Skip to main content

Moskovskiy Komsomolets - 'A Frightening Championships'

Devyatovski and Alexandrov put forward their opinions of the forthcoming World Championships in Fukushima in an English Language translation of an article available here.

A representative of the Japanese Federation has visited Lake Krugloye to discuss arrangements at the world championships and to try to reassure competitors of the safety of the environment.  Russia is the only country to be favoured with such a visit.

Devyatovski's reaction is on the emotional side: he points out that the gymnasts will have to be there for a minimum of ten days and that the gymnasts are likely to be distracted by their own security concerns.  He finishes his interview: 'Can you guarantee that I'll be able to have a child afterwards?'

Alexandrov is more pragmatic, pointing out the sporting political pressures the Russians were under to agree to compete in Japan, in particular the fact that next year a new FIG President will be up for election and of course that qualification for London rests on this year's World Championships.  He also highlights that  the Russian government had declared Japan a safe territory back in April and that the Sports Ministry has no power to act independently of that. 

Of most interest gymnastically is Alexandrov's opinion that without Mustafina and Komova the American team will most probably have a clear advantage over Russia at Worlds if they are held in Japan.  Although clearly he thinks the competition is close --- because if the competition were held in Russia, a home advantage may be enough to sway things the Russians' way.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Andrei Rodionenko explains Russia's performance at Worlds - Lupitatranslates

Rodionenko with European Champion David Belyavski  Courtesy RGF/Elena Mikhailova This is the interview that many people on the internet have already commented on, regarding Andrei Rodionenko's alleged racism.  The original, Russian language version, appears on VTB Bank's website (VTB are sponsors of Russian gymnastics).  It takes cleverer people than me to decide what is racism, what is deliberately perjorative, and what is inferred in an interviewer's question.  For now, I will not comment on this, therefore, but I would ask you to read Lupita's translation carefully before you form your own opinion.   I am providing some links below which might help you to decide where you stand. Definition of racism Definition of sexism BBC Sport article by Matthew Syed : Is it wrong to note that 100m winners are always black?            Updated 24/10 CSKA Moscow: UEFA opens racist chants case         ...

Tatyana Nabiyeva on work and love in China

Some highlights from a long interview with 2010 World champion Tatyana Nabiyeva.  Source: Russian team page on VK.com.  Translation - Google translate A big interview with Tatyana Nabieva about the peculiarities of work and life in China, the bright years of her sports career, a little about modern gymnastics and about love. On the Nabiyeva flight — At the same championship, you presented a new element on the bars, which was later added to the rules with your last name (flying over the top bar with a straight body, difficulty group F. — Sport24). How did you come up with the idea to try something new? — Actually, it happened spontaneously, I think. We worked with Vera Iosifovna [Kiryashova] on the purity of the elements on the bars, sometimes I didn’t fly all the way to the Shaposhnikova element. Once I didn’t fly all the way to the bars either and stood on my feet between the bars, bending my legs in flight for safety. Then Vera Iosifovna said that this was a different eleme...

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,...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more