2018 European vault champion Boglarka Devai of Hungary told International Gymnast Online she is keen to compete at next month’s Challenge Cup in her hometown of Szombathely which will serve as her comeback from an injury-induced layoff.
“I am really looking forward to competing again after a two-year absence,” said Devai, who won six Challenge Cup medals on vault from 2015-2017. “My goal is to get back, and the result is only secondary.”
Devai joins gymnasts around the world who are emerging from coronavirus quarantine to resume competing internationally, but she is also making her confident first steps after a complicated injury and tedious rehabilitation.
A month after Devai won gold on vault at the European Championships in Glasgow in August 2018, she injured her left foot while training on uneven bars. Four surgeries, the insertion of a screw in one of her toes and a long period of recovery followed.
“The last two years have been quite difficult for me, especially after winning a European Championships gold medal,” said Devai, the first Hungarian woman to win a European title since Adrienn Varga finished first on vault 20 years earlier. “I had to relearn how to walk and run. My feet are now completely used to alternating, so I can work more easily on my vaults from two years ago and, over time, be able to present them again in competition.”
Devai started what she deems “full-fledged work” in January, and stayed fit during coronavirus quarantine through training regimens at home and outdoors. She resumed formal training in the gym with her longtime coaches, Gabor Racz and Erzsebet Vizer, in mid-May.
“Based on the many ordeals, I didn’t even consider giving up my dreams of gymnastics,” said Devai, who placed 14th on vault at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships.
In light of recent global conversations about mistreatment and abuse of gymnasts by their coaches, Devai said she empathizes with the victims and is grateful for her positive relationship with Racz and Vizer.
“I’m lucky because things like that didn’t happen, because I work very well with my coaches,” she told International Gymnast Online. “But these stories I’ve read from gymnasts are so sad. Proper communication is essential between a coach and an athlete.”
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