Oksana Chusovitina has made history this year by qualifying to her 8th Olympics. In addition to training and competing, she shares her experience as an athlete representative at the FIG. She is also in the running to become an athlete representative at the 2020 Olympics.
In a recent interview, Chusovitina talked to SputnikNews about her preparation for the Olympics, her opinion on the latest doping news, and her plans for the post-Tokyo future.
Q: Oksana, was the Olympic preparation schedule made already?
A: Yes, I’ll start in January. I have several competitions planned but I don’t I’m taking it one day at a time. I’ll try to make my vault stronger step by step and, of course, I’ll strive to win a medal.
Q: Do you pay attention to how your rivals and colleagues compete?
A: No, I don’t like following who does what. I usually focus on myself and if I do everything that was planned, it’ll be ok. The most important thing is do to what you can and prepared. The rest will depend on the judges.
Q: I can’t help but ask about the doping in artistic gymnastics.
A: Gymnastics is a clean sport, doping scandals are the rarest in our sport. Because it’s just impossible. If a coach gives you something for endurance, you won’t be able to do a beam or bars routine because you need focus and calmness there.
Q: Have you often been tested for doping?
A: I can honestly say I never used it. I’ve been tested so many times, almost at ever competition I do a test. I can’t understand what they want to find. If only they told me. [laughs]
Q: What can you say about WADA’s decision to ban Russian athletes from the Olympics Games?
A: I am against punishing the innocent. It should only happen to those who were caught and who really used doping. Let’s take gymnasts – a clean athlete who’s been preparing for the Olympics her whole life. I just know this. You keep preparing and boom – your life is given a 180-degree turn.
Q: Let’s talk about the past World Championships in Stuttgart where you qualified to your eighth summer Olympics. How did you feel?
A: In 2007, the World Championships took place in Stuttgart, it was a qualifier for the Beijing Olympics. There, I made a mistake on vault and didn’t win a medal in the final. This year, the championships were in Stuttgart again and the same issue happened. I think it might be some sort of a sign… Because I then won a medal in Beijing, And the next Games will take a place in an Asian country again, in Japan. I hope it’ll end as well as it did in Beijing.
Q: Are you a superstitious person?
A: I don’t believe in superstitions. If you are ready, you go out and do it. If you aren’t – no mater what you come up with, it won’t work. So, I only rely on myself. And the most important thing is you need to prepare, to work. It’ll be hard, I know, but the realization that you’re overcoming yourself and moving towards your goals successfully is the best reward in life.
Q: Does the government in Uzbekistan make a great effort to make the sports more popular?
A: Yes, a lot is being done. The issue is that parents aren’t keen on putting their children in artistic gymnastics, perhaps, because of the injuries – they want to spare [the kids]. So, after the 2020 Olympics, I want to open my own gym and work on promoting artistic gymnastics and explaining that it’s the start for all other sports. If a child starts doing gymnastics but it doesn’t work out for them later or they realize they lack enough strength, they can always switch to another sport.
Q: Is the government helping you in some way with this idea of creating your own gym?
A: There’s a President’s order on the need to help athletes if they open private sports clubs. Generally, everything’s ready and the authorities’ support is tangible.
Q: Are you interested in becoming a government official in the future – maybe, the federation’s president or the mister of sports?
A: That’s not for me, you need to know how to do it, to learn it. And I don’t just want to be a place-holder. I’d rather do what I know how to. And, of course, if someone needs my help, advice, or suggestion – they’re welcome.
Q: Being in the public eye is an integral part of life of famous athletes. How do you feel about it?
A: I am often invited to be on TV. When I can, I gladly go and talk about the sport but sometimes, there are quite pushy journalists. And I’m not afraid to say no if I can’t or don’t want to do it. Especially if I’m preparing for an important competition – I announce right away that I won’t give interviews or be filmed. I just refuse and that’s it.
Q: You don’t want to spend the precious time?
A: Of course. It only seems that it’s just 10 minutes. But sometimes I have a practice at this time and I then need to either finish it early or to rush myself. If you take an hour from every day, you can get a whole month of all sorts of interviews. So, a month of preparation was wasted. That’s why I adhere to the rule very strictly and always give Formula One as an example: everyone has different cars but the speed is the same. The one who fits into the turns in the right way wins. The wasted time is spent on those turns. And you can lose everything on them.
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She is against punishing the innocent, however, Russia continues to cheat and thus must be dealt with. If they are innocent and are punished for the crimes of the country then so be it. I get that athletes can’t out because of fear. But, why would you want to compete for your country when you know they are systemically cheating in many sports?