‘I was in complete shock’. Viktoria Listunova on her Achilles injury

"I was in complete shock, I cried." Listunova on the causes of her Achilles tendon rupture

Gymnast Listunova spoke about the causes and circumstances of her injury.

Sergei Lissin, Sports Express

The Olympic champion will do everything to return.

On December 7, 2024, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics in the team event Victoria Listunova competed at the Voronin Cup, her first major tournament after the athlete sustained a back injury, which forced her to miss the BRICS Games. Then, in early February, she went to Italy to participate in the national club championship and scored 53.650 in the all-around at the very beginning of the season, the same as the Paris Olympic champion on the uneven bars Kaylia Nemur.

At the end of February, it became known that Victoria had a new and very serious injury - an Achilles rupture. As a result, instead of performing at the Russian Cup, the athlete came there as a guest, was present in the hall all days of the finals, after which she told SE the details of the story related to her current condition.

Performed in Italy with a cold

— Let's start with the obvious — how did you get injured?

— I was doing an acrobatic combination for floor routines. And at the moment of the push, I felt a click, I realized that something had happened and already in flight I realized that I would not be able to stand on this leg when landing. I landed through the healthy leg, carrying the injured one through the air, and realized that I could not stand up, the leg was hanging, I was not able to move it.

— Straight to the hospital?

— First, they brought me to our medical office at the base. At that time, the doctor was busy organizing a car to the hospital, contacting the hospital itself, informing them that a gymnast was coming to them now. We arrive there, a traumatologist meets me, examines me, says that I have a complete rupture of the Achilles, and informs that they will take me and immediately put me in for surgery. We discussed that the surgery will be with a complete opening of the Achilles zone, not minimally invasive. Literally two hours later, during which they took tests and did an MRI, they took me into the operating room.

— What condition were you in?

— From the moment of injury until spinal anesthesia, as well as the sedative that was injected at the same time, I was in complete shock, I cried. My head was filled with thoughts about what was next, how the recovery would go, what awaited me in general. I fell asleep during the operation and woke up when it was almost finished.

— Were the causes of the injury diagnosed?

— The doctor who met me and then operated on me said that this was most likely the consequences of the disease. When I competed in Italy at the club championship, I did it while I had a cold. And, naturally, in order to somehow come to my senses for the competition, I took various medications — antipyretics, antibiotics. The doctor said that this was most likely the reason.

Already working on the uneven bars

— You returned to the gym a week after the surgery. Whose idea was it?

— At that moment, the training camp had not yet ended, and I was basically just sent back to it. On the fifth day, I was discharged from the hospital, my coach Olga Petrovicheva met me, and we went to the base together.

— How is the recovery going?

— Even in the hospital after the operation, they prescribed a rehabilitation program and put a special boot on my leg, initially the ankle angle was fixed at 110 degrees, then 100, then 90. At first, when the angle was made 90 degrees, my leg ached, then it got better. Two weeks after the operation, I returned to the first rehabilitation block, we began gradual stretching of the leg, that is, I pulled the Achilles with rubber bands, in other various ways, but I had not yet started walking. Two weeks later, the second rehabilitation block, we began walking. I myself no longer pulled my leg, the instructors did it.

I gradually straightened out my walking, because, naturally, it was far from symmetrical from the start. It was hard. Now I seem to have gotten used to it, it’s much easier. Soon I’ll have my third rehabilitation, where, as the doctors told me, we will have to start possible jumps and, perhaps, running on an antigravity track. During the period between the second and third rehabilitations, I myself must achieve the point where, standing on one, operated leg, I can easily stand on my toes.

— Can you do it yet?

— So far with difficulty, holding on to a support, it’s still a bit difficult, but I’m gradually getting there. I can already rise on my toes, standing on two legs, with the help of a support. Additionally, I pump up my ankles with various exercises. I do squats, lunges on two legs without the help of supports.

— They published a video where you work on the bars.

— Yes, I mainly work on the bars during training. Of course, not the full program yet, we start with simple elements so that there is no discomfort in the leg. But I work.

— Aren't you scared?

— There's a pit with soft foam rubber at the bottom. For now, I'm only working on the top pole so that if anything happens, I don't hit the bottom one. We try to do everything carefully so that no misunderstandings happen. Naturally, I get off the apparatus differently because I can't do it as usual yet.

The signal from the brain didn't reach the leg

— When did you realize that everything was fine, that there was progress in recovery?

— Probably only when I started walking. They stretched my leg manually, if it weren't for the doctors and instructors, I wouldn't have been able to do it myself. They selected exercises, looked for an approach. When walking, at first, I didn't understand how to rise on my toes to push off with them, the Achilles was still weak, I just put my foot on the full foot and raised it the same way. At the same time, I didn't feel it myself, as if the signal from the brain didn't reach the leg. Doctors and specialists helped me a lot with this.

— The first time after the operation you were in elastic bandages on your legs, I was surprised that there were no compression bandages. Why was that necessary?

— I was hospitalized so urgently that there were simply no compression stockings. In such cases they use elastic bandages.

— When the compression garments were already taken out, you took a photo where you can see that the calf muscle on the injured leg has significantly decreased in volume. Is this still true?

— To some extent, yes. It is gradually returning to normal, but it is still weak, and is less tense than the left leg. It is still unusual.

— What happened to your weight while you were unable to fully train and burn energy? What's up with it now?

— Some minor problems arose, but now they've been partially resolved — I've started training somehow. While I had the brace on my leg, I couldn't do much at all, even on the uneven bars, because it was heavy, an extra kilo and a half on one leg. So I did some very simple exercises, mostly pumping, there was no normal load, of course.

I will do everything to return to sports

— Do you see yourself doing at least one event at this year's Russian Championships?

— There is a possibility. But at the moment, the main goal is to recover as quickly and completely as possible. If everything works out, we can set the task of preparing for certain starts.

— You turn twenty in May. Do you feel like a gymnastics veteran, considering what you had to go through: an elbow during the Olympic season, then your back, and now Achilles?

— Come on, what veteran? I just have to get through this now. I have always believed and still believe that nothing is impossible, and I will do everything to return to the sport and restore my programs. I am sure that it will not be easy, but there are examples of Rebeca Andrade and Simone Biles, they are amazing gymnasts, they are 25 and 28 years old. There is almost a 10-year difference between Simone and me, and it would be wrong to complain that I am already old. I look up to them in many ways, very cool gymnasts who, despite their age, do such difficult elements and score high all-around scores.