Aliya & Vika Speak

So good to hear from these golden girls. The first interview with Vika is taken from, and translated by, this blog.

Komova gave an interview to Sport Express right before the European Championships.
She talks about the prospects of the current team at Euros and about how her own training is going.

Q: The post-Olympics European Championships are special in many ways – there are many newcomers on all the teams, new routines… What are your expectations from this competition?A: I went through the same thing after the London Olympics. There were few veterans left on our team, many newcomers, and we ourselves suddenly became veterans. I’m looking forward to see our new girls. Elena Eremina who is 15 year old hasn’t competed in any major senior competitions yet, I’m curious about how she’ll do here. Natasha Kapitonova is 16, she has slightly more experience, but not much. Angelina Melnikova went to the Olympics and she’s from my hometown. I’m going to cheer for all of them.

Q: People call Eremina the next gymnastics superstar.A: She’s good. She’s very clean technically, has a good level of difficulty. Her best apparatus is bars, I guess, even though she also does all-around. But it’s too early for predictions regarding Lena. She’s still so small, light, it’s easy for her to do all the elements. Let’s see what happens when she grows up a bit.

Q: The two-time Olympic medalist Maria Paseka is your age and she’s the only experienced member of this team…A: She’s also my good friend. She went through tough time in preparation for these Championships. She had a lot of back issues and had to work through pain. I called her when she was already in Romani, but she couldn’t talk. I understand and I wish her the best luck.

Q: Is it foolish to talk about medal prospects when the team is full of new faces?A: Well, the girls hope for medals, of course. There’s no point to train otherwise. Also, it’s important to make judges like you, make them remember your routines.

Q: So, it’s good, then, that our youngsters start at Euros and not at Worlds where the stakes are higher?A: Well, it doesn’t really matter either way – at both competitions you represent your country, so, at least, you have to compete decently. Euros are a bit easier in the sense that our primary competition – Americans and Chinese – are not there.

Q: What can you tell about the prospects of our men’s team?A: Their team is also mostly new. I saw videos of Nagorny’s and Lankin’s routines and liked them. I think, now’s their time. Dalaloyan and Lankin are extremely motivated and now upgraded to the necessary difficulty. These guys used to be the B team athletes and now they’re on the A team.

Q: Is it true that you got a dog for your win at the 2010 Euros?A: My parents found a way to motivate me. I really wanted a dog and they promised to buy it to me, but with certain conditions. Right now Kutya is staying with my parents. I’d really like to have her with me, but it’s impossible to keep a dog with all the training camps.

Q: You mentioned training camps. Does it mean you’re back in training?A: Yes, my doctors gave a permission. I started slowly coming back, I’m training at the local gym now. If everything goes right, I want to go to the Round Lake after Euros and show what I can do.

Q: So, you’re planning on competing during the whole quad including the Tokyo Olympics?A: I really hope so.

Q: You missed the Rio Olympics because of your back problems. How did you manage to fix it?A: I went to Germany last summer, they diagnosed me with a stress fracture in my spine. I was in treatment for 8 months – took medication, did physical therapy, went to Germany for follow-ups several times. At the end, the German doctors allowed me to come back to training with only a few limitations. There are some exercises that I shouldn’t do, but there are also some that are very beneficial for my back. Overall, I’m healthy.

Q: Were you ever in doubt whether you should come back to sport after such a long break and such a difficult injury?A: I was, at first. But then, when I came to the gym and realized my back doesn’t hurt, it was… just wow! I suddenly could do the things I wasn’t able to do for a long time because of my back pain. So, I gradually got used to the training. My coach is often travelling to competitions with other gymnasts, so then my dad replaces him. I really hope I’ll soon be working with the rest of the girls and will fight to make the national team.

The next interview is transcribed by tumblr account http://illyria-and-her-pet.tumblr.com

Aliya is giving an interview on SportsFM radio on 14.04.

Aliya’s talking about her cat Lisa. The cat is the boss in their family and keeps her company when Alexey, her husband, if away. She’s mostly focusing on her studies right now, she’s getting a BA in gymnastics coaching and is supposed to finish right now. This program was the easiest to combine with training, so she decided to study there even though she doesn’t want to be a coach. And she thinks it’ll help her to earn money while she’s figuring out what she wants to do with her life. She believes she’s too gentle to be a coach, because in order to raise champions the coaches have to be tough on the gymnasts. Aliya’s favorite football team is Spartak. She would want to visit their next game, but there are no tickets left. She says that her husband offers her a lot of support. They can also understand the need to go to training camps and competitions. She started getting really good at bars when Grebyonkin started training her on this apparatus and he was able to figure out the routines that worked her. She doesn’t have favorite apparatuses or the ones she dislikes. Although, sometimes she doesn’t like a specific apparatus when something isn’t working out and she’s getting frustrated. She doesn’t have any rituals before competitions and doesn’t really believe in good luck charms. The most important thing is to have the right attitude right before going on the apparatuses. She was very nervous in London and wanted to please all the fans, and her mom said to her: compete just for me, don’t think about everyone else. So, she did. In Rio, on the other hand, the fans helped to motivate her, because she thought she can’t give up now or do a bad routine because people count on her, so she has to compete well for them. She liked the movie “Champions” (fictionalized story of Khorkina, Karelin and Popov) and thinks that there should be more movies about gymnasts. She wanted to retire from gymnastics several times when she was mentally exhausted. Her main motivation for coming back was always the joy of gymnastics – she likes to compete. She was the most tired in the summer of 2015 and was seriously thinking about retired. Going to classes in her university was a good distraction then and helped to get through this tough period. She really wants to go to Tokyo.
She doesn’t know if there ever was a 3-time uneven bars Olympic champion, but if there wasn’t she hopes to be the first. She wouldn’t focus just on bars for Tokyo, though, she wants to do everything she can to help the team as well.

She knew that Simone Biles is unreachable at Rio, so she just tried to compete her best and not to think about her competitors. She’s asked about doping allegations against Biles (hacked TUE for ADHD medication) and she’s very diplomatic about it, she says she thinks her competitors are honest and she’s trying not to read about any rumors or allegations. She’s asked how her husband feels about the fact that she’s a more successful athlete. She says they don’t discuss this stuff and that he’s only at the beginning of his career, while she’s already close to the end. Her favorite sport is rhythmic gymnastics.
Her dad was told that wrestlers’ daughters are slated to become good gymnasts, so that’s why he signed her up for gymnastics.

She’s asked whether she was nervous to meet Putin during the banquet for Russian Olympians and he seemed a regular person to her, she wasn’t particularly nervous to meet him. She’s asked about her predictions for Russian girls at the Euros next week. She thinks that they have good medal chances, despite the fact that Paseka had a back injury. The prize car, BMW, was too expensive to keep and, while she liked to drive it, she wanted something more sensible and got a Toyota instead. She’s asked what are the hardest elements for her on bars and it’s Stalders. Her favorite city is Krasnodar (where her husband is from). She likes the Hunger Games movies. Her favorite holiday is New Year. She doesn’t like to eat onions. She doesn’t know what she would do if she wasn’t an athlete and she doesn’t want to think about it. She really liked Switzerland when she went to Euros last year, it was very beautiful. She doesn’t have any hobbies. She’s asked whether she’s expecting a boy or a girl, but she says it’s a secret.
She’s asked whether she ever tried to do a Korbut flip and says she never did, because it’s prohibited now.

Thanks to the dedicated members of the gymternet, we continue to receive insights into the lives of our idols. If you know of any other good interviews please reply in the comments. I know that Aliya is commentating for Toprusgym (or is it Match tv?) but I don't have access to the live feed at work so if any multilingual speakers do have access please share any interesting tidbits with your sisters and brethren :)