Skip to main content

Summer in Russian Gymnastics

Years ago the Soviet team would take extended summer breaks in resorts such as Sukumi, Georgia. These holidays were known as 'active recreation', the chance to relax but also to keep up with important training targets and build teams.

Times have changed, but old principles remain and at present the Russian team is holidaying in Palma, Mallorca, using the facilities of a local gym to keep up with their training. Back home in Russia, however, work continues on both the political and sporting front, building relationships with press in advance of the coming Olympics and building reputations for the young gymnasts of the future.

The Russian Federation's website includes a photo report of a recent press tour of Lake Krugloye.   It's clearly a busy day, with journalists interviewing key members of the coaching staff as well as some of the gymnasts.  It is interesting to see Konstantin Pluzhnikov taking a leading role in orienting the visiting journalists - while he suggests here that he's unlikely to compete all around he has been one of the most reliable Russian male gymnasts of late. 

The national training centre's rehabilitation and recovery facilities are highlighted along with equipment demonstrations from Anna Dementieva in particular - and is that Yulia Belokobylskaya?  Key coaching members of staff such as men's team coach Valeryi Alfosov, acrobatics coach Vasilyi Ivanov also feature, alongside gymnasts Ksenia Afanasyeva and Viktoria Komova.

With records of interviews with Alexander Alexandrov, Andrei Rodionenko, Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina, we should surely keep our eyes skin peeled for further coverage of Russian gymnastics in the coming days. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mustafina on Roschina

ROTTERDAM (Netherlands), October 24. /TASS/. Russian gymnast Lyudmila Roshchina, who won silver in the individual all-around at the World Championships, succeeded precisely because she focused on challenging herself rather than competing for medals. This is the assessment of Aliya Mustafina, a coach for the Russian national team and a two-time Olympic champion, who spoke to TASS. "Of course, I wasn't certain that Lyudmila would end up on the podium in the all-around, though I certainly hoped she would," Mustafina said. "The general instruction was not to think about medals or rankings. As they headed from the warm-up area to the competition floor, I told the girls: 'Don't worry about where you place—just focus on challenging yourselves.' And Lyusya managed to do exactly that." "Her mindset played a major role, too; she was in a very positive frame of mind even back in the warm-up area. So, I wouldn't say that winning this silver was an incre...

Aliya Mustafina - 'each medal is very special'

'I'm very happy that everything turned out well today  ... Each medal is very special.  The UK team made mistakes, so there was a wide margin [of victory]... But naturally, [what I did] is not enough for the Olympics.  I prepared well for beam and bars but I am not ready for floor, I stepped up to help the team. ... To be honest, I did not look at the scores [when asked how the team reacted to the 6.5 gap before the final apparatus].  Gelya (Melnikova) is a good girl, she did everything and did not falter ... Seda fell on quite a complex element.  There is more work to do, but everything else went well.' [About a protest taken by the coaches on her beam score]. 'I am used to my protests being rejected, everything is normal!' Via vk.com I n other news , the UEG has confirmed that Spiridonova will replace Melnikova in tomorrow's bars final. No reason is given, but it is generally considered that Dasha has a better chance of gold.  This decision also means tha...

Roschina on her success in Rotterdam

  — Let’s sum up the World Championships. How did it go for you? — First of all, it was a great learning experience for me. Overall, the competition went well, though there is still room for improvement. — If someone had told you before the World Championships that you would take second place in the individual all-around, how would you have reacted? — I probably would have been surprised. I’m not even sure what else to say to that. — How difficult was it to be the leader of the women’s team in the absence of Angelina Melnikova? — I tried to encourage the girls, and they encouraged me as well. I think that, overall, we were a good team. But Angelina is still our leader, and I will look up to her. — I spoke with coach Aliya Mustafina, and she mentioned that the competition within the national team will be even tougher next year…  — It’s great to have such strong competition; it gives you something to strive for and an incentive to keep working. — Did you start out in artistic gy...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more