After winning three golds and a silver at the inaugural World Championships and five golds at the European Olympic Youth Festival, Viktoria Listunova is going back to her usual routine – training and studying. She won’t turn senior until 2021 but has a chance to become a junior European champion next year, a title she doesn’t yet have.
Listunova talked to a local newspaper “My District” and VestiKavkaza.ru about her gymnastics idols and what it means for her to be a champion.
Q: What are you working on more right now – bars or vault? Which elements do you like to do?
A: Right now I need to work more on bars. But I like everything – floor, vault, bars. I want to improve my bars to be like Svetlana Khorkina. The events that lag behind for me, the most treacherous ones, are beam and bars. So, since we have time now, we want to get bars up to the level. Right now, I won on bars but that was because of the execution. My difficulty wouldn’t be quite enough for the senior competitions.
Q: In one interview, you said that Vladislava Urazova is a true champion. What qualities a champion should have, in your opinion?
A: I think that a champion should not wear a crown. If you won, you have to keep working. As Irina Viner said, you stood on the medal podium for a bit and not go start from scratch. And if you lost, you have to analyse your mistakes and move forward and perfect your routines. It’s not just about sports, I have the same attitude towards school.
Q: Have you every tried other sports?
A: I tried different sports – rhythmic gymnastics, artistic swimming, and artistic gymnastics. In swimming, my height wasn’t enough. At the end, I chose artistic gymnastics.
Q: Who’s your idol in gymnastics?
A: Svetlana Khorkina and Simone Biles. Simone is strong everywhere, at competitions, she wins almost all the medals, she doesn’t give anyone a chance.
Q: What are you thinking about before the competition?
A: Before going out on an apparatus, I need to go over my routine in my head, to get myself into the right state of mind and do it. Also, before competitions, I try to rest and clear my head, books help with it. I like classics.
Q: Do you manage to do your schoolwork?
A: I try to. Mom sends me assignments for the summer, I read books. During the school year, we study from Monday till Wednesday and from Friday till Friday, and we go to classes between practices.
Q: What are your competition plans?
A: Unfortunately, I am not eligible for the Tokyo Olympics because of my age, I’m one year younger than needed. My next major competition will only be next year – the European Championships in Paris. Although I would be capable of competing at senior competitions now. Russian Cup will take place from 23 to 30 of August and I’d love to compete there, but I’m not age-eligible, unfortunately.
Olga Petrovicheva, Listunova’s personal coach, talked about meeting the gymnast for the first time:
“Until the age of seven. Viktoriia had been training in Podolsk. At one point, her coach called me and asked me to take her because the family was moving to Moscow. When I saw her at practice, I knew that she would be a great gymnast because she has the perseverance and the energy. She has a very strong personality and her body is perfectly suited for gymnastics. Viktoria now has three coaches – me, Raisa Ganina, and my husband Gennady Petrovichev. We built a relationship triangle between the coaches, Viktoriia and her parents. Thanks to our joint work, Viktoriia’s results are improving every year.”
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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Oh the comedy of her two favorite gymnasts being Khorkina and Simone. If she only knew…