We went to Pavlodar thanks to Dad: he was playing there for his football team Pakhtakor and the whole family lived there for about four years. I carried on with my gymnastics there because Mum didn’t want me to drop it. From Pavlodar I even got to the Asian championship. Not as a member of the team, because I came seventh (and I needed to get into the top three), but with a demonstration programme. This is how it all happened: the top gymnastics trainer in Kazakhstan saw my demonstration performance after the competition and said “We’re taking this girl with us anyway”. The championship was in Japan. I remember there were some financial problems, but Dad found some sponsors and things were sorted out somehow. But we still arrived late at the championship – it took us ages to get visas in Moscow. I remember while we were waiting for the visas we trained hard in a gymnastics school on Schelkovskaya Street.

But still, we managed to perform with the top sportswomen of that time - Asel Mustafina, for example, who was also from Pavlodar. She won two gold medals that year.

Taking part in the demonstration performances made a strong impression on me – I did a routine with the rope in a huge hall with an enormous monitor above the stage. I really wanted to see myself on that monitor, so I tried to jump higher. When I succeeded I was really pleased - it turned out I was very good at it. And in addition, of course, I simply adored Japan!

Overall, I have very good memories of Pavlodar. We had a great team: we were good friends, we trained and travelled to events together. I’m also grateful to the trainers I trained with, and I can say without any doubt that they had a hand in my successes.