Aliya Mustafina went to train in Penza during the European Championships and gave an interview to a local website smi58. The interview focused less on her training and competing and more on her personal life and motherhood.
Q: People are used to seeing you as a goal-oriented person with strong willpower. These are necessary qualities for athletes along with perseverance, hardness and the will to win. Who is Aliya Mustafina outside of the sport? Do you consider yourself a soft or hard person?
A: I don’t like to make judgments about myself, I think other people know better. Especially, since everyone sees something different in a person. I would say about myself that I’m somewhere in the middle in terms of softness and hardness spectrum.
Q: Ok, but there must be something you can tell about your personality. For example, about your fears. What are you afraid of?
A: I’m never afraid of any situations. But there’s one life-long fear, I’m extremely afraid of snakes, so much that I can’t even watch them on TV. And the worst thing is when I see them in my dreams, it’s my worst nightmare.
Q: Let’s talk about something more pleasant then. Obviously, with your schedule, you rarely have free time. But when you do, how do you spend it?
A: In summer, I like to walk around Gorky Park in Moscow. My sister and I ride bicycles there. It’s especially nice to have a picnic in nice weather. In winter, I mostly walk around malls.
Q: To do some shopping?
A: Yes, for my daughter. Lately, I’ve been mostly buying things for her. By the time I walk through all the children’s stores, I don’t have the energy [to buy anything] for myself. But it’s not because I’m buying all the children’s things, I just select the items very carefully. That is, I don’t go crazy in the mall, I’m not a shopaholic.
Q: Talking about your wardrobe, what kind of clothes you prefer wearing in your daily life?
A: In terms of convenience, I’ll choose a track suit because it’s the perfect option for walks with kids or for travel. If there’s some sort of an event, then, like any woman, I’ll gladly wear a dress or some elegant suit.
Q: Do you have many such items in your closet or athletic wear is dominating it?
A: Of course, I have more athletic clothes because that’s what I wear most of the time. I train six days a week, so, there’s only one free day left. Even when there’s an event in the evening, it’s hard to get there. You take a long drive there from the training center, spend a little time there, but you also need to save your energy for the morning practice. So, there’s no point in having many evening gowns in my closet since I rarely have an occasion to wear them.
Q: And how do you choose which clothes to buy? Just what you saw and liked or you consult with someone?
A: I try to shop together with my friend because I trust her opinions. In addition, she knows me very well and knows what will fit me. If necessary, I can buy something by myself, I don’t freeze making a choice.
Q: You have visited many countries because of your career. Are there places that you would like to visit just for vacation?
A: I really want to have a beach vacation! In general, I dream of visiting Dubai. But right now I don’t even care which sea to go to, I just really want a vacation. Basically, if we’re talking about traveling without training, I’ve only had one beach vacation like that in my life – during pregnancy. My daughter is growing up and I’d really like to go on a vacation with her.
Q: Talking about Alisa, she’s still little but you’re likely already thinking about whether to sign her up for sports, right?
A: Generally, I’d really want that but not in order for her to have an elite sports career, it’s just for her health. For now, she’s not doing any sports, I think it’s too early. She’s at such an age that she’s testing the boundaries and her abilities. Of course, there are tantrums. I want to let her grow up a bit.
Q: But do you predict an athletic career for her in the future?
A: I never look far ahead. She’ll train, she’ll try things, she’ll choose what she likes. If this will turn into a career, I’ll support her but if she won’t want to compete, I won’t force here. If she will choose a different sport – fine by me, that’s her choice.
Q: And what if she chooses something not sports-related? If she’ll come to you and say: “Mom, I want to draw”?
A: Well, I haven’t thought about that. In any case, I think that sports should have a place in her life. First, it’s just games and the foundation of one’s health. In an older age… When a girl does a split – it’s beautiful! And if you miss this opportunity during childhood, it will be too late. But she’ll always have another chance to draw.
Q: Well, seeing your example she will likely be drawn to sports. By the way, how do you manage to combine motherhood and the sport, after all, it takes up a lot of time. Who’s taking care of Alisa when you’re not around?
A: My mom really helps me. When I’m at training camps or competitions, Alisa stays with her. I try not to take her on such trips. First, constant flying will tire her out. Second, the packing and unpacking [will be more complicated] because you need to pack much more stuff when you’re traveling with a kid. In addition, my mom told me right away that it would be more comfortable for them to stay at home. And I rush there the first chance I get.
Q: You probably miss your daughter a lot when you don’t see her for such a long time.
A: I do, I really do. The competitions where we leave for three weeks are especially hard, it’s just really hard to be apart from Alisa. So, if I understand that I will be able to spend enough time with her, we all travel together. For example, now my daughter is with me in Penza and her second grandma also came to helps us out.
Q: That’s great!
A: Yes, Penza is really great in that sense because I manage to both train and spend time with my daughter. Generally, we manage to spend more time together during weekends: we take walks, we play. By the way, on April 13th, Alisa and I went to a cat show.
Q: I imagine how happy she must be to spend this time with you. Does she see her dad often?
A: He comes and spends time with Alisa whenever he can. It just doesn’t always happen that we all are in Moscow. Sometimes, we leave and sometimes he’s away competing. But, generally, I don’t prohibit him from seeing her. It’s another issue that there are certain rules that I set from the get-go.
Q: And what are those rules?
A: For example, we’ve agreed that he has to warn me or my parents about his arrival in advance and tell for how long he will come. We can’t have something like: I’ll come tomorrow, be ready. No. I react very strongly right away. I will also never allow him to spend a night at our home. Even though we have a good relationship, I think that would be too much.
Q: Talking about your marriage to Alexey, did it leave some bitter aftertaste and is it why you’re setting such rules?
A: No, that’s not related at all. It’s just natural for me – if I don’t live with this person anymore, why would he treat my home as his?
Q: Why didn’t you stay together? Was there a certain reason for splitting up?
A: There’s no specific reason. After living together, we realized that we are different. As they say, incompatible characters. Our divorce was due to accumulating differences. At some point, I realized that I didn’t want to live like that, I just didn’t want to and that was that. I felt relief after the divorce.
Q: Yes, life sometimes takes unexpected turns. But you have a wonderful daughter now. By the way, is Alisa a calm child?
A: She’s like a wind, that’s a very good description. She’s very active at certain moments.
Q: How do you deal with her? And how do you manage to do it all?
A: She’s not always active, she can sit calmly and wait until I finish what I’m doing. That is, Alisa doesn’t require my undivided attention at all times, for her the most important thing is just to be with me. So, when I’m doing chores, she’s right by my side. For example, I need to wash the dishes. I sat my daughter in the kitchen, put on cartoons and tell her that when I’ll finish, we’ll play. And she waits. Or when I cook, I can also play ball with her at the same time. If I’m cleaning, Alisa won’t be able to sit still, she’ll take a rag and start wiping something, too.
Q: Do you take her with you to practices?
A: No, she won’t be able to wait in such a situation. During the housework, we’re always together, but at practices, I need to train. If I’m on TV, she can sit in front of it and watch it, but in the gym, she starts complaining: why doesn’t mom come to her and play with her? It’s better to spend time together after the practice, at home.
Q: Not everyone manages to combine everything. How do you restore energy?
A: I really like cooking! I relax in the kitchen. Predicting your question: don’t ask me about recipes. I’m used to cooking by the eye and the taste. So, if you’ll ask me how much I add this or that ingredient, I won’t be able to answer you.
Q: Ok, I won’t ask, even though, to be honest, I wanted to. Perhaps, you can at least name your signature dish? Which cuisine do you prefer?
A: I love Italian food, I just really love it. By the way, at home, I also cook Italian food. But I don’t have a signature dish. I guess it’s because I like trying to cook new things. For example, now I’m learning how do make dough. The last time when I wanted to make pelmeni, I had to turn to the Internet for help. I didn’t know how to make the pelmeni dough. But it was fine, I managed.
Q: Looking at you, I am amazed by how much strength and persistence one person can have. I guess this is what helps you to overcome difficulties, right? For example, when you managed to recover after your knee injury fast even though the doctors didn’t give any promises.
A: It was mostly due to the combination of factors: persistence, stubbornness, the help of my coaches, and the support from my loved ones. All this together produced a result.
Q: Have you ever had situations when you just wanted to give up?
A: I don’t really remember such catastrophic situations. I guess that’s because I always find positives in any situations. It came with age. When I was really young, I saw everything differently. But now I understand that if everything is really bad, it means that later something really good is coming.
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it’s a shame because she is one of my favorite gymnasts, but it seems that what several people have told me seems true, that she manipulates and uses people because she planned everything well and suddenly stopped wanting to be with him, did not take the time to be with him, even though she was on a hiatus from doing gymnastics and he seems not your typical russian male chauvinist he was good to her ,,,,
What a stupid comment to make! You don’t even know her or the specific details. Stop being so judgmental! Sad you would make a remark like this and they should erase it from this website.
also her dad lie about alexey cheating ……
I agree. She comes off badly in this interview. No reason for divorcing, just didn’t want to deal with whatever anymore. Voila! See ya. And here I thought he humiliated her or cheated on her….
its obvious this man cheat on her, aliya is not like you love to comment bad about her ex partner. She just dont want make it more complex by badmouth this man who also her daughter’s father. Her father is moslem man, he wont lie about his ex son in law cheating on his own daughter. Why he want lie?? Christian man always cheat and has other woman, its not weird. They still young, of course this man want taste ‘other girl’. When aliya know about it, she will throw him away from her life same like her ex coach dina kamalova throw aliya from her life. Experience teach aliya bitter lesson. Thats how harsh life it is. Poor aliya mustafina. Hater gonna create many excuse to blame and destroy her good name because they jealous their favorite gymnast cant be like aliya mustafina.
What a great interview! I wish there would be more interviews like this. I want to know more about my favorite athletes and hear a bit about their lives. I am already familiar with their gymnastics. Thank you for this and I hope you do more interviews like this!