Boginskaya: I like working behind the scenes

Svetlana Boginskaya gave an interview to Gimnastika, the official magazine of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation. In the interview, she talked about working with Oksana Chusovitina, her life in the U.S. and her thoughts on the current Russian national team.

The interviewer talked to Boginskaya on the first day of the even finals and right before it, Boginskaya took some pictures of Eleftherious Petrounias from the stands.

Q: Svetlana, but you can just go and take a picture with him, both of you are champions!

A: Well, the current generation of gymnasts doesn’t necessarily know even the ones who had won only a few years ago, not even talking about decades ago. Once, I was even surprised: when Simone Biles came to her first World Championships in 2013, the journalists asked her how she was going to compete with Aliya Mustafina who, at that point, was already a World and Olympic champion. Simone replied that she’s never even heard this name. So, some people remember me but to some my name will mean nothing.

Q: I kind of want to continue: “back in our times…”

A: Well, that’s really how it was back then, I knew the names of all the gymnasts! I remember watching gymnastics on TV when I was six years old, it was the Moscow Olympics and Nadia Comaneci and Elena Davydova competed there. At that moment, I fell in love with both of them. I told my coach that I wanted to be an Olympic champion! And, while training, I kept following my idols. Then, Yelena Shushunova became my idol. And then Lena and I competed together at the Olympic Games in Seoul…

Q: Have you ever wondered why the young people today, in general, aren’t very interested in the past, in history, even when it directly concerns their field?

A: You know, I think it doesn’t depend on the kids, it depends on the adults: the teachers, the coaches, the parents. My opinion is that it’s embarrassing not to know who was on the medal podium before you, who moved your sport forward. But not everyone considers it important. I’m, however, convinced that if kids will learn the history of their sport with the help of the adults, they will continue doing the sport. And if parents and teachers don’t care, then the kids won’t care either. Right?

Q: What was most memorable for you about these World Championships?

A: It was the first time that a competition of such level was hosted in the Middle East. There are different traditions here, a different way of life – this was reflected. There were barely any spectators in the arena, also because the local tradition doesn’t allow girls to show bare arms and legs in public. But leotards are our uniform. So, on one hand, its was, of course, a unique situation to hold the World Championships in such a country, but, on the other hand, it’s an indicator that many restrictions for women are getting softer and the girls and women of Middle East are slowly entering another world. I think it was a big positive thing for the sport and for this country.

Q: And if we’re talking about what happened on the competition floor?

A: You know, I’m proud of the Russian MAG team’s performance, they are fighting till the end and improving every year! Even compared to the Rio Olympics, when the team also won silver, it looks stronger and more confident now. And the girls also showed good results in the team final. I’m in awe of Aliya Mustafina who came back after giving birth and literally led the team. Of course, the U.S. gymnasts are dominating right now. Simone Biles and the rest have very high difficulty and they’re consistent. Although Simone fell two times in the individual all-around, she still was able to win by 1.5 points. Of course, this shouldn’t happen. I heard that the judges were discussing which changes can be made in the rules because there should be some mystery in the competition. Of course, in this quad, no one will change the rules just because of Simone, but this could happen in the future.

Q: Who else surprised you at this competition?

A: The Japanese women are getting to a high level. They started improving about two years ago and they keep moving forward. They have difficulty, grace, and consistency. In their appearance, the Japanese gymnasts don’t stand out but they upgraded so much, especially on floor! They really danced on floor, they had beauty, it’s amazing. So, the Japanese are becoming really strong rivals for everyone.

Q: The geography of the medal competitors at the major competitions is spreading wider and wider every Olympic quad. Do you have an explanation for that?

A: The other countries are taking advantage of the fact that the teams got smaller. Limiting the number of competitors in the team competition (three gymnasts go up and all three results count) makes the chances of different teams more equal. Almost every country can find three gymnasts. Three is not six like we used to have. Many coaches from Russia, Romania, and China moved to the countries in which gymnastics wasn’t popular before but it’s actively developing now. They don’t just work with the national team but help coaching kids as well.  As someone living in American, I will say from my experience how the American women achieved such results. First, there is a huge number of kids doing gymnastics there and the quantity usually transforms into the quality. But who creates this quality? A coach from Romania, a coach from China, coaches from Russia, coaches from the U.S. They don’t just teach gymnastics elements, they give this country parts of the traditions of their school, their culture, their skills. And that’s why America currently is one of the strongest countries in women’s gymnastics.

Q: Is it possible to catch up with them?

A: Why not? Our girls are very beautiful and talented. I think they lack self-discipline, self-sacrificing in the training process. You can’t work like “today my leg hurts, I won’t do this or that, tomorrow my head will hurt, I won’t do this again”. When you train day in and day out, according to the exact plan, no matter what, then the results will come. If they will do the planned training load every day, they will become winners. The tumbling and the consistency that they lack so much will come with more discipline. Especially, since now there are leaps and turns in artistic gymnastics that came from rhythmic gymnastics and you can build the difficulty with them, but you have to do them precisely. These are exactly the elements that are hard for the Americans.

Q: I can’t help but ask: you probably also experienced pain in your legs, head or stomach…

A: You know, once our coach told us: “If I knock on your door at 12 am or 5 am and tell you to go out and do your beam routine in order to put you on the team, you will have to do it”. Of course, we had injuries and headaches, but we always overcame ourselves. We couldn’t allow ourselves not to do the planned training load because the young ones were at our heels and we didn’t want to give our teams sports to them. We trained and we didn’t give our 100% every day, we gave our 110%, that’s why we were the first in the world.

Q: If you could relive the most important gymnastics moment of your life, what would that be?

A: In the team final of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, we won gold as the unified team. And when we stepped on the medal podium, I was overwhelmed with so many emotions. I still get chills when I think of that: there was pride and, at the same time, my heart ached because this was the last time we all stood together on the same medal podium, because there would never be such an unbeatable team, USSR. I think, at that moment, we all suddenly felt it acutely.

Q: You were one of the leaders of the international gymnastics in the end of 1980s – beginning of 1990s. Were you going to Barcelona with the feeling that those Olympics were meant to be yours?

A: You know, on the eve of that Olympics, there was a lot of attention drawn to us by the media. And when everyone focuses on you, you also start thinking: “Oh, it’s such an important moment for me!” This was distracting for me. I can’t say that I competed badly in the all-around. Generally, I did well, I had no falls. But, I guess, the judges already realized in what direction the women’s gymnastics would be developing and preferred Tatiana Gutsu and Shannon Miller whose routines were more difficult.

Q: All the Spanish newspapers wrote about “The Goddess of Gymnastics” then… Did that make you happy?

A: I actually knew nothing about it for a long time, really, because I never read what people wrote about me and never re-watched my competitions. Or perhaps I just didn’t focus on it. My results, my team, and my country were important for me. I only learned about “the goddess” closer to my retirement. It was very nice.

Q: At your last Olympics in 1996 you competed for Belarus and now you have an American passport, but you still say “we” and “ours” when talking about Russian gymnasts. Does “born in USSR” stay with you forever?

A: Yes, you said it well, it’s forever. My homeland is Belarus but I always say USSR. It was one team, one country, I grew up in the Soviet system and I really like that system. Of course, living in America, I can compare the positives and the negatives and have a certain balance. But in my heart, I will always be the patriot of my homeland.

Q: Do you visit Minsk often?

A: Not as often as I’d like. This summer was the first time I brought my kids there, my daughter is 19 and son is 14. They liked it so much they keep asking when we will go again. Minsk became so beautiful, it’s a clean, orderly, cultured city. Houston, where we live, is also interesting but it lacks greenery, I miss the Belorussian gardens and parks. In America, your whole life is spent in the car but in Minsk, we walked the streets for hours, we could walk 10-15 kilometers, the kids were in awe.

Q: Your husband and you have a restaurant but your life is full of gymnastics as well, right?

A: I am constantly connected to gymnastics. First of all, I’m Oksana Chusovitina’s manager. She’s very much loved in America, she keeps getting invited to various events, so I take care of her business. Then, I have a gymnastics summer camp that I’ve been holding for 18 years. I rent gyms and kids from all around the world attend, including Russia. Any kid can get be coached there no matter their gymnastics level. Famous champions help me, I invite them for a day, or two-three, how many days they’re available for. I hire coaches. In a week, about 100 kids aged 6 to 18 go through our camp, one coach per 8 gymnasts. I go home for the weekend and then travel to another state to open a camp there. That’s how my whole summer goes. I also organize Svetlana Boginskaya’s Invitational. This sport is my life, it did so much for me.

Q: So, you’re more of a manager nowadays.

A: Yes, I like it, I like working behind the scenes. I think this is my strong suit. It was hard to find my place in life. Our Belorussian Sports Committee gave me a diploma and three carnations and said: “Thank you, Svetlana Leonidovna, you if will need our help to find a job as a coach at a sports school, let us know”. It’s actually the hardest time – you retire and don’t know what’s next. We always had a routine: wake up at 7 am, run to the gym, warm up, breakfast, first practice… Everything was scheduled until the nighttime. And here, you wake up – such a luxury – at 11 am and… what to do? You don’t have a job or a salary. You spend what you saved during your career and few people would like that. Actually, it’s called “depression”. And I think that there should be specialists that can help former athletes to survive this difficult time. Also, in our country, when you retire, you automatically become a person with the prefix “ex”, people like to emphasize that you’re a former champion. Not on purpose, that’s just our mentality. When I came to America, I heard for the first time: “Sveta, there are no former champions. You’re an Olympic champion. You’re a European champion. And you’re a World champion. Now and always”. And you know, psychologically, it really helped me, it gave me the direction that I could follow. Because when people keep telling you “everything’s bad, bad, bad” you start believing it. But when people focus on the important things, on your strong suits, you literally grow wins. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, whether you stopped competing or not. I want all the athletes to remember that, it gives you confidence.

Q: And when did Oksana Chusovitina come into your life?

A: Oksana and I have a common past. We competed on the same team in Barcelona in 1992. Then we met again in Atlanta, she represented Uzbekistan. I remember when she called me during the Beijing Olympics. I was surprised at first but then realized: she wanted to share her joy (Oksana won silver on vault) with someone close, after all, she’s training and competing with young girls, it’s a completely different kind of communication. I guess we’re more like companions. I help her because she deserves it. Oksana is an example for everyone. For example, in China, she’s a hero. She keeps getting invited there, when you walk with her on the street, every other person smiles: Chusovitina, Chusovitina… She’s very respected in her home country, Uzbekistan. How can you not appreciate her?

Q: But there are people who don’t understand why a successful woman needs to suffer through training in such an old age for gymnastics.

A: But what if she doesn’t suffer while training or competing? Oksana is unique. And look, other gymnasts are following her example nowadays, Aliya Mustafina gave birth and came back. She says openly that she followed Chusovitina’s example: Oksana can do it, so why can’t I? Or, for example, the Polish gymnast Marta Kulesza came to the World Championships with her one-year-old daughter and FIG even helped her and gave her husband an accreditation. I think that we need to thank FIG for supporting such gymnastics. Many women are giving birth and coming back to gymnastics. It was something hard to imagine before but now it happens. And really, why not? Why should we be surprised that they are doing what they love if they can?

Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!