This season, Oksana Chusovitina once again proved that we should never beleive her retirement announcements. She started training a few months after the Olympics in order to compete at the Asian games and is now considering trying to qualify for the Paris Olympics. She qualified to the World Championships this year through her performance on vault at World Cups but plans to take a competition break after the Islamic Games in August in order to upgrade her vaults for the next season. At the Asian Championships in Doha, she finished fifth in the vault final after an ilness derailed her training plan. She gave an interview to RT after the competition and talked about her plans for this quad.
Q: I thought that the decision to retire after the Tokyo Games had been in the making for so long and took so much that there simply could not be any other options. What made you change your mind and start competing again?
A: There was nothing that could be called a major event. It’s just that after some time passed since the Games, when everything quieted down, I asked myself a question – why should I retire if I don’t really want to? Especially since I still feel like I have energy and something’s still not completely fulfilled.
Q: Nevertheless, you officially announced your retirement after Tokyo. Was that in the heat of the moment, then?
A: I fell for what the people around me were talking about. Too many people told me, “that’s enough, [you should] retire” and this almost led me astray. I normally never listen to anyone and do everything they way I think it should be done. So, when I announced my retirement, I regretted it very fast. On the other hand, this is the way we, women, are – saying one thing today and changing our minds tomorrow.
Q: After you’ve decided to stay in the sport for a bit more, what have you set as a goal for yourself – the Paris Olympics?
A: The Asian Games which were supposed to take place in Beijing this year. But the Chinese decided to postpone them until the next year. Of course, this was not the best news since the postponement meant another year of training, workload, having to deprive yourself of something, to change your life plans. I am not even talking about the fact that an extra season is not just one competition but a few competitions which are supposed to lead me towards the main competition. On the other hand, it’s even better that I learned about the cancellation of the Asian Games in advance. I decided right away that I still want to compete there but also started thinking that it will be less than a year until the Paris Olympics and it would be wrong not to try qualifying to my ninth Games. Why not?
Q: Is it harder to qualify to the Olympics now?
A: Yes and I’m feeling that. For the Tokyo Games, I qualified via all-around [at Worlds]. Now, I had to give up on the all-around, so I will try to qualify on vault at World Cups. After three competitions, I will need to place no lower than second but the results of the athletes who will qualify to the Games with their teams or via the all-around will not be counted. In other words, it’s still possible.
Q: Which event in the all-around became the most troublesome for you?
A: Bars. All the girls switched to working in grips by now and I’m the only one who still works in the old-fashioned way – my bare hands, sandpaper, and diluted honey. The biggest advantage of grips is that you don’t need to prepare the bar before competing – you jump on it and start working. As a result, the warm-up takes less time, you have more time to rest. But grips bother me, I don’t feel my grip on the bar, I just peel off. As a result, I get scared.
Q: When you have to give up on certain elements, what’s the main reason – fear or age?
A: Common sense, rather. On bars, I worked on the Shaposhnikova transition for a long time but I once fell off the apparatus so hard that I barely avoided injury. And decided that this element was just not for me. It can be hard to understand such things, especially when everyone around you is doing this transition. On the other hand, for many years, I was doing elements on bars that no one else attempted. For example, at some point, one of the elements ending in catching the high bar in a reverse grip was being done by only one gymnast in the world – Chellsie Memmel. It was truly a difficult, I would even say, a men’s element, with a 0.5 bonus, and I can still do it. Alexander Alexandrov taught it to me back before the 1992 Games.
Q: I always thought that personal coaches teach technical things to gymnasts and not the head coach of the national team.
A: I guess the reason was that before Alexandrov started working with the women’s team, he worked with me a lot. And it was easier for him to see some things than for those who worked with women for years. In other words, to bring some elements from men’s horizontal bar to women’s bars. Training with Alexandrov was very interesting, we were constantly trying something new, moreover, he would single me out. I think my stubbornness and the willingness to work until I get what I wanted attracted him to me. I was such a small impenetrable tank.
Q: I heard that Alexandrov was not a fan of taking you to the Games in 1992. And that there was even a conflict between him and your personal coach Svetlana Kuznetsova because of that.
A: I simply don’t know anything about that – I was too young. My job was to shut up and work.
Q: Was Alexandrov a tough coach?
A: I wouldn’t say so. I was actually very surprised when the Russian national team started describing him as some sort of a monster after the London Games. Every elite athlete knows full well that results don’t come without hard work and very strict discipline. That’s the law.
Q: How does it fit with the fact that in many countries, it’s prohibited to even raise your voice when talking to an athlete?
A: Indeed, sports have changed a lot in this sense. But, honestly, I don’t think that with the current approach, when a coach has to monitor their every step and every word, high achievements are possible.
Q: I know how seriously you were training to compete in Tokyo. Was your lack of success a big blow to you?
A: The big blow was the situation with the flag which I was supposed to carry at the opening ceremony. This decision was made two months before the Games but the flag bearer was replaced at the last moment. I was so upset…
Q: But why? If I’m not mistaken, you’ve never went to the opening ceremony at any of your seven previous Games.
A: This is true. Indeed, I’ve never done this because we always had the start of the competition the very next day. But I really wanted to participate in the ceremony in Tokyo. I truly thought it was my last Games, that I’d never have such a chance again. I had my mind set, I was full of anticipation. It seems like such a small thing…
Q: Why? I understand what you felt really well.
A: It felt like a bucket of cold water was poured on me in public. I didn’t feel pity for myself, I felt offended. Especially since I had to work an extra year for those Games, wait for them. I swear, at that moment, I wasn’t even thinking about the competition, even though I loved competing my whole life and always waited for it. But then the thing I wanted the most was to pack up my suitcase and leave Japan as soon as possible. It was huge revelation for me that you can obliterate someone in one moment, destroy everything that was built over the years. So I was waiting for it all to end. I later watched the video of my vaults – my eyes were completely empty. As if it was happening to someone else. Although in the end, I gained more than I lost.
Q: What do you mean?
A: The construction of my academy will soon start in Tashkent, almost in the city center, at the behest of the president. I will start recruiting children for it. I’m not sure I will want to coach them but I don’t rule this out either. After Tokyo, I was awarded with the title of Merited Coach of Uzbekistan for coaching myself for many years.
Q: I never asked you this before – why, after leaving Kuznetsova when you moved to Germany, you didn’t even try to ask her for help when you came back to Uzbekistan?
A: She and I were in a difficult situation when Alisher got sick. My son was three years old then, we found a German clinic that agreed to help us and I was absolutely sure that my coach would not only support me in everything but also would not leave me alone in a foreign country. It all turned out very differently. Svetlana Mikhaylovna flew back to Tashkent and expected me to follow her in order to keep training. But at that moment, it did not matter to me at all whether gymnastics would still have a place in my life.
Q: Do you still talk to your [former] coach now?
A: Yes. I have now resentment left, I will always be grateful to Svetlana Mikhaylovna for my life in the sports, for my character, for the ability to achieve goals. I love her very much as I’ve always loved her, I will help her with anything, if she needs it, but I also know we will never be able to work together as we used to. There will not be unconditional trust between us. And this [trust] is important when the coach and the athlete aim to get results.
Q: And is this your aim now?
A: Gymnastics turned into more of a hobby. I enjoy training, I don’t have any contractual obligations. Once there will be results, I’ll get a salary.
Q: Were you very upset when you lost at the Asian Championships?
A: No. I was very sick before this competition, I even spent some time hooked to an IV, on antibiotics, but I couldn’t not go to Doha. In this case, the federation would have to pay a fine. In the end, I did well in the qualification but simply had no strength left for the final.
Q: Is the current season over for you?
A: There’s only one competition left – the Islamic Games in Istanbul.
Q: What about the World Championships in October?
A: I qualified for that but decided not to compete. This championship does nothing for me. I plant to start learning a new vault for the next season – the one that Masha Paseka used to do. I want to set this challenge for myself. If I go to Worlds, I’ll have to take a break and go back to my old vaults. To simply waste time, that is. You can’t have it both ways, I think.
Q: What’s the most important thing on vault?
A: The speed of your run. The rest is technique. If a gymnast can’t run well, they will never vault well. Come to think of it, I never had perfect acrobatic training or many other gymnastics qualities but my powerful legs and the ability to run gave me a chance to vault better than others.
Q: If you can still do extremely difficult elements on bars, why did you give up this event so easily? Are grips really the only reason?
A: I don’t like bars in general. I don’t fly easily, so I have to power through a lot of elements. Doing bars for the all-around is one thing. But training it as an individual event while I know that I won’t get a score that lets me fight for a medal or even a spot in the final – what for? I’d rather spend my energy on vault.
Q: Is the age forcing you to save your energy?
A: To some extent, yes. Although, you know, many ask me – “everything probably hurts when you get up in the morning?” Actually, nothing hurts. I guess I’m still waiting for when the age will really start showing itself but it still isn’t happening.
Q: Does that mean we shouldn’t expect you to retire in the next ten years?
A: Well, something like that. Although it’s funny sometimes to hear my mom talking to Alisher. She asks him how he’s doing and always adds: “And your mom, an old fool, is still jumping and jumping….”
Q: What did you think about Simone Biles’s situation in Tokyo when she ended her career on such an unfortunate note?
A: I thought it was a misfortune that happened at a competition. It happens. Biles is like Kohei Uchimura, like Vitaly Scherbo. To this day, no one beat his record of six gold medals at the same Games. Perhaps, such people are born for gymnastics. And they also work really hard. You can take whatever drugs you want but it definitely won’t be the reason you can do a triple-twisting double salto.
Q: After spending three days in Tashkent, I have to ask you – how do you manage to keep the weight off with such amazing cuisine?
A: I don’t have this problem at all. Moreover, I’ve always said – if you really want to eat a pastry, you have to eat it. It will all come off in the gym anyway. I noticeably gained weight only once, during puberty – I gained three kilos [6.6 pounds], which is a bit much considering my height. But I kept tumbling, doing all my elements. By the way, Svetlana Mikhaylovna never starved me. There was just one time when she said, “would be good to lose half a kilo” and for some reason, it offended me so much that I gained ever more weight. But it’s hard – your hands slip off the bars, everything annoys you. You can feel your weight every second. Especially on bars. On floor, you have to flip that weight over your head twice, on vault – to accelerate it. The most annoying thing is that it’s your problem and your coach warned you.
Q: Assuming something crazy – that everything will come together for you in Paris and you will win a medal – will you keep competing?
A: In that case, I will almost definitely retire.
