Skip to main content

Alexandrov : Champions are never accommodating

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has kindly provided an English translation of a brief interview with Alexander Alexandrov, taken from the latest issue of Gymnastika.  He discusses the character of Aliya Mustafina in particular.

I'll copy what he says here :


'All six of our winners are very individual athletes. They are still children really and have their own difficult personalities. Aliya is a bit sly, she already knows everything about herself…she is a difficult girl. She is very talented in some thing, but she has her problems. And that's normal – champions are never accommodating.
The path hasn't been smooth. Yes, she was the leader among the juniors, but then things started getting complicated. When we met, we had to do a lot of talking. Not convincing, but real talking. Openly talking and laying it all out. I had to explain: you had results and you have good routines, but you are being easy on yourself – and you've put so much work in…
And bit by bit she began to understand that she had to go forward and trust us. Then we went to Russian championships in Bryansk and when she won, she got excited. I can't say everything has been easy after that; no, its been hard. And there have been tears and arguments…But we found common ground and began talking to each other like adults.
And it won't be smooth going forward, either. A week off in Italy and then holiday…It's hard to get back into it. So, we have to talk again. Well, what can you do?
Aliya's most important trait is her reliability. She knows how to pull herself together in meets. She can even cry the day before over not having any strength, and everything going wrong. But she goes out to compete and she really knows how to give it everything! Well, you've already seen that.

From the official magazine of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation GIMNASTIKA
2010 issue 4, page 21.'

Thanks very much to the Russian Gymnastics Federation for bothering to do these translations - it is very much appreciated by us fans!

Comments

  1. Lyudmilla Shanzhen26 February 2011 at 10:04

    I thought the gymnastics coaching blog's "Train your dragon" post would link to this article (it doesn't actually).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Lyudmilla ;-))
    In case anyone wonders what this is about, here is the link : http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2011/02/train-your-dragon/

    Enjoy!

    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,...

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...

Fact or fiction? The press, gymnastics and pregnancy doping

It was a Sunday morning.  I was drinking my coffee and contemplating the day ahead - a workout at the gym, shopping for groceries, an evening reading a book, or catching up on last night's episodes of crime thriller The Bridge .  How nice it was not to have to think about work for a day. Then I saw it - a story about the history of doping in The Observer .  Interesting reading. Of course, cheating is as old as the hills.  It is, unfortunately, human nature for some people to try to gain easy advantage in any kind of competition.  That is why we have laws, rules, ethical guidelines.  People who cheat should face justice and shouldn't complain when they are found out. But the story about pregnancy doping bothered me.  Hadn't that been found to be fictional?  The author began with Olga Kovalenko's allegations made in 1994 - but the rumours had started way back in 1991 with the documentary series More Than A Game .  The practice...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more