How can any athlete have such patience? How can someone come back, year after year, at such a high level and maintain those performances?
“After each competition I spend all my time with my family, not thinking about sport. I am also careful with the bigger injuries; I never go back to competition until fully recovered. A lot of rest is necessary especially when a career is this long."
"I do all of my training at Jenys Judo Club in Karagandy with my personal coach, Galimjan Dzhylgeldeyev. He has been my coach since childhood. My coach makes the plan for me in every aspect of my judo. For the support I receive, to come to all the events, everything is done through the government and federation but the Jenys Club also helps a lot."
"I worked for a really long time for this medal, being away from my young family and not seeing them sometimes when I really wanted to. I had a lot of injuries to manage too but now my children can be proud of me, of this medal. I have 5 children, so I believe I have a gold in sport and also a golden family."
"This gold medal is not only a first for Kazakhstan, but is the first Olympic gold medal in judo for all the Central Asian countries. The first day of this Olympic Games brought my gold for Kazakhstan and the second brought Diyora’s gold for Uzbekistan so this is already an incredible Games for Central Asia."
"There is a lot to digest, a lot to think about. I haven’t decided yet what to do next so for now I am just going to enjoy this medal."
