Cosmopolitan July issue 2012
originally written in Russian, Translated and edited by catts
Many many thanks to my friend catts

Evgenia Kanaeva, OG Champion in 2008, the pride of the Russian National Team and the goddess of RG talks about beauty, success, dreams and the most important issues in life.

 To achieve success, the most important of all, is to love what you do.

Q: How did you end up in the big sport?
A: About this, during childhood I was chubby. And grand mom and mom decided that gymnastics could help correct figure and keep slim. No one back then thought about a serious sporting career.

Q: When serious training started, you were about 7-8 years old. How did the little Zhenya live her day?
A: I trained 5-6 hours everyday depending on the school schedule. Upon returning home, my grand mum would ask me to show her what I did on that day. And I would jump at her command and gladly repeated in front of her the whole training program.

Q: Have you never thought about running away from training and playing with your peers?
A: My schedule was never a problem to me. I received a lot of pleasure from training, which for me was like fascinating games. I even had never thought about who the friends were in my life. I shared life with the girls in training at the school. They were my idols. I watched what they did, and could not have imagined one day I would be able to do likewise.

Q: What motivated you to go forward?
A: My main target was to get into the national team. I dreamed of performing in international arena and to reach the limit. When I watched the well known gymnasts on TV, for me they were like rock stars from another world – such was there in my dream.

Q: And today, what occupy your time?
A: I train twice a day. I wake up at 7.30 and by 8.30 I am already in the sport hall. From 9.00 to 10.30 it is choreography, and then it will be a 2-hours training session. The second part of the training starts with 90 minutes of warm-up, and then 3 hours of intensive exercise. Afterward, the only strength that remains will be for sleep. However, during day-off it is necessary to spend the day with friends, ie. going out, watching movies and having fun.

Q: Do you feel proud of any achievements?
A: My main achievement at this current moment is my participation in the OG. When you walk out onto the arena, you feel there come the incomparable feelings, which are impossible to forget and make you long to feel them again. You know, during the time of performing, in the process when I want to show all I am capable of doing, I feel like a goddess. In the OG this gives me strength.

Q: Is this what is called success?
A: Success is a satisfaction from something that you reach. This does not only come through a professional plan. Now, my career and my private life are one goal, but on a global level I know my most wanted achievement is still to come.

Q:Which?
A:To become a mother.

Q: What advice you would like to give to the young girls who dream of success?
A: To achieve success, the most important of all is to love what you do. Without it nothing will come together. Never give up. Cast out negative thoughts from yourself and apply all efforts which give best results.

Q: Talk about authority, whose opinion do you value? For you, who is the role model to follow?
A: Opinions of my mum, grand mum, and people who I work with, my trainer. This is what sport is concerned. If you look at things globally, I know about the acts of Princess Diana and I am sure she was like an angel! Audrey Hepburn, in my opinion, was also very beautiful.

Q: As we talked about beauty, which parts of your life need beauty-rituals?
A: In our sport, beauty and good beauty treatment are very important. I always find time for myself. When it is rest time I frequently want to go to beauty salon, and every morning and evening it is necessary to pay attention on skin care. Because of my wonderful appointment as the messenger of Venus, which is about hair removal – this is also part of my daily beauty rituals, and I always use razors from Venus, as well as their gel for shaving because with them I don’t have irritation, and the skin stays very smooth and tender. Most importantly for me, as for other gymnasts, beautiful legs have special value – they attract most of the attention.

Beauty secrets from Evgenia Kanaeva

In order to feel like a goddess, it is necessary to be sure that you have a wonderful appearance!

Beautiful legs guarantee success not only in RG. To test this, put on short-enough skirt and go outside. On this basis, leg care should be given attention no less than care for hair or face.

In beauty treatment, just like sport, always need to strive for excellence. This means, legs should be ideally smooth, and skin tender. Venus ProSkin Sensitive helps me with this for sensitive skin.

Always spare time for yourself and the procedure of beauty treatment. Beauty treatment is a discipline. Devote yourself to correct morning and evening skincare and see – the result will be tremendous.

Be loyal. And especially toward cosmetic brands. If you manage to pick up a series which is ideally suitable for your skin and after using it you feel like a goddess, why do you need new experiments?

Smile more – a natural smile attracts more than professional makeup. Unlike cosmetic makeup, a smile is always handy.

P.S.
1. There is another piece from Cosmopolitan, but it’s difficult to read the text, it is more about being a ‘goddess’ and Zhenya being the spokesperson of Venus. Will try to see if my friends can translate it or not.

2. Here is another interview in marie claire, July 2012, and it’s English
click here