Maria Paseka hoped to make Tokyo 2020 her third Olympics and, perhaps, finally accomplish her dream of winning an Olympic gold. She came back after spinal surgery to win gold on vault at the 2019 European Championships but her inconsistent results eventually made her an alternate for the Worlds team that year. Paseka was told early on that she’d have to earn her own spot at the Olympics through World Apparatus Cups. Anastasia Ilyankova and Daria Spiridonova were trying to do same on bars and all three were unsuccessful. After getting injured at the 2020 Baku World Cup, Paseka felt like there was no path for her to get to the Olympics – they were supposed to be only in a few months, she was injured and not ready, and Russia did not yet have any individual spots. Paseka decided to take a break from gymnastics and stopped training. Had she continued and gotten back to her previous level, she would have been a strong contender for one of Russia’s two individual sports at the postponed Olympics. Russia ended up taking Anastiasia Ilyankova who made the bars final and Elena Gerasimova who was unable to reach any finals.
Q: What are you feeling watching these Olympics?
A: I feel sorry that I didn’t manage to get there because I gave up too early. I feel very sorry. When the girls won, I cried tears of both happiness and some sort of bitterness towards myself that I was so foolish – I could’ve gone but I gave up very early.
Q: Gold and bronze medals – are these almost perfect results for the Russian women’s team at the moment?
A: America gave us a good gift in the team final and they had to give it to us a long time ago. Lots of thanks to them. We weren’t quite at their level, they had incredible difficulty. But now they have new girls who are weaker than the ones they had before. We used to lose by 10, by 4-5 points. But the rules were also different, now the difficulties got more equal so that athletes could compete fairly.
Q: At least something worked in our favor.
A: Yes, finally. It’s a pity that neither I nor Vika Komova were there.
Q: I’m sure you compare what the women are doing now and what you would have been able to show. Did the level of gymnastics rise?
A: Many countries are now trying to do Amanar on vault. The girl from Brazil has just the perfect technique and it’s gorgeous! If I had still been vaulting now, I likely would not have been at the top three. Perhaps I would’ve fought for the third place because my Amanar is also good.
Paseka said she expected Angelina Melnikova to place third in the all-around:
A: The girls have very high difficulty, especially the Brazilian athlete who has a 5.8 vault. The American was doing a DTY and she had more height. Her vault was the same as Angelina but she did it cleaner and higher, while Angelina has a bit of a leg separation on the landing for which she gets 0.2-0.3 in deductions. Overall, she did her routines very well and for some reason, I thought that she’d place third.
Q: Is that the ceiling, then?
A: For now – yes. Sometimes it’s better to do less difficulty but do it cleaner. You can end up with the same score as if you did more difficulty but with minor mistakes.
Q: Are you happy with this bronze?
A: I’m really happy for the girls, especially for Angelina who hasn’t missed a single competition since the end of the lockdown. She’s doing such a good job because not every athlete can handle this, after all you are training [for the Olympics] for five years instead of four. It’s difficult mentally. Plus you’re getting older and that plays a role too. Vlada Urazova and Vika Listunova are still young, so they keep pushing forward.
