Lilia Akhaimova is currently taking a break from gymnastics to focus on her health. She talked to Sport Express about how her life changed after the Tokyo Olympics.
Q: In many interviews, you said that you haven’t yet processed the fact that you’re an Olympic champion. Have you been able to process it by now? Have you had a noticeable bump in subscribers on social media?
A: Yes, now I’ve fully processed what happened in Tokyo. The number of the subscribers on Instagram tripled, but my account was hacked. Unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to recover it. The communication with the office [of Instagram] has been very difficult.
Q: Are you getting recognized on the street more often?
A: I’m getting recognized. It mostly happens at malls, children ask to take pictures with me. I never refuse because when I was their age, I would dream of taking pictures with athletes who achieved a lot. There was also an interesting situation when road police stopped my car. The policemen congratulated me on my win at the Games and wished me luck.
Q: Your personal coach Vera Kiryashova was a judge at the Olympics and she wasn’t allowed to approach you when you competed. Was it difficult or you were completely focused even without your coach?
A: I wouldn’t say it was difficult. It was enough for me that I saw her looking from the judging table. It already cheered me up and calmed down.
Q: Your favorite event, floor, didn’t quite work out for you in Tokyo. Were you very upset or the team gold was enough compensation for individual competitions?
A: I was a bit upset, of course. I was well-prepared for the competition. I could’ve done better both in the all-around and on individual events. On floor, which was our first event, my nerves let me down. It got easier to compete after that but I wasn’t able to get to medals. On one hand, it’s extra motivation. I still have something to strive for. On the other hand, my main goal in Tokyo was to help the team and I did that.
Q: Was it hard for you to watch Worlds on TV? What can you say about the performance of our team and Angelina Melnikova’s historic achievement in the all-around?
A: No, actually I really enjoyed watching it. I was rooting for all our girls, especially the young ones who debuted here. They did a good job, proved themselves. It’s really nice that we have a talented generation growing up who will defend the honor of the country in the future. Regarding Gelya, I was sure that she would go out and do her routines perfectly. Her historic gold in the all-around is really great for Russian artistic gymnastics.
Q: In October you said you can’t train hard because of the recovery but you keep training every day. Do you have some idea when you will be able to fully recover?
A: I still train every day and maintain my conditioning. But there are still some little [health] issues. It’s better to treat them thoroughly, so for now I can’t talk about the timeframe for my comeback.
Q: Were you infuriated by the fact that there was no stream of Worlds on Russian TV? Melnikova was really surprised by that. She also said she was greeted by only one journalist at the airport. Do you know why artistic gymnastics is not as popular in our country as in the US?
A: Actually, artistic gymnastics is actively growing in Russia and our federation is making the maximum effort to achieve that. Of course, it’s upsetting that there are no streams of the World Championships, that there isn’t such interest from the media and fans towards us [as in the US]. We would want more. After all, we give it our whole life and achieve great results. I hope the situation will improve in the future.
Q: At the same time, rhythmic gymnastics is growing in popularity like crazy now. Is it connected to the controversial judging in Tokyo?
A: Rhythmic gymnastics has been growing in popularity like crazy for a while. Our girls regularly win all the major competitions, so parents strive to sign their kids up for this sport. I actually started in rhythmic gymnastics. At that moment, my parents didn’t even know artistic gymnastics existed.
Q: What sport would you sign up your kids for?
A: Artistic gymnastics. It’s a unique sport for kids, it’s the foundation, it develops all muscle groups and body coordination. After artistic gymnastics, a child will be ready to switch to any other sport. I also really like figure skating and biathlon. I love watching these sports on TV.
Q: You’re Saint Petersburg’s only Tokyo Olympic gold medalist. Did the city thank you in any way?
A: There was a meeting with the governor and a celebration lunch. I and other Games medalists were awarded monetary prizes which we’re supposed to receive soon. We are really grateful to the city’s management for their support for the athletes. Saint Peterburg is also one of the few Russian regions who gives the same prize money to the personal coach. I think it’s great and it’s the right thing. A coach often stays in the shadow of their athlete but in any case, it’s a joint victory.
Q: The head coach of the Russian national artistic swimming team complained to Sport Express that her salary is 70,000 rubles [$940]. Do you know how much, approximately, your coach earns?
A: It’s not quite appropriate to list the salary of your coach but I think that all Russian coaches working on the national team level have decent salaries. I guess it depends on what you compare them to. If we’re taking football salaries, then gymnasts definitely lose out. But the coaches who work with kids, who spend a lot of time in the gym and give their whole lives to the pupils indeed earn almost nothing. For many kids, their coach is like the second mom. I would like their salaries to get hight. They deserve it for the incredible amount of work they do.
Q: How did people in your native Vladivostok react to your victory?
A: My numerous family members who stayed in the Far East congratulated me. My first coach Larisa Nedovesova messaged me as well and congratulated me wholeheartedly. I don’t need more than that.
Q: You surely saw the quarrel between Artur Dalaloyan and Irina Viner-Usmanova.* Whose side are you on?
A: Yes, I know about this story but I won’t express my opinion. It doesn’t concern me at all and I didn’t get into the details. So, I’m staying neutral.
Q: Do you understand how Dalaloyan competed in Tokyo with such an injury?
A: Artur’s done a great job. He had a lot of motivation and desire to overcome all the pain. He was, of course, strongly supported by his time, the coaches, and the whole national team. Thanks to motivation and huge desire he managed to overcome the injury and compete well for the team. It’s a major thing which motivated even the women’s team. It was really nice to compete after our guys, they showed us how to fight.
Q: How was the meeting with the president Vladimir Putin? Was the weeklong strict quarantine worth it?
A: Of course. I couldn’t have missed such an event. It’s once in a lifetime. It was a major honor for me to shake hands with Vladimir Vladimirovich, to receive the award from him. And, of course, the car which I’d been dreaming about for a long time. So, I was very impressed by the meeting.
*Russian government gave Tokyo Olympic medalists prizes that varied according to the medals they got. Dina Averina won silver in Tokyo but her prize was the same as that of gold medalists. Arina Averina didn’t win a medal but got the same prize as bronze medalists. Artur Dalaloyan commented to the media that he didn’t find such treatment of Averina sisters fair to other athletes. This caused a lot of backlash towards him from Viner and various famous people in Russia.
