"It's going to be spectacular. The whole arena will be rocking.“
Magdalena Brzeska isn’t just saying this to drum up support for the World Championships in her beloved sport. It’s because she knows exactly what it feels like to compete on the big stage at home.
”My international career began in 1992 with the European Championships in Stuttgart and ended in 1997 with the World Championships in Berlin."
In that five-year period she rose to become an iconic figure in German rhythmic gymnastics - just like current star Darja Varfolomeev. Brzeska says the Olympic champion is right to expect a special experience for her and her teammates when the World Championships take place in Frankfurt’s Festhalle this August. “Those are goosebump-inducing moments and, alongside the Olympic Games, the most beautiful thing an athlete can experience. “
A major championship in front of a home crowd, the fans that Varfolomeev has already captivated with her successes abroad: golds at World and European Championships and, of course, at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. There are many parallels to Brzeska’s career, but also major differences.
“As the defending champion, a lot is naturally expected of Darja. For me, the pressure wasn’t as great because the Eastern Bloc was simply too dominant at that time. That’s why the major championships were a bit more relaxed for me.”
This was initially true for the German championships as well, where Brzeska first burst onto the scene like a little rhythmic gymnastics comet. A twelve-year-old girl who had almost given up on her career as a gymnast because, like her now-famous successor, the dream of a sporting career began in another land. Darja Varfolomeev spent her early childhood in Russia, Magdalena Brzeska in Poland.
“I grew up in the gym,” explains the now 47-year-old in an interview with Sprossenwand. Her mother was a Polish champion in rhythmic gymnastics; her successor sparked Brzeska’s competitive fire and a hunger for the biggest stage:
“When I saw the Polish champion on TV at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, it was clear to me: I’m going all out now. I want people to see me just like that gymnast.” Little Magda was ten years old at the time. But shortly after, it appeared her dream would be shattered when she followed her parents in emigrating to Germany.
“I thought my career was over. But my Polish coach called me and told me I should stop by in Schmiden,” the Gdynia-born gymnast recalls the day that would shape the course of her life.
She traveled with her stepfather from Hamburg to Schmiden but had him drive back alone. “I told him: ‘Dad, I’m staying here.’ The world of gymnastics was just too wonderful, with the new, high-ceilinged halls at the training centre.”
That was the start of a career that led to 26 German championship titles and culminated in her participation in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, where she reached the finals. Brzeska had actually already qualified for the 1992 Games in Barcelona during her European Championship debut, but she lacked German citizenship at the time.
By 1997, her competitive career was already over, but Brzeska remained a high-profile figure and became the face of rhythmic gymnastics, whether in a quick stop on Harald Schmidt’s talk show or on Thomas Gottschalk’s “Wetten, dass...”. Her name is now associated with many TV shows such as “Ewige Helden” or “Let’s Dance,” which she won twice in 2012 and 2013. “I’ve always enjoyed appearances like that; back when I was active, it was also a nice change of pace from training.”
But alongside the shows, it is competitive sports and the continued development of rhythmic gymnastics in Germany that has remained her passion. In 2006, Brzeska founded a talent school named after her at TSV Schmiden; since 2013, she has been the director of the competitive training centre at TSG Söflingen near her home in Ulm.
She is delighted that a gymnast she has mentored since childhood will likely be part of the German team at the World Championships. Brzeska’s biggest challenge as a coach: the nerves. “I get very excited during every routine my gymnasts perform and practically do the routine along with them from the sidelines.” It was particularly bad with her daughter Noemi, who also made it to the national team: “It was so bad that I traveled to a European Championship and had tickets, but couldn’t be in the arena during her routine. I couldn’t even watch the livestream of her competition.”
This is in stark contrast to Varfolomeev, whom Brzeska credits with not only outstanding athletic ability but also remarkable mental strength. And she’s delighted that the Olympic champion’s success is causing such a boom in the sport. “I’m swamped with calls and emails,” says Brzeska, for whom the surge in interest is also bringing growing challenges: “There’s a shortage of coaches and gym time.”
The sport itself has changed drastically compared to her days, when she performed to live piano music with wooden clubs and hoops: “It’s much more athletic, dance-like, modern, versatile, with more risk elements and higher difficulty levels.” It had its advantages, too, when things went wrong.
“Back then, the ‘Hummeltanz’ would sometimes go on a bit longer,” says Brzeska with a laugh.
Even a world-class gymnast could occasionally let a club slip from her sweaty hand toward the photographers, or the ball would fly off the competition floor into the locker room hallway. She finds it encouraging that the understanding of the body has changed. “Back then, the only rule was: the thinner, the better; the less you eat, the healthier you are; the less you weigh, the higher you jump.”
Because the environment has become more professional overall, she also believes that 19-year-old Varfolomeev will stay on the sports stage longer than she did. This is also thanks to Klaus Kärcher, who was also previously her own manager.
Magdalena Brzeska will be in Frankfurt as a “representative of the World Championships.” But she has already revealed: “I’ll also be on stage at the gala on Saturday night.” And no matter what she performs 34 years after her international debut — the arena is sure to be rocking.
