Skip to main content

Mustafina collects another gold, silver at Toyota Cup; dominates world scene in 2010

The All Around Gymnastics News site reports the final results of the second day of competition in Japan.

Beam : 1 Mitchell, 15.2   2  Mustafina 15.15   3 Sui Lu 14.975 
Dementieva came 7th with 12.775 following two falls and two large balance checks.   Such a pity - competing to full potential, Dementieva should have been able to beat this field on beam.

Floor: Equal first = Sui Lu and Aliya Mustafina, 14.625  3 - Jiang Yuyuan, 14.175.  Dementieva came 5th with 14 points.  Albert reports that she had problems landing her final triple twist.

This was a fairly good competition for the Russians that underlines their growing strength in depth.  Thanks to Mustafina's efforts, they took half the gold on offer, in addition to two silvers and a bronze medal.  All three Russian girls medalled, and Russians collected medals on every piece of apparatus.  Out of 12 possible medals, they took five. The Chinese didn't do badly either, collecting 4 medals overall. 

Given the roster at this competition which was a little like a mini World Championships I think it's fairly plain that Mustafina is currently dominating the world scene.  In Japan she again demonstrated her competitive grit and consummate technical and artistic ability.  Had she not slipped up on bars she would have medalled on all four pieces, and the margins on beam indiciate it's arguable she could have taken gold there, too. Competition organisers seem to like to spread the gold around a little if they can.



The Russian team performers did a fairly good job, Kurbatova surprising no one as usual and achieving a solid result.  Anna Dementieva is Miss Potential Waiting For It All To Turn Out Right.  Had she performed to her full ability, she could fairly easily have achieved another gold in addition to her silver on bars.  This girl makes too many mistakes at present, but she has grit and ambition, and I would love to see her do her talents justice and shine on the world stage alongside the other Russian girls over the coming year.  She looks like a girl for the big occasion, to me.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

UPDATE 23/9 - Russian WAG team for Nanning confirmed

Daria Spiridonova will compete at her first World Championships this autumn.  Picture : RGF Natalia Kalugina has confirmed the Russian team for Nanning : Aliya Mustafina, Maria Kharenkova, Tatiana Nabieva,Ekaterina Kramarenko, Alla Sosnitskaya, Daria Spiridonova.  Reserve : Polina Fyodorova Here is a paraphrased translation of a comment by Natalia Kalugina on her Facebook page : 'Aliya has confidence in competition and she is, kind of, a coach to this team.  In Europe she succeeded in this role and she has told the coaches that she even liked it. The main fighting force will be Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya and Spiridonova.  Accordingly, the strongest apparatus will be beam (Marina Bulashenko With God!).  The Chinese women, of course, have been known to win that apparatus, but if one falls, they all fall.   Alla Sosnitskaya could compete in the vault final, and - in theory - on the floor. On bars, of course, Russia will probably lose to the Chinese women, but the...

Komova should have won!

It was a very tight battle in the North Greenwich arena today, with American Gabby Douglas beating out Viktoria Komova by a mere 0.259 points (see results below) and the legendary Aliya Mustafina sealing her comeback from that career-threatening injury with a well deserved bronze medal. Yes, she suffered a fall from beam after her Arabian somersault but elsewhere she was at her best, a real endorsement of the work of the Russian coaches in nursing her back to almost-top form since that fateful day in 2011. Komova had a faultless competition apart from a step on landing her Amanar vault. Frankly, she must feel utterly shattered after coming second once again by a very small margin to an American who was treated very generously by the judges. Komova soared and took every beam move to the max, rounding off with her rare double Arabian dismount in fine style; Douglas literally sidled along the beam, seeming frightened to take her feet off the apparatus for all but her somersaults. Kom...

Judging Komova and Douglas - like comparing the Mariinsky Theatre ... and a Disco

  Lupita translates an article about the women's all around from today's Sovietski Sport. OLYMPICS OR LAS VEGAS CASINO? Aliya and Vika waited for Viktoria’s score for her floor, which closed the AA competition. Gabriella Douglas was completely alone, biting her lips. Douglas was not sure of anything, except that Aliya Mustafina, who stayed in gymnastics like a heroine, had won bronze and Komova…  In this instant it was decided to be, or not to be.  To be Olympic Champion, or not to be Olympic Champion. It’s over.  Vika drops her head on Aliya’s shoulder.  The judges have decided: Douglas! I choose the sentence "Douglas has been named Olympic AA champion".  I can explain when this happened.  It was not when Komova didn’t land her Amanar vault well. Her mistake on vault was not fatal.  It was still possible to make it up. They just didn’t allow her to do so. Douglas performed with pleasure and with luck.  She was overscored f...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more