10 Questions To Tatiana Kashirina

In any sport there are important individuals who are worthy of the TOP prefix thanks to their achievements, charisma and, of course, hard work. Today, such an outstanding athlete will share her thoughts: a five-time world champion, eight-time European champion, world record holder, Olympic silver medalist (2012) – Tatiana Kashirina.

You have been competing at the TOP level for 11 years. How did it happen that you were not on the international platform as a junior?

I see no reason to talk about my sports childhood. It was ordinary enough. My “big weightlifting” started after winning the 2008 European Junior Championship. There I was 17 years old, and  showed good results in the snatch – 120 kg, in the clean and jerk – 150 kg and set 6 European junior records. Then I moved to the adult national team. In 2009 I won the European championship and did not see the point in competing in junior competitions. In the same 2009, I became the silver medalist of the world championship.

We know that you had a classic style of the Soviet weightlifting school in the national team. How does your training day look like at the training camp?

For me, this is the usual mode and rhythm of life. Preparation at home and at training camps are not very different. Always heavy loads, always heavy weights, of course, taking into account and depending on my well-being. 

In 2014 you lifted your best result in international competitions. Then the thing timing out worked perfectly, the preparation was successful or what happened? After all, this is on average 15 kg more from your “standard” winning total, which is already higher than any expectations.

In 2014, everything really turned out well, and the preparation was free of diseases, and of course luck was on my side. Frankly, such a set of circumstances is really very rare.

Social media are very impressed with your fantastic squats. Have you always had such a reserve in your legs or is it the result of many years of hard work? Tell us a little more about how you train your leg strength.

The training program is my coach’s responsibility. I just performed his plan. To be honest, my legs have always been strong. But there is no single “formula for success” in leg training. In each individual session, the squat program is built differently depending on the state of health, the specifics of training, injuries, and so on.

Despite the quarantine at the last national championship, you managed to show good results. We saw that many athletes of your national team trained right at home, at the apartments on the 17th floor of an ordinary residential building. Where and how did you train?

The preparation was terrible, because I trained in a cellar with low ceilings. I could not do a lot of exercises, even if it was not possible to train everything above chest level. When the lockdown finished and we returned to our gym, we had to start everything all over again, as if I were a beginner. This is also a unique experience. 

There have always been strong Chinese women in your weight category and it is clearly not your case to win “on the easy”. How to set yourself up in a competition when you realize that it will not be just a competition between athletes, but also a fight between the strongest weightlifting schools?

It will be a short answer: I always focus on the result, I don’t think about my competitors. My goal is to lift the maximum weight that I am ready for today.

Every weightlifter has his favorite and hated exercise: snatch, clean, jerk.

I don’t have favorite exercises, but the best I do is snatch and squats.

Your biggest kilos in: snatch, clean and jerk

You know them: snatch – 155 kg, clean and jerk – 193 kg.

What are your sports dreams and dream kilograms on the bar?

Let’s keep it a mystery!

Three tips for a weightlifter from Tetiana Kashirina?

1. Be disciplined.
2. Work towards your goal.
3. Listen to your coach. 

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