Occupation
Athlete
Spoken languages
Russian
Club
Central Army Sports Club [CSKA] [Khimki, RUS]
Coach
Marina Nazarova [club], RUS; Alexey Zubakova [national] (myslo.ru, 25 May 2015; allsportinfo.ru, 17 Dec 2015)
Sporting relatives
Her mother holds the title Master of Sport in artistic gymnastics and teaches in a gymnastics institute. (sport-express.ru, 14 May 2014)
International senior debut
2005 for Russia (fig-gymnastics.com, 2011)
Injuries
She spent a week in hospital because of kidney stones in October 2015, ahead of the 2015 World Championships. (sports.ru, 15 Oct 2015)
She underwent three operations on her ankle due to a torn ligament. She first injured her ankle in 2012 at the Russian championships and competed with this injury at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Doctors performed two operations on the ankle in 2013, but the operations were too conservative and she still could not jump normally. She underwent a third operation in May 2014, and because she had competed for so long on a bad ankle, doctors found that her bone was also inflamed, which required a longer rehabilitation period. (sport-express.ru, 14 May 2014; sportgymrus.ru, 17 Oct 2015)
She competed at the 2010 World Championships with torn knee ligaments. (sport-express.ru, 16 Oct 2011)
She could not compete at the 2009 World Championships because of a relapse of a back injury that she sustained in 2008 at a competition in Switzerland. (sportsdaily.ru, 29 Oct 2011)
Start sporting career
She took up the sport in 1996 in Tula, Russia. (sportsdaily.ru, 29 Oct 2011)
Reason for taking up the sport
Although her mother is a former artistic gymnast, she did not want her daughter to take up the sport. When coach Sergey Zavyalov came to her kindergarten to pick out potential gymnasts, he had to convince her mother to let her join the training group. Her next coaches also had to keep convincing her mother to keep her in the sport, but once she got older and the training got harder, it was her mother and grandmother who told her that she should not quit gymnastics. (sport-express.ru, 14 May 2014; myslo.ru, 25 May 2015)
Additional information
Awards
She holds the title Master of Sport of International Class in Russia. (myslo.ru, 19 Apr 2015)
General
RETIREMENT AVERTED
She was planning to retire from competitive sport after the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but changed her mind because she did not achieve the results there that she wanted. "I want to leave sport on a high note, with a feeling that I have accomplished what I wanted, so that I have nothing to regret afterwards." (sport-express.ru, 14 May 2014; sportgymrus.ru, 17 Oct 2015; myslo.ru, 25 May 2015)
POST-SPORTS CAREER
She wants to become a veterinarian or to study psychology after leaving competitive sports. "If I could finish my career on a high note, graduate from a veterinary academy and later open my own clinic, I would probably be the happiest person in the world." She does not see herself becoming a gymnastics coach. "I never wanted to be a coach because I understand that I am not ready to spend my whole life in gymnastics." (sport-express.ru, 14 May 2014; sportgymrus.ru, 17 Oct 2015)
Last update : 2016-09-23
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