"I'm not making plans now, I just live": Klishina on retirement, injury at the Games and a tattoo on the buttock

“I don’t see myself as a coach”

- Judging by the photos on Instagram, you recently returned from vacation.

How was your vacation?

- Spent ten days in a beautiful place with good weather.

I swam, rested and in a good mood, full of energy, returned back to Miami.

- Now, obviously, start training.

How is your leg ready for stress after an injury at the Olympics?

- The main thing is that I am mentally rested.

It took longer to recover.

It is clear that I was moving, did not sit still all this time, worked on the muscle.

I don't feel any discomfort in my leg right now, but we need to see how it will endure more intense workouts.

I did not do the operation, the leg healed itself, and I will understand how it will react to the load in the process.

Of course, I will not have time to prepare for the winter season, there is very little time left, and it is definitely not worth speeding up recovery in such a situation.

- It turns out that preparation will be built for the summer world championship?

- In fact, I'm not making any plans at all now.

And because of the injury, and because in our track and field, not everything is as rosy and beautiful as we would like.

Therefore, I will watch how everything will develop, how I will feel, because I am used to doing something either 100%, or not doing it at all.

And if my health does not allow me to give all my best, I will need to think about where to move on.

- That is, you are mentally ready to end your career?

“I don’t want to put the question this way.

It would be too loud a statement when you have not decided anything for yourself.

I'll just move with the wind and life will show.

I don't even want to tell myself somewhere inside that - yes, I will go to the World Championship.

Suddenly then something will happen, I will be very upset.

Therefore, I will go my own way: what life will present, I will accept.

And I'd rather be happy if everything works out than the other way around.

- Obviously, “the other way around” happened at the Tokyo Olympics.

It is probably unpleasant to remember this, but still - were there any prerequisites for the injury?

- Injuries are always unpleasant, but when they happen after you've done a great job, came to the Olympic Games and you realize that you are in great shape and can fight for a medal, it's even more offensive.

In general, there were no prerequisites, I never had problems with the back of the thigh.

There is a chronic problem with Achilles, it has been with me for ten years, and I take care of it all the time, every day, after every workout.

If Achilles had let me down, I could at least understand.

And here it is absolutely from scratch ...

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Publication from The official Darya Klishina (@dariaklishina)

- Was it hard?

“I’m used to not worrying too long.

I believe that I will only make it worse for myself if I will heap some kind of sadness and responsibility on my shoulders.

It won't make anybody better.

Therefore, I prefer to leave unpleasant moments behind as quickly as possible.

I don’t think I have to cry day and night into my pillow.

It helps someone, but not me.

My worries boil down to putting the bad things in the box as soon as possible, closing it and throwing it away.

- After the Games, you flew to Russia, to your parents and friends.

Did this help to throw the box of worries away?

- At first it was exactly the opposite. I remember when I first arrived, all my relatives were just silent

. They did not know how to behave, what to say, did not understand how much I was worried. Of course, I have had injuries in my life, but not so big and not at such an important moment. And I am the kind of person who does not like to shift my misfortune onto others. It seems to me that if I complain and say how bad I am, the other person will also feel bad. I prefer that only me feel bad. Even before my arrival, I told everyone on the phone that everything is fine, everything is in order. And so I arrived, and they were silent. I had to calm them down and explain that everything is fine.

Yes, sport is a wonderful, but still a short period of life - for me and for any other athlete.

During this period, there are both successes and losses, and you need to accept them in the same way.

What has already happened cannot be changed, no matter how much I would like it.

But life goes on, and it is beautiful - both in sports and outside of it.

We need to move on.

- Are you already thinking about what you will do after? 

- Undoubtedly.

I believe that any athlete should think about this.

Of course, career lengths differ across sports.

In gymnastics, for example, girls finish their performances before they graduate from university.

They will have a different approach.

In athletics, the career is still quite long, and there is time to weigh the pros and cons.

I think it's a big mistake when people announce their retirement and wake up the next day and don't know what to do now.

Many suffer because of this and cannot find themselves in life.

Therefore, while there is time, I figure out what I can do after.

- As I understand it, there are several options?

- Firstly, I recently started working with the young Canadian brand Dryworld, which produces sportswear. We have already released one collection, and soon, in mid-December, the second will be released under my name - DK collection. I am very interested in this direction, because it is not a big brand like Nike, Adidas or Puma. I am sure that small companies can compete with the giants, only they need the help of professionals who will tell you - here it is better to use not this fabric, but another, because it will be more comfortable for athletes. I see how many companies are investing a lot of money to do something new, but it generally does not meet the needs of even an ordinary person who wants to lead an active lifestyle, not to mention professional athletes.

Secondly, my agent is already involving me in the management process, where I can apply my education - sports marketing.

While I felt it all from the position of an athlete, now I look and try my hand from the other side.

I look closely, I help a little to the best of my knowledge and capabilities, but I am not 100% involved in the process.

- Aren't you considering coaching at all?

- The fact is that I do not see myself as a mentor.

But not because I have nothing to give the athletes.

On the contrary, I think I could share a lot.

I was lucky that from the very childhood I was given the perfect jumping technique - this is the merit of the technically strongest Russian school.

Here, in America, coaches only admire our technique and do not touch it at all, because there is nothing to fix globally.

And after the move, I got a different experience - high-speed, dynamic work, running technique and, in general, building a workflow.

The combination of these several schools gave me a tremendous experience that I would like to share, but not as a primary trainer.

Rather, I see myself as a consultant who conducts short sessions for other coaches and athletes.

And if I receive such offers, I will gladly agree.

But I don't have the patience to be a full-fledged coach.

"I have already settled down in the USA, there is my home"

- Will you return to Russia at the end of your career?

- Not sure.

I spent eight years of my adult life in the United States.

Already settled down and got used to everything here, made friends and acquaintances.

- That is, you feel comfortable?

- Yes, there is always a feeling that I am returning home.

Moreover, the first five years it was not, but recently appeared.

But it is with great pleasure that I come to Russia, and I try to do this as often as possible.

I do not take into account the last two years, when everything became very difficult.

I am glad to return to my parents, but I still go to visit them.

In many ways, probably because now they live in a different apartment, not the one in which I grew up.

They also have my house, but how shall I put it ... sincere, I guess.

Here is a physical house.

This is the place where your business, your work, your friends, everything that you have acquired.

- In one of the interviews you admitted that it is hard to make new friends and hardly trust strangers.

Was it difficult in America?

- You know, I am very comfortable alone with myself, while I do not feel lonely.

In general, this is a very important skill.

Therefore, I was never tormented by the fact that there are no friends nearby who have remained in Russia.

We to this day with them a lot and often communicate by phone, FaceTime.

And here I didn’t try to make some kind of acquaintance on purpose, I don’t need it.

Of course, if a person spontaneously appears in my life with whom we have a good relationship, I am glad of that.

But artificially I never strive for this.

- Probably, you easily endured isolation at the very beginning of the pandemic?

- Yes, there was no problem for me.

I was then in Atlanta, and I sat at home just like everyone else.

There were no options to train, but it was possible to go out for a walk in the park.

And I considered this time not as imprisonment, but as a short vacation, an opportunity to take a break, to do something for which there is no time in the training process.

For example, you do not have time to read a book, not only because there is no time, but because of a lack of energy.

And now this time and energy was finally found.

- The idea to write your own book was also born during the isolation?

- Yes it is.

I wanted to share my recovery experience.

After all, an athlete spends more time and energy on recovery from any, even the smallest problem in the body than an ordinary person.

When you are in the training process, the brain works in a completely different way than when you are resting.

You think only of your body, only of the physical component, nothing else.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just for me, but I can always explain what, where and why it hurts.

I feel very well my body and what it needs.

- A very useful skill!

- Yes, especially considering that we have to be very careful with medicines, even anti-inflammatory drugs for colds cannot be drunk, because there is some tiny ingredient that is prohibited.

So, when at some point you start sneezing, you immediately grab tea with honey or raspberries.

But I have a set of medicines for different occasions, about which I know for sure that they are allowed.

And I always take this first-aid kit with me on any trips, to training camps, competitions - in a word, everywhere.

"In the morning I always wait for a knock on the door"

- Since we were talking about prohibited drugs, I remembered how Sergei Shubenkov once talked about his obsessive fear that someone would add doping to food or water.

Don't you have one?

- Specifically on this issue, no.

Although, in any case, no one leaves their plate of food unattended, not to mention a bottle of water.

In connection with doping control, I have my own paranoia.

I always allocate the same time for the officers' visit - either from 6 to 7 in the morning, or, if the training is a little later, from 7 to 8. And now imagine.

In the morning I sleep, and I sleep quite soundly, but here the ear ... it listens when there will be this knock on the door!

It's horrible!

It's paranoia, isn't it?

 Once I slept, and through my sleep I felt that something was wrong.

She got up, dressed, opened the door - they are standing on the threshold!

They did not ring the bell, but knock softly on the door.

Or maybe they didn’t knock, I’m not sure anymore.

- Maybe they didn't find the call

...

- Excluded! When you live long enough in one place, the same officers come to control. You already know each other, you even have some common themes, because sometimes you have to spend a lot of time together if you can't quickly pass a sample

. And so I ask them: "Why are you knocking, I have a call, and you know this very well, you have come to me ten times already!" And they say they didn't want to wake up the neighbors. Neighbors! I have a detached house, what kind of neighbors can my call wake up ?! At such moments you start to think: maybe they wanted me to have a missed test? This is such paranoia.

- From the outside, it seems that the story of the ARAF disqualification affected you to a lesser extent.

And you were admitted to the Olympics in Rio, and in general, you have more free access to the starts.

How do you experience this situation internally?

- She touched me as well as everyone.

It's a shame ... Yes, I have more opportunities from the beginning, because I defended my rights from the very beginning.

The federation was supposed to do this for all athletes, but due to the delay of specific people, everything dragged on for a long time.

Nobody thought that it would turn out that way, they hoped that everything would end much faster.

But if you do nothing, then nothing will dissipate by itself.

In the meantime, this snowball continues to grow. 

- Do not you believe that the matter has gotten off the ground?

- To be honest, I do not see any progress in general: there are no positive developments, we are marking time.

We do not have a head coach, there is no leader who would speak for us.

We have lost a lot over the years.

Some have ended their careers just because they did not have the opportunity to perform.

But sport is a favorite for a professional athlete, but still work is our main income.

When they take it away from you, you just have to go to another field where you can support yourself.

- Now, at least in a neutral status, you can perform, albeit not for everyone ...

- Athletics is an individual sport, but we go to major official competitions - Cups, European and World Championships, the Olympic Games - as a team. And when you go by yourself, it's a little different. There should be a team, a head coach who helps with his presence alone. Experienced fighters sometimes don't even need words, the atmosphere is important. And for young athletes this is a very important component of their sports life. I remember myself at the first competitions, those shifty eyes, when you don't know what to do at all! These are not adult starts, probably, but also youthful ones, but nevertheless. At this moment, you really need a strong shoulder, a back that you can stand behind, someone who will be your navigator in this new world. And when all this is not there, it hits not only every athlete, but all athletics in the country.

And another important point: the absence of a flag and anthem deprives you of a full experience.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to listen to the hymn on the top step of the pedestal.

And this is the most memorable moment in life.

You don’t remember anything that happened during the competition, but when you stand and listen to the anthem of your country, this moment is engraved in your memory forever.

Therefore, I really hope that in the end everything will return to normal.

"I don't like attention to myself"

- You are active on Instagram, post a lot of beautiful photos.

And at some point they "lit up" their tattoo on the buttock, which caused just a flurry of comments and discussions.

It was about a year ago ...

- It seems to me more.

In general, this tattoo is already 15 years old

.

Her story is really simple: I wanted to get a tattoo, but it was important to get it done in a place where few people could see it, including me, so that I would not bother me.

Therefore, the choice fell on the appropriate part of the body.

There is no special meaning in the picture, I just liked the feminine flower.

He is not visible in any sports swimsuit, or in any competition.

But the tattoo is noticeable in an ordinary swimsuit, and even then not in everyone.

- How did your parents react to such creativity?

- Well.

I thought they were just going to kill me.

I was raised in rigor and discipline, laid the right foundation.

Yes, I did not resist, and I still consider myself a very disciplined person only thanks to my upbringing in childhood.

So, I got a tattoo at the training camp in Sochi, and when I arrived home, I decided to tell my mother first.

I told her and got ready to defend herself, but she asked to show her, and then she just said: "Cool."

In general, the explosion that I expected did not happen.

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Publication from The official Darya Klishina (@dariaklishina)

- Then you were 15, and now it is twice as much.

Do you feel like you are your age?

- Absolutely not.

There were times when I was asked how old I was, and I answered incorrectly, less than in fact.

By accident!

Although I was never attached to numbers, it was not a tragedy for me that now, I am already 30. Yes, when the age starts with a two, it is somehow more pleasant ...

-… but it doesn't interfere with celebrating birthdays with pleasure?

- To tell the truth, not very much.

But not because I’m getting older, but because I don’t like attention.

Everyone is very surprised, because they know me from my photo on Instagram or a picture on TV.

But this does not mean that people understand who I really am.

And I don't like attention to myself.

I like to visit someone on holidays, I like to choose and give gifts, to do something nice to others.

But I myself note it modestly, with those closest to me.

- Is there a place in your life for some girlish joys?

- I love the spa very much.

I can even go alone, I don't need a girlfriend.

I can spend half a day there, and this is the coolest relaxing holiday for me, preferably without a phone.

You just relax on your own, listen to pleasant music and relax.

I also love good restaurants, at least once a week.

This is due not only to food as such - although I love good food - but also to the desire to go out.

This is exactly about the girlish, as you said.

Dress up, do hair, light make-up.

Because the tail and sportswear are boring, and you want to feel like a girl.

- Do you like shopping?

- Yes, but I'm not a shopaholic.

I try to buy only what I need, and I approach it rationally.

For example, shoes and bags, I always buy quality brands.

As for clothes, here I am not picky, and I do not have crazy expensive clothes.

This again comes from education.

Our family never had extra money - until the moment I started earning money and helping my parents.

Yes, now I can afford something more, but I never step over the reasonable line in purchases.

Because this money still does not fall from the sky, and you need to earn it.

- If you had a chance to change something in your life, what would you return to?

- It is hard to say.

I really wanted to realize myself in the past year, to achieve results, but at the Games something happened that did not depend on me.

That is, I did not commit an act that could be canceled, so I would not change anything.

I am happy with what I have achieved, as I am today.

I like the path that I have passed in life, in sports, and in any other direction.

I have good memories of almost everything, so I don't want to change anything.

I will only look to the future with optimism!