Daria Spriridonova talked to Sport-Express about staying optimistic during the quarantine and family life.
Q: How is life in quarantine? Judging by your Instagram, it’s quite fun.
A: We’re trying not to get bored. We’re filming different videos and entertaining people. But, of course, it’s hard to stay in shape without the gym. We warm up and do two practices a day and try to eat properly. Nikita brought push-up handles and even uses couch pillows for training.
Q: Is it easier to be quarantined when it’s the two of you?
A: Of course. If I had to stay home alone, I’d go crazy.
Q: Was the postponement of the Olympics really upsetting?
A: Of course. After all, we’ve been preparing and it’s very hard to stay in such a shape for one more year. Before the quarantine started, we went to a competition in Baku in order to get points to qualify to the Olympics. We competed in the qualifying round and the finals were supposed to start the next day. When we were preparing to go to sleep, we were told that the competition had been canceled. We got back home two days later.
Q: Does the current situation affect you financially? The gymnastics school you own is closed now.
A: Honestly, I didn’t really get into it, Nikita’s the one in charge of the school. But, of course, it’s hard. The gym is closed but we still need to pay rent. But everyone’s in the same situation now.
Q: Your favorite apparatus is bars. Why?
A: I’ve been drawn to it since I was a kid. It was my best event since the beginning. Perhaps, it’s because my legs are not so strong and I can’t do vault and floor like the other girls. In addition, last year, I had an injury, and after that, I was only preparing a routine on bars for this season.
Q: Aliya Mustafina recently said that it’s impossible to get such leg muscles as Simone Biles.
A: I agree with Aliya. Simone is great. What she’s doing is really cool.
Q: What can you say to people who think Biles wins because of doping?
A: I don’t know what she does in training, I can’t guess. But she does amazing things on floor. The whole world knows her and it’s awesome.
Q: Do you believe that Mustafina will be able to recover and come back?
A: It’s hard but Aliya’s character means that if she wants something, she’ll achieve it. We basically grew up together. When I started going to competitions, Aliya was already an adult and took care of us like a mom. A couple of years ago, she had already come back and went to World Championships. And then, perhaps, she decided to wait so more, to spend time with Aliska. Her daughter is pretty awesome.
Q: Is it true that you’ve met Cristiano Ronaldo?
A: Unfortunately, no. But we were in a promo video for the World Cup in Russia together. A beam was set up in a photo studio and on it, I had to repeat the movements that Ronaldo made on the field. He landed – I landed, and so on. But I’ve never met him in person, that video was edited.
Q: But you’re friends with figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva, right?
A: We don’t see each other often but always try to meet up when Zhenya’s in Moscow. We met an event at Round Lake where Zhenya came with her club, Sambo-70. Somehow, we became close right away.
Q: Do you watch figure skating?
A: Of course, all of our girls. I’ve met Alina Zagitova, too. But I mostly watch Zhenya because I know her the best. I generally like figure skating. I would’ve put my [future] daughter in it.
Q: What do you think about the idea of raising the age limit? It’s the same issue as in gymnastics – it’s easier to do difficult elements at 15 than at 18 or older?
A: I think that’s you need to overcome the puberty and keep competing. It can be very hard but, generally, not bad and terrible enough in order to retire. You have to deal with it and keep training. I went through such a period when I got injuries and the weight was really climbing up. But my coach kept telling me that everyone went through it and I just needed to wait. Then your [adult] body is formed, you get used to it and everything’s fine.
Q: A classic question – how did you meet your future husband?
A: We met at Round Lake. But we just talked and texted, nothing special. I didn’t even think that we’d be together. Then we were at a competition in Penza and Nikita invited me to his room, said we need to talk. We talked, he suggested we’d start dating and I said: “Well, let’s try”. So, we’re still trying.
Q: How did he propose to you?
A: Nikita is a romantic, so it was very interesting. We woke up in the morning, Nikita said: “I have a surprise for you. We’ll go to visit my friend in the country, we’ll ride horses and do barbecue”. Well, great, let’s go. I put on “countryside” clothes, we drove through some villages for two hours. We got there and see parachutes! And I remembered that I had told him a while ago that I really wanted to skydive. I was really happy, we did the training and went to jump. Nikita was the first to jump, I went after him. I saw him land and run somewhere. I called him while still in air to no avail. And when I landed as well, he came to me, went down on one knee and proposed.
Q: So, he had the ring with him when he jumped? What would have happened if he lost it?
A: No, he gave it to someone for safekeeping.
Q: How is family life? There are many stories about athletes who grew up at training centers and then didn’t know how to fry eggs or how to buy bread at the store.
A: Yes, I’ve heard about such cases. But I really don’t understand it – there’s internet, it’s very simple to go online, look up a recipe, buy all the ingredients, and cook. For me, it was somehow always easy, I like cooking. My favorite dish? Most often, we make pasta. We like syrniki. We won’t go hungry.
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