I grew up in a sporting family. My father was a famous footballer and played for Pakhtakor in Uzbekistan, as well as other teams – in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. He was invited to work in Israel, and we almost moved there. The emigration documents were almost ready, but Dad had an injury and stayed in Tashkent. Fate once again…Mum was a basketball player. She went in for artistic gymnastics as a child, but later gave it up and devoted almost her whole life to bringing up me and my sister. She was very serious about basketball, and played in the Uzbek national team. Dad was hardly ever at home, because he was always training. My sister and I missed him a lot, of course, and longed for him to come home. Seeing Dad was always like a celebration for us – he would come home bringing presents and various kinds of treats. While he was away there would be lots of news that we wanted so much to share with him. And if something had happened we would complain about it to him.



Dad never raised his voice, never once laid a finger on us. He was a kind and cuddly magician! But since he was always away from home, it was Mum who brought us up. Sometimes she was strict, of course, and could tell us off or punish us for something, but I know how much that helped me in the future when I was older. I was grateful to her for the discipline and the principles she taught us. What I have achieved in professional sport and in life is mainly down to her.

My parents were over the moon about my successes. Dad reacted to my wins as if they were his own. He was happy and very proud, and loved to repeat: “My little daughter is the cleverest, most talented and most beautiful of all”. Mum was even more overjoyed by my success, because she could see that all her hard work had paid off. Every parent thinks their own child is the best, of course. But whenever I returned home to Tashkent I never heard anyone say “There goes the famous gymnast”. Instead, they would always say – and actually still do even today – “There goes footballer Kabaev’s daughter”. Dad was a very famous footballer in his day. I used to love going to the matches, and would get goose-pimples every time he scored a goal and the stadium erupted. He played with real style. Many of our famous players today could learn a thing or two from him, and I really mean that.

My sister and I adored our mother! We love, respect and obey her to this day. And in the past, whenever I made a spelling mistake in my homework, she would always say” Don’t you worry – I’ve got lots more jotters”.

Everyone in the world is talented in some way. It’s just that we all have different talents, and they need to be fostered. Some people have been lucky enough to find themselves in their profession, while others haven’t. Parents play a huge role in this. They need to be persistent. Often what happens is they manage to get their kid into a sports school or a musical school and then it turns out they have to take him to the kindergarten every morning, then pick him up and take him to training and then home again, and after all that they have to help out with his homework, in addition to doing their own jobs. There aren’t many people who can cope with that! But my Mum saw things through to the end. And I’m so grateful to her!

Dad now lives and works in Tashkent, but we see each other quite often and talk on the phone. Mum and my little sister live in Moscow, so we spend almost all our free time together, though that’s something I have less and less of these days.