Oksana Chusovitina: Curling in Vancouver, Gymnastics in London ...

Oksana CHUSOVITINA (33), who is to be at the centre of attention at the awards ceremony of the Rheinischer Turnerbund on Saturday, is still resting at home near Cologne after the Christmas holidays, recovering from her injuries and an operation to repair a torn Achilles tendon. 
In addition, she had to have surgery on her shoulder and at the end of January it will be her back's turn for medical attention ...
However, this seems not to cause any sorrow to the 33-year old mother ...
Relaxed and in a good mood, she gives an interview in which she looks back on  the Olympic Games and provides some insights into her private life.

* RTB: -- You've recently had a shoulder operation. What was the matter?
*Oksana: -- "I've had problems for a long time. Since I can't train at the moment, I got it re-examined. In the end, it was decided that an operation was necessary."

* RTB: -- "... and you're also going to have surgery on your back? *Oksana: -- "That's right. That will be at the end of January, then everything will be finished and I can start preparing for the next challenges."

* RTB: -- What plans do you have for the future?
*Oksana: -- "First I have to get better so that I can go back to full training. It's not that I'm doing nothing at all at the moment. But I'm not making any long-term plans - that's something I have never done. I always concentrate completely on the next goal."

* RTB: -- What goal would be realistic, do you think?
*Oksana: -- "I think that the European Championships will be too early - I'm not getting any younger - but the World Championships are included in my plans. Perhaps just on vault and beam to start with. Then we'll see after that."

* RTB: -- I assume that you are often asked whether you intend to participate in your sixth Olympic Games?
*Oksana: -- "Of course. Everyone asks that. They even asked me that in Switzerland directly after the Achilles tendon op. Of course I will be there. In 2010 I will also be participating in the Curling in Vancouver." (Oksana laughs about this and hands over a Basle newspaper to whom she had given the same answer). "But seriously: just now I'm happy to have won my medal and I'm not yet thinking about London!"

* RTB: -- When you participate in the Olympics for the fifth time does it become sort of routine?
*Oksana: -- "Definitely not. The Olympics are far too important for that. Even I get a bit nervous." (smiles). "You certainly take a different approach. In fact, everything is different, because the whole setting is incomparable. It's not something you can just brush off."

* RTB: --  Are Olympic competitions themselves different?
*Oksana: -- "During the competitions the same applies, because you are aware that this is a competition that only comes round every four years. At that moment what counts is whether you can implement all the hard training you have put in. You have to have tunnel vision. In Uzbekistan our coaches demanded that we perform our whole routine in training every now and again, even when no competitions were looming. Just like that. I think that still helps me today. Perhaps I would prefer to do the competition without a warm-up."

* RTB: -- What does your silver medal on vault mean to you as compared with your team gold medal from Barcelona in 1992 ?
*Oksana: -- "My individual medal definitely means a lot more to me. Not only because I have won it now, at the age of 33. An individual medal is much harder to achieve and is something personal. I gave my gold medal to my mother as a thank-you present, but I have the silver medal here."

* RTB: -- Has media interest in you increased?
*Oksana: -- "That is certainly the case, although interest was already great after the World Championships in Stuttgart . With a medal you are evidently more interesting. I am obviously at the focus of interest even though I am injured. Although I don't get recognised everywhere, people do sometimes come up and speak to me."

* RTB: -- Where did you spend Christmas?
*Oksana: -- "Just before Christmas I flew with my family to Uzbekistan and at the beginning of January we returned, because Alisher had to go back to school. Also, there are a few things to sort out before the next operation and training is waiting, too."

* RTB: -- How is Christmas celebrated in Uzbekistan?
*Oksana: -- "Certainly not on 24th December. For us the 6th of January is actually Christmas, but the parties and presents are on New Year's Eve. Presents for the children are deposited secretly outside the door and the door bell is rung.  You mustn't let yourself be seen, which is not always easy."

* RTB: -- Where do you feel at home?
*Oksana: -- "I think of both Germany and Uzbekistan as home. Alisher always thinks of Cologne."
* The interview for the Rheinischer Turnerbund was conducted by Richard Dohmen