2023-04-18 00:17:00
Elisabeth Seitz won gold on the uneven bars at the European Games in Munich, and at the European Championships in Antalya/Turkey she confirmed that she is among the best in Europe: Seitz won bronze when Italy’s Alice D’Amato won. She hadn’t specifically planned to get on the podium, she wanted to enjoy the competition above all else.
“I love competitions,” she says in the Deutschlandfunk interview and believes that her mental strength to focus during competitions is part of her talent. Nevertheless, Seitz gets very excited before competitions, especially when she has to wait a long time – like in Antalya, when she was only eighth:
“I try to concentrate on myself, try not to get so excited that I might even end up tired,” says the national gymnast, describing her mental preparation. “And I always like to talk to my trainer, to physios or whoever is nearby. The main thing: talking and preferably not at all regarding gymnastics, so that can be regarding anything. Last year at the European Championships, the theme was cats.”
Gymnastics training adapted to age
Elisabeth Seitz has been part of the German national team since 2009, a long time for a gymnastics career at this level. Seitz is 29 years old and has now changed her training, adapting it more to her age and her body: “I always try to train very intelligently. That means: Always doing the right thing to get ahead without harming my body. It’s always not easy because gymnastics is a tough, very intense sport.”
At 31, Rebecca Downie, who placed second in the uneven bars at the European Championships, is also one of the older gymnasts. But the image of gymnastics has also changed, says Seitz:
“It used to be said: ‘It’s just children who do gymnastics’. But the trend is that you get older in gymnastics, and that’s because you’ve learned to train in such a way that your body can do it too.”
Rethinking girlish aesthetics
Seitz hopes that the age range will eventually extend from 16 to 30 or even older, because the older gymnasts are also competitive in competitions: they have advantages through their competitive experience. And the idea of aesthetics has also changed:
“I would say that the code is so good that not only is there one type of gymnast that is now petite and elegant, but you can build your drills in such a way that there are different types of gymnasts and there can be then the experienced athletes will also fit in well.”
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