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- You will have to miss the opening ceremony of the Olympics. How do you feel about it?
Korstin: Unfortunately we won’t be at the opening ceremony. The thing is that the next day we have a very important match against Latvia, the first game of the tournament. It is very important for us to start with a victory. That’s why we won’t go along to the stadium for 6 hours.
Rakhmatulina: We have spoken to our coach several times. And with the president of the Russian Basketball Federation. The match starts in the evening and we thought that we could have visited the ceremony, but our coaching staff think differently. Nobody from the women’s basketball team is going there.
- How is your adaptation to Beijing going?
Korstin: Rather good as we arrived in China as early as on 31st July. First we were in Shanghai playing in a pre-Olympic tournament. We had enough time for adaptation.
Rakhmatulina: We drink alot of coffee in the morning and then go to training. But we have got accustomed to local time and conditions.
- Have the conditions for the athletes improved compared to Athens?
Korstin: The Olympic village here is better than in Athens. There were only concrete houses and no plants around and here it is very beautiful: all these fountains and vegetation.
- Do you feel like the favourites?
Rakhmatulina: Yes, you could say so.
Korstin: We haven’t revealed all our secrets yet, did not show all our possible combinations. I think at the Olympics you’ll see a different team.
- Who could win the gold medals?
Korstin: I pick out four teams: Russia, China, USA and Australia.
Rakhmatulina: This is the case for the World Championship as well as for the Olympics.
