Borodulina focused on next goal
The Age
Friday February 19, 2010
FOUR days after she failed in her first event €” the 500 metres €” leaving in tears after missing the final, the coach of Australia's short-track medal hope Tatiana Borodulina says she has recovered mentally and is giving herself the best possible chance to secure a medal.Borodulina finished third in her heat on Sunday but after having studied tape of the race and spoken to her athlete, coach Anne Zhang told The Age Borodulina had been unfairly interfered with by Canadian competitor Marianne St-Gelais."We watch the video and she was very unlucky," Zhang said. "The Canadian girl, was racing with Tatiana and she pulled on her. That is not allowed, [there is] no body contact in short track, it's not allowed like that."St-Gelais won the heat, with British skater Sarah Lindsay relegating the Australian to third place.Zhang said she had considered protesting against the result but did not believe it was clear enough on the video to be successful. "The referee won't disqualify a Canadian, we are in Canada, I think," she said.The comments come after other Australian coaches expressed surprise after Alexandre Bilodeau's victory in the men's moguls on Monday at the high scoring for his turns. Those comments, which did acknowledge that Australian competitor Dale Begg-Smith needed to have set a faster time, also suggested the Australian might have been hard done by.Borodulina was distraught after not progressing from her 500-metre heat, which many have suggested was her best event. But Zhang said her charge had now refocused and was feeling confident coming into the 1000 metres and 1500 metres."She is training well, she does some shopping to relax, we have worked hard and now we will see," the Chinese-born coach said. "Now she is over it [the 500 metres]. She knows she has a good chance."Australia's other short-track skater, Lachlan Hay, could not progress out of his 1000 metres heat yesterday finishing fourth of four. Zhang said Hay had skated well but it was a fast heat."We had a plan to try to get in front but it started very quickly and it was a very fast heat, he just could not get past."
© 2010 The Age
