Exclusive Online Interview with Anna Pavlova
(22/3/2010)
From ECorn:
2. Who is your favorite Russian and foreign gymnasts?
- I don’t really have a favorite gymnast. But there are many athletes whom I respect.
3. What were your favorite countries/places that you've visited?
- There are many beautiful and amazing countries. But I’m a patriot of my own country.
From Charles:
4. What do you think about the websites for you and your teammates?
- The websites are very interesting and I think that it’s a good resource of reliable information to all people who interested gymnastics and me particularly unlike most of the press.
From mrparke007:
6. Whose your biggest influence in gymnastics? A lot of people probably assume it's Khorkina, but was there someone else who motivated you through workouts or who's accomplishments you looked at and said "this person has accomplished what I wish I could accomplish." What did/do these people do to help you stay focused? Have they offered any great advice to you? What have you learned from them?
- At my home there are many books, and about gymnasts too. Many of them are influence to my desire to train on the result (Larisa Latynina, Olga Korbut, Mikhail Voronin and many others). Later exemplars and advisers for me were Alexei Nemov, Larisa Latynina, Mikhail Voronin, Svetlana Khorkina (there were others, but this quartet had more significant influence on me)
7. What did you think of Ksenia's performance in the AA in Beijing? How do you view the performances of your teammates during any AA compared to TF? We heard that Ksenia had really focused more on her shot at the AA rather than upgrading her difficulty on UB, but we all knew Russia's best chance at an AA medal would come from you. How did her focus on the AA affect your own preparation for Beijing?
- Ksenia performed her best, she’s good! I wouldn’t like to talk about the team final in Beijing. Too much time has passed, conclusions are made. I can say exactly that all girls, even then they make mistakes, tried doing their best.
In my opinion, for success in individual competition play much figure a team event. That’s why sequence of event answer partly to this question (TF, AA, EF). On the trainings the main focus was directed to the team. Individual competitions are the business of the athlete and his/her coach (of course, each athlete of the team would be glad for her teammate showed good result).
8. You have a very classical taste in music, since most of your FX routines have been to classical pieces and mixes that incorporate classical music. Where does that come from? Do you play any instruments? Does it come from your ballet experience?
- For the start I want to note that I haven’t experience ballet, dance studios etc. (When I was a child many people, referring to my name, would try to send me to dance. But I was interested in more extreme activities, tree-climbing, kayaking trips. In general, sport and tourism). I was going to a school of music, where I was playing piano. But at the age of 9 I had to make a choice due to a lack of time between music and gymnastics. I made my choice and think that it wasn’t a mistake.
9. What elements in your routines are the hardest for you to train? We only get to see the routines during competition, but the difficulties you encounter in training certain elements never get aired. For instance, Nastia Liukin had major endurance issues on UB in the past, and her dismount in particular caused her lots of problems.
- All routines require a sufficient attention and hard work. Sport is coping difficulties.
10. Your recent knee injury is the kind that ends the careers of many professional athletes that play basketball, football, soccer, and the like in the U.S. What events/elements have been the hardest to train again after your knee injuries? Have you taken out certain things or reduced your training to prevent straining/reinjuring yourself? Does the injury make you doubt your ability to remain competitive?
- I like gymnastics and think that my career isn’t finished yet. And I want to go through with it. The injury are causes little discomfort and fear to me. But look at para-Olympic athletes! They work wonders! The main thing is to overcome yourself.
11. What are your plans after you retire? Do you plan to move from Russia? Are you going to go into coaching? Will you attend university? If you had to do something OTHER than gymnastics, what would it be? Has your mother pushed you to consider any career options?
- I haven’t plans about my life after retire at this time.
From Janafan:
12. What is your favorite floor routine you've ever performed in competition? Also, if you could perform to any piece of floor music, which would you pick?
- Winter.
From kewlioto:
14. Oooooo ask Pavs how she picks such awesome music!? like, how does she find it/what inspires her choices?
- Thanks. So it’s mean that I have a good taste. To the choice of music, I take very seriously. I take only things that I personally like and like a choreographer, who will make the program.
From Mytrinitysong:
15. Ask Pavlova if she plans to stick around for London 2012.
- I’d like to appear in London, but don’t want to presume. Time will tell.
From TchachiBessoPavs:
18. how do you feel about some judging decisions, many gymnastics fans feel like you are always robbed out of the medals mostly in the Athens AA and recently in the beam final in Beijing, do you feel like you did deserve those medals??(yes you did), do you feel that the judges are too harsh on you deducting you in mistakes that other gymnast don´t get deducted for?? the same happened with your floor in the Beijing AA, it was the best floor performance of the entire games and you received such a low score and no one can really tell why your score was that low.
- We have a subjective sport. And here is two judges: Judges and audience. It was by reason of difference in basic points.
From Polina:
19. I'm an ordinary audience in Beijing Olympic, and I was deeply impressed with your performance. I wonder how you feel when you are in the stage? Were you enjoying the competition? And did you really care about the score when you did a good job? Finally I hope you will recover from injury soon.
- I can’t explain what I feeling during the competition, combination because it’s so many different feelings! It needs to feel.
From Alan:
20. What advice do you have for children that want to follow your footsteps into gymnastics?
- The main goal in tandem with coach and athlete. Children have to be obedient, but also needed the feedback. A child should not be afraid of the coach. He has to notify his opinion and state of health (not the usual whining and showing character).
From Rams:
21. Now that your leg is injured (unfortunately), what have you been doing during your recovery time? Have you been doing things that you normally wouldn't do because of gymnastics?
- I was spending much more time at home))
23. What kinds of music do you like?
- I like different music. It depends on my mood.
From Tonks:
24. Who do you think are the best competitors you ever competed against?
- The most serious competitor is yourself.
25. Is there any particular country you'd like to compete at?
- In time of competition too rarely obtain to look the country. In that’s why are too difficult to speak where I want to compete.
26. which country would you like to visit but so far you haven't been able to?
- There are many interesting countries.
27. What is your favorite gymnastics moment/memory?
- Russian Championship 1997.
From Silence0:
29. Do you find it difficult to be coached by your mother?
- Yes, at times. But there are advantages.
From vpvpvpvp:
33. Why are you named Anna? Perhaps in honor of someone? There is an assumption that you were named after the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova, is it?
- The choice of my name isn’t connected with the ballerina. My parents can’t choice name for me too long. And agreed only one? More lately my godfather decoded my name to me (he’s philologist). And this version so beautiful for me! My parents names are ANatoliy and NAtalia (AN+NA).
(Interview Copyrighted to Alan Owen. Permission is granted to duplicate the interview, either fully, or in part, in any Gymnastics publication and their related website, provided that a link or URL is provided to the Official Gymnast Websites.)
