16-year-old gymnast Anna Popova made a major sensation at the recent Russian Championships — she outran the super-titled Averin sisters and the new star Lala Kramarenko. In an exclusive interview with Sport, Anna told how she went from dislike for gymnastics to adoration, about the unknown side of Irina Viner's personality and how Dina and Arina Averina taught her how to work with the subject.
— It is always a pleasure for a newly-made champion to ask this question. How did your path to gymnastics begin?
“My childhood was interesting and difficult. I was brought by my own aunt, who did gymnastics herself. Parents also wanted to try. The first time was at the age of three, but I did not know where the right/left was and did not understand at all what was happening. I stopped walking. At the age of four, they brought me back. I was not stretched, not flexible, there was no potential. They began to stretch me, and I remember screaming very loudly — so the whole committee that worked for us ran: «Why are you torturing a child!» br>
There was such a moment that I didn’t want to, didn’t like training, I didn’t like it — sheer tears and pain. Then it got easier. But for a long time there was no such desire as it is now or even two years ago. At first, I was not in love with gymnastics. But I was not allowed to quit, and I can say that after a while I am extremely grateful to fate that everything turned out this way.
. There is an apartment where athletes live, a training room. There I was noticed by Nadezhda Shatalina. At the age of seven, I began to train with her sister, Vera Nikolaevna Shatalina. She then worked with Dina and Arina Averina. Once she took me to a training session in Novogorsk, where she showed me to Irina Alexandrovna. She liked me, so I began to come regularly for a short period of time for training camps — once a month for a week — 10 days.</p>
<p>In Novogorsk, they gave me exercises, pointed out my mistakes. And I continued to train for some time in Stavropol.</p>
<p>I remember how Irina Borisovna Zenovka gave me the first exercise, it took about six hours. It's incredible to remember now. Now it takes us a maximum of an hour to complete the program. Irina Borisovna will show something, I will add: «Let's do this, but I can still do this.» My opinion about gymnastics has changed over the past three years. I fell in love with her.</p>
<p><strong>— Getting into the TsOP and Novogorsk at the age of 7 is something out of the ordinary, isn't it? There are usually no such babies.- Yes. I was extremely scared. I missed my parents. She cried a lot, could not part with them. It was also difficult for them, but they sent me anyway. I called them constantly, in every free minute.</p>
<p>I wanted to quit everything sometimes. But at the right time, both parents and coaches supported me. Even in the recent past, there were such thoughts. But then already Irina Alexandrovna strongly supported and helped.- And you say there was no data and the potential was not visible. And in Novogorsk, a seven-year-old baby already liked it. some developments — not at all what at the age of four.</p>
<p><strong>— Did your parents believe in you so much, in your future success? Do you have any other brothers or sisters?</strong></p>
<p>— I think they believed very much. Plus, they understood that sport teaches a lot. Discipline, character — everything in life is useful. And I myself think so too.</p>
<p>I have a younger sister, who, by the way, did not want to go to gymnastics at all. She is without background, like me, but she has a very cool character for the sport. I think even better than mine. She eventually goes in for equestrian sports — difficult and interesting. </p>
<p>— Your parents are not professional athletes in the past. How do they look at your career now? br><br /><img decoding=)
br>— Why?
— They are very nervous, sometimes right to tears. I somehow saw this and said: «Well, that's it, now I only allow you to watch it in the recording.» Since I believe that these experiences can somehow be transferred to each other, it is better for everyone to be calm. When it's all over, I'll call myself and tell you or they'll find out from the Internet.
— You said that your sister's character for sports is even better than yours. How does this character manifest itself and does it interfere with interacting with people who are far from sports?
— This is toughness, purposefulness. The ability to focus on the essentials. In competition, I'm just a rock. Alone with herself, tuned in only to her exercises — one after the other, step by step. Thinking only about it. For the first time, I, like a hoop, went to the Russian Championship. She didn’t even raise her eyes and didn’t know who was in the hall, how many spectators. I can completely disengage from external factors. And only then I saw how many spectators came, how they cheer for me. So nice! We have already lost the habit of this.
Yes, everything is completely changed. I had goosebumps at the Grand Prix. It seems to me that nothing but sports gives such emotions. And I will never experience them again in my life. Therefore, we must now catch every second and remember forever.
Yuliya Vladimirovna (Barsukova, Anna Popova's coach — ed.) is an Olympic champion, she has vast experience. She sometimes says that she misses that time and those emotions, because she has never experienced anything like this from anything else.
> — Now we have this is the most important start, probably. It's very cool that I succeeded, despite the fact that I had no goal to get ahead of anyone.
After the ribbon (the last type of all-around — ed.), I had an exhalation and tears of happiness on the shoulder of the coach and Dina and Arina. They are special people for me. When I came to Novogorsk as a child, they taught me a lot, prompted me. They were the only ones who taught me the subject. Everything that I can do with the subject is their merit. I recently reviewed the old videos on my phone — I filmed the girls in training and then tried to repeat them. Until now, they help me, and even in a personal way. Words cannot express how grateful I am to them.
— It's funny, but I can even hear Dina's notes in the intonations of your voice.
— I am sometimes told that I am similar in character to her. I absorbed everything from them to the smallest detail. Dina is such a fighter, which simply does not exist. She went to the Grand Prix, as if she had been preparing for two months, and she had been preparing for only two weeks! I try to take an example from her.
If there was Arina, I would have been just as worried about her, but here I was doubly rooting for Dina, because Arisha did not perform. I really wanted Dina to win everything. She deserves so much more.
— I confess that the way you cheered for Dina became one of the most touching moments of the Grand Prix for me. How they stood behind Yulia Barsukova, how they repeated the movements after Dina, how they followed the tape.
— It was incredible. All the coaches, I had goosebumps from what she is. I went with her for the subject. «Catch! Catch!»
Then, as it turned out, Arina saw all the time how I was flickering there. He says: «An, why are you so fussy, what happened there at all?» I say: «I'm sorry, I was just worried, everything is fine.» She exhaled, we hugged, laughed.- Those who will read this interview should probably be reminded that you — not just you and Dina and Arina, but all the girls in the team — are actually rivals. Gymnastics in this sense is striking in how you all manage not only to coexist peacefully, but sometimes quite sincerely to be friends and communicate. And it really happens that the girls are not angry with each other, they can come up and congratulate you on your success.- Why be angry? If you made a mistake, well, be mad at yourself. I would have done one hundred percent, you would have been put one hundred percent. Shifting the blame for your failures to someone is the last thing. I can get angry with myself, I can do it very well.
And the rest I can say that everything depends on the person. Someone thinks like me in this matter, someone else, and even in relation to me. I try to ignore the bad. I am a kind person and do not hold a grudge against anyone. I see that someone was offended by me, didn’t say hello — I’ll say hello myself or come up to support. But getting angry and jealous of other people's success is a bad decision.
— I had a chance to communicate with Irina Alexandrovna and see her at work. To put it mildly, she can be quite strict, if not tough. How did you get used to it?
— She is quite strict. I think this is unusual for someone to hear, but she can also be incredibly kind. At heart, she is a very kind person who does everything possible and impossible for us. I love and appreciate her very much. She, like all coaches, can sometimes get angry, yell or say something harsh. But, firstly, it is sometimes necessary, and secondly, she knows how to do it and feels the moment well.
Before the Grand Prix, there was a moment when I felt sorry for myself a little. I think I’m tired, the Russian Championship was difficult, several concerts, I also don’t want to do a new program after the Russian rules for FIG, I don’t feel like it … And then I think — Irina Alexandrovna is so mature, she works so much, she comes to the hall every day. And I'm so small and strong and suddenly tired? Well, I started working further.
— Can you explain on your fingers the difference in our and international rules and tell which ones you like best?
— Russian rules do not restrict us in anything. According to FIG, we have to do nine elements, 20 emok, two dance floors and four or five risks, as much as you can. This does not allow you to show everything that you can do. For me personally, those rules that were before were more interesting, like Dina and Arina, I think. Because we are more «object girl», and now work with objects is limited. But for many, those rules were more difficult. For many, the Russian rules are more complicated.
In the Russian rules, you can do anything, and you will be credited for it. If you want to work with an object, you do it and you get it. If you want to show stretching and rotation, you do it and you get it. Able in different gymnasts have the opportunity to show their individuality. In general, these are not easy rules, but very interesting.
strong>— What are the most pleasant words you have heard from Irina Alexandrovna?
— The best thing you can hear from her are comments on mistakes. Well, support, of course. Motivation. She will come into the hall, show like this (Anna shows her fist and makes a serious face), and you are already turned on.
She is both funny and interesting. At the Spartakiad on the last day, they wanted to shoot me because of an injury. Irina Aleksandrovna approached me personally and asked what I thought. I said that I want to and I will. Although I was incredibly hurt, the injury worsened. She cried, could not calm down from the tension. She said a few words, hugged me, and somehow I came to my senses. I went to get ready and performed, albeit on injections with painkillers. Moreover, from type to type, she fulfilled the program better and better.
Then Irina Alexandrovna told me: «You see!» And to the coaches: «You see! And you wanted to shoot her.»
— Are you one of those who will go to the start in any condition?
— If you have a chance to compete, to refuse it is the last thing to do. Once I pulled out of a mini test workout, not even a competition. And then I was so sorry, I just couldn’t move away for two days and forgive myself that I agreed to act in film. How so, after all, I could speak. This is the main reason why we come to the hall at all. How can you refuse it, even if something hurts you.
— It seems to me that now I understand how you bribed the coaches at the TsOP and Novogorsk at the age of seven.
— Irina Alexandrovna said from early childhood: «Believe in yourself and never give up» . I just have it written in the subcortex of the brain along with other words of her and other coaches. And I am sure that in life after the sport it will also help me.
— Let's go through all the specialists with whom you managed to work. Who to thank for the Russian champion Anna Popova?
— In Stavropol, this is Svetlana Sergeevna Timofeeva. I now periodically come to her, train under her supervision when I am here. Emma Nikolaevna Ovsyannikova, a highly experienced trainer who worked with Irina Alexandrovna before. Emma Nikolaevna helped me so much and did so much for me, although I was not registered with her.
In Moscow, Vera Nikolaevna Shatalina, of course. Dina and Arina, but I have already spoken about them separately.
C Yulia Vladimirovna Barsukova now we have a very good contact. As we all write on social networks, we are a real sports family. Somehow they got along in character, it works very comfortably.
Irina Borisovna Zenovka with incredible programs, no one else puts on such programs. Veronika Borisovna Shatkova is our choreographer, I have been with her since I was seven years old. She corrected and «cleaned» me in many ways. Irina Alexandrovna for believing in me since childhood. And a separate important part is the audience. Because of them, I even want to perform on my day off. Now I am talking to you, and I myself am thinking about the performance (laughs).
— You are now at home in Stavropol. What will you do after a long absence on infrequent weekends?
— I want to devote a lot of time to my family and friends, because everyone was bored. And maybe I’ll go to my own gym and even work out, do something.