On the sidelines of the 37th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, an auction was held with only one lot presented - the ribbon of the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships ambassador, multiple world champion and silver medalist of the 1996 Olympics Yana Batyrshina.
As the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza reports, many people fought for the lot, but the head coach of the Azerbaijani national rhythmic gymnastics team Mariana Vasileva became the winner of the auction and the new owner of Batyrshina’s ribbon. Mariana Vasileva said that she is buying this champion ribbon for 2500 euros hoping that it will bring luck to the Azerbaijani team, the members of which will participate today in the qualification exercises with a ribbon.
Then, Mariana Vasileva gave the ribbon to Yana Batyrshina, since it was really dear to the heart of the Russian gymnast. “Now I see how difficult it is for Yana to part with this ribbon, and I would like to return it to Yana. I got its luck, it’s enough for me,” she said.
Yana Batyrshina told about her ribbon before the auction. “I became the European champion in 1997, won the first gold medal in the European championship with this ribbon. In the same year, at the Grand Prix finals, where only eight strongest gymnasts performed in each exercise, I also won the exercise with a ribbon and became an unofficial world champion. Next year, I won the silver medal of the European Championship with the same ribbon,” she said.
“Most gymnasts give their ribbons to special companies, where they are painted to match the image and music of the performance. I painted this ribbon myself, using ordinary felt-tip pens. I remember it took me about four hours, " Yana Batyrshina said.
“It turns out that it is already 22 years old, and, by the way, it is in a very good condition. I took care of it. All the money that will be received from the sale of this ribbon will go to charity. That is, you’re not only get the ribbon with which I became the European champion, but you will do a very good deed, " the official ambassador of the 37th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku said.
This week, on September 16-22, the 37th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships is held at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. The tournament is the qualification competition for the 32nd Olympic Games in Tokyo. More than 300 gymnasts from 61 countries are competing for nine sets of medals. The motto of the tournament is “Fairy tales will come to life”
