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| Svetlana Boginskaya leaps to a beam gold medal at the 1991 World Championships |
We hadn’t seen each other since the Olympic Games in Atlanta. After the Olympic Games, the three-time Olympic champion and five-time World champion Svetlana Boginskaya finished her gymnastics career. And pretty much disappeared from the public view, by moving to America …
EV Sveta, I tried to find on the internet at least some interviews with you, even any vague ones - and didn’t find any.
SB I don’t really give interviews often, especially after the OG in Barcelona in 1992 and after I left for
America in 1993.
EV I remember that almost all of the gymnasts from your “Golden” team left to participate in the commercial exhibition project that was organized by Dmitri Bilozerchev. But you decided not to join?
SB At that time, I had a good opportunity to travel to many exhibition shows independently, and to make enough money. The very first exhibition tour I went on was in US. In comparison with how much we were making when we travelled to any exhibition shows while being part of a USSR team, and this tour - it was like the difference between “earth and sky”. I understood that I needed to “maintain the price” as long as possible. In Europe, the fees were different from the US, but when I was invited to participate in European shows, I was still naming “my” price.
EV What was the price if this is not a secret?
SB Two thousand US dollars for one show. At that time this was big money for us. Once some French show managers wanted to invite me to participate at one of their exhibitions “on my terms”. But not for the fourteen shows that were planned, for only seven. This was due to their inability to pay me for the full fourteen shows. After the very first show, my contract with them was re-worked, and I worked through the entire fourteen shows. I don’t quite know what the reason was. Perhaps, the crowd liked me and the show tickets with my name were selling well. Perhaps this was due to people being appreciative that during my programme, I was showing all of my Olympic Games routines without watering them down.
EV I understand that in order to do this you had to train very hard?
SB Of course. The thought of making things easier on myself did cross my mind, but I believe that when you are very well compensated for your work, you should work the programme from the beginning to the end. This is why I did my best to come to the gym every day, to condition myself, to work on separate elements.
EV What made you decide to stay in USA?
SB At the very end of 1992, Tanya Gutsu and I went to US for an exhibition tour. We worked through fifty shows in different cities and had a great time. Even then, I really liked the people that crossed my path. To be honest, I was quite pleasantly baffled by how much the American people support their athletes, or people that have achieved something in life in general.
I came home in December and was trying to figure out what to do with my life. I wanted to understand for myself what I wanted to do. But in January, I again received an invitation from US to come to one of the training camps in the summer. Americans prepared a work visa for me and sent me the plane ticket - and so I went. The owners of the company really liked the way I was working with the kids. They offered me to stay, to spend some time in the country in order to decide what I wanted to do next. At that time, very unexpectedly, one of the manufacturing companies for gymnastics leotards offered me a contract to advertise their merchandise. So little by little, I started to feel more comfortable being in US, without very much effort.
EV So when did you start working seriously?
SB Probably after about a year, one of my acquaintances whom in the future became my manager asked me how busy I wanted to be. I answered that I was very interested in continuous work. I understood very clearly that sport fame is not long lived, and that in few years, my name will not “sound the same” as after winning the Olympic Games. My acquaintance offered to place a small article in a gymnastics magazine for a fee. The US Gymnastics Federation distributes this magazine to all of the gymnastic clubs, and there are hundreds of clubs throughout the country. He explained that practically no one in the US knew that I was in US, and an article will be a very good opportunity to remind people about myself.
EV To be honest, it does not quite compute in my head that such a well known gymnast as Boginskaya had to pay money in order to publish a small article about herself in a gymnastics magazine?
SB That was so. A page of text with a small photograph at that time cost $500 USD, and I paid it from my own pocket. To be honest, in the beginning this also bothered me. But then I understood that this is how things are done. If you want something in life - you have to work for it. When the article came out, I had an overwhelming flood of phone calls with all kinds of offers. To come to a gym opening, to give private lessons, to participate in a seminar. Whenever I accepted an invitation, people invited me to come back again and again. I was booked for the next year and a half, and for the first time seriously thought about the fact that I probably need to collect the documents and to apply for a Green Card. So this is how it all happened.
EV Do you come home to Minsk?
SB For the past fifteen years I have not been home. Ten years ago my father died, but I found out about it after his funeral. I was completely shocked. Before he passed, we didn’t see each other for few years, and I felt that my mother should have told me about his passing, so I could come to say good bye.
EV Was there a reason?
SB My dad was drinking heavily for the past several years. With all of the consequences. First the doctors found a problem with his liver, then his legs stopped working. My mom simply didn’t want me to see him in this terrible condition. She always tried her best to protect me from everything that could hurt me.
EV How and when did you start your own family?
SB After the OG in Atlanta. By that time, I had been dating an American guy for about four years. It was understood that we would get married. The only problem in our relationship was his jealousy. Every time I left somewhere for work, there was a scandal. Then, I asked myself if I truly loved him? I understood that I could not answer that question. So our relationship ended.
With my husband we met because we were neighbours. One day he invited me to a party, and I ended up dancing with someone else for entire evening. Naturally his feeling got hurt and he left. In the morning I called him to apologize, and … Well, we got married in three months after that. But when my husband proposed to me, I told him right away that I will be with him as long as our marriage makes both of us happy. We have been together for fifteen years …
EV Did you have any experience in the US of realizing that you have to control your every step, regardless of it being a free country?
SB First of all, I was never the one to behave like what Americans call a “party animal”. I never liked it and didn’t really drink, so I surrounded myself with a similar circle of people. But I did notice quickly that any of my mistakes or carelessly said words or remarks quickly became objects for discussion. From that point, I started to be very careful, and after time it just became a habit.
EV Did any of the people you used to compete with ever ask you for your help?
SB Yes. Only I had a rule never to make any promises. To begin with, I try to understand what a person wants: to work as a coach, to be a part of Cirque Du Soleil, something else. I can help with contacts, but try to do so very carefully and only in those cases when I am sure not 100% but 110% that the person will not fail me. Because recommending someone for a job, I also give a personal guarantee with my name. There were a couple of times when I got burned, so since then I am more careful.
EV I always wanted to ask you this: when you decided to come back to gymnastics and to compete at OG in Atlanta, you asked (as far as I know) Bela Karolyi for help. Why didn’t you ask any of Russian coaches, especially since there are so many in US?
SB This is an interesting story. Bela found me himself. He came to Boston to participate in a gymnastics seminar, saw me there and was very surprised. Of course we started talking, and Bela literally told me: “you know, I have already finished with my coaching career, but now I came to the realization that I need to un-finish it”. Bela told me that at that time Kim Zmeskal reached out to him wanting to train at his gym, and that there was also a little girl Dominique Moceanu who was already training at the same facility. So Bela’s idea was to create something like a small elite group of gymnasts, so they can train together and motivate and push each other. There was a different question in my mind though, I saw myself as a coach but not so much as a gymnast. I thought myself too old for the sport - I was 21 at the time. But I ended up accepting his offer. In the fall of 1994 I came to Houston, Texas. I walked into the gym and saw Alexander Alexandrov. This was so unexpected! But it was Alexander who with Martha Karolyi was working with our group. Bela himself watched the first work-out and said: “Girls, you will have to work a lot” and disappeared from the gym for an entire year.
EV Was it difficult to come back?
SB That is an understatement. I didn’t think that it was possible for me to be so unused to training. On bars, I wasn’t able to do a simple kip properly, I didn’t have any strength left in my arms. After two unsuccessful attempts I got very angry and finally did the element, but hurt both of my arms.
Alexandrov worked with us day and night. He actually taught Dominique everything - she was just thirteen at that time. He got me in such a great shape, that when Bela returned to the gym after a year and saw me - he held on to me with a “death grip”. He truly is a very interesting person. Even though a few coaches were working with me, just his presence in the gym gave me a huge surge of energy. Bela could just stand there without speaking a word, but a wave of assurance just radiated from him. There was not a thought in my head that I could not do something while being in his presence.
EV So is this why first the Romanian team was so strong and then US team became so strong?
SB The strength of the Americans is largely due to the fact that they will never include any gymnast on their team who is not ready to compete, under any circumstances. Just like it was this year with Gabrielle Douglas. No one will grant a spot on the team based on previous achievements. After the Olympic Games, Gabrielle decided to concentrate on making money; she does not come from a rich family. But if she decides to come back to gymnastics, she will have to prove again that she is better than the others. This is much harder to do these days. During my time as a gymnast, gymnastics was simpler. Today, you have to be in an excellent physical shape; otherwise you will be constantly in pain and will have injuries. No gymnast likes to be handed things. But if at Round Lake even during the toughest of times (work-out wise) we had work outs twice a day, at Bela’s gym we were working out three times daily. So there was a good reserve building up as far as physical durability and endurance.
I remember that even the Belarussian gymnasts told me at that time that I was no longer a “ballerina” like I was before. I had such muscles as never before. But thanks to that endurance and physical reserve, I was participating in exhibition shows for the next three years after the Atlanta Olympics. I was able to finish my floor exercise with a double salto on my last diagonal and didn’t have difficulty breathing. Even though most gymnasts start to crumble apart right after they lower and simplify their training load and regime.
EV Did you ever regret not becoming a coach?
SB Sometimes, but I never wanted to have my own gym. I could have a gym any time if I wanted to. But having your own gym - this is business, not sport. Being a gym owner does not give you any guarantees that one day you will raise a world-class gymnast. Not even speaking about the fact that preparing such gymnast takes ten to fifteen years of coach’s life. I feel sorry for the kids. I know for certain that if a little girl comes up to me and says that something hurts, I will pet her on the head and send her to rest. What kind of coach would I be?
EV So even with such views, did you have your own children in gymnastics?
SB I wanted very much for them to become gymnasts, but it didn’t work out. My daughter was never eager to run to the gym or looking forward to work outs, and one day she told me: “mom, I think it is wrong to spend so much time on a sport that you don’t truly love”. And I understood that she was absolutely right. Today she is a cheerleader; she is a very good student and is absolutely happy. I had a different problem with my son; he was born very small, weighing just one kilo. I spent three years doing everything for his health and didn’t see anything or anyone around me. I didn’t leave my house, didn’t want to talk to anyone. My husband was the one to drag me out of that state. He insisted that I needed to eat normally and to see other people from time to time. My family is my first priority, so the consultant work I am doing now is working well for me and my schedule and does not require a huge amount of effort. Sometimes I work with gymnasts as a choreographer, putting together routines. If one of the specialists of US National Team cannot come to a training camp, they ask me to come to help and fill in. I get invited not by Martha Karolyi with whom I have a wonderful relationship and who always wanted me to work with her, but by a person who is in charge of a gymnastics specialists staff nation-wide - USA Gymnastics Staff. Martha periodically starts conversations with me about working with the National Team on a regular basis. She feels that American gymnasts need to work more on their floor routines, to work on their choreography. That way their programmes will look more elegant. But working with the National Team - this is 290 days a year away from family, and I am not yet prepared for this step.
EV Would this possibly be due to you not rooting enough for US National Team?
SB I am rooting for everyone. For Russia, Ukraine and Belarus because my friends are there. For the US because I live here. Even for China because my husband is half Chinese. Overall I follow the principle of “let the strongest win”.
EV Do you still physically work out in any capacity?
SB Yes, but not from “good life or habit”. After having children, my back started to hurt and my doctor said that firs and most importantly I have to condition my muscles. That’s why I run, stretch and go to a fitness club. Sometimes I even try to do splits. Occasionally I still can.
October 10th, 2013
Thank you, Isa!!!
Uneven bars - 1990 European Championships, AA (gold)Beam, 1991 World Championships, EF (gold)
Floor, 1990 World Cup, EF (gold)
