Skip to main content

Injury updates

By


Aliya speaks warmly of the many video montages presented on her website - so nice to hear that she has been encouraged!

I believe that both Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova are currently in Germany. Aliya is undergoing an assessment of her rehabilitation progress, while Viktoria has undergone arthroscopic surgery to her injured ankle. (Thanks to Alan Owen for this information.)

Reading between the lines, I think there is fair reason to be optimistic that Viktoria will compete at worlds this autumn. Aliya's recovery was always going to take longer, but seems to be going well. She is obviously determined to compete in 2012 and it seems to be pretty much a business-as-usual attitude from her.

With Tatiana Nabieva also taking a rest to recuperate her painful back (due back in full training on the 25th May) the Russian team seems to have been beleaguered by injury recently. Well ... I suppose injuries are part of the sport; and it might actually be beneficial for the top girls to take a rest away from the risks of competition in this pre-Olympic year - the real competition begins next spring so there is a full year for recovery.

And in the meantime let's not forget that this gives the Russian team as a whole the opportunity to develop greater strength in depth. More gymnasts now have reason to fight for a place on the team. A team is only as good as its reserves, and this principle will be tested this autumn as the Russian team will surely be reliant at least partly on the quality of its reserves. The efforts of gymnasts such as Belokobylskaya are likely to be vital to their Olympic qualification efforts.

I'm also delighted to see Anna Dementyeva and Ksenia Afanasyeva perform so well at present, and only hope that they can build on their progress as the year goes on. And I would like to see Tanya Nabieva make an impression as an all around gymnast at last. She came 7th in the Rotterdam championships despite a disrupted training effort in the early part of the year so hopefully will be able to make up some ground this year.

These three gymnasts can surely only enhance their reputation this year with the growing importance of their contribution surely leading to greater effort and the close attentions of the coaching team. I would dearly love to see them all make the team for the 2012 Olympics, and trust they will put up a grand fight all the way to London ...
Labels:

Comments

  1. singingtelegram22 May 2011 at 08:21

    How do you think Pavlova will fit into all of this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Queen Elizabeth22 May 2011 at 09:14

    In my humble opinion she doesn't figure at all. And I know people will be disappointed, but I just don't think she fits the motivational psychology of this team. It would be a backward step to include her, and she has let the team down too many times.
    I also think her knee injury was so serious that she would never survive the pace of training alongside the younger girls at Lake Krugloye.
    I could be wrong and I'm open to other opinions, but this is my gut feeling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11 September 2011 at 05:19

    How bout Ekaterina Kurbatova? Do you think she has a shot at 2012?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Queen Elizabeth14 September 2011 at 13:22

    Not really - not if all is well with the new generations.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

By
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,...
14 comments
Read more

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

By
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...
4 comments
Read more

Marinov planning a partial comeback at the Russian champs

By
 ðŸŽ¤ "Plans for August: work, work, and work some more!" — Daniil Marinov on the training camp in Sirius, summer, and preparation for the Russian Championship ❓ How productive was your time at the training camp in Sirius? "Personally, I viewed this training camp not only as a recovery camp, but also as a preparatory one. My teammates had just recently returned from competitions, and yes, they needed a rest. But I, on the contrary, needed to start working hard, because there wasn't much time left before the Russian Championship. At the training camp in Sirius, I was able to work hard, and at the same time swim in the sea, change the scenery. I'm glad I went with the whole team!" ❓ Did you manage to regain your physical fitness after shoulder surgery? "More or less, yes. I remembered many elements from my routine. But I still continue to treat and pump up my shoulder, in parallel with getting into shape." ❓ Are you already working on all the apparatus...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more