13 March 2008 - Natalya ERDYNIYEVA (RUS): A Family Affair

Natalya ERDYNIYEVA (RUS): A Family Affair January 2008  I was born in 1988, on the 6th of August in Ulan-Ude, Russia. I have an older brother, Victor, and he is an archer too. My father and mother are my coaches. My father’s name is Konstantin Erdyniev, and my mother’s name is Gerelma Erdyniyeva. She stopped shooting in 2005, now she is a coach. My mother has three brothers who are all archers (Balzhinima Tsyrempilov, who won the World Cup Final in Dubai, Belikto and Dorzho), and three sisters, who do not shoot. My grandfather and grandmother (parents of my father) are archery coaches too. In other words almost all my family are archers!   I started shooting in 2000 when I was in the seventh grade. (In Russia we have eleven grades in school.) I can’t say, that archery was easy for me—the first three years I did not have high results. I think, I started to shoot well and to love this sport in 2004 when, for the first time, I participated at the Junior European Cup in France. I placed fourth and I won the silver medal in team. Since that time, I have almost always been in competitions with either the junior or senior national team.   In 2006, I participated in my last junior competition. It was the Junior World Championships in Merida, Mexico, where we won the silver medal in team. It was my favourite competition! At that time, the World Cup Final 2006 was also in Merida. I never thought that I would be participating in the same World Cup Final the following year. In 2006, I also participated at my first competition at the senior level—the World Cup Stage 1 in Porec (CRO). I believe I was ranked 25 or 26.   The year 2007 was the most successful for me! I did not expect that it would be so good. Usually, it is very hard to adapt when a young archer moves to the senior national team after juniors. With the higher level of competition, I was prepared for the most awful results. Nevertheless I tried to shoot as good as possible—and it worked!  In Leipzig, at the World Championships, I took third place. During the finals, I was very excited, as I felt a big responsibility on myself and I had never seen so many fans. I consider this medal my biggest achievement, but I will not rest on my illusions. I understand that I won this medal because I had good luck not only good shooting. In general, in archery, and in all kinds of sports, you must have some luck at some key moments. Nevertheless, I believe, that, “good luck smiles to people.”   In November last year, I competed in the World Cup Final in Dubai. Everything was pleasant—it was very beautiful and I liked the place very much. It is a pity that I was ill (cold) during the competition, therefore, almost everyday I had to stay in my room. I liked shooting on water, especially at the practice field—the first day, it was a little bit scary, so on the second day they increased the platform at the shooting line. In Dubai, there were four archers in each category—the most important thing for me was to not be the fourth. I succeeded in this goal so I am very happy. And of course, I am very glad that my uncle Balzhinima won. But I can’t say that I didn’t expect that, because I believe he is the best archer in the world!   The year 2008 is very important for me because it is the year of the Olympic Games. I hope to compete as well as in 2007 and my biggest dream (I think every sportsman has the same dream) is to get to the Olympic Games in Beijing.   Natalya Erdyniyeva