Skip to main content

Alexander Alexandrov shows confidence in Russian team for Rotterdam

Russian team coach Alexander Alexandrov has expressed some optimism about the Russian women's prospects at the upcoming world championships.

http://www.sportgymrus.ru/press/news/4066/default.aspx

He feels that Mustafina is a good prospect for the all around; and makes special mention of Nabieva's straight Tkachev-Pak combination as 'unique and historic'.

And I have to say, Tanya Nabieva is quite probably the fastest improving gymnast I have ever seen - hope she will do well in Rotterdam.

If, like me, you struggle to read Russian and find Google translations somewhat bizarre, try International Gymnast online for a better translation.

Comments

  1. Bourdieu says in 'distinction' that there are as many different capitals as there are fields of struggle. If sport is the subject of a struggle for distinction (econmically, culturally etc) then he would expect their to be a form of symbolic capital associated with it that would be unequally distributed between the haves and the have nots. I read Clive Barnett et al's 'culture, class distinction' recently which updates Bourdieu for the contemporary UK (sadly not russia!), but which places the emphasis not on cultural consumption as bourdieu does, but in participation. I'm guessing Gymnastics is a sport (art?) with quite high barriers to entry and so I'd expect that participation, active and passive, would denote a form of status distinction. To be fair though, I'm just guessing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, there's some more reading for me - thank you. I think this does add quite a lot to think about!
    Does it necessarily have to be ethnically/nationally bound? I suppose different cultures do have different ways of seeing ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Full bibliographic references for James' reading suggestions above are now added to the bibliography.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry - should have used Harvard. If our students found out I'd never live it down! I don't think it has to be bound in those ways. Lots of people criticise bourdieu for being either 1) too french in his frame of reference or 2) too structuralist and not open enough to that kind of diversity. I don't think either of those criticisms really hold, but he made such a point of saying that all theoretical work should be grounded in fieldwork that it was kind of inevitable that he kept his research within his own boundaries....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks James. I can feel something with a little more depth coming on ......... ooer.

    I'm using this site as a repository for useful references so that I don't ever lose sight of anything useful again ... that's the plan, anyway. Know how to back up a blog?

    ReplyDelete
  6. hmmmm...not sure! will find out...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...

We are satisfied - Aliya Mustafina

Photo credit: RGF An Allsport interview today with Aliya Mustafina : http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=83075 'I think that we are to be congratulated on this bronze medal, we are more satisfied than frustrated', said Aliya Mustafina. 'We were a new team, all the girls are young, and it's their first time in such a serious competition.  I think today we performed to the best of our ability.  Yes, we have had two falls today - on the uneven bars and balance beam.' 'The young girls failed  psychologically, but  the first time you compete on the senior podium - it's not very easy.  No  one is sad.  I  am very pleased with such a performance.  Everything  was fair enough, maybe not everywhere and in all things, but overall it was quite as expected, both our rivals, and the judging.' 'I began to experience more pain in the ankle - continued Aliya Mustafina. - To do the dismounts I had to muster all my strength and clench my teeth.  ...

Mustafina Interview 2 of 2 : 'I will only perform under the Russian flag'

Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more