Evgenya Artamonova
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Evgenya Artamonova |
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| Women's Volleyball | |||
Competitor for  Russia |
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| Olympic Games | |||
| Silver | 1992 Barcelona | Team Competition | |
| Silver | 2000 Sydney | Team Competition | |
| Silver | 2004 Athens | Team Competition | |
| European Championship | |||
| Gold | 1993 Brno-Zlin | Team Competition | |
| Gold | 2001 Sofia-Varna | Team Competition | |
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Evgenya Artamonova (born July 17, 1975) is a Russian volleyball player, who was a member of the national team that won the silver medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
[edit] Episode
How she is both beautiful and talented must be beyond compare in the Volleyball world. She won the most beautiful woman volleyball player award, which was held on the occasion of World Grand Champions Cup '93 and sponsored by Japanese Monthly Volleyball Magazine, overtaking second-finished Mika Yamauchi of Japan.
As a member of TOYOBO, she won the first runner-up of "Miss V-League" conducted by the same magazine. Taichi Sasaki, one of the voters for her, happened to watch her game and questioned by Motoko Ohbayashi,who was sent to the arena as a reporter. "Do you think you will win If you play a match against Aru-chan (Evguenia's nickname in Japan) ? ". He replied jokingly "I don't think so. Because I will be mesmerized by her beauty." It seems that many of the men attracted to her have a heavy-jowled face, like Sasaki has.
She originally had manly, thick eyebrows but recently she has kept them thinner probably because of cosmetic purpose.At the age of 16 she wore her hair very long, which almost reached to her waist. Throughout her career, her hair styles are mainly long or semi-long.Possibly she has never had short hair before.
She is often described as dispassionate and so at the World Cup '99, a TV reporter put up a question. Being asked "You won't smile during the game. Why? ", she says "Because playing volleyball is my job, not a pastime." On the court she rarely shouts nor jumps around in joy. Some says that might be originated from her shyness.
At the early stages of her playing history, when she was interviewed she sat next to Mr Karpol,the then head coach of Russia, blushed in embarrassment and spoke nothing. She was a reserved girl who answered in a subdued voice to the interviewer. A sportswriter made a comment on her that said "She is breathtakingly beautiful and at the same time has innocent bashfulness. The combination drives me to shout 'She is so adorable!' "
At the 19 years of age, she said "Volleyball for me is a way of expressing myself. Though I am not good at expressing myself with words." On the 19th birthday she had a talk with Mika Yamauchi and was asked "You have a boyfriend, don't you ? ." She said "No. I'm not mature enough." The Russians traditionally marry young but she was rather immature for her age.
On the court, she rarely shows her feelings, which made Japanese media nickname her “Ice doll”. Contrary to her appearance, she has a sentimental side to it. During the Russia-Japan game of the World Grand Prix '95 she fell down because of the knee injury,which she was operated on unsuccessfully the previous year,and started to sob convulsively as getting substituted.
Grand Chamoions Cup '97 brought Russia team the perfect victory and she won the MVP. On the winner's platform she waved hand to the cheering audience with her eyes filled with tears.
At the prize-giving ceremony of '96 V-League, she was deeply moved and cried over the retirement of Motoko Ohbayashi,who was her teammate for two tournament seasons. When Motoko told about the decision to give up her career, Evguenia tried to persuade her not to quit. Motoko crowned her playing career with the MVP, realizing Evguenia's word "I want Motoko to win the MVP. Not me." She says "I won't forget as long as I live about Evguenia's tears shedding for me at that moment." They have still been on friendly terms with each other.
