Thursday, January 19, 2017

Documentary about Aliya and Aleksey - summary

Russian Olympic Committee made a documentary about the love story of Aliya Mustafina and Aleksey Zaytsev. If you haven't been keeping up - they got married in November and expecting a baby.
The documentary is in Russian, so I made a summary.
Aliya starts with saying that many people think that if a girl starts a serious relationship with someone, she will not be able to continue an elite sports career. Well, Aliya disagrees and thinks she can combine sports and relationship just fine. However, there were some changes. She is extremely independent and it was new for her to be able to rely on someone, to have someone to do things for her, to take care of her. She's still not quite used to it.
They met last fall at a Moscow hospital that specializes in treating athletes - she was there for rehab after her knee surgery and Aleksey was getting a treatment for his injury (he's on the national bobsled team). They liked  each other instantly and eventually started dating, but then Aleksey went abroad for competitions, because his winter season was starting. Aleksey says that he realized things are getting serious when he went away. They spent all the free time they had from training on the phone, constantly talking and texting.
The documentary includes a short video that Aleksey sent to Aliya from Lake Placid where he says that they're always together even when they're apart and he's grateful for the existence of internet.
In December he told Aliya he'll be in Moscow on New Year on a layover to Germany and she asked him to celebrate New Year with her (in Russia this is a huge holiday). He says that in recent years it was the first New Year he spent with his loved one and not on the road.
Alexey recites a short poem he wrote to Aliya about their time apart and when he couldn't fall asleep from all the competition jitters:
Засыпаю дольше, чем сплю.
Просыпаюсь дольше, чем надо.
Как бы мне так заснуть одному,
а проснуться уже с тобой рядом?
Approximate translation (I'm really bad at translating poetry. It sounds much better in Russian): It takes me more time to fall asleep that I actually sleep and it takes me long time to wake up. I wish I could wake up next to you even though I went to sleep alone.
Aliya says one of the challenges in their relationship is that she's a very serious person and doesn't joke at all, while Aleksey jokes all the time. They're both very stubborn and it's often hard for them to compromise. Aleksey says that at first he didn't really notice that Aliya is a difficult person, even though he read it about her in the articles. Aliya comments that it's really hard sometimes for Aleksey to deal with her, but they manage.
In summer she went to Krasnodar to visit Aleksey and his parents (they live in a village near Krasnodar, it's in the southern Russia) and they've accepted her as their own daughter from the very first day, even though they couple haven't yet announced that they want to marry.
Aliya says their relationship was a big factor in her decision not to retire before 2016 Olympics, because she thought that she'd watch him competing and miss sports. Aleksey also tried to persuade her not to give up. She says that Aleksey is planning on competing for another 10 years, so she wants to return to the sport, too, after she finishes her studies (and gives birth, I guess - the documentary was shot before they made an official announcement about the baby).
For Aleksey, it was very hard to watch Aliya compete, because for the first time he was nervous for someone else. He was texting her non-stop during the Olympics even though she didn't look at her phone during the training and competition, so she would read his hundreds of texts in the evening.
Aleksey officially proposed after they both decided they want to marry. He created a quest game in their apartment, when at the end she found the ring attached to a balloon.
She went to shop for a wedding dress with her mom and a friend and chose the dress very quickly, refusing to try other dresses on. They had quite a small wedding. Aleksey says he really loved the dress and how Aliya looked on the wedding day.
They still spend a lot of time apart, because Aleksey is currently training for the Winter Olympics and competing abroad, so they can't wait to spend more time together.
They really want kids. For now, they're planning on having three kids and don't care whether if they'll have boys of girls. Although, if they have a girl. Aliys wants her to do rhythmic gymnastics.
Aliys says she's the boss in their family even though Alexey doesn't know it.
Aleksey says Aliya makes him extremely happy.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Melnikova's interview

Angelina Melnikova gave an interview to R-Sport just before New Year.
Here's the summary.
She says she used to be a very active kid, so her parents brought her to dance classes, but she didn't like dancing. Then they tried gymnastics which she liked. Later, though,  there were moments when she wanted to quit, especially that one time she had an ear infection and her ears hurt when she tumbled. She got onto the national team at the age of 11 and since then she never wanted to quit.
She really likes studying and reading, she started reading a lot at the Round Lake.
Her dad is a farmer, mom stays at home, her little brother used to do gymnastics but didn't like it, so now he's doing martial arts.
She doesn't like talking about herself.
At the moment she can't imagine her life without sport and wants to do gymnastics till 2028 (not sure whether it was a joke or she really wants to become the next Chuso). She doesn't want to become a coach but for now has no idea what she wants to do in her life besides gymnastics.
She likes all the attention she's getting after the Olympics because this way she can meet a lot of new people.
New Year is her favorite holiday. She would want to celebrate with friends, but her parents believe it's a family holiday, so she celebrates with her family.
She says she's not a very brave person, but gymnastics is not scary for her, because after many repetitions her body just knows what to do.
She loves travelling and was very impressed with Switzerland.
She likes dogs more than cats and also has a PET OWL (how cool is that?!!!!!!).
She collects plush toys (teddy bears and the like), but recently donated a big part of her collection to an orphanage.
She wishes a Happy New Year to all her fans!