Baku, Azerbaijan, July 25
By Jani Babayeva - Trend:
I am happy that I was able to win the gold medal, Ukrainian athlete Illia Kovtun told Trend after having won the gymnastics competitions in the individual all-around events held as part of the XV Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF Baku 2019) on July 25.
“The coach and I strove for this medal for more than six months, and expected that a [positive] result. The struggle was difficult, there were worthy competitors. There are strong athletes from Russia and Romania, and the other representatives of Ukraine are strong too, that is why I had to work hard,” said the winner of the competition.
Kovtun noted that he will perform in the final floor exercise tomorrow.
“I hope that I can win gold there too. I would like to say that the competitions are going well, the gymnastics arena in Baku is wonderful, and everything is greatly organized,” he added.
The finals of men's and women's individual all-around events are held at the National Gymnastics Arena on July 25 as part of the XV Summer European Youth Olympic Festival.
Competitions in men's and women's gymnastics as part of the XV Summer European Youth Olympic Festival are held July 23-27.
The XV Summer European Youth Olympic Festival, which is held July 21-27, is taking place at 12 sports facilities.
The festival is attended by 3,900 athletes from 48 European countries. Fifty-two percent of the participants are males, and 48 percent are females. Athletes are competing for 135 sets of medals. A total of 930 medals are prepared for the winners, including 300 gold, 300 silver and 330 bronze medals.
Some 122 athletes represent Azerbaijan at the festival.
Athletes are competing in ten kinds of sports: gymnastics, athletics, basketball, cycling, handball, judo, swimming, tennis, volleyball and wrestling.