Not so long ago, Ksenia Afanasyeva, a long-term veteran of the Russian national gymnastics team, ended her active career. She came to the gym almost by accident, from childhood she was trying to finish with tiring and hard training, but she grew to the highest level and for many years was the captain of the women's national team.
Start
Ksenia Afanasyeva, whose biography will be described below, was born in Tula in 1991. Her mother was engaged in gymnastics, has grown to the level of a master of sports, after completing her career she became a coach. However, this is not the case when a parent sought to direct his child along his own life path.
On the contrary, my mother, who was well acquainted with the harsh world of sports, tried to protect the girl from stress and wanted her to grow up like ordinary children.
Ksenia Afanasyeva herself, meanwhile, grew up a lively, mischievous girl, climbed trees, was friends with the boys. Childhood ended from the moment when the coach came to the kindergarten where the girl went, recruiting children to her gymnastics group.
Ksenia Afanasyeva liked the experienced mentor, and her mother after some hesitation agreed to give her daughter to her coaching colleagues. At first, it was about Ksyusha to learn the basics of gymnastics - stretch marks, sagging, basic elements, but noticeable progress was visible every year, the first awards came.
Big sport
By the fifth grade of the school, the Tula gymnast Ksenia Afanasyeva attracted the attention of metropolitan trainers. Maria Nazarova specially arrived in Tula to pick up a promising athlete in Moscow, after which the final turning point came in the life of Ksenia.
It was difficult for the girl, she repeatedly tried to give up everything, but she kept herself at the expense of winding up her mother, who set her next goal - to become a candidate for master of sports, master of sports, and so on until the gymnast Ksenia Afanasyeva became a member of the national team.
An original appearance of the Tula girl in the light took place at the junior competitions, where she represented the club CSKA. Here she first felt the atmosphere of large tournaments, and soon got into the national team.
Ksenia Afanasyeva first appeared in adult gymnastics competitions in 2006, while still a schoolgirl. Here she won a bronze medal, feeling that she could compete on equal terms with the best athletes of Russia. Next year, the girl went up a notch, taking silver, thereby confirming her class.
First olympic attempt
The year 2008 began for Ksenia Afanasyeva quite successfully, she took silver in the exercises on the beam at the national championship, won the Cup of Russia. Thus, she earned a place in the national team, which was preparing for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
A sixteen-year-old athlete in the main games of the four-year period defended the country's honor in exercises on a log, and also had to help the team in team competitions. However, those years were a difficult time for Russian gymnastics, the leaders were long gone, and new young talents had not yet managed to grow up.
The Russian team hardly competed with the leading gymnastic powers and stopped a step away from the podium, remaining in fourth place after the finals of team competitions.
In the exercises on the log, Ksenia tried to fight to the end, made her way to the finals, but she could not rise above seventh place.
Breakthrough
In 2009, at the European Championships in artistic gymnastics, Ksenia Afanasyeva already acted as an experienced athlete who passed the test of the Olympic Games. She brilliantly performed in the all-around and won silver, unexpectedly for many ahead of the best gymnasts of the continent.
However, Ksyusha was especially remembered for the World Cup in Rotterdam, which took place a year later. The Russian team, advocated by Afanasyeva, won the team competition, thus breaking the long-standing chain of failures and making them believe in themselves. Also, a native of Tula performed in floor exercises, she was second after qualification, however, in the final, the girls could not stand her nerves, and she slipped to eighth place.
What did not work out in Holland was managed to be done a year later in Japan. At the World Championships in Tokyo, Ksyusha again performed in floor exercises, finished her qualification in tenth place. The favorites of the tournament were superior to Ksenia, according to her, in acrobatics, in jumping elements, but she had brilliant choreography, plastic, which was enough to get ahead of her rivals.
Team captain
By 2012, Ksenia Dmitrievna Afanasyeva became the most experienced gymnast in the national team, and as a veteran, a twenty-year-old girl was appointed captain of the team that went to win the next Olympic Games.
By that time, excellent athletes had grown up in Russia, among whom the future star of gymnastics Aliya Mustafina stood out . Ksenia coped with her duties as a leader, supported the girls, helped to cope with the monstrous psychological pressure. All this became the key to the success of the team, which at the end of the tournament won a silver medal, losing only to the unconditional leaders of recent years - the US team.
However, in the individual forms of affairs, Xenia did not go so well, she was left without awards in her favorite forms - floor exercises, logs. Not wanting to write off her failures, she kept silent about the fact that she performed in London, experiencing severe pain in her leg. Later, problems will surface and a major operation will be required.
Operation
In 2013, Ksenia Afanasyeva performed at the European home championship. She was seriously preparing for the all-around competitions, hoping to shine in front of her stands, but made a disappointing mistake in qualifying, having torn off the bars.
They managed to rehabilitate themselves in floor exercises, where Ksenia won the judges with her plastic and choreography and became the winner of the tournament. A month later, a student at a St. Petersburg university went to defend the country's honor at the World Universiade, where in the absence of strong foreign competitors she gathered a whole scattering of awards.
The strongest long-term loads could not but cause significant damage to the body, after the student games of Xenia, a serious operation on the leg ligaments was required. The matter was complicated by the fact that at home the doctors for a long time could not decide on the necessary measures, conducted a series of surface surgeries, after which the gymnast did not feel better. Only after an examination in Germany did a serious course of treatment begin, ending with surgery and a long rehabilitation. For Ksenia Afanasyeva sport, gymnastics were not the object of fanatical admiration, she was already thinking about ending her career.
Return and final departure
Despite a considerable age by gymnastic standards, old injuries Ksenia returned to big sport after recovery. In 2015, she performed great at the continent championship in Montpellier, becoming the third in the vault. The girl was preparing hard for her third Olympic Games, but her health failed again.
Shortly before the start of the Olympics, it was announced that the Tula athlete was ending her career due to severe kidney disease.
Ksenia Afanasyeva’s personal life is a restricted area for strangers, she never covered this topic in an interview, limiting herself to living alone and not thinking about family life.