Interview by Norik Serobyan, Sports Correspondent, Metaratings
“Foreign gymnasts write that they miss us and are waiting for us.” Melnikova - about Spartak, Olympic Games 2024 and plans
Two years ago, Angelina Melnikova became one of the main stars of the Russian team at the Tokyo Olympics, where Russian gymnasts won gold. Now the leader of the Russian team competes only at domestic competitions.
In an interview with Metaratings.ru, the world and Olympic champion told what she does outside of sports. From our conversation you will learn:
how high is the level of competition in Russia;
what is her motivation to perform without international competitions;
when is he planning to retire?
what he thinks about participating in the Olympics;
why does he support Spartak?
“In Russia the level of competition is low, there are two or three athletes who fight for the podium, this is very few”
– More than a month has already passed since the Russian Cup. You probably managed to analyze your performances. Why didn't you perform very well?
– I don’t think that the performance at the Russian Cup was unsuccessful. Firstly, I now have a slightly different vector in life. The Russian Cup is not the main start for me, where I have to show my best and shine. Now there are no international starts, and the Russian Cup for me is just a tournament where I keep in shape. I didn’t have a goal to show my maximum. I was able to show off my equipment and Olympic programs. On floor exercises, I changed the program, changed one diagonal. Therefore, I do not consider my performance unsuccessful.
– In Russia, you are the main star of your sport. What is your interest in continuing to perform, besides habit, salary, etc.?
– Now my main motivation is the responsibility that lies with me. Children look at me, and I understand that I am their motivator. I try not to allow myself to enter competitions and simplify programs or not perform on all apparatuses. They look up to me and look up to me, I am a motivation for someone, and this is a big responsibility.
– Does the level of domestic starts correspond to the level of the European Championship?
- Of course not. In Russia there are two or three gymnasts who can qualify for the level of European and World Championships, the rest cannot. The level of competition in Russia is also low. I repeat, there are two or three athletes who are fighting for the podium, and this is very few. When I started, I remember that then seven or eight girls could compete for medals.
– Your documentary was released on the Start TV channel six months ago. How did this idea come about?
– I was offered to reveal myself as a person and do something interesting. I think it turned out really cool. I watched this film myself and saw how I managed to reveal myself from a new side.
– Are there any other creative plans for the future?
– So far no one has offered me new films (laughs). In general, I want to show gymnastics from a different perspective, because we have a very interesting and beautiful sport. I’m already starting to do this; I opened a school for children in Voronezh. We want to show both children and their parents that professional sports is not scary, but on the contrary, cool.
– In the film, you said that as a child you dreamed of becoming a great athlete. Has your dream come true?
– Yes, my childhood dream has completely come true. I never thought that I would become a successful athlete who has Olympic gold. Even less could I imagine that I would become an inspiration for children. The public loves me very much, children try to look up to me. As a child, I just wanted me to have a lot of medals.
– Your phrase from this film: “An Olympic gold medal cannot be compared with anything, the best emotions. Everything is seething inside, you feel pride and happiness.” At the present time, is there at least some hope in your soul that you will be able to repeat your success?
– In Paris, probably not, due to the circumstances. I can’t say that I have any hope of going to the Olympic Games unless a miracle happens. I don’t know what will happen next, because at the next 2028 Games in Los Angeles I will already be 28 years old. But again, everything will depend on how the political situation develops.
“We have been competing under a neutral flag for six or seven years, and we are partially used to it”
– There is a lot of talk from high-ranking people in Russian sports that in a neutral status it is not worth going to the Olympics in Paris, even if there is such an opportunity. Are you ready to go yourself?
– I’m not ready to answer the question right now. This will be a joint decision of the entire federation. Before that, we competed under a neutral flag for six or seven years and were partially used to it. Now it will depend on what conditions they offer us. If the conditions become tougher for us, then I doubt that our federation will allow us there.
– Almost every day news comes out regarding the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Do you follow what they write and say?
– Not really, because every day something new pops up. When all this started, I was very careful, and then I realized that it was a swing: today we allow it, tomorrow we don’t allow it, and the day after tomorrow with certain conditions, but we haven’t decided what yet, we’ll tell you about it in a month. A month passes and they say that they have not decided and will tell in two months. As a result, we have been in such limbo for a year and a half now. We have already passed all the team selections for the Olympics. Six months ago I stopped following all the news.
– How does the selection for the Games work? It turns out that gymnasts are definitely flying past the Olympics?
– We were supposed to go to the European Championships this year, through which we could already qualify for the World Championships, which are now taking place. At this World Championship, eight or nine teams qualify for the Olympics, a total of 12 teams can compete. The rest of the teams had already qualified from last year's World Championships; this World Championships was our last chance to get to the Olympics in Paris as a team.
– Did you follow the World Cup itself?
– I didn’t watch the broadcast. I just saw the results and what the girls published on social networks.
“We have a very subjective sport”
– Has the level and entertainment value of competitions dropped without Russian gymnasts?
- Probably not. I saw the results, it was really worthy. I analyzed: if we went there, it would be difficult for me and my program to fight for the podium. For the sake of medals I would have to make things more difficult. The girls there are now showing decent elements. The level definitely hasn't dropped, it's even gone up a little.
– Does this mean that other countries are progressing in gymnastics?
– Yes, and at some point in gymnastics the difficulty of performing elements dropped greatly. Now everything is returning to complexity again, the girls did very difficult elements on the vault and floor exercises.
– Do you communicate with foreign gymnasts? What they're saying?
– We don’t communicate, we can exchange phrases. They sometimes write that they miss us and are waiting for us. Our conversations never turned to political topics.
– Now, when discussing whether to go to the Olympics in a neutral status, many say that the attitude towards the Russians will still be biased, they will not allow them to win. Have you felt biased towards yourself before? For example, at the 2021 World Cup, when did the Japanese win?
– I never noticed this and never even thought about it. Our sport is very subjective. Here you can constantly blame it on prejudice. If you remember the 2021 World Championships in Japan, when the Japanese won, then it was definitely our mistake for not filing a protest. Nobody knows what would have happened if our coaches had time to file a protest. This is our mistake, not bias.
“I don’t agree with Rodionenko, Biles managed to turn the world of artistic gymnastics upside down”
– Simone Biles wins again. She had a therapeutic exception, shared psychological problems, talked about harassment. How do you feel about her, her story?
– I really admire Simone as an athlete, precisely from the point of view of what she does and the kind of gymnastics she shows. Biles is unique. She does unrealistic things, I look at her and think: “Well?” I never delved into the topic of her illness, I never wanted to belittle her gymnastic abilities.
– Do you have any envy towards her because of her titles?
- Absolutely not! I will repeat that I admire her as an athlete - she is incredible. Biles will forever go down in history as the most unique gymnast. For ten years in a row, Simone always won the World Championships.
– But after Biles’ gold at the World Championships, head coach of the Russian national team Valentina Rodionenko said that it was scary to look at her and it was a disgrace. So you don't agree with her?
- Yes, I can’t agree. Firstly, Simone is one of the strongest and unique gymnasts of our time, she probably won everything she could. Yes, her gymnastics is not as aesthetic and not as beautiful lines, but you can respect her and admire the complexity of her programs. She managed to turn the world of artistic gymnastics upside down. Valentina Alexandrovna does not like her gymnastics from an aesthetic point of view. Our Russian gymnast was always about aesthetics, and the American one was more athletic, but this is also gymnastics!
“I’ll definitely be performing for two or three more years, and then we’ll see”
– From the Russian team in 2016, when they took silver at the Olympics in Rio, you are the only one who still competes. Have you ever thought about retiring from your career?
- No. I’m definitely not thinking about retiring from my career; I haven’t done much in gymnastics. I am now performing to the best of my ability in Russian tournaments, while I am still training.
I am very sorry that the situation now is such that we will not be able to go to Paris. I think I could be in my best shape. I have already matured, I have formed a certain vision of my training in gymnastics. It seems to me that I would approach these Olympic Games in excellent shape, I would like to give my best in Paris.
– How much longer do you plan to perform?
– I don’t have a specific time when I want to end my career. I love gymnastics. I will train until the last minute, as long as my schedule allows, because my life does not end in gymnastics, I am developing in other areas too. But I don’t plan to abruptly end my career in gymnastics. I’ll definitely be performing for two or three more years, and then we’ll see.
– A similar situation in figure skating is with Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who at 26 years old competes without international competitions.
- Yes, probably. The format of my training has now completely changed. Previously, I sat in the gym endlessly, but now I have developed the professionalism that I can prepare for competitions in two months and then rest. I have found a training format that suits me and I can live with it, live calmly, and combine a lot of things. I think I can hold out like this for a long time.
– Mustafina and Paseka are already involved in coaching. Can we see you in this position someday?
– Never say never, but now I’ll say that probably not. Coaching is not really my thing.
– Were you surprised by the wave of criticism that arose around Paseka when she left? How can we explain this?
– We, athletes, are very neutral about all this. Masha left because she was offered a perspective. For her, this was a step to try something new for herself, to realize and help the sport, to reveal her coaching potential. It wasn’t like Paseka just picked up and left the country at such a time. Here the emphasis was exclusively on career growth.
– What can be done now to promote gymnastics? Maybe some TV shows, exhibition tournaments like in figure skating, a club system like in the Bundesliga?
– It’s hard with this now. I would translate gymnastics a little more into a show format, I would do more gymnastics in any form. This could be a show, a tournament, or like a battle between boys or girls. You can even do a non-professional thing to get people to talk more about artistic gymnastics. As an option, recruit athletes from other sports. There would be an exchange of audiences, and if all this were put on TV, it would turn out really cool. Like the Channel One Cup in figure skating.
Of course, we now lack interesting competitions. You can come up with many different formats to make it interesting for the viewer. Everything is going very hard for us right now with this.
“I would really like to work as a presenter on TV”
– In January of this year you opened your school in Voronezh. In such difficult times when there are no international competitions, is it difficult to attract children to sections?
- No, we have a lot of children. So far, unfortunately, there are not enough resources to accommodate everyone. We have more than 200 children training for free and almost the same number on the reserve list. We can’t take them because there aren’t enough trainers, and the gym is small. We train from one and a half to eleven years old, and parents want to send their children to sports.
– Did your parents have a desire to quit gymnastics, not seeing international prospects?
– If you take my school, we position ourselves as a non-professional direction. We have educational gymnastics that strengthens children. Then it depends on the parents: transfer the child to the Sports and Youth Sports School so that he can study professionally or send him to another place. But now there are also a lot of students in Olympic reserve schools. After my victory with the boys in Tokyo 2020, artistic gymnastics received a new round of popularity, which I am very happy about. The number of children who have chosen this sport has increased manifold.
– Are there any plans to somehow expand your school?
- Yes, I would really like to. The hall we have now is almost fully equipped. Now I'm just looking for financing for a trampoline. In general, we need to expand, because, as I said, we cannot accept more children. We even had to convert one locker room into a small hall. I really want Voronezh to have at least five halls for my school.
– Do you go there often? Do you give master classes?
– I go there regularly, but I do more administrative work. I haven’t conducted master classes yet, since the children are small and, as I said, our direction is unprofessional. We organize holidays for children and try to diversify their leisure time. We love to communicate with other sections, where we can show our sport, and they show theirs. And in general, we promote artistic gymnastics to the masses in every possible way. Who knows, maybe after a while another girl from Voronezh will become an Olympic champion!
– Alina Zagitova is going to open her own figure skating school in Kazan, but she does not have the appropriate education. Do you have? What is your role at school?
– This is a social project created together with the Voronezh Artistic Gymnastics Federation. I am not a director, but a project manager, so I don’t need any special education.
– Over the past year, you began to actively maintain social networks and communicate with subscribers. Do you have more free time after being suspended?
- Definitely! Now in my life, sports have faded into the background, because there are no international competitions. I started communicating more, filming something interesting. It used to be hard, you sat endlessly at the base and didn’t know what to film and tell. All this is boring, but now life has become much more diverse.
– The same Zagitova tries herself in the camera. Would this be interesting to you?
- Yes very. I would really like to work as a presenter. In general, I would really like to realize myself in other sports, to try something new.
– You once stated that you support Valieva and Shcherbakova in figure skating. Are you following Camila's doping case?
– No, I don’t particularly follow other sports. I watch social networks when girls have tournaments and support them.
“I would really like to do gymnastics with Promes’ daughter”
– Everyone knows that you are a Spartak fan, but before the game with CSKA you hadn’t been to a match for a couple of months. Why?
– Unfortunately, I don’t get to the matches due to my schedule. September and October turned out to be very busy months. They called me to the stadium, but I couldn’t get to the game.
– At the beginning of the season you stated that Spartak would become the champion, but now the team is having certain difficulties. Do you still believe in the championship?
“We started the season very well, with a series of victories. Now is a difficult period, but I believe in the victory of the team I support.
– How deeply do you follow the team? Are you aware of the talk about Abascal’s resignation, his strange decisions on the composition?
– I don’t know that much (laughs).
– You yourself are from Voronezh, before the match with Zenit you struck the ball symbolically. Why do you support Spartak?
– My acquaintance with football began precisely with the Spartak match, although I don’t remember who they played with then. My coach is still a fan of the team and tells me a lot.
By the way, my favorite singer is MakSim, she is involved in Spartak. That's why my soul fell for this club.
– Promes came to gymnastics and supported you. Were you very surprised when you saw him there?
– I invited him myself. He simply told me that his daughter wants to do gymnastics and wants to watch. I invited them and they came with their family. It was no surprise to me that they wanted to come and support me. I was pleased. It became unusual for me when I found out that Promes’ daughter liked gymnastics.
– Promes’s daughter was impressed after gymnastics. Are you ready to show a master class and study with her?
- Of course yes. I would really like to work out with her and show her something. I think I can teach her a thing or two!