When 24-year-old Elena Davidenko, former gymnast of the Russian national team, returned to Moscow last summer after serving a 2 1/2-year stint as a sports exchange adviser in Akita City, she left a legacy of new ideas for her Japanese students.
"It was not just her brilliance as a gymnast," recalls Davidenko's Japanese interpreter, Chiharu Nishizuka. "Her supportive attitude meant a great deal to her students. Elena's efforts to share her gymnastic skills did more than nurture the girls' fledgling gymnastic talents. Her presence opened their minds to a whole new perspective on themselves as individuals."
Davidenko's job in Akita was not an easy assignment for a Russian coach accustomed to working with athletes of world-class caliber. Upon arriving in March 1999, she was given responsibility for training a dozen relatively inexperienced local elementary-school girls every afternoon after school in the Russian gymnastics tradition. Language was the first barrier she came up against. Cultural differences, however, proved a greater hurdle.