Maria Paseka gave an interview to VTB in which she talked about her love for cars and fast driving and how frustrating training can get, especially after coming back from a major injury.
Q: Why did you choose gymnastics as a child?
A: My mom said that when I was about five, when we were on vacation in Anapa, I was already doing saltos on a trampoline by myself. The trampoline owner asked my mom: why don’t you sign your daughter up for sports? When we came home, I saw an ad in which a girl was jumping on a trampoline in the Dynamo gym and… I threw a tantrum: I wanted to be like this girl. So, mom soon gave up and signed me up for gym classes. When I first entered a gym, I saw that it had not only a trampoline but also a beam, a floor and all sorts of equipment. From when I was a kid, vault has been my best event, just because I liked it the most. Beam, on the other hand, is absolutely not my thing. And, in general, when something doesn’t work in the gym, I always say that gymnastics is just not my sport. [laughs]
Q: Looking back, do you ever regret your choice to do gymnastics?
A: As my coach says: “Gymnastics showed you how you can live, you saw it.” Without it, I wouldn’t have my titles, no one would know me. Thanks to gymnastics, I earned money to buy a car and a house I’ve always dreamed about. When I retire, I don’t want to sell everything and think: “Well, what do I do next?” I will need a new challenge, new achievements! For example, I want to work on promoting gymnastics so that the parents would sign their kids up for lessons so that this sport won’t die out. Nowadays, many gyms are closing and I think it’s wrong.
Q: So, after retiring, you want to stay in the gymnastics world? Do you have a big dream?
A: To conquer the world? (laughs) I don’t want to work as a coach but opening my own gym – why not? There are no gymnastics classes for children on Dmitrovskoye road, the neighborhood where my mom lives and where I grew up, only some trampoline parks. If a gym will open, this will promote the children’s physical development. I won’t be able to open an elite gym, of course. I calculated the costs – it would require a lot of money.
Q: Is the black SUV with tinted windows by the entrance yours? Do you get stopped by the traffic police because of the tinting?
A: Yes, it’s mine. No, I don’t get stopped, everyone knows me here.
Q: It’s quite an aggressive car. Does it match your driving style?
A: Before – yes, that’s exactly how it was, I always would, as they say, put the pedal to the metal. But now the laws have been changed a bit and such driving incurs large fines, and, with age, you “use your brain” more. Although, when the road is empty, I can, as my mom says, get a little naughty. But I don’t bother anyone. Many people here drive completely mindlessly. Once, a car cut in front of me on MKAD, I then caught up with this car and hit the breaks in front of it to show the driver that he was wrong. My mom later scolded me: “Why would you do that?”
Q: And where did this love for black cars and aggressive driving came from? It’s more of a manly interest.
A: From my dad. Sometimes I think he wanted a boy. My parents are divorced and I always spent the summer with my father. My mom and dad have a good relationship, they are friends, there were never any issues. Dad has always loved mechanical stuff, he still drives a bike. In summer, his friends would visit with their cars – also the fans of mechanical stuff. One of them had a BMW E60, I liked it so much, that I even sold my Audi A7 and bought the same car. I would spend the whole summer in such environment and fell in love with cars. But I’ve never ridden a bike with anyone besides my father, I’m just afraid to. I even told my boyfriend that if he buys a bike, no offense, but I won’t ride it with him.
Q: Are you afraid to drive a bike as well?
A: It’s not that I’m afraid, it’s just that once, in the countryside, I feel from it and… just couldn’t lift it. Thankfully, my father was nearby and he helped me. But since then I realized that bikes are not for me. I don’t know how other girls ride bikes, you would have to lift it all the time and it’s quite heavy.
Q: Your dogs are also a breed that is not typical for women – not Yorkshire terriers or chihuahuas but Staffordshire bull terriers. Can you tell me about your pets?
A: The bigger one is called Eugene. Butch is the skinny and muscular one. I bought him because Eugene needed company. They’re mini Staffies while Lewis is a proper-sized Amstaff. Dima and I wanted to give him to my parents as a gift but they suddenly realized they wouldn’t be able to deal with such a dog. It’s a big dog, he’s very hard to keep in an apartment. I was offered to give Lewis up for adoption but I refused. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. Although sometimes I yell at him, tell him that I’ll leave him homeless. (laughs) Lewis is spoiled. When we got him, he was the baby – he got a lot of attention and some things were let slide. Now I understand that I needed to be like my dad: he disciplined them strictly and explained to me that it’s not cruelty, it’s just a breed that requires it.
Q: Your Instagram followers reacted wildly to your post about the plans to have a baby…
A: Yes, I am planning it and want it. But, unfortunately, in our world, money rules everything. So, when I have a kid, I want him to have his own bank account right away in which money will be saved until a certain age. For education, for example. I’m already checking the prices and understand that children’s clothes cost more than adult clothes. It’s crazy. I used to think: “oh, it’s so cool, you got a kid, everything’s great”. Now I understand that it requires a lot of money. So, now I think I’ll have a kid at 27 or even a bit later. But, generally, what God will provide. We’ll see…
Q: Will you put your kid in gymnastics?
A: I don’t know. Every coach has a different approach to the training process. Many give too much of a training load, they don’t feel the athlete, do not have a dialogue with him. Even when the athlete tells them that something hurts, they force him to work and to push through it. And then there are knowledgeable coaches like mine – Marina Ulyankina. Yes, sometimes she also wanted me to do something improbable, this happens. I then reply to her that there are little girls but at 24, it’s impossible to work like them, they have the conditioning and the speed. I can’t be like that anymore. If I’ll start training with them, then at the fifth station [of the circuit training] I’ll already lie down and say: “Let me go”. (laughs)
Q: Where do you find the motivation to move forward?
A: In Tokyo-2020. It will be my third Olympics. Before London-2012, no one believed in me. I was little. When I talked about wanting to go to the Olympics, everyone laughed at me. “Keep laughing”, I thought and trained even harder. My motivation is that while I went to two Olympics and have a bronze and a silver, the third Olympics are ahead of me now. I want to win gold and retire on a high note. For this, I work hard in the gym every day. Sometimes I get so tired that I have a breakdown in the gym and start crying because I can’t do something. I think: Why am I here? I could have stayed on the couch at home. But when I get sick and actually spend a lot of time at home, I soon realize that staying in one place is not for me. I need to move! My closest goal is to win gold at the World Championships. If, of course, I’ll make the team. Other than that… It’s only 16 months left till Tokyo, I need to endure it a bit more.
Q: What music do you listen to? Your playlist on VK has many singers.
A: Oh yeah, Dima is just shocked by my playlist, he doesn’t get it at all. I have everything there: rock music, pop music, something “whiny” (as we call it” – all the music styles that exist. There are even flute tracks – calm music that I like to fall asleep to.
Q: Nowadays, everyone is about rap music.
A: There are Russian rappers that are good but there are some… Sometimes guys come to me, “Mash, listen to this song”, and it’s about some donuts or a stupid girl. You then sit and think: God, we are regressing, everything’s awful”.
Q: Igor Akinfeev has recently appeared in a music video by “Ruki Verh!” Have you gotten any offers like that?
A: I have a friend, a singer Karen TUZ, he had a song “Breathe life into me”, it became popular at one time. Actually, we met because of this song. I was supposed to go to Yerevan to be in the music video but the dates overlapped with a training camp, so I couldn’t go. Other than that Karen is a good singer, he often invites us over. Armenians are very close-knit people, even when they don’t know each other, they form a circle, organize some dances. I think our people lack it – this unity and support. What happens here: if someone is getting beaten on the street, everyone will walk away. They all really stick together. And it’s right. Our people are always afraid of something: what if something happens?
Q: Tell me about your tattoo with swallows. Does it mean something? Or you just got it because it’s pretty?
A: I read somewhere that swallows and feathers are symbols of kindness, loyalty and family values. I’m a very family-oriented person. Or, rather, I’m trying to be. Of course, I wasn’t like that when I was 17 and wanted to party. But now I’m mostly home, so kind and nice…
Q: Says a girl is a leather jacket and with a black car with tinted windows.
A: By the way, when I met the guys from the car community, I didn’t tell them who I was, that I am a famous athlete, that I compete for the Russian national team, that I have 30,000 followers on Instagram. They came over, saw the medals and said: “What? Did you not tell us on purpose?” I replied: “Why would I tell you? What would it change?” How would it look like? “Hi, guys, I’m Masha Paseka, such and such, I have this many medals”? It’s stupid. Everyone’s surprised by how normal I am. There’s no secret, in my daily life I’m a regular person, just Masha. And that’s it. Yes, in the sport, I’m Maria Paseka and I have many titles. But if you come up to any person on the street and ask them: “Do you know Maria Paseka? Which sport does she do?”, they’ll say that they don’t know and only watch football, hockey, and tennis.
Q: Do you sometimes get recognized on the street anyway? Smolov never won anything but everyone knows him. Is it upsetting?
A: We’re used to it already. Sometimes, little girls who also do gymnastics recognize me. And after the Olympics, people recognized me because of the car I was awarded.
Q: Let’s go back to your tattoos. What does the one on your arm say?
A: Oh, we laugh a lot about this one. The meaning is “Game can recognize game”, and the literal translation is: “A fisherman sees another fisherman from afar”. So, I’m a fisherman now.
Q: A couple of years ago you had a serious back injury and a long break from competing. How are you feeling now? Do you still feel the injury?
A: Everything’s fine. I’ve recovered and train at 100%. My back does not bother me at all.
Q: What was harder to waiting period or the coming back?
A: It was harder to come back because I lost all the muscles – after the injury, I became a regular person, without the strong muscles. I started conditioning again, doing squats: you can’t imagine how everything hurt. I couldn’t walk, my legs were cramping… I put them in cold water so they would recover a bit. I was just afraid to do some of the elements. For example, I was afraid to do a round-off on the vault, to do a salto – when I was upside down, I would dizzy right away and almost fall.
Q: Are you focusing on upgrading or on perfecting the execution of what you are already doing?
A: For now, we’re trying both. We’re trying to clean up the routines and to add something new.
Q: Have you ever encountered pressure from doping control officers?
A: When I was in the ADAMS system, I had to enter my location for every day. I usually put the time for the doping control at 6 am, this is convenient for me. But once they came to me on a Sunday, my only day off…
Q: And you were asleep during that time…
A: Yes, this was my only warning from the doping control officers. I entered my location for a week ahead because I knew for sure that I would be home. And on Sunday, I forgot to turn the phone sound one – I was just asleep when they came. It was my day off, after all, I didn’t set an alarm, the phone was in a silent mode and I kept sleeping.
Q: So, they come to your home?
A: Yes, you enter an address into the system and the come to that address. Thankfully, from 5 to 6 am my dogs have some sort of insomnia, they usually run around the hallway at this time. When a doping officer comes, they start barking like crazy. And I’m like: oh, doping control, great, let’s open the door. By the way, one very nice woman works there, it turns out that she administered a test to me back in London. I was shocked when she recognized me, I said, “Sorry, I don’t remember you”. She’s already friends with my dogs. So, there are no issues.
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