Svetlana Khorkina commented to News.ru on the Russian team’s chances at the World Championships and talked about Oksana Chusovitina with whom she trained back when they both were on the Soviet national team.
Q: What do you think of the Russian women’s team’s chances?
A: First of all, I’m very happy that Aliya Mustafina is on the team. There will also be other gymnasts on the team that have the experience of competing at international competitions, including the Olympic Games. Second, as it was promised, the team also got an influx of new gymnasts. The names of all the gymnasts on the team are already known, they competed at the European Championships. It’s the World Championships now and the Olympic Games will take place in two years. Currently, it’s a very serious competition.
Q: Do you by any chance plan on going there to support our athletes?
A: Yes, I will be there. Regarding that, I would like to like to give special thanks to the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation for giving me, as a federation’s vice-president, this opportunity to go, to watch and to cheer on our athletes. And, I guess, to evaluate as a professional how far we are from our rivals. I’d like to see the World Championships exactly this way, in terms of the results, as well.
Q: And what about your medal predictions?
A: I expect a medal in the team competition and a medal on my favorite event, I’m the queen of bars, after all, no one’s canceling that. So, I hope for a good result on that event. The only thing that upset me was the fact that the vaulter Maria Paseka isn’t on the team. Despite the fact that the team is already packed with the representatives of the CSKA Club, I’d love to see Paseka on vault. But I hope that, perhaps, Angelina Melnikova will try to qualify to the floor final.
Q: Should they be afraid of the four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles?
A: They need to compete with Simone Biles, they shouldn’t be afraid of her!
Q: What can you say about Oksana Chusovitina who is competing at Worlds at 43 years old?
A: When I asked her on Instagram “Will you compete there?” she replied: Of course”. And I said to her: “Then I’ll be there”. I very well remember the time when I made the junior national Soviet team. I stepped into the gym for the first time when the senior Soviet team was training there in preparation for the Barcelona Olympics. Oksana was on the team, we met there. I was one of her roommates. And when she was packing her bags for Barcelona, I, dreaming about the Olympics, asked her: “Is it scary?” “She replied: “You’ll be packing your own bags soon enough”. So, I’m really grateful that Ksyuha has such a long career, I’m wishing her all the success and victories. She has a chance to fight for a medal on vault. The question is how the qualification will go. You know, it’s like a millstone, the qualifications are very difficult to get through. There are lots of good gymnasts now.
Q: And what about the men’s team? What are their chances for the medals?
A: The men’s team proved themselves at the European Championships. But at the moment, the Japanese men’s gymnastics is at a very high level. The other rival for our team will be the gymnasts from China. They traditionally do not give up their positions. There could also be a European team on the podium, perhaps France or Great Britain. We’ll see. After all, there’s one goal – to have as few big mistakes in the team final as possible. How we say “without falls”. If they go through all the events smoothly, they’ll have really good chances as a team. And, of course, I’ll personally be very happy if they medal on high bar as during Alexei Nemov’s time. It’s a beautiful event. I hope that the guys will manage to swing something there. We have good prospects on vault and floor. Again, men’s gymnastics really raised the level of difficulty. But difficulty aside, I hope our guys will have a bit more luck and success so that everything would go great.
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Cant have an interview with KHORKI without her saying she is the Queen of something. lol Never change my angel! 🙂