Inside Interview: Samantha Peszek
June 19, 2008
Luan, a former media relations manager whose current title is Publications Director, knows all about media, so it’s no surprise that daughter Sam is a dynamo when it comes to interviews. Cute, chatty and always smiling, Peszek is far better than most 16-year-olds when it comes to dealing with the media.
“C’mon, I’m Luan Peszek’s daughter,” she laughs. “What did you expect?”
Inside Gymnastics introduces you to this bubbly, blonde World gold medalist who is currently Team USA’s fourth-ranked gymnast, as she goes for her first Olympic Games …
INSIDE: How did you get started in the sport?
PESZEK: My mom put me in gymnastics, but I definitely wanted to do it. I thought those girls [on Team USA] were superstars. They were so cool.
I wasn’t a very good gymnast when I was little. It was kind of embarrassing, actually. When my mom talked about me she was always like, ‘She’s trying really hard.’
[Then,] it was like, ‘I want to be there [at the big meets my mom took me to watch], too,’ so I would just work harder and harder in the gym, and eventually it started paying off. Little by little.
INSIDE: When did you first think you could be one of those superstars yourself?
PESZEK: I was always really strong, so in the TOPs program, I always excelled, because it’s all about strength. I was on the TOPs National Team, which is where I met Shayla (Worley), and I came to the Ranch for the first time and met the National Staff. That was when I really decided, ‘Wow, I could really do this.’
I was 10.
INSIDE: What’s it like to go from a 10-year-old dreaming of the Olympics to now being so close to the Games?
PESZEK: It’s so crazy! I’m used to it being, like, ‘It’s just four years away.’ When I first made the National Team everyone was so focused on the ’04 Olympic Team, so nobody paid any attention to the little juniors. (laughs) I didn’t really do anything that year.
I didn’t really understand about the Olympics. People would ask if I was going to go to the Olympics and I was like, ‘Maybe,’ [or,] ‘That would be cool,’ but as it’s got closer and closer and closer, more people talk about it and everything. All your training and preparation is being geared towards the Games.
On the hard days, that’s what you’ve got to keep in the back of your mind: How bad do you want it?
INSIDE: How bad do you want it?
PESZEK: (laughs and groans), Man, I want it bad!
I’m always [asking my coach,] ‘Are you sure you don’t want one more Peter?’ He’s like, ‘No, you’re gonna’ die. Stop.’
INSIDE: What’s the key, in your mind, to you making the team?
PESZEK: For me, personally, I just think that I … really need to stay consistent.
… I think some of my skills are really unique, like, I do a double-double, and only a couple of people in the world do that. Some of my really hard skills are, like, the kind of skills that I hope will really pizzazz the judges, and [National Team Coordinator] Martha (Karolyi). Make them, like, ‘International judges will really appreciate that.’
INSIDE: There has been so much talk about how good this U.S. team is. You’re the defending World Champs. Is anything less than Games gold going to be good enough for you guys?
PESZEK: That’s a really hard question because, honestly, we want to win. We want to win bad.
We’re going to do everything we can to win and [we know] it’s going to be extra-hard, because everyone is gunning for us AND it’s in China’s hometown. We have to take that into consideration and be that much better than them.
It’s definitely gonna’ be a hard fight. I’m not gonna’ say it’s going to be easy at all, because for sure it won’t. I’m really confident in [National Team Coordinator] Martha (Karolyi) and all our individual coaches. They’ve won the Olympics before. They know the road it takes. I’m really confident that they will point us in the right direction.
We’re going to have to put it all on the line, put it all out there. Just do the best we can do that night, because that’s what it’s going to take.
I think we were so successful at Worlds because we had the right mix; Alicia (Sacramone) and the Nastia (Liukin) and they’re the veterans. They’ve been there before. Then you have all the other girls, who were the newbies, and we have lots of energy and spunk. I think that was such a good combination, because we blended so well together. … I think it really helped the team.
INSIDE: What did you learn from your first Worlds experience last year?
PESZEK: Oh my gosh, so much, I can’t say in words. The experience all together is so amazing.
I learned so much. Just, like, [dealing with] the time change, adjusting to the food, most of the times when we went to the gym we had to get used to four different kinds of equipment, in four different gyms we had to work out in. There were times we weren’t allowed to run and stretch [on the floor], so we had to do it on the concrete. And just a bunch of little things like that, that all add up and make the whole [learning] experience so much better.
INSIDE: What was being part of a gold-medal team like?
PESZEK: Just so amazing. As soon as we figured out that we won—I’m sure you can see from the pictures and video—we were all like, ‘Oh my God, we won. We did it!’
We’d been on the road from Championships, to the [training] camp, to Germany, we’d been gone so long, [but] it was all so worth while. We would all do it over again if we had a chance.
[After we won,] we got a chance to enjoy it a little bit. We got a morning off to spend with our parents and go shopping in Germany, which was nice. Of course, when we got home, there was a HUGE celebration at home.
I don’t think I realized how big a deal it was until now, when people are STILL talking about it. It’s so crazy. We went down in history: The first World team to win it outside of the country.
I didn’t really realize how big a deal that was, until Nastia and Alicia explained it to us. I mean, they’ve been to Worlds before and they were like, ‘You don’t just go to Worlds and win every time. You have to fight.’ It made me a little nervous, even though we’d already won.
INSIDE: And you almost didn’t make that World team, right?
PESZEK: I WAS the alternate, actually, until the very last day.
Peter, my coach, consistently talked to me. We knew that if I had one bad day it would be like, ‘You’re the alternate.’
Martha talked to me, right when we got to the Ranch [for training camp,] and said, ‘I’m really confident you can make this team, but you have to understand that we have to put you alternate because of what happened day one at [2007] Championships.’
I completely understood. That’s fair. I feel like I almost had to work twice as hard in my preparation, because I had to regain my spot almost.
INSIDE: What did happen that first, disastrous day at last years Championships?
PESZEK: (laughing) Good question! I really don’t know. I wish I could tell you what happened that day. I don’t know what I was thinking, or what was going on. I just lost my competitive edge, almost. I just wasn’t, whatever.
After that meet I was, like, ‘I’m for sure not making the World team, so I’m just going to go out and have fun.’ Honestly, I didn’t think I had a chance at all. My parents didn’t. My friends didn’t. They were just like, [trying to make me feel better saying,] ‘Everything happens for a reason.’
You know, I just wanted to go out and have fun [on day two]. I do gymnastics because I have fun. I just have fun with it and that’s when I perform best—and that’s what happened.
So, I took that [experience] and learned from my mistakes. I always try and have fun and relax in competition now. I definitely have to learn from that mistake and hope that I don’t repeat that again.
You work so hard going into it and just to have a mistake like that it’s, like, ‘You could have done so much better.’ It’s all coulda’, shoulda’, woulda.’
I’m definitely working harder in my preparation this year. Twice as hard. Just so there’s not even an option that, that could happen again.
INSIDE: This year at Championships wasn’t perfect, but were you satisfied with the outcome?
PESZEK: Coming off of Championships I was really proud of me coming back from last year. That was already a big accomplishment.
I felt really prepared and I was glad that I was able to go out and show ‘em what I could do.
It’s all right that I made mistakes because that’s what this (Trials) is for. This is more important and I had a decent competition. I can’t wait for this meet to fix all those little mistakes I might have had at Championships.
INSIDE: Your biggest error in Boston was a day two fall on your floor dismount. Is a 1-1/2 through to double pike too ambitious at the end of a routine that is already really hard?
PESZEK: I don’t think so. I just misjudged how much I needed to set, and I didn’t pull as hard as I needed to, because I thought I had it. It wasn’t really anything other than that.
I’ve been working really hard this past week in the gym to correct that mistake and doing a lot of them. Hopefully, it will be good for the competition.
INSIDE: What are your goals here? You’ve still got the Selection Camp next month, so this is really just the halfway point.
PESZEK: I think at this stage Martha wants to see consistency. It’s really important for the Olympic Games. [Teams finals are] three-up, three-count and they need those three scores. You need to score as high as you can with the least amount of execution [deductions].
Not only is it important to do great in the meet, here, but they’re watching every practice. You need to be consistent in practice so they know it’s not just luck.
INSIDE: Your mom was telling us you’re not even nervous for this meet. How is that possible?
PESZEK: (laughing) I know, it’s weird, right? People keep asking me, ‘Sam, are you nervous?’ And I’m like, ‘Nervous for what?’
Of course, obviously, I know what they’re talking about but … when you feel prepared and ready there is nothing to be nervous about. Nerves just make you more worried, which makes you less confident.
[Last year at USAs,] I wasn’t really prepared for meet, so I got really nervous. I was really cautious. I think I just held back. That was something I don’t normally do, so I don’t know how to handle it.
INSIDE: Are you comfortable with your fourth-place standing right now?
PESZEK: I’m not really focusing on the places so much as my own job. My routines, the best that I can hit them.
You can’t really control the scores, the judges or what anyone else does, so I’m just going to try and go out there and do the best that I can do.
Of course, my key events are vault and floor, and I’m hoping that I’m starting to come out on beam, and show everyone what I can do there. I really like that event, so I’m hoping that will ensure my place on the beam, as well.
INSIDE: You always seem so happy and easygoing. Is this a fun process? It seems, from the outside, to be so nerve-racking.
PESZEK: It IS really nerve-racking but, at the same time, you gotta’ have fun. What are you doing it for if you’re not having a little bit of fun?
I try to have as much fun as I can. To take advantage of every opportunity that is coming my way.
INSIDE: How do you stay so laidback?
PESZEK: My parents and all my friends really just ground me. I do go to regular [private, Catholic] school, and I think that helps. The best of both worlds, kind of. I have school friends and gym friends and I think, really, the whole experience [of school] grounds me. My teachers don’t treat me any different. I still have homework, I still have projects and tests and finals. I think that kind of helps in the whole process of not getting a huge ego.
My parents always look at, like, Britney Spears, and say, ‘You are NEVER going to be like that, Sam.’ I have a lot of expectations of not being a superstar in the mental aspect of it.
INSIDE: What do you like to do for fun?
PESZEK: I love shopping, and hanging out with school friends. Occasionally I go to parties and just try to have as normal a high school life as you can.
In the summer, you can usually either find me in the gym or on the boat, because we live right across from a lake and [we] have a speedboat on the lake. (laughs) I usually go [water-]sking, but probably not this year. There’s this kid on the lake who is a wake-boarder and he’s always like, ‘I want to teach you, because you’d be beast at it, because you can flip and stuff,’ and I’m always like, ‘Next year. After.’
INSIDE: Do you have any ideas of what you want to do after 2008, besides wakeboarding?
PESZEK: Of course, everything I do is focused on the Olympics and Beijing and my preparation, but I think I really want to do college gymnastics. I mean, I have a couple years—I have junior and senior year left—so I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen, but I definitely want to go to college and do gymnastics.
It’s kind of too soon, but, of course, I want to go to a good school that has good gymnastics. I visited Stanford before [last year’s USA] Championships and UCLA, just because we happened to be there, and they’re both really nice campuses and stuff. I can’t wait to go and visit all the other schools.
INSIDE: What’s the best advice you’ve received through this whole Olympic selection process so far?
PESZEK: Probably just to stay calm and enjoy it, because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
(laughs) Which, now that I think of it, doesn’t really make any sense.
