Long Jump Queen

Tatyana Lebedeva, 30, long jump Olympic champion and a multiple World gold medalist, dreams of winning two gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. Nikolai Dolgopolov recently sat down with her in Moscow. 

So, what’s next? 

I wanted very much to compete this winter season too, but, unfortunately, I was not able to. I needed just one more month to knock myself into the right shape. I started to practice hard… I was not fit for the gold, but would not settle for anything less. So I decided to miss the winter season and concentrate on the Beijing Olympics instead. The latter is more important to me.