The sex symbol of gymnastics left Russia. For whom will the champions be trained?

The news about the departure of Russian sports stars abroad causes a completely understandable reaction among many fans. It is unpleasant to realize that yesterday’s favorites, who recently seemed to be great patriots, easily leave their native country, without a twinge of conscience, finding a new home for themselves.

Another wave of negativity was caused by the decision to leave Russia by Olympic medalist Maria Paseka, who, according to some sports fans, is “the most beautiful gymnast in the country.” The athlete goes in search of a “new self”.

Will it come back?

“New Thoughts”

Russian gymnast Maria Paseka, whose collection includes gold medals from the World and European Championships, as well as Olympic medals, has decided to leave Russia. The 27-year-old athlete announced this to her subscribers on social networks.

As I said before, big changes are coming. My departure from the country will give me new thoughts, a new attitude to everything, a new me. This is my unloading, where I can develop myself, see something new, even feel something new in myself. And then we’ll see how everything goes when I return to my homeland,” Pasika wrote.

What are these new thoughts that cannot be found in Russia, one cannot immediately understand. Our athletes now have difficulties with performing abroad, but are Maria’s plans somehow connected with the desire to overcome these restrictions? It is worth noting that the medalist of the Olympic Games in London and Rio de Janeiro was not ready for a trip to Tokyo and seemed to have already got used to the idea of ​​ending her career, complaining that “the joints ache like a grandmother.” However, last year the gymnast suddenly wanted to compete in Paris.

Maria Paseka / Photo: © Tom Pennington / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

– Recently, I performed at the Nemov show in Togliatti and saw pictures of Paris-2024 on the screen. And I thought: maybe this is a sign? Pasika said in an interview with RIA.

Raise an Olympic Champion

The idea of ​​going to Paris proved difficult to carry out. In August of this year, Maria admitted that Olympic gold would remain her unfulfilled dream. The athlete spoke about her new plans to “slowly leave the sport”, in fact, confessing to the final decision to end her professional career.

Pasika’s sports path was coming to an end, but this did not mean that her new activity would not be connected with gymnastics. A few months earlier, the Russian woman said that she intended to switch to coaching, and back in May she stated in plain text that it would be a different country. It was about China, where Maria was going to raise the Olympic champion of the Games in Paris.

Maria’s plans to go to China for coaching experience were confirmed by the head coach of the Russian national gymnastics team Valentina Rodionenko.

– You present it as if she left the country. In fact, Masha and Tatyana Nabieva were invited to work in a Chinese club. They have a contract, I think, for six months. If they like their work, perhaps they will extend the contract. No, they will come back,” Rodionenko told Match TV.

In other words, the departure of the athlete was planned in advance, was associated with professional activities, and not some spontaneous throwing here and now. Yes, and Maria was not going to leave for some unfriendly country, but for China, which, however, in the world of gymnastics is a direct competitor for us.

One can be annoyed that the famous athlete did not find application for her coaching talents in her native country. But this does not mean that Russia will not need her skills in the future. After her post about her departure, the girl clarified that she really agreed to coaching abroad, but she does not plan to break ties with her native country and really hopes that her experience abroad will help our gymnasts in the future.