Maria Paseka Superstyle! - interview

Maria Paseka and her mum.  Courtesy of Superstyle

Lupita translates an interview with 2012 Olympic silver and bronze medal winning gymnast, Maria Paseka!

Once in four years even those who are not experts talk about sport. During the Olympics everyone suffers and supports unknown athletes. Even if an athlete has grown up not far from you, you know the toll he or she had to pay - childhood, health, going to live far away from parents.  Аnna Klesheva is the mum of silver and bronze medalist Maria Paseka.  She watches all the competitions afterwards, when the results are known.

-  I am so worried about Masha that I am afraid to convey my concern. This is why I watch her vaults once the competition is over.

Anna has been working with us for six years. Маsha is the smiling girl who enjoys visiting us when she is not at training camp or competing. Anna comes to visit us after her victory at the Olympics. Maria is now a well-known athlete who grew up before our very eyes.

She intuitively knows that nothing in our relationship has changed at the editorial offices.  We simply admire her.
 
-  But many people have another kind of relationship with me - they didn’t have time for me, now they phone me.  I find it unpleasant.  As well as when, during the award ceremony, silver medalist Maroney turned aside; I had the feeling I was responsible for her bad performance.  But you could see her landing and the score...

– Masha, I congratulate you once again and I think that after severe surgery, your result is outstanding and, most importantly, promising.

- Thank you. I performed as well as I could, and I am very grateful to my coach, Marina Guanadievna Uliankova and the head coaches – Valentina Rodionenko and Andrei Rodionenko. Andrei Fiodorovich insisted on me learning a second vault for the Olympic final.

— Masha, when you competed, you had the support of many people whom you know and don’t know. And they all want to know how a child begins elite sport, how he or she grows, how he or she lives …

 - For me the most difficult thing was to learn to live without my mum. When I was 13 and I made the national team, I needed a month to adapt. It was very interesting to train for the Olympics, but it was hard after my injury..

- Аre there psychologists helping you to put up with all this?

- There aren’t any. Мy mum helps, I often call her and my “second” mum is Marina Uliankina. And my teammates, of course.

-Do you have time for teenager stuff?

- I love high heels. I buy new shoes wherever I go and I give them to my friends. I cannot wear them due to my injuries.

- Masha, is your life different from that of people of your age who don’t practice sport?

- Some of them study a lot, some do nothing … But I don’t envy them, we’ll have time. I want to read more books. I have had the opportunity to travel around the world, to meet interesting people.

- You have to study between training sessions…

- This is my mum’s favourite subject.

- Anna, could you explain this?

- We had to change schools three times because we changed clubs, аnd the school programme is the same for everyone. In the mornings, Masha went to the gym and I would go to school to deliver the homework she had had time to do.

-Are you happy now that Masha has become a student?

- It’s a shame that her childhood was over so quickly. But it’s easier for me than for other parents.

- Anna, how did Masha become involved in gymnastics?

- She chose it herself.  Once, I went into Masha’s bedroom but the child was not there. 'Mum, find me!'. She was hanging from the ceiling ... I understood that artistic gymnastics was her sport.

- Did you practice gymnastics yourself?

- Not for long. Floor choreography was always difficult for me.

- Маsha, I remember when you quit artistic gymnastics to do acrobatics...

- Yes, my relationship with my coach became difficult and it seemed to me that I didn’t like gymnastics any more. But fortunately, I understood very quickly that artistic gymnastics was my big love.

- Are you going to prepare for Rio de Janeiro?

- I’ll try to make the team and to win. Of course, I’ll have to work hard not to give any ground to the judges. Аnd later I want to open a gym and coach girls...

- Masha, you did grow up after London...

- I think a lot about the future. I’ve almost forgotten my childhood. Still, at home I have my medals, my teddy bears and my Edinorog games...