Middletown Trampoline Academy Owner Will Coach In Tokyo Olympics

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The owner of a well-known Middletown gymnastics academy will head to Tokyo later this month, as she has been selected to coach two trampoline athletes for Team USA.

The coach is Tatiana Kovaleva, who owns Elite Trampoline Academy off Rt. 35 in Middletown. She also lived in Middletown for years, but just recently relocated to Holmdel.

"I feel very special and I'm looking forward to supporting Team USA and doing the best I can," Kovaleva, 46, told Patch Friday. "It's exciting the Olympics are even actually taking place, after being canceled and postponed from last year. That was very mentally stressful for the athletes (to see them canceled). They've all tried and worked so hard."

Kovaleva, who herself is the 1996 world champion, will not be coaching any local gymnasts from Monmouth County or even New Jersey.

Instead, she will be coaching Aliaksei Shostak, 26, and Nicole Ahsinger, 24, on the trampoline, who both train in Louisiana. They both specifically requested Kovaleva to coach them as they try to win gold. Their coach cannot coach them because he will be a judge in this summer's Olympics.

The world of trampoline is very small, Kovaleva explained.

"I've known them for a long time, since they were young teenagers just entering the sport," she said. "I have a good relationship with their gym owner. It's a very big honor I was asked."

This will actually be Kovaleva's second time going to the Olympics as a coach: In 2012, she coached U.S. gymnasts in the London summer Olympics. Team USA did not medal that year in trampoline.

Kovaleva is scheduled to fly from New Jersey to Tokyo on July 22; she will stay with the athletes at the Olympic Village.

This year's Olympics may prove quite challenging for some of the athletes, especially the younger teens, as no family or fans — even their own parents — will be allowed to accompany them. This is due to virus lock downs in Japan.

"I want to be there to make them comfortable even in these circumstances — an Olympics with no fans in the stands, no family, no spectators," she said. "I just want to provide the best atmosphere I can. I'm hoping that this won't make them any less excited and prevent them from trying their very best."

Of course, Kovaleva and many others were hoping local star Jeffrey Gluckstein would qualify for the 2020 Olympics this summer.

Gluckstein, 28, was raised right here in Atlantic Highlands and he just won his seventh national title on the trampoline. He also won the silver medal in the most recent Pan American Games. He and his older brother, Steven Gluckstein, 31, are the two most famous athletes to come out of Kovaleva's gym. Steven is now a coach himself.

Jeffery was named the 2018 Athlete of the Year by USA Gymnastics and he's a student at Brookdale Community College. You can read his bio here: https://www.gymnastics.sport/s...

"Jeffery unfortunately did not have enough points to qualify," she said. "He just didn't do as well as we expected. He's disappointed; he's devastated it went that way. It just didn't happen for him this time, unfortunately."

"It's a stressful, complicated process to be an Olympian and get to the Olympics," she said. "But there have been a lot of accomplishments in his career so far and I'm proud of him. There will be other opportunities."

Kovaleva is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia and she started training on the trampoline at age 6. She competed with the Russian National team and won the world championship in 1996.

After retiring, she moved to the United States and began coaching. Kovaleva has owned Elite Trampoline Academy in Middletown since 2011.

Related: Meet The 5 Rutgers Grads Competing In This Summer's Olympics

Be the first to know. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com