Skip to main content

Lake Krugloye - rewarding the gymnasts and coaches/considering the future

A flurry of activity at Lake Krugloye: first, on the 1st November, Russian minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitalyi Mutko visited the training base to congratulate the women's team on their victory in Rotterdam, and also to present awards to various gymnasts and coaches:

Merited Master of Sport medals were given to Ksenia Afanasyeva, Tatiana Nabieva and Anna Dementieva (Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Semenova and Ekaterina Kurbatova have already received this honour).

Merited Coach of Russia medals were awarded to National Team Coach Alexander Alexandrov; acrobatics coach Vasily Ivanov; choreographer Olga Borova; technical trainer Evgenyi Grebenkin (he has special responsibility for uneven bars); and Anna Dementieva's personal coach, Elena Zhiganova.

Congratulations to all!!

Secondly, the Russian women's team and coaches held a press conference on the 2nd November at which the results of the recent world championships, and prospects for future development were discussed. Key reference was made to the need for future investment, and development of the numbers of gymnasts and coaches as a pre-requisite to continued and improved success. Credit was also given to the Federation, the Ministry of Sport, and to sponsors VTB. Rodienenko also made reference to ambiguity in the marks awarded to two of the Russian gymnasts. Key points included :

Rodienenko asserted that this was a well deserved victory they had been working towards for more than a year. The Russian team was now recognised as the best team in the world. But Russia now has to prove that this result was not accidental. It is always more difficult to defend a title than to win for the first time. Important factors in the victory this time were the girls' own experience, skill and strong desire to win. The role of their personal coaches, state coaches, and training staff at Lake Krugloye was also vital, as well as that of the Federation and the Russian Ministry of Sports (note: presumably the Ministry are key fund-holders).

Alexandrov thanked supporters of Russian gymnastics and said that the competition at next year's World Championships was bound to be even more difficult than this year.

Valentina Rodienenko mentioned that after a short holiday the girls were now back in training at their improved facilities in Lake Krugloye. From 2011 the senior team will be joined by those girls born in 1995, including Viktoria Komova.

Andrei Rodienenko makes mention of the ambiguity of rules which affected the marking of Mustafina and Kurbatova's (sic) vaults at the World Championships and says a similar problem also affected a Swiss gymnast (note: this was presumably Ariella Kaeslin). The Russians have been proved right, and he is confident that similar problems should not arise again in the future.

As regards the future development of the sport, Alexander Alexandrov highlighted a lack of coaches recruiting young gymnasts in the regions. Pay is poor, and this role is currently left to fanatics of the sport! Additional funds in this respect were needed in order to support improved performance. Mustafina added that if more gymnastics centres were built to accommodate training for greater numbers of children, better results would follow. In this respect, Valentina Rodienenko highlighted the work of Federation chief Andrei Kostin and sponsors VTB. The Federation had been able to give gymnastics equipment to 122 schools. She highlighted the importance of the Academy of Physical Education in Malakhovka (province of Moscow) where a number of young girls and boys between the ages of 9-12, and their personal coaches, undertake training under the guidance of specialist Nikolai Yepishin. A key goal is to educate both the coaches and the gymnasts as a basis for forward development of the sport in the region.

With thanks to the website of the Russian Federation where this and other useful information can be found : http://www.sportgymrus.ru/

Edited 8th November 2010 to include some corrections to the translations, kindly provided by Kyan at the All Around Forum.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mustafina, Melnikova and Afanasyeva - Russia’s three divas train together to the tunes of Michael Jackson

M elnikova, Mustafina and Afanasyeva take creative control at Round Lake.     You can see the video on Angelina Melnikova’s YouTube channel. They are discussing a new floor routine for Angelina; she wants to dance to Michael Jackson. Afanasyeva, 2012 Olympic medalist and a world champion on the floor, has been a choreographer for the national team for a few years now.    She says, ‘Gel, first we need to understand the plan—what we’re actually doing.’ They discuss how many tumbles Angelina will perform, and where the tumbles will come in the routine.    Angelina says, she likes ‘Billie Jean’, it’s her favourite … But Afanasyeva has other ideas, linking into the dance shapes she has seen in a video: ‘Thriller . Start with  Thriller . It begins with that image, right from the beginning when it starts.’    She shows us the dance. ‘I suggest taking a 1.5-minute or 1-minute segment of the dance directly.’ They promise to be in touch by email. ...

‘My daughter likes gymnastics. For us, this is the big success’. Aliya Mustafina talks to Match TV

Via VK.com.  Google translate A big interview with Aliya Mustafina was published on MATCH!. We provide a small excerpt below, and the full version is available on the website at the link below  ❓ Aliya, you are now the head coach of the junior artistic gymnastics team. What does your typical day look like? 💜 My current life is similar to what it was when I was competing. In the morning, I have breakfast and go to work by 9:00, we train for four hours, have lunch, rest and train for another three hours. During the training camp, the athletes live at the base. They live and train on the same territory. ❓ Do you manage the gymnasts' personal trainers or do you evenly distribute the responsibilities? 💜 We work in contact with the personal trainers, I listen to their opinions. For example, if the trainer believes that their athlete needs to be given a little rest or do fewer repetitions of a particular exercise, we do so. ❓ Describe the current generation of children. Do they nee...

Russia - back to training

Valentina Rodionenko reports that the men's team is in full training at Lake Krugloye. Denis Ablyazin hasn't needed a break and is training 'at full strength' - (and if you subscribe to his Instagram account you will see him practising routines on p bars and high bar). David Belyavski joined training a little late, as he has been abroad on his honeymoon. Maria Paseka is returning to training on the 4th December after taking treatment for a back injury. Rodionenko says that Aliya Mustafina is excused training for the time being - Liubov Baladzhaeva helped with the translation here.  Apparently the gymnasts, as salaried athletes, cannot just take time off without permission from the Federation.  I understand that this means no change to Aliya's competitive status, ie she will not be training or competing for the time being, until such time as she gets bored and decides she wants to make a comeback!  From her Instagram account, Aliya is currently suf...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more