Anna Tereshchenko: When i first started doing wushu, i realised at once that it’s my cup of tea

Ganna Tereshchenko of Ukraine earned the first medal for her national team at the World Wushu Championships 2017 in Kazan. After her brilliant performance, she found some time to share her story of success.

– I’m happy. I’ve been preparing for this tournament for a long time. My preparation began two months ago, and I made step by step improvements. I’m very pleased. I think that I’m still not completely aware of my victory. My second coach stayed back in Ukraine and I wish he were here. But I’m more than confident that he’s already waiting for me at home. In the morning he sent me a message with some words of encouragement and I sensed his support. It’s great that I have such awesome coaches.

– Do you know what you lacked to win gold?

– I think that everything was fair. My performance was neat; I liked it although I’m very self-critical. But on second thoughts, not everything was perfect. What I lacked to win gold? I think, this is the way it should have been. An athlete from Hong Kong gave a very strong performance today. There’s still something to strive for.

– This is not the first time that Ukrainian athletes take a medal at the world championships?

– In 2010, I won gold at the junior championships. At the pervious world championships I took bronze, this year I’m second and I very much hope that at the next tournament Ukraine will have its gold. We all will do our best.

– Why did you choose wushu?

– My mom sent me to a dance class but I didn’t like it. I was a very energetic child and when I once happened to attend an wushu class for the first time, it got me. I realised that this is my cup of tea.

– Did you ever happen to use wushu techniques in real life?

– Oh no, I think one should practice wushu only at a sports hall and never in real life!