A broken bone on the top of her right foot crippled Yelena Produnova's all-around ambitions at the Sydney Olympics, but nothing has broken her stride or her spirit.
The effusive 20-year-old Russian still managed to win a bronze medal on beam and shared a silver with her team at the Games. Since Sydney, Produnova has been ambling into her future with the same incandescent determination that earned her the 1997 world all-around bronze and the past two Russian all-around titles.
Produnova chatted with IG about her past, present and future steps at a recent stop of the T.J. Maxx tour.
IG: What exactly was wrong with your foot at the Olympics?
YP: (stretching right leg and pointing the top of her right foot) I had a break here. A week before Sydney, I knew something was really wrong: it hurt and hurt and hurt. After Sydney, I went home and had an x-ray, and they told me the bone was broken. That is why I could not compete in the all-around or on floor.
IG: Your new floor routine in Sydney was terrific.
YP: Cool- good choreography, right?
IG: That you could even compete in the beam final was impressive.
YP: The morning of the beam final, I could not even take a step.
IG: Will you continue to compete?
YP: I do not know; I want to. It depends on my foot.
IG: How are you enjoying the tour, and traveling in America?
YP: (coughing) Well, Sydney was very hot, and when I went home to Russia it was very cold. I have had a dreadful cold since. But I am really enjoying the tour. Today, I changed my hair color! After Australia, I got it cut and colored it a very, very bright red. And this morning, as you see (orange with blond streaks).
IG: You are studying English, right?
YP: (self-consciously) Well, yes. You know, everyone here on the tour speaks English to everyone else, and to learn it, you listen and listen...
IG: Will we see you competing in the U.S. again?
YP: If not in competition, then I will come as a tourist!
IG: What will you do when the tour is over?
YP: After the tour, I will go home to Rostov-on-Don. I want to live there; I will live there. I would like to work in America for six months, and then go home. I do not know what will be, because I must find an agent. When I was in New York, they photographed me for Interview magazine. I will have to show the photos to you; they are very beautiful. Cool, yes?
IG: Very.
- John Crumlish
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