And for Those of You Who Still Don't Believe the Chusovitina Coaching Story...

... here's a little story from Financial Times Deutschland, a German newspaper which is usually very well informed on the goings-on in the German team (we have posted several of their articles before). Aside from some interesting news on the rest of the German team, the article contains a mention of Chusovitina's involvement with the Uzbek team.

Olympic Gymnast Joeline Moebius Must Call Off Training Camp

Around eight weeks before the European Championships in Milan, from 2nd to 5th April, Olympian Joeline Moebius from Chemnitz has had to call off her participation in a training camp with the German national team in the USA. This was confirmed by head coach Ulla Koch. "She has back problems, which it is better to keep treating here," said the 53-year-old coach. The national team will be training in Plano, Texas, from 2nd to 10th February, together with the American Olympic champion, Nastia Liukin.

This means that Anja Brinker from Herkenrath will be the only gymnast from the Beijing Olympic team who is making the trip. Katja Abel from Berlin and Daria Bijak from Salt Lake City have ended their careers. Marie Sophie Hindermann from Tübingen and Olympic silver medalist Oksana Chusovitina from Cologne will both be missing as a result of operations to the Achilles tendon. Chusovitina, originally from Uzbekistan, is currently taking care of the national women's team of the Central Asian country. Six gymnasts from that team are currently spending time at the training center in Bergisch Gladbach.


Joeline Moebius (photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox)

So there you have it. Abel and Bijak, retired (from FIG gymnastics anyway). Hindermann and Moebius, injured. And Chusovitina, injured and looking after the Uzbek girls.

We think we have enough evidence now that the Chusovitina story is true. Now if someone will please fill us in on the Kozich situation...

Now, on the Chusovitina Coaching Story...

We received remarkably few comments on our most recent entry on Oksana Chusovitina, in which we told you that she was going to coach the Uzbek girls while continuing to compete for Germany herself. Perhaps the lack of comments was due to the fact that you didn't actually believe the story. That wouldn't surprise us. To be honest, we had a hard time believing the news ourselves, despite the fact that it came from a source we consider reliable (Chusovitina's own team).


(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

We have now received a confirmation of sorts. One of our readers posted our story on the WWGym message board, where it was picked up by a poster called SFPFCT10, who is in touch with now former Uzbek national head coach Svetlana Kuznetsova. After reading the news, SFPFCT10 e-mailed Kuznetsova to ask if it was true. She confirmed the story, after which SFPFCT10 posted her e-mail on the message board, apparently with Kuznetsova's consent.

Judging from the e-mail, Kuznetsova does not bear Chusovitina any grudges for replacing her as the national head coach under such unusual circumstances (the e-mail ends with a sincere wish for Chusovitina's well-being). However, she does express bafflement at the new arrangements, which she feels are unworkable, and added that not all the national team members will join the training camp which Chusovitina is supposed to supervise in Germany in early February. According to Kuznetsova, six girls and one acrobat will fly to Germany, without their personal coaches (i.e. without Kuznetsova herself or her assistant, her daughter Elena). Apparently Luiza Galiulina, Uzbekistan's sole representative in Beijing (60th in prelims), will not be among the six girls who will make the trip to Germany. According to Kuznetsova, Galiulina will stay in Tashkent, where Kuznetsova herself will prepare her for the Cottbus Grand Prix.

We can't help sharing some of Kuznetsova's concern at the new situation. We have no idea how Chusovitina is supposed to coach the Uzbek team while representing Germany herself. Unless the Uzbek girls and their personal coaches move to Germany for a longer period of time, the plan doesn't sound feasible to us.

However, one thing is for sure: Chusovitina keeps making history. We don't think any athlete before her has represented one country while coaching another country's team. If you know of any precedents, do let us know!

Oksana Chusovitina Appointed Uzbek National Team Coach

It had been rumored for a while, and now it's been confirmed on the website of Chusovitina's own team, Cologne's Toyota Team: In addition to her own competitive gymnastics career, Oksana Chusovitina has been appointed head coach of the Uzbek national team. The news is somewhat surprising in that Chusovitina recently said in an interview that she didn't want to coach elite gymnasts as she didn't like having to be tough on her pupils. Looks like she has changed her mind...


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.

Oksana Chusovitina to Have Back Surgery As Well

A while ago we reported that Oksana Chusovitina was not merely recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, but from shoulder surgery. It now transpires that she's going to have a third operation too, this time on her back. At least, that's what she told the Rheinische Turnerbund (the provincial gymnastics federation for her part of Germany) just before Christmas, in an interview which was only published a couple of days ago. Here it is...


(photo: Rheinische Turnerbund)

Oksana Is Already Thinking of the World Championships

Q: Oksana, you're wearing a special boot on your right foot, which makes you walk a bit funny. Furthermore, your left shoulder is in a sling. How are you?

A: (Oksana laughs.) I'm fine. I actually have a bit of time for myself now, which is nice for a change. Of course, being injured is no fun, but really, I'm used to being injured. Something is always hurting. It's like that for every elite athlete. It's no problem, because it looks worse than it is. Sure, it was an unfortunate thing to happen, but better now than at the Olympics. I actually have time now to let my other other injuries heal.

Q: You also recently had shoulder injury. What was wrong with your shoulder?

A: I kept having problems with it. Since I can't train at the moment anyway, I had it re-examined, and it turned out I needed surgery.

Q: And you are also going to have back surgery?

A: Yes, that's scheduled for late January. I'm getting it all over and done with in one go, so that I can start preparing for my next assignments afterward.


(photo: Reuters)

Q: What do your plans for the future look like?

A: First I'll get healthy again, so that I can finally resume proper training. Of course, it's not as if I'm not doing anything at the moment. But I never make long-term plans. I never have. I'm always fully focused on the next goal at hand [and not on what comes afterward].

Q: In your opinion, what would be a realistic goal to aspire to?

A: I think the European Championships will come too soon for me, because I'm not exactly getting any younger. But I definitely have my eyes set on the World Championships, possibly focusing on vault and beam only at first. After that, we'll see how it goes.

Q: I assume you often get asked whether you'll take part in a sixth Olympics?

A: Yes, I get that question all the time. They even asked me that right after my Achilles tendon operation in Switzerland! Of course I'll go to the Olympics a sixth time. In 2010 I'll be on the curling team in Vancouver. [Oksana obviously enjoys giving this answer. It pops up in several recent interviews.] Right now I'm happy about the medal I won in Beijing. I'm not thinking of London yet.

Q: When you're taking part in your fifth Olympics, does it feel like a routine event?

A: Absolutely not. The Olympics mean far too much for that. Even I get nervous there. (Oksana chuckles.). It changes one's attitude. You could say that the whole experience is different, because the whole atmosphere is incomparable. You cannot help but be affected by it.

Q: Is the Olympic competition itself different too?

A: The same thing is more or less true for the competition, because there too you are always aware that it's a competition which is held only once every four years. What matters at that moment is whether you can capitalize on the work you've done lately. This requires tunnel vision. In Uzbekistan our coaches would often ask us to do a competition routine completely out of the blue, just like that. I think I'm benefiting from that now. Perhaps that's also why I'd start my competition without a one-touch warmup if I could.

Q: How important is your silver medal on vault to you, compared with the gold medal you won with the team [back in 1992]?

A: My individual medal means much more to me, and not just because I won it at age 33. It's much harder to win an individual medal. It's a personal challenge. The gold medal I gave to my mother, to thank her for everything. The silver medal I'm keeping here with me.


(photo: Reuters)

Q: Since then the media have only become more interested in you.

A: You can say that again, although really, they have been very interested in me ever since the Stuttgart Worlds. Apparently you get more interesting when you have a medal [and a good story, notes the editor of the interview]. I'm obviously getting a lot of attention, even when I'm injured. I may not get recognized wherever I go, but people definitely come up to talk to me.

Q: Where will you spend Christmas?

A: I will fly to Uzbekistan with my family just before Christmas. I'll be back in early January, as Alisher will have to get back to school. Besides, I still have to arrange a few things for my next operation, and I'll have to get back to training as well.

Q: How is Christmas celebrated in Uzbekistan?

A: Not on December 24 at any rate! To us January 6 is Christmas, but we deal with the presents and the celebrations on New Year's Eve. That's when the presents for the children are quietly placed in front of the door and the bell is rung. The thing is not to get caught, which isn't always easy.

Q: Where do you feel at home?

A: To me, home is Germany and Uzbekistan. To Alisher it's Cologne.

Oksana Chusovitina Recovering from Two Injuries

Over the last couple of weeks several German newspapers have posted articles on Oksana Chusovitina. So far we've found three stories about the oldest competitor in women's gymnastics, all of which contain interesting tidbits on her life in Germany and Uzbekistan. Circumstances permitting, we'll translate and post all three stories at some point.

One interesting detail that pops up in all three of the recent interviews is that Chusovitina is recovering from not one but two injuries. On top of the Achilles tendon she tore at the Swiss Cup in November, she's recovering from a shoulder operation she recently underwent. Apparently Chuso tore a biceps tendon before the Olympics. It didn't bother her much in Beijing, but all the same she decided to have surgery. We can't imagine what it must be like to have limited use of both a leg and an arm simultaneously, but it doesn't seem to be keeping Chuso from going about her business. She actually sounds busy!


(photo: Reuters)

The story below, in which Chusovitina reveals which new vault she'd like to learn if she ever makes it back to the top, was published by Koelnische Rundschau, a local newspaper from the city of Cologne, on December 22. Enjoy!

Santa Shows Up on New Year's Eve

Naturally Oksana Chusovitina, silver medalist on vault in Beijing, will celebrate Christmas, but not quite the way we do it in Germany, with a Christmas tree and a crib. Still, there's a pine branch wreath hanging on the door of her small row house in Brauweiler, and there is plenty of Christmas-style candy inside the large living room.

"We're going to celebrate Christmas in Uzbekistan," reveals Oksana Chusovitina. The silver medalist on vault at the Beijing Olympics uses the Christmas period to meet up with friends and family in her home town of Bukhara. "On December 31 we'll have a party with up to 25 friends. We'll put presents for the children in front of the front door, and at some point someone will ring the bell and quickly disappear from view, and we'll tell the kids it was Santa. But last year we had a problem: All the children sat down right in front of the door, full of hope and anticipation, and none of us could leave the house unobserved to put the presents in place."

Oksana Chusovitina laughs. Her right foot, the one with the torn ACL, is in a protective boot which almost reaches her knee. Her right arm is in a sling, as she recently had shoulder surgery. [Note: According to two other articles, it's her left arm she was recently operated on, not the right one.] But her injuries are not affecting her mood, even though it's unclear whether she will ever compete at the highest level again.


Chuso's legs before her most recent accident. We suspect her right leg will be marred by another big scar. (Photo: Rob Carr/AP Photo)

"Obviously I hope I will [return to competition], and I have to say, this doesn't really feel like the end of my career," says the 33-year-old gymnast. But it remains to be seen whether she will really take part in her 10th world championships in October.

"I have two legs and two arms, so I can work," says the multiple world and European champion, ready for a challenge. In Tashkent she graduated with a degree in Sports Science, and in Cologne she has been known to coach the juniors of her club, the Toyota Team, on occasion.

Chusovitina's excess energy is currently channeled first and foremost into her son Alisher, for whom she is cooking noodles this afternoon, and into her home. "I'm cleaning and vacuuming all the time. Perhaps I should apply for a job as a sweeper for the curling team in the new year," she says with a smile. "Oh, and the garden is looking good, too."


Chuso and her impossibly cute son Alisher (photo: NBC)

It was because of her then critically ill son Alisher that Oksana and her husband Bahodir Kurbanov came to Cologne in 2003. The doctors at the Cologne Academic Medical Centre won the battle against leukemia. These days Alisher is in Grade 3 of a language school. Oksana speaks Russian to her son, who sometimes answers in Russian, sometimes in German. When it comes to sports, he is less divided in his allegiances. His father, who used to be a world-class wrestler, got the short end of the stick. Alisher is a gymnast who goes to the gym four times a week. "I want to get as good as my Mom," he says. And of course his Mom supports him, even though she doesn't really like watching him. "I'm always a little afraid," says Chusovitina.

Life hasn't really changed for the exceptional gymnast since she won her silver medal in Beijing, at her fifth Olympics. "I now have more press engagements and I get recognized on the street by strangers more often. They all wish me a speedy recovery, which is great," she says. She doesn't want another frenzy like the one in China, where she made an appearance on a talk show which was watched by 480 million people. "At the time I fled the Beijing Bazar because everybody wanted to touch me."

Her only source of bitterness: She has had no new sponsorship offers since the summer. So she may have to work after all, preferably as a coach. "But only with young gymnasts," says Oksana Chusovitina with a smile. "Because you have to exert a lot of pressure on older gymnasts, and I'm incapable of that."

However, what she'd like to do most is to continue competing, because even after all these years, the triple world champion has some dreams left. "On vault I'd like to try a handspring double front," she says. With a vault like that, she could find herself medaling again at the 2012 London Olympics.


(photo: Reuters)

The Great Injury Post

We've been reliably informed by the DTB (that's the German Gymnastics Federation for you) that Oksana Chusovitina was supposed to undergo surgery in the Swiss city of Basel yesterday. According to the official DTB site, Chuso has completely torn the Achilles tendon of her right leg, but hopes to be back in training by February. Now that's ambition for you.

Edited to add: The DTB reports that Chuso's operation was successful. She is expected to leave the hospital this weekend.

Meanwhile, Marie-Sophie Hindermann's injury would appear to be a bit more serious. The DTB site reports that Hindermann has a cyst and scarred tissue on her Achilles tendon. Like Chuso, she will undergo surgery in Basel, to remove the cyst and scar tissue, which is expected to make the tendon stronger. According to the DTB, Hindermann is looking at two weeks in the hospital plus a six-to-eight-month period of recovery. Ouch.


Marie-Sophie Hindermann (Photo: Lluis Gene/Getty Images)

As far as we know, the Chinese girls are still struggling as well. Chinese newspapers reported a while ago that Deng Linlin was suffering from a knee injury, while Li Shanshan was suffering from an ankle injury. Jiang Yuyuan is said to be recovering from an elbow injury. She's working out, but not at full strength.

As we reported a while ago, Team Romania is having its share of injuries too. According to Nicolae Forminte, Ana Maria Tamirjan, Gabriela Dragoi and Andreea Grigore are all unable to compete at present because of health issues. No wonder Sandra Izbasa is being kept so busy!


Andreea Grigore (Photo: Getty Images)

We're wondering now how Dasha Joura is doing, following her ordeal at the Olympics. And what about Isabelle Severino, who tore her Achilles tendon at the Europeans? Mum is the word, it seems.

Edited to add: No news on Dasha Joura, but according to the Australian Gymnastics Blog, Georgia Bonora just underwent surgery on both ankles. She's expected to be out of action for at least three months. Ouch.

Lots of Drama at Swiss Cup

There have been times when the Swiss Cup was a staid and uneventful coda to the year, an event with an interesting format but little real drama. However, judging from the report on the official competition website, this year's Swiss Cup was anything but uneventful. It had plenty of drama. In fact, some might say it had a little too much of it.

The Swiss Cup is a pair event. Featuring many of the same gymnasts who earlier competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial, this year's competition saw mixed couples from twelve countries battle it out on three events of their choice. The four highest-scoring couples over three events then made it to a one-event final which started from scratch again, meaning that whoever posted the highest score in the final rotation would walk away with the gold. In the end, victory somewhat surprisingly went to China's He Ning and Lu Bo, who were lucky to make it into the final at all, as He had fallen from beam twice in an earlier rotation.


Weltklasse, indeed.

Photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner
Second place went to the Romanian pair of Sandra Izbasa and Flavius Koczi, who got off to a disastrous start (Izbasa showed the same vault twice and was penalized for it, resulting in an abysmal 12.200 average) but really got their act together in the second and third rotations. They qualified to the final in second place and stayed there, just holding off Russia's Ksenia Afanasyeva and Maksim Devyatovsky, who had led the pack after three rotations.

The most dramatic routine of the competition was undoubtedly Oksana Chusovitina's floor exercise. The 33-year-old Uzbek/German veteran, partnered with Fabian Hambuchen and seemingly on her way to the gold despite a botched beam dismount, crashed on her second tumbling pass in the third rotation and tore her Achilles tendon. According to the DTB site, she is slated to undergo surgery on Tuesday. Chuso's Achilles tendon injury is Team Germany's second one of the week, following hot on the heels of Marie-Sophie Hindermann's. We hope both gymnasts will make a speedy recovery.



Swiss Cup results:
1. China 31.200
2. Romania 30.775
3. Russia 30.750
4. Switzerland 30.025

As far as we know, no Swiss Cup videos have been posted on YouTube yet, but you can check out out He Ning's excellent floor exercise at the 2008 Chinese Nationals (which she's still using) here.

Some of us here at the Triple Full headquarters are developing a crush on He's arms. Don't you think she has gorgeously expressive arms? She does nice work on beam too.