In March, Maria Paseka has returned to competition after undergoing back surgery last year. Not only she was able to restore her full difficulty on vault – an Amanar and a Cheng – she is also currently training bars. At her first international competition, Baku World Cup, she finished 5th in the vault final and a week later, in Doha, she took silver, placing slightly behind Jade Carey. Paseka talked to Sport-Express about coming back, missing gymnastics and getting used to competitions again. Paseka will compete at the European Championships next week.
Q: To compete at the first competition in two years – does it bring a special kind of anxiety? What do you think of your preparation?
A: I intend to win. It’s important for confidence: I’ve already been a European champion and I need to defend my title. I’ve restored the routines and I’m feeling more or less fine, just a bit tired. I haven’t competed for such a long time but had three competitions in a row now.
Q: Recently, you placed second at the World Cup in Doha. Is that a good result?
A: Honestly, I was barely holding tears there. It’s not right that I, a two-time World champion, get upset by such a competition. But it was really upsetting because not only I wanted to win, I could actually do it. But I took too many steps on the vault landing even though, generally, I could avoid it. The fact that I haven’t competed for a long time is affecting me.
Q: Is your back allowing you to train fully?
A: Generally, nothing is bothering me. After three competitions in a row, I felt some fatigue in my back but after a day of rest, everything was fine again.
Q: Are your vaults from two years ago still at the international level? Do you need to upgrade?
A: My combination of vaults is less difficult than that of Simone Biles. But I’ve only just recovered my vaults and right now, the most important thing is to execute them cleanly at the European Championships. Then my coach and I will have to decide – to upgrade or to clean up the execution of the vaults I already have. A lot will depend on my back, what will my health allow me to do.
Q: Is it completely impossible to beat Biles now?
A: Of course, I want to win but I can’t punch above my weight. There are different options: if, perhaps, Biles will fall… She’s doing very difficult vaults but I can’t say that they are impossible for me. Everything needs to be tried, the issue is that there is very little time left until the Olympics. In order to learn a new element and compete it consistently, you sometimes need a few years. For example, I learned the Amanar vault in 2012 but only started competing it consistently and with good execution in 2015.
Q: During these two years without gymnastics, have you ever thought that perhaps there was no point in coming back?
A: It’s hard for me to imagine my life without
Q: Is it true that the doctor who did your back surgery is the same one who helped the bobsleigh racer Irina Skvortsova?
A: Yes. I urgently needed to find a doctor and I remembered the story of Skvortsova – how she stood near Vladimir Putin at the opening ceremony in Sochi, how she went through tens of surgeries… I found her interview online in which she talked about the German clinic and asked my federation to contact them. In our meeting, right away, I felt I could trust the doctor. For him, to do this back surgery is kind of like tooth extraction for a dentist. That is, nothing special, it’s routine. He’s doing the most difficult surgeries, including brain surgeries.
Q: Why did you decide to go to Germany instead of doing the surgery in Russia?
A: It’s not a secret that our medicine is less advanced than the German one. In the past, I did a surgery on my heel in CITO and everything went great. But, after all, the back is not a heel, the functioning of almost all the organs depend on it. I was scared to have such serious surgery in Russia. But that’s my personal choice, I know one girl who had surgery in Russian and she’s doing great, too.
Q: Last summer, you wrote that you were planning a wedding but there were no updates afterward.
A: Everything’s still in place but we’re thinking about the date. It’s really hard to choose a date on which all our friends could come.
Q: You’re competing only on vault. Are you thinking about adding more events or even trying the all-around?
A: In 2015, I also did
Q: Aliya Mustafina is also returning to gymnastics but, in her case, after maternity leave. Do you believe that she’ll succeed?
A: Generally, Aliya has already come back, she’s in good shape. We talk only in the gym because I don’t live at the training center and go home to my dogs after the practices.
Q: Why did she declined to compete at the European Championships?
A: As far as I know, it was because of health reasons. I think Aliya did the right thing by declining. If she came there and withdrew at the last moment, there would be no time to replace her. But now, another girl who really wants to compete will go to Poland.
Q: Have you already thought about what you’re going to do after the Tokyo Olympics? Will you hang your gym shoes on the wall right away?
A: As any young woman, I’m starting to think about children. Right now I think that it would be perfect to have a baby and come back to gymnastics. But my boyfriend Dima says that I’ll start thinking differently when I’ll become a mom. We’ll see, only time will tell who is right.
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