“The Greeks are much like the Georgians,” Anna Dogonadze says of the hosts to the 2004 Olympics. “They are extremely hospitable; and if something doesn’t quite work the way it should, they still keep their calm.” Anna should know: she was born in Mtskheta, the former capital of Georgia, and she represented the young Republic in international trampoline competition from 1992 to 1997. Prior to Georgia’s independence she had competed for the Soviet Union.
When she won gold in Athens – on August 20 – it was for an adopted Germany and for many others as well. Back in Mtskheta, parents, brothers, friends, their neighbors and just about everybody else in town, celebrated Anna’s triumph too – albeit with a few hours’ delay. The electricity had gone off: no TV, no radio; it wasn’t the first time! “140 liters of homemade wine were consumed swiftly by the congratulants,” reported Anna’s father, Pawle Dogonadze, about the festivities that followed anxious moments of uncertainty during the power cut.
In November, the 2004 Olympic Champion in women’s trampoline, born in the USSR, Georgian by nature, and nationalized German after her marriage to Axel Lilkendey, her former coach, was made honorary citizen of Mtskheta and presented with a key to the town. “Your gold medal is our pride as well,” the laudatory text reads on a parch roll. “We would like to let you know that many positive changes have occurred in Georgia. The people here can finally count on a better future and wish that Anna Dogonadze will soon come back to Mtskheta.”
Anna does try to return to Mtskheta frequently. And her parents have visited Anna in Bad Kreuznach, her adopted hometown in Germany, on a number of occasions. But since the glorious day in Athens her agenda is more packed than ever. In addition to her training – which she reduced in order to spend more time with her daughter Mariam – there are many new commitments: interviews, autograph sessions, appearances.
In October 2004, Anna attended SPORTEL, the international sports television convention, in Monaco. The International Gymnastics Federation had brought her to the place where sports meet electronic media to illustrate how well gymnastics can come across. Live or tape-delayed on TV screens! Jointly with two other Olympic Champions – Catalina Ponor and Donghua Li – she made that point spectacularly. High above the television executives’ heads!
What is next for Anna? The World Games 2005 Duisburg – where synchronized trampoline will again be part of the Official Sports Program? “Yes, of course!" Together with her synchro partner Jessica Simon! Beijing 2008? “That should get decided in about two years from now. Other things need to be considered in the meantime. I want to be able to focus more on my daughter, spend more time with her. Becoming a florist would be nice as well. And building a house: in Bad Kreuznach, of course!”
Trampoline features in the Olympics and in The World Games. With different disciplines that demand the same athletic skills! In synchronized trampoline – the World Games discipline – two athletes on two separate trampolines are judged on the compatibility of their movements. Both athletes perform identical routines. But with the element of precision timing added, each athlete performs as a mirror image of the other, virtually doubling the artistry and visual beauty of trampoline competition.
