Oksana Chusovitina is about to embark on a fourth life - as a national team coach
(photo: Marine/Gymnet)
This is what the Toyota Team site had to say on the matter, in an entry about Chusovitina's receiving a major German sports award:
She is currently recovering from two operations on her Achilles tendon and back and is now getting ready for a third operation on her shoulder. [Note: As far as we know, Chusovitina has already had her shoulder surgery and is currently getting ready for back surgery.] She responded in her own characteristic way: "Now all I need is new arms, and then I'll have had a complete overhaul and will be able to compete in a world championships without pain for once." In the meantime, however, some new and important tasks are awaiting her. As of January 1, 2009, she is no longer just a gymnast, but national coach of the female gymnasts of her fatherland, Uzbekistan. She will try to run the program from her adopted home country, Germany, and will get her pupils together for a first training camp in Germany in early February."
We have no idea about the logistics involved in this arrangement - whether the Uzbek girls will travel to Germany on a regular basis (does the Uzbek national program have that kind of money?), whether Chusovitina will travel to Uzbekistan on a regular basis, or what. We hope to find out more soon.
This is quite weird. Maybe she'll just be training the team before major competitions.
ReplyDeleteThis makes no sense. Maybe she's the only elite caliber person willing to be a coach in the world who can speak Uzbek...
ReplyDeleteWow! Has that ever been done before? Not like Chuso isn't used to thumbing her nose at the never-done-before.
ReplyDeleteAnd does this mean that Oksana finally decided to retire?
ReplyDeleteCidlover, as far as we know Chusovitina is still committed to London 2009 and London 2012. She's going to be a gymnast and a coach. Unbelievable, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWe doubt she'll only coach the Uzbek girls before major competitions, because
1. that would interfere with her own training for said competitions
2. it wouldn't explain the training camp in early February.
But again, we know nothing about the arrangements, so it's no use speculating.
This makes me think she's going to do some kind of coaching and training regimen at the exact same time.
ReplyDelete