Her sport kicked off hours before the opening ceremony with the free routine preliminary round and they were drawn to start first.
"I slept well and had this dream," said Czech-born Tsyplakova. "I imagined it would happen and yet when the draw was made on Thursday, we felt a bit nervous about it.
"But about an hour later, we thought, 'we're going to be the very first competitors in the first Games'. That's when it sank in. Then we thought, 'wow'. We're really proud."
But her dreams did not stop there with the 17-year-old waking up on Friday, having dreamt of make-up failure, as crucial as the routine for the swimmers, before her performance.
"I had a dream that there was a problem with my make-up and that it was messed up before the competition," she said.
"When I got to the competition, there was a mess with my lipstick and we had to find some wet towels to clear up the problem. So my dream came true again."
But the dream of a medal is unlikely to become reality, said her partner Shulhina.
"Everything is possible -- but not at these Games," Shulhina said when asked about their medal hopes.
The European Games have competitions in 20 sports, 16 of which are Olympic, and run to June 28.
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
Share
