In 2016, Houry Gebeshian made history when became the first Armenian female gymnast to qualify to the Olympics. Now, as a coach, she’s trying to help another Armenian gymnast to make it to Tokyo.
Anahit Assadourian, a junior, came to her first European Championships last week to represent Armenia. Like Gebeshian, she lives and trains in the U.S. (since Armenia doesn’t really have a national WAG team at the moment) but represents Armenia internationally. Assadourian is still coming back from an injury she suffered last year and trying to get to the internationally competitive level. She will turn senior next year and will try to qualify to the Tokyo Olympics at the 2019 World Championships.
We talked to the Anahit and Houry after the junior competition about their experiences at Euros and their long-term goals.
Q: How did your first European Championships go?
AA: It was very exciting, very fun.
Q: What did you expect coming here?
AA: I expected it to be just like it was, fun. I expected a little more from bars but it’s ok. I think I did good, it was nice to compete on floor again, it’s been a while since I’ve done that.
Q: Did you have an injury?
AA: Yes, I hurt my back last year after the European Youth Olympic Festival, so this is my first time competing since last July, so it was a fun comeback to the competition and, overall, a good experience.
Q: You have some upgrades planned for the next year, could you tell us what they’re going to be?
A: Probably, my floor routine, some tumbling, probably, double backs instead of layouts, some twisting and more connected skills. On beam, maybe, a couple more acros. On bars, maybe, one or two more flights. And either a layout or a twist on vault.
Houry Gebeshian participated at the European Championships as a gymnast in the past, but this was her first Euros as a coach.
HB: I’m glad to just be here, representing Armenia. It’s exciting that we have another female athlete doing this. This was my whole intention, my whole goal. We’ll get more and more and more as we continue to build. But I’m really proud of Anahit, she did an incredible job here today and I’m glad to be here.
Q: You work at a hospital and you coach and you have your business and speaking engagements, how do you manage to do it all?
HB: Time management. I think, as gymnasts and athletes we learn how to manage our time very well. And especially since I had to figure out how to do all my training by myself when I was still training, I kind of figured it out… These two days are for work, these two days are for training, these two days are for the next thing. And I kind of transferred it over to coaching now instead of training. It has worked out well. I started another company, it’s called Full Out Collegiate Recruiting and I assist with the college recruiting process because it’s crazy and exciting and confusing and sometimes you need somebody to guide you along that way. Gymnastics is my passion and I want everybody to have the same opportunities that I had. So, that’s really what motivates me to keep going with everything. Just because I loved everything that I did – competing internationally, competing in college, making all these friends and just enjoying my experiences, I want everybody to have those same experiences. So, I push myself and I just keep going.
Q: What are your plans for Anahit for the next year?
HB: So, the first thing, like she said, she was injured this past year – for almost two years we haven’t competed. Her biggest goal is just to get her requirements. She’s still missing requirements on bars, beam, floor, everything. So, to get those basic requirements, to have clean consistent routines and once we have everything here with those clean consistent routines, we’ll start building. The way I made it to the Olympics was by clean consistent routines and that’s our goal for her.
Photo: Gymania, Israeli Gymnastics Magazine
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