I don’t care what they say, we won’t give up, said Elya’s mother after the call for no other federation to give her a hand
Not even two months have passed since Elvira Krasnobayeva announced that she was leaving Bulgaria, and the scandal with her became even louder and with an international response. The Armenian rhythmic gymnastics federation refused to work with the former athlete from the Bulgarian national team. Reason for the Armenian side’s decision
is Krasnobaeva’s extremely rude attitude towards the coaches
and to all those who tried to help her return to her racing career. This was announced by the Russian sports blogger Lena Krupina.
“Elvira turns out to be an ill-mannered, rude girl who doesn’t respect coaches, adults and people who help her or give her a hand. We tried to talk to her mother, but she confirmed that Elvira has a difficult character. We decided we would find an approach since the gymnast was most likely in transition. But the problems started at the very start of training. Elvira did everything with reluctance, stopped for no reason, was capable of throwing objects and becoming hysterical, or simply standing and ignoring her music, lying on the carpet and lying there staring at the ceiling.
We felt like she was just playing pranks on us
It took us a long time to convince Elvira to stand up and try to continue the training. She stood up, then became hysterical about hating gymnastics and not wanting to play anymore. Together with the coaches, we were shocked,” says the Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation of Armenia.
In an attempt to solve the problem together with her mother – Alexandra Chernisheva, she stated that her daughter behaved in the same way in Bulgaria, but they tolerated her. The federation adds that they spent a lot of money on Elvira, and due to the premature termination of the contract, Elvira’s family must reimburse everything.
“They refuse to pay the costs citing that the contract is invalid. From our side, the case is handed over to the lawyers. It is likely that Elvira and her mother will be looking for a new federation to help the gymnast present herself on the world stage, so we want to inform other federations of our situation to warn against such an attitude. If you betrayed one federation that invested in you, you also betrayed the second one that believed in you, then you will betray the third one as well”, continues the story about the current scandalous situation.
What has been written also confirms the information that while she was with the Bulgarian Olympic team in training in France, supposedly with an eye to the future Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, at which she was expected to be Bulgaria’s main competitor, Elvira and her mother
have been “bargain hunting”
from other countries.
“In August 2024 we received information that Elvira Krasnobayeva was looking for a new country to compete for, we consulted with several coaches and decided to invite her to train in Armenia. At that moment, we didn’t know much about the relationship between the Bulgarian federation, Elvira and her mother. Mother Alexandra is the main person who makes the decisions, keeps her daughter close to her and helps her in everything.
Our task was to help Elvira and give her a chance to continue her career, as we thought Elvira herself wanted, but later we found out that this was her mother’s dream, not the gymnast’s. We financially secured new programs, music, ordered new tricks, rented a training hall with an hourly payment (currently there is no large rhythmic gymnastics hall in Armenia) and for a long time we were looking for a coach for Elvira. It wasn’t easy, because Elya didn’t like anyone and sent everyone away (literally)”, they also reveal from Armenia.
Elvira’s mother, who is considered the main reason for the escape from Bulgaria, explains her point of view.
“Honestly, I don’t care what they said. Natalia
left Elvira in Moscow alone, penniless,
without buying her a return ticket. I sent her the last 500 rubles so that the child could at least eat. Thanks to her husband, who helped Elvira get home, he is a good and kind person. Natalia asked Elvira for a clean run after 5 training sessions, when the program had just been drawn up and Elya had not trained for almost 3 months. They promised a gym and a coach, but never found one. I don’t know what kind of suits we are talking about, we sewed them at Olga’s, Natalya didn’t pay for them.
The contract was preliminary,
it had errors in it, so it’s actually invalid. In the end, we did not find a common language, we are not giving up, we will continue to work”, Elvira’s mother commented.
The official Armenian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation has nothing to do with Elvira. In this case, we are talking about Natalia Rotenberg’s private club, which is called “Federation of Artistic Gymnastics of Armenia”, notes a user in the raging online discussion on the topic.
Natalia Rotenberg is the ex-wife of businessman Arkady Rotenberg and the current wife of Armenian entrepreneur and former MP Tigran Arzakantsyan.
The public information from Armenia, however, seriously questions the entire sports career of 16-year-old Elvira Krasnobayeva. Clearly, if she wants to and finds a way to continue competing at the highest level, there will be money to be paid for her, and threats of lawsuits
they are already from Bulgaria and Armenia
Following the written statement by Krasnobayeva and her mother and legal representative Alexandra Chernisheva that she will no longer compete for Bulgaria (due to family reasons) as of October 1, 2024. Elvira was released as a member of the Bulgarian national team.
“In view of the finances invested in her development as a competitor to date, including monthly funds from the Ministry of Sports and from a sponsor, equipment, music for routines, medication, manual and other types of recovery, sports camps, participation in an international sports calendar, awards and awards from the Ministry of Sports and the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, her monthly remunerations from the Ministry of Sports and from the sponsor are terminated as of October 1, 2024 the Bulgarian Federation announced. And according to the contract signed on January 2, 2024. with the Ministry of Sports “Krasnobayeva
owes compensation
of the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation due to unilateral, early termination of the contract by the competitor”. If the decision of the governing board of the federation is not followed, Krasnobayeva will be held legally responsible, the home federation said.
It is also clear that there is no “way back” for the escaped Krasnobayeva to Bulgaria. And after the statement from Armenia, Elvira’s future in rhythmic gymnastics is in serious doubt.