BMX. Interview with Natasha Suvorova

Natasha Suvorova is a three-time champion of Russia, winner of the European Championship, silver medalist of the European BMX League, two-time silver medalist of the European BMX racing championship.

We met Natasha in Moscow, right after the European Cup in Czech Republic. The girl will stay in the capital only a few days and will go to her family in Saransk, because she hasn’t been home for more than a month and missed her family and friends very much. Natasha came with a large sports bag, which she easily carried as if it were empty. And then she took her BMX out of it, packed it up, left it and went to pick out a dress, do her hair, makeup and selfies. It’s amazing how much inner and physical strength is in this fragile girl.

– Natasha, tell us how it all started?

– I got on my first BMX bike at the age of seven. When I was a kid, my brother and I were involved in a school dance group, and I really liked dancing, by the way. My brother was also fond of cycling and once took me for a ride. Soon I didn’t notice how I got involved and started to master the technique of riding. Everything spun by itself. You don’t even notice where children’s sport ends and professional sport begins. When I realized that children’s sport was over, I decided that I would go all the way. What was the point of starting it all for?

– But it’s still about… a girl.

– Of course, when I gave up dancing for BMX, there were a lot of questions from friends and acquaintances, because it is quite a traumatic sport. But my family has always been very supportive. It gave and gives me strength to go forward and not to stop. I was very lucky that none of my parents ever insisted on anything specific and I could decide my own fate. I still sometimes hear questions: how can such a fragile little girl do such a sport, athletes should be big and strong.

– What do you usually answer in such a case?

– I believe that the main strength is not physical, but the one inside me. Sport is sport, it is not male or female, for big or for small. I have never been hurt by people’s opinions, no matter who says what, I just want to show people around me that they are sometimes wrong and what we see on the outside doesn’t always give us a full understanding of the picture.

– Were there times in your career when you wondered why you chose professional sports? Were there “hard times”?

– Unfortunately, sooner or later everyone has a turning point, when you think whether it’s yours, why something goes wrong and what to do next, but in any case I pick myself up. And just move on, work and get better. In 2014, I had an open fracture in my arm, which is a very serious injury and not the easiest moment in my career. And then right before the Olympics I got another injury and couldn’t qualify.

– How do you feel now?

– I recovered quite quickly, everything is fine now, I am ready to conquer new heights with new strength.

– Tell us how do you spend your free time?

– Sport occupies 90 percent of my life, so I have almost no free time. When I have a moment, I want to spend it with my family and friends, just walk in nature, read, lie in bed – sometimes I miss it very much. But I love BMX endlessly and I’m happy to be doing what I love.

– What’s next for you? Do you have any plans for the future?

– I don’t look into the future and try not to make plans, but I can say that my future professional destiny depends a lot on how I finish my career. I am not thinking about my own family and children yet. But I know for sure that I want my child to be connected with sport, because sport builds character and makes us stronger. Maybe not BMX, maybe rhythmic gymnastics… In any case, this is only a distant prospect. And I will perform as long as I want to. Everything always depends only on you and your desire.

At the end of our interview we decided to organize a small blitz and offered Natasha to continue the quotes of a “typical girl” that we found on the Internet, maybe many of them will play for you in a different perspective.

No one notices how at night cries the one… who always laughs (original: the one who goes through life laughing).

I’m hard to find… And that’s the truth. I’m very hard to find somewhere (original: easy to lose and impossible to forget).

No thought is worth… to destroy your self-confidence (original: to think it).

When a person says they don’t want to remember something… they think about it all the time (original: they think about it all the time).

You’d surprise me if… you say you don’t know what BMX is (original: if you’re the first person to write “hello”).

We thank Oh My Look, the best dress rental service in the world, which every girl dreams to visit, and G-Bar beauty corner for organizing and conducting the shoot.