A Day at Round Lake with Vika and Dasha

Team Russia's main sponsor, VTB, has published a little feature on Viktoria Komova and Daria Spiridonova and their lives at the team's home base of Round Lake. It's probably the first of many this year (time for Rio, baby) and I'm already loving it, because I take any insight into their lives that I can get. Even if it is just a few meaningless words and a bunch of pictures that look like stock photos out of a school book for health studies. Or maybe Ikea catalogue?

Click here for the article and pictures.

And click read more for my bad translations and unnecessary commentary.

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My Russian is extremely poor so I have no guarantees about the accuracy of this translation:

We are used to seeing them on television during competitions. We root for them, and share with them the joy of the victories and disappointment of the losses. But competitions are only a few days of the year -  a front facade. What is the normal everyday life of the athletes? How and how much do they train, and what do they do during spare time? And is there any spare time? VTB Bank is the sponsor of the Russian Gymnastics Federation so VTBRussia.ru had a chance to take a look at what we don't see on television. We visited the training base of the Russian national gymnastics team and observed the day of the team leaders, Viktoria Komova and Daria Spiridonova. Take a look at the photo diary - the way you see gymnastics will never be the same. 

And here's some stuff from the captions:

• They wake up at 7 am, and the first training session begins at 7.30.
•  The first training session consists mainly of working on gym equipment (regular gym, not gymnastics gym) and lasts over an hour.
•  After the first training session they have breakfast and some free time. The girls like to spend it online, Vika likes to read the news and see what's going on in the world.
• The girls live in a dormitory and the dining hall is downstairs, but they can cook water and make tea in their rooms.
•  The second training session begins at 11 am and lasts for two and a half hours.
•  The second training session consists of working on personal skills and routines on different equipment.
•  Andrei Rodionenko sits on the sidelines observing the training and making corrections.
•  The girls exchange a few words here and there but mostly concentrate on their own work.
•  The girls live on the training base for years, so coaches fill the role of their parents.
•  Their food is basic Russian home cooking, but varied and tasty. The girls decide what and how much they eat.
• The team in general doesn't have a calorie controlled diet, they rely on intensive workouts to stay in shape.
•  After lunch there's two hours of free time for the older girls, you can read or watch tv. The younger ones have school.
•  Round Lake is surrounded by forest and the girls enjoy walks, especially during summer. During winter it's very cold. They like to take it easy during walks, there's enough exercise during training.
•  The last training session begins at 4.30 pm and lasts for an hour and a half, it's mostly choreography.
• They have massages and other physio every evening, dinner at 8. 
• Bedtime is at 11, but the girls say that they often fall asleep earlier.
• Sunday is their only day off.

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So it looks like Vika and Dasha might be roommates. Dasha also might be best friends with Andrei Rodionenko, perhaps because she is vying for Vika's spot on the wall of the Penza gymnasium.

Yes, get your act together Vika, Dasha (with a little help from Alla) has already taken over the wall at Round Lake.
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On a random note: the first thing that caught my attention was the picture of them brushing their teeth. In light of Vika's (and Aliya's) dental problems last year it was unintentionally hilarious :D

I also find it curious that Aliya didn't show up in the pics or get any mention in the text, even a small one. Maybe they wanted the spotlight to be on someone else for a change, we're so used to seeing her representing Russian gymnastics in the press by herself.