Aliya Mustafina gave an interview to R-Sport. She talked about coming back, dealing with the knee injury, and the joy that gymnastics still brings her.
Q: Six years have passed since your first Olympic gold. How did you change during that period?
A: First of all, my age changed [laughs]. Back then I was 18 years old, a kid, you can say, and now I became more mature, I became a woman, and I guess this is the most important change.
Q: I feel like you in 2013 at Worlds in Antwerp when I first met you and you now are two completely different people. You were more restrained back then and now you smile more.
A: Honestly, back then I didn’t like giving interviews and I didn’t know how to do it, I was shy. I learned with time, it’s not scary anymore, I know how to express myself. I guess that’s why.
Q: Did you become more experienced with time?
A: The experience comes less with time and more with the number of interviews given.
Q: Do you help the girls on the team with interviews in any way?
A: No, I guess, you need to get there by yourself. I can’t tell them how to answer the questions. They need to do it by themselves and to say their own thoughts. It will come with age.
Q: Do you remember which plans for the future you had after the London Olympics?
A: I can’t really remember. I didn’t have any special plans, only not to retire and to keep training. But why, how and what – I was too young to think about it.
Q: After your second gold in Rio you said that you’ve achieved everything you wanted but here in Doha it seemed that these words weren’t the whole truth.
A: No, I told the truth. I have the Olympic gold.
Q: Two of them!
A: Two of them. Higher than that… I don’t even know what’s higher than that. Right now I just have a lot of desire, and I realized that I just like doing gymnastics, I like competing, being on the team, learning new elements. You understand, all this bring me joy and that is why I keep going.
Q: In modern gymnastics, there is such a phenomenon as Oksana Chusovitina who competed at her 17th World Championships already. Can you imagine yourself in such a role?
A: No, I won’t go that far. After all, I’d like to do something else besides gymnastics, besides competing, that is. So, I guess, I wouldn’t follow in her steps. But I managed to achieve the goal of recovering after giving birth partially because of her example.
Q: In modern gymnastics, the stories of the gymnasts who came back to the sport after giving birth…
A: There are other girls at this competition who have children, they are competing, they just didn’t make the finals.
Q: When Alisa was born last year, were you already thinking about coming back?
A: I was always thinking about that. These thoughts never left me. After I realized that I would want to come back after the pregnancy and giving birth, I kept thinking about it.
Q: But you originally planned to start training later than you actually did. Were you not able to keep yourself away from all this?
A: It’s not that I wasn’t able to. I just stopped breastfeeding Alisa and that meant I had the opportunity to go to Round Lake.
Q: When Ksenia Afanasyeva tried training after giving birth, her old injuries started flaring up. When you started having troubles with your knee, were you afraid that you wouldn’t be able to do it?
A: No, I wasn’t afraid because I went to the doctor that operated on that knee. We did MRI and he said: “Generally, you can tumble. There were no changes for the worse in the knee”. And he saw what’s inside my knee, so he knows. He said: “Nothing’s getting worse, everything’s fine, we’ll do injections from time to time to stop the inflammation but there’s nothing serious”.
Q: You first competition since the comeback was the Russian Championships this spring. What were you feeling? It seemed as if the happiness was mixed with some feeling of being lost since you were not used to this whole atmosphere anymore.
A: Actually, yes, I was not used to it anymore but that feeling was more about not being as prepared as I am now. That’s why there were anxiety and worry and crazy happiness when everything worked out. But I was preparing for this competition more intensively and purposefully. If I compare it now, Doha is just my second competition but I have much more confidence.
Q: Is it mentally hard to start from scratch? To do the same things you did before but as a two-time Olympic champion now?
A: It wasn’t hard for me because I, let’s say, prefer to live in the moment and not to remember what happened in the past. I understand perfectly well that if I became an Olympic champion two years ago, this doesn’t mean that I can lie on the couch and then go out at any moment and do my routine. I still have to work all the time. And taking a break, I knew what to expect, what difficulties and falls I would have, anything. And so when all of it happened, I was completely fine with it.
Q: You were fourth in the all-around at the Russian Championships. Why did you stop training vault while preparing for the World Championships?
A: Because of my knee. It took us a long time to figure out what is going on with it. The German doctors said one thing, a Russian doctor said another thing and so while we were deciding whom to listen to, a lot of time has passed. I wasn’t tumbling for a long time but the knee kept hurting. Perhaps, it did exactly because I wasn’t tumbling. As soon as I started, it stopped hurting and it doesn’t bother me now. I didn’t tumble and didn’t do vault, but tumbling was easier to restore because my tumbling passes are not so difficult. But I didn’t do vault on purpose, or I only did it on a tumbling track because I didn’t want to get injured. I was needed on two events and I had to do them.
Q: When do you plan to start training all-around?
A: When I get back home.
Q: Right away? You won’t get any rest?
A: Perhaps, three or four days, but not a vacation. I’ll rest during the New Year.*
Q: Perhaps it’s because you got such a strong charge of emotions and positivity in Doha?
A: Yes, that’s true! I was talking to Gelya today and she said: “After the competitions, it is the best time to learn new elements”. You’re still in peak shape and feel your body well, so you can just go and do all the new stuff.
Q: What can you upgrade in your routines?
A: God help I won’t have any injuries and then I’ll be able to seriously upgrade by the European Championships. First of all, on bars and beam, and then, perhaps, on floor.
Q: You mentioned Angelina Melnikova. When you took a break, she had to become the team leade. You’re very close, can you tell how hard it was for her at 17-18 year old?
A: Gelya is mature beyond her age, so I don’t think it was very hard for her. And it’s a custom that if you are named the team captain, all the girls, no matter their age, have to listen to you and accept what you say. I don’t think she had any difficulties.
Q: When she was on the verge of making the team for major competitions, Valentina Rodionenko used to say that we have a new Aliya Mustafina. Do you agree with this statement?
A: No, every athlete is different and you can’t say that someone is a new Aliya Mustafina. And I don’t think that Gelya would really want to be me. It’s not a 100% comparison. She would’ve been able to become a leader and a good team captain even without me, and she is a leader!
Q: You went away for a long time, how hard was it to leave your daughter at home?
A: It’s not hard because I know she’s fine because of my mom, she’s in good hands, not with a nanny but with family. I’ve also always thought that I wouldn’t be able to raise my daughter properly because I’m too kind, I can’t always be strict. And my parents raised me exactly the way I want my daughter to be raised. So, together with my mom, I manage to do it exactly as I dreamed.
Q: Judging by your social media posts, you even do video calls with her.
A: Yes, we talk, she even started to understand that mom is calling. When the phone calls, she asks right away “Mom?”. She grabs the phone, runs to another room and tells me what does the cat say, what does the dog say, how my mom is scolding her. They also saw the competition on TV, so she now points to the TV and says “Mom!”
Q: David Belyavskiy’s wife and daughter came to Doha. Have you thought about bringing Alisa and your mom, too?
A: I’d love to but my mom doesn’t like to travel at all. She’s not a fan of any traveling, it’s easier for her at home, and since it’s more comfortable for her this way, they can stay at home, it’s not that important.
Q: There isn’t much time left until the next Olympics. What are you thinking, do you want to win another gold?
A: You always want the best, of course. But right now I need to think not about what happens in two years but what I need to do in the near future, to work on my routines, to upgrade them. The earlier I’ll be able to get to my maximum in terms of the elements and the difficulty, the easier the path to the Olympics will be.
Q: As I understand, you plan on continuing your career while you still have the strength and while you enjoy it, right?
A: For now, I want it. Because the strength also comes from the desire.
Q: So, you will keep going until the next Olympics, at least?
A: I really hope so, I really want it and I’ll do everything to get on the team!
*Russia has almost 10 days of state holidays on New Year during which the national team gymnasts have a vacation.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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