Angelina Melnikova: "Next year, probably, I will rest."

How does the saying go? No rest for the... Olympic champions?

That certainly seems to be the approach the Russian Gymnastics Federation's Angelina Melnikova is taking. The 21-year-old, who helped her ROC team capture gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games before collecting individual all-around and floor exercise bronze medals just two months ago, is wasting no time getting back on the global stage and will be a favourite to win multiple medals at next week's World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan.

"I just decided to complete this year['s competitions] and next year, probably, I will rest," Melnikova said after Saturday's (16 October) official practice in Kitaykushu, according to a translation provided by Gymnovosti.

The Russian Gymnastics Federation (RGF) will compete in the final women's qualifying subdivision, scheduled for 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday (19 October). The women's all-around is Thursday (21 October) with two days of apparatus finals set for Saturday and Sunday (23-24 October).

Melnikova has certainly not had much down time this year, having competed in several domestic events and the European Championships prior to her successful trip to Tokyo. Since winning gold at the Games, Melnikova has been everywhere: interviews galore, photo shoots and even a meeting with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, where she and other Olympic champions received Master of Sport titles and new cars.

That hectic schedule is keeping her expectations grounded.

"My goal for this competition is to show the maximum that I've manage to prepare in just a month of training," she said. "I only had one month."

It's hard to tell, though. During podium training, Melnikova, who starred in the Olympic Channel original series 'All Around,' ran through her Olympic programme with relative ease. That's not to say there weren't hiccups - a bent leg during a transition on the uneven bars and a botched turn on the floor, for example - but the reigning World all-around bronze medallist could be forgiven, having just arrived in Japan two days ago after an arduous 36-hour journey, according to her Instagram story.

With that form and the withdrawals this week of Olympic all-around silver medallist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and 2018 world all-around silver medallist Murakami Mai of Japan from one or more events, it would be easy for Melnikova to expect her first gold medal at the world championships to come easily.

But she refuses to crown herself champion prematurely.

"I'm not familiar with the other competitors," Melnikova said. "I haven't seen anybody here [laughs], that's why I can't even make predictions."