Nikolai Kuksenkov has been struggling with injuries since the Rio Olympics. He managed to come back on two events in 2018 and participated at the European and World Championships. However, later that year, he got injured again and had to withdraw from Toyota Cup in December.
He recovered enough to compete at the Russian Championships but a conflict with his regional federation led to his withdrawal a day before the competition. Valentina and Andrei Rodionenko rushed to announce his retirement, while Kuksenkov claimed he was still active. He kept training and won silver on pommel horse at the Osijek World Cup but it seemed that the coaches were quite intent on retiring him.
He has finally made a decision to retire and will focus on coaching career from now on. Kuksenkov wrote on his Instagram:
“Hello, dear friends! It’s time to to finish my gymnastics career as an athlete. From January of 2020, I won’t be on the national team because I will officially start working as a coach. For me, this is a new stage, so it will not be easy at first but later about it… Of course, I want to thank everyone and to sum up my career… I gave 25 years of my life to gymnastics, went to 2 Olympics, 8 World Championships and 8 European Championships (not counting two junior ones). There were also 3 Universiades, European Games, World Cups, National Championships and Cups, international competitions etc. My life in the sport ended up being quite long and interesting. I had an opportunity to experience highs and lows, failures and wins, “wooden” medals, the meldonium misunderstanding, injuries, casts, surgeries, in short, probably, everything! But the most important thing is that all these years, I had a goal and a strive to achieve new heights. I was doing what I loved and I’m extremely happy I had this journey in gymnastics. Of course, I didn’t get everything but I managed to achieve a lot! Thanks to my national team colleagues, coaches, specialists, staff, fans, and everyone who helped me at different stages of my life. I remember all of you, I haven’t forgotten anyone. Your Kolyan.”
Valentina Rodionenko said Kuksenkov will start working as one of the coaches of the women’s junior national team in 2020:
“He has a good offer to work with the women’s junior national team. He’s very knowledgeable and knows the technical aspects well, so we would like to keep him as a coach, he has great prospects. The rest will depend on him. For now, he agreed. Of course, it’s all new for him, but everyone started there, it’s ok.”
“I can only say good things about him. All in all, there’s a certain age limit. It’s a person who is used to being a leader. He knew well that it would be almost impossible for him to make the four-person team for the 2020 Olympics.”
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