best sense of the word.".   Elena certainly needed character in order to leave behind her parents and five brothers and sisters on the heavenly island of Baléares in Majorca. In effect it was there that she started gymnastics at the age of six. It was also there that she received the warmest welcome on her return from the World Championships.     Her entire hometown (Manacor) was jubilant, and a visibly moved Elena recalls that nearly 2,000 people cheered her in a reception given in her honour. In the space of one weekend she became the princess of an entire people, and the media has followed her ever since on each of her trips. She was voted the most promising athlete of the year and got front page coverage. Aside from the main sport, football, gymnastics is enjoyed and well-supported by the public. Don't forget that among the seven medals won by Spain at the last Olympic Games, one was won by the male gymnast Gervasio Deffer for the floor exercise. Elena would like to do as well as him, and she has every reason to believe she could.   Her victory at Debrecen was not a one-hit wonder, as the little Spanish girl has confirmed since; at Bercy she won the floor final, one week later she did the same thing at Cottbus, and more recently at the 8-nation match in Holland she did well overall and won floor yet again. It appears that her world title will be the start of a long series of good results, giving her the confidence to sparkle in front of the judges; something that was previously lacking. "This medal has given me confidence, now I know that hard work will produce good results and the trainers will help me to achieve it."     Let us trust therefore that Jésus Carballo will guide his gymnast to the pinnacle of her art at the next Olympics. Elena is not the name of a Greek goddess, but she could well become as admired and famous if she wins in Athens.