‘My daughter likes gymnastics. For us, this is the big success’. Aliya Mustafina talks to Match TV

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A big interview with Aliya Mustafina was published on MATCH!. We provide a small excerpt below, and the full version is available on the website at the link below 

❓ Aliya, you are now the head coach of the junior artistic gymnastics team. What does your typical day look like?

💜 My current life is similar to what it was when I was competing. In the morning, I have breakfast and go to work by 9:00, we train for four hours, have lunch, rest and train for another three hours. During the training camp, the athletes live at the base. They live and train on the same territory.

❓ Do you manage the gymnasts' personal trainers or do you evenly distribute the responsibilities?

💜 We work in contact with the personal trainers, I listen to their opinions. For example, if the trainer believes that their athlete needs to be given a little rest or do fewer repetitions of a particular exercise, we do so.

❓ Describe the current generation of children. Do they need a different approach or are the methods you were trained with applicable?

💜 I work with girls aged 12-15. These are children of technology and the Internet. It is not difficult for me to work with them because I am not old myself and I can easily find an approach to them. I understand that this generation is different from ours. If you could bark at us, scold us, then this generation needs to be interested and made to want to train and become better.

❓ At what level are your coaching ambitions?

💜 Considering the current realities, I want the children to come to the training camp with pleasure. This attitude should result in productive work and results.

Naturally, I really want to go to international competitions. It is difficult to compare the level of our athletes with foreign ones purely by scores, without competing with them. Different people judge, everyone has a different point of view. I repeat that I really want to get on the international stage.

❓ I read in one of the interviews that you ask athletes not to forget about their studies.

💜 I am very strict about this. Of course, I don’t ask them to show their diaries, but I am in touch with the school principal. I always tell the children that studying is important, that I will not let it slide. I understand perfectly well that not every gymnast will become an Olympic champion, but they will not be able to live without school knowledge. I look at gymnasts not only as athletes, I want them to become good people.

❓ Did you feel like a star after the Olympics?

💜 A star, no. But I never wanted to be famous, I didn’t want to be recognized everywhere.

❓ Do you think you managed to monetize your Olympic success? Did you receive advertising offers?

💜 Unfortunately, those were not the times. I have never had any advertising contracts. There is no point in thinking about it now - I never did and never have.

I just never increased my popularity, so now I understand what it led to. I don’t regret it, it was what it was.

❓ You have a lot of subscribers on social networks.

💜 When I was more active on social networks, people subscribed, and to a large extent these were fans from other countries. But I had no idea how to properly manage social networks, because there was no such profession as a blogger back then. I was not offered any global cooperation there either.

❓ What kind of mother are you?

💜 I am the kind of mother who is always at work. My parents help me with my daughter. We initially agreed with them that they would help raise my daughter. After giving birth, I returned to sports, so even at that stage we had certain agreements.

❓ How would you rate your daughter’s success in gymnastics?

💜 She met the standard of the first youth category. It is too early to talk about global success. The most important thing is that she enjoys going to training, she likes doing gymnastics. For us, this is the main success.

❗Full version of the interview matchtv.ru/gimnastika...