Life & Work with Or Tokaev of Sherman oaks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Or Tokaev

Hi Or, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in 1979 at north Ossetian city called Ordgenikinze that later after Soviet Union was broken it change to Vladikavkaz .
When I was 5 my older brother took me to gymnastics class in a Community center that was for free ,without my parents knowing,later when my mom came for the end of the year performance she was so embarrassed,I was the worst One.
During the summer break she was teaching me at home (my mom did artistic gymnastics when she was young) so when I came back to gymnastics in September my teacher didn’t recognize me she said “what happened to you ?” I told her that my mom was teaching me home and from that moment nobody could stop me I was loving and living rhythmic gymnastics day and night, and when I was 8 I was winning first places in my area. In 1992 when I was 11 my family start moving to Israel first was my grandmother then my older brother,my grandmother was listening to the Russian Radio in Israel and she heard coach Natasha Osmolov interview , she called the station and ask for her number ,and then told my mom she found a coach for me in Israel , so my mom send me with my aunt to Israel I celebrated my 12 bday on a road , when we got to Israel my coach took me to live with her till my mom came ,and I was training everyday and going to school,I couldn’t speak Hebrew yet and the kids was kind of mean to me,but I didn’t care I care only about gymnastics,when I was 13 I got second place at the Israeli championship ,and I was really hurt ,so I took my training more seriously and at age 14, I won my first Israeli championship and then 3 more after that ,I represented Israel at the 5 Europe championship ,and 3 world championships,at the age 15, I qualify to The Olympics Atlanta 1996 but Israel didn’t send me ,they said “you to young ,we not gonna send you “It totally broke me down emotionally ,I lost the next Israeli championship and everyone thought that I’m done,I end up getting my self up start training more seriously won the next 3 Israeli championship and qualify to Olympics Sydney 2000.in 1999 I Serve in Israel army and at 2000 went to Olympics at Sydney representing Israel,I was placed 14.
After I come back from the Olympics I celebrated my 21 bday and decide to stop ,at that time all of my body was hurting and I was tired mentally and physically,and I start teaching girls rhythmic gymnastics,I teach in Israel for 5 years and end of the summer 2006 I moved to Los Angeles,that was my other dream “to come to USA “.when I came to LA I felt like my second dream came true,I love the people here I loved the clubs “my favorite was Greystone on Sundays “ I got some friends and I start teaching rhythmic gymnastics.
At this point I’m teaching for more then 20 years ,At age of 37 I had my daughter Mila.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
So when I was in Soviet Union,It was hard time for Jewish people,and we needed to keep it a secret that my family is Jewish ,later some kids find out and was trying to bully me but because of gymnastics,I had strong personality I was just ignoring them. At gymnastics after my mom worked on me and I got much stronger the girls at my team start being jealous and start being mean to me,so it just pushed me to train harder and get more better,when I came to Israel at that time there was a lot of people that came from all over Soviet Union and Israeli hated all of us ,they will say “ooh this Russian came here buying new cars and can even afford to buy a house “ new immigrants that came to Israel at that time Israel was trying to help out so they could buy a new car without paying taxes,that why all the Russian got new cars, but to buy houses or apartments was to expensive.
When I went to school I couldn’t speak Hebrew and the kid was really mean to me and at the gymnastics the girls was jealous again because,I was better then them ,and I stayed with the coach so it created big drama,One of the girls said right in from of me “ I hate all those Russian,they came here and taking first places “ I didn’t speak Hebrew yet but I could understand her and I knew she is talking about me,when I qualify to Olympics Altlanata 1996 the other girl in my team didn’t make it and her father said “I will do anything that nobody will go to the Olympics “ and he succeeded ,Because Israel didn’t send me to the Olympics,before that we went to junior Europe championships I was 13 years old,and I made it in to the finals 24 and his daughter was placed 27 (the final was only for 26 girls) He called my coach and told her,if his daughter not doing the final she better don’t come back to Israel,so the coach asked me to act like I don’t feel good ,so that his daughter compete on the final in stead of me,and I did what ,because I knew he is crazy.Later on he created to much drama and his daughter end up quitting,so he wasn’t in my way later on. So I I was able to qualify to Olympics Sydney 2000 and nobody was in my way.
When I came to USA ,I love it here so much ,finally people liked me for who I’m,I had a lot of friends ,I had one older friend ,I moved in to his house every thing was fine we lived together couple month and we decided to get married,After we got married and I took a trip to Dallas because some one from Israel was flying there with some of my documents,on the way there I got arrested by Immigration,because my tourist visa was expired 3 days ago ,they hold me 3 month in the immigration detention in El Paso ,later when they finally released me and I came back he was asking all crazy ,giving me hard time with everything keep telling me that he will called Immigration and they gonna deport me, He had an Interview and he didn’t pass it ,so they give me deportation,we file for appeal , While waiting for an appeal we got in a big fight because I came back 10 min later then supposed to,he end up losing his mind jumped on me and was choking me and hitting my Head on the ground ,I was trying to get him of me by kicking my leg and trying to kick him of me ,finally I got enough power to kick higher and almost kicked him in a face with my hill, so he let me go ,I was in shock ,and was trying to stay calm and say sorry and make him to come down,next morning he went to work and I went to police station and File for abuse , After that we had couple courts day ,he was trying to say that I come back home like that but later on he admit it ,So I got a new lawyer and filed for abuse case that I end up winning.
It took me 10 years till I finally got my green card and end of 2022 I got my Citizenship ,I went through a lot of tears in my life and only Three times in my life I had tears from happiness when I got to Olympics when I had my daughter and when I got my Citizenship,

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I teach Little girls Rhythmic gymnastics,When I was training I always imagined been a coach and teaching kids ,I love teaching because I know what I’m giving to the girls or kids and I know they will remember me and what ever I’m teaching them will stay with them for long time ,I’m trying give the kids good basics in gymnastics and to improve there body and I explain a lot and make sure they do it correctly and remember it ,it give them confidence and build strong personality,I been teaching a lot of girls and when they leave or move on to the next chapter of their life they all remember me in a good way as their first gymnastics teacher.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I’m very friendly and open mind ,I love to help out and I love working with people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ORSTPRO.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ortokaev?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ortokaev?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ortokaev?si=eKNONXfPqxShNl5e
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/9EDACNfrq-