“The Olympics crushed me too much”: Konanykhina - about victory and defeat in Penza, hatred in social networks and fear of heights

- You performed in Penza so taped that it was creepy to look at.

What happened?

- Three days before the national championship, when we were at the training camp at the Krugloye Lake base, I bent very hard and pulled my back when I performed a jump from a handstand.

Therefore, the back was taped and even had to resort to the help of painkillers, which in itself is not very pleasant.

And I always tape my shoulders.

Also due to injury?

- The injury was in December and I would not want to repeat it.

You have noticeably lost weight compared to last year.

Consequences of the coronavirus?

- A year ago, I just jumped in the same weight.

But after the championship of Russia, she gained three kilograms.

That's a lot for a senior.

My usual weight is 42-43 kg, and when the scales began to show 45, I felt that it became difficult to turn myself over in the air.

So it had to be thrown out as a matter of urgency.

- If you do not take into account the silver medal won in Penza on the 10-meter platform, were you satisfied with the performance?

- Absolutely not.

Something always bothers me.

Something hurts somewhere, plus it was necessary to get out of my head not the most pleasant thoughts that remained after the mixed (Konanykhina became the national champion paired with Alexander Bondar. -

).

There I didn’t succeed in one of the jumps, I was very upset, plus the hat on the Internet fell.

When I came to the hall in the morning, it even seemed to me that none of the girls was talking to me.

Or they started asking what I think about our victory.

What can I think?

This is decided by the judges, not the athletes.

It was only after lunch that I managed to come to my senses.

- If you react so sharply to other people's opinions in social networks, why do you read comments during the competition?

- Well, before the final on the tower, I abstracted myself, turned on the music, it became easier.

What music was on the headphones?

- I'm a music lover, so it's different.

Usually this is some kind of peppy rock that helps to tune in.

But, of course, neither fatigue, nor the fact that everything hurts, is not a reason to jump like that.

You need to concentrate better.

- I have a feeling that a year ago, when you became the European champion, this success happened a little early, when psychologically you were not quite ready for it.

You seemed to be overwhelmed by responsibility and getting out from under this burden is not always possible until now.

“That's not the point.

Rather, I was pressed too hard by the Tokyo Olympics.

I'm still digesting that performance.

Already an adult girl, as they say, but I understand that it was because of those Games that I had to grow up very sharply.

Understand that only I myself am responsible for that result.

- Wait.

I could understand such a self-critical attitude towards yourself, if you just could not cope with the nerves.

But in Tokyo, you performed after the hardest COVID-19.

“That’s true, but the resentment still remains.

Games were not perceived as a holiday at all.

Yes, there were a lot of guys in the Olympic village, a lot of different sports, but I personally tried not to leave the room at all unless it was absolutely necessary - I really didn’t want to get sick again.

I passed two positive tests just before we were supposed to fly with the whole team to Japan for the final training camp.

After the first test, everyone tried to calm me down, they said that, most likely, there was a mistake, but I myself already understood for sure that there was no mistake: smells, taste sensations disappeared, heaviness appeared in my chest and everything that I had been working out for a year, just crumbled.

When I returned to the gym after quarantine, I ran two warm-up laps out of the usual five, and realized that I couldn’t continue running anymore, I had no strength.

At the Games, the absence of spectators was the most depressing.

I usually get turned on by the audience, from the reaction of the stands, but here the athletes were sent home immediately after the performance, so by the beginning of the competition on the tower, almost all of us had flown from Tokyo.

It was very hard to jump.

I was a little too calm.

“Sometimes apathy is mistaken for calmness.

— Yes, it probably was.

This state of affairs is very bad.

In general, I did not get a wow-start.

- You were not afraid to perform after the Olympics?

- It was scary at the Russian Cup.

Especially since I got infected with the coronavirus again.

Constantly had a headache, wildly irritated any noise.

On the day of the final, I felt really bad on the tower.

There, the competitions were also held on the same day, we jumped the semi-finals 20 minutes after the end of the preliminary competitions, I climbed the tower to do 3.5 turns back, and my eyes were getting dark from weakness.

And again, it took a long time to recover.

- The fact that in Penza you became second on your main apparatus, and not first - is this a reason for frustration?

- This is an occasion to think about whether I'm doing the right thing.

Apparently, not quite, since I stopped getting jumps with back rotations - they didn’t work out either in the semi-finals, or in the final, or in the mixed doubles ...

- Do you rely on your own sensations at the moment of rotation or use visual cues?

- I see everything that happens around in a jump - the bottom of the tower, the ceiling, the water, and my vision does not turn off, even when you make a new jump for the first time.

But I focus more on feelings.

So it's not that I somehow get lost in the air, I just need to concentrate more strongly before the jump, to be more attentive.

- Does the current forced isolation and the inability to participate in major tournaments upset you?

- For me, this is a definite plus, because there is time to recover after a very difficult season and a number of injuries.

Last December, we managed to go to the junior world championship, took gold with Katya Belyaeva in synchronized diving, and in the individual form I didn’t even try to qualify for the final: my shoulders hurt so much that it was difficult to even just raise my arms.

Why that injury happened, I don't know.

Maybe the whole point is that the rest after the Olympics turned out to be too short and simply did not have time to recover.

Or from too hard entries into the water on mandatory jumps.

This is how it all came together.

Are shoulder problems making themselves felt now?

- Not.

If it weren't for the back pain, everything would be just fine.

- Are you scared on the tower?

- Yes.

Especially when you have to restore jumps after a break.

You come to the edge of the tower and immediately a chill goes down your spine.

Even if the rest is only ten days, the muscles of the hands are completely weaned from the load that you experience when entering the water.

And they crash right away.

- Did you have to fight against the water?

— Yes, and very strongly.

In 2021, I did 3.5 turns back on the Krugloy, twisted it and entered the water flat.

Even the air cushion did not save me - I just flew over it.

After that blow, for some time I was even afraid to jump from the tower.

It always seemed to me that the unsuccessful jump would be repeated.

Now I generally try to avoid jumping into the “pillow” - when the surface of the water is very rarefied with air bubbles, you can injure your back even more.

It would be better to download it, but now there is a period when competitions go one after another: the Russian Cup, tournaments in Saransk, Kazan, Belarus, the Russian junior championship, where I can perform for the last year ...

There is simply no time to fully do all the strength work that I need for my back.

And this is fundamental: when there is not enough “physics” in the legs and back, the speed of the initial rotation immediately drops, I can’t even push off normally.

- You came to diving from gymnastics at the age of 11 and probably faced the fact that a jumper needs a “round” back, while a gymnast needs a curved one.

Was it difficult to retrain?

— No, I retrained quickly.

Probably because it was very interesting.

What was really difficult was in screw jumps.

In gymnastics, it is customary to press the crossed arms to the chest, performing rotations, and in jumping, the position of the hands is completely different, a different swing.

Are you a risk taker?

- I think so.

Only a very risky person will climb to jump from the "ten".

- I would say that with such a character you need to go into high diving, but not with your physique.

At high altitude, stronger athletes are needed.

- I would not go into high diving under any circumstances.

I'm just afraid of this height.

- Is there any jump that you would really like to learn?

- 3.5 turns back from the A-pillar.

I just dream of mastering it and inserting it into the program.

- Thanks to this element, the Mexican Paola Espinosa became the world champion in 2009, ahead of the Chinese.

- Yes?

Didn't know about it.

This is indeed a very expensive jump.

But very risky.

Now all over the world it is performed by only one athlete - a Canadian.

And not in every competition.

When it comes to elements of such complexity, you never know if the jump will work or not.

But I want to at least try.