Well, I should really post something about the World Champs, but I've been busy so I have to get caught up on that. ^_^;;; In the meantime, I thought I would continue my series of
"essays" about the girls. Here's another one about the all-time queen, Zhenya Kanaeva. I've written about
her family and
her life "on the carpet," so now I think I'll write a bit about her relationships with the other girls.
 |
| Clockwise from top: Karolina, Nazar, Ul, Makar, Zhenya, Ksyu, Blizia |
Since I knew pretty much nothing about RG before the 2012 Olympics, I initially (mistakenly) thought that Dasha Dmitrieva and Zhenya were besties since I knew that they were roommates at Novogorsk, and they seemed to always be posting cute photos of themselves together.
 |
| Dasha D & Zhenya |
Soon after, however, I realized that Dasha D is best friends with Ulyana Trofimova (well, mostly), while Zhenya is much closer to the group girls and especially
Natasha Pichuzhkina, her bestie.
 |
| Natasha & Zhenya |
See, for example,
this interview:
- Is the friendship between competing gymnasts possible?
- I think it may be unlikely for a very close soul to soul friendship. However, although my best friend Natalia Pichuzhkina (we started together in individual competitions) is competing in groups, we always support each other. And I know that all our “group”-girls are sincerely happy for me if I succeed; and they are upset if I fail.
 |
| Zhenya (with Karolina, Makar & Olga watching in back) |
At that time, it made sense to me that Zhenya was closer to the group girls than to the other girls in the individual competition, since the individual girls were her direct competitors. I could definitely imagine the other girls either being slightly intimidated by Zhenya, or maybe even jealous of her success. (Though clearly they are very close, even if they’re not best friends.)
 |
| Zhenya, Dasha Kondakova, Dasha D |
 |
| Zhenya, Dasha K, Dasha D |
 |
| Dasha D, Zhenya, Dasha K |
However, the more I learned about the group girls, the more I realized that Zhenya and the group girls are actually more similar in terms of PERSONALITY than Zhenya and the other individual girls. Simply put, with the exception of Karolina, the group girls are a bunch of clever and crazy weirdos who don’t mind making fools out of themselves, and Zhenya definitely seems to be like that. No wonder they get along so well! Likey so:
 |
| Ul, Nazar, Larisa Ilchenko, Zhenya |
 |
| Ul, Larisa, Nazar, Natasha, Zhenya |
 |
| Zhenya & Larisa |
 |
| Roman Lyubimov, Blizia, Zhenya, Makar making inappropriate gestures? :P |
And here are a bunch of photos of Zhenya and the group girls goofing off in Korea in 2011.
 |
| Zhenya, Ul, Makar, Olga |
 |
| Ksyu, Zhenya, Makar |
 |
| Olga, Ksyu, Zhenya, Makar |
 |
| Zhenya & Ksyu jumping; Ul & Makar in back |
 |
| Ksyu, Ul, Zhenya, Makar |
 |
| Olga, Nazar, Natasha, Makar, Ul, Ksyu & Zhenya |
 |
| Ul, Makar, Ksyu, Zhenya |
 |
| Ul & Zhenya "shooting" Makar while Ksyu jumps in the background |
 |
| Zhenya, Ul, Ksyu, Makar |
...to be continued...
Hey, Its good to hear that Zhenya are really close with the Group Girls. But mind if i ask, why aren't she close with Karolina? Are they of a different personalities? I mean Dmitrieva and Kondakova are of a different personalities as well but we can see that they are also close. Just a curiosity :)
ReplyDeleteWell, I will admit that I don't know any of the girls personally, so I am only speculating, but from what I can tell, Karolina is not that close to the other group girls anymore either. After the Olympics, she and Uliana were hanging out together a lot since they both retired, but after that, they seem to have become less close (though Karolina did go to Ul's birthday party). Nowadays, Karolina seems to be best friends with Yana Lukonina and Anna Gavrilenko, and they seem to hang out together and not much with the others.
DeleteThough since Zhenya got married, I haven't seen her hanging out with anyone else either!
karolina, gavrilenko & 'lil lu' lukonina are suppose to be the 'pretty' face of vinerstan .. LOL..
Deleteksu.. is the current mad n party gal... as we all can see always party with donechka n gang...
the other '3' current vinerstan group gals ie lenyaR, nastyaM, Olich.. seems to be more on the serious side, n 2 of them except Olich are elders...
Ksyu and Blizia hang out with Ul/Makar/Donechka and the Kukushkina twins a lot...but I can't figure out who Nazar is close to--I thought she was really close to Blizia/Ksyu/Makar etc, but she doesn't hang out with them that much outside the gym, it seems. Maybe cuz she'd rather go home and play with her *adorable* baby sister!
Delete