Skip to main content

Rodionenko : Mustafina is in optimal form, but not at her maximum

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a translation of a short Allsport interview with national team coach Andrei Rodionenko, all about Russian Championships so far, the condition of Mustafina and other team members :

The Russian Senior and Junior Championships in Artistic Gymnastics are under way in Penza. 2010 World All-Around Champion Aliya Mustafina became the 2012 Russia All-Around Champion with a score of 59.533 across the discipline's four events (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise). Kseniya Afanasyeva won the silver medal (58.387) and Anastasia Grishina won the bronze (57.699).

Combined men's and women's national gymnastics teams Andrey Rodionenko shared comments on the results with AllSport.

"All the main results are on the score board", Rodionenko said smiling, "Mustafina is first, Afanasyeva is second and Grishina is third. It's all very clear and easy to understand."

— Has Aliya Mustafina completely recovered from her injury?

Well, to a certain extent. Not completely, but significantly. Aliya has made a very big and very positive step forwards. But she is still not doing the routines she used to win in at the 2010 world championships. You could say that Mustafina is in optimal form, but not at her maximum.

— What about the other girls?

The same for them. The gymnasts are in the shape they should be in according to plan and in terms of routines and in terms of readiness.

— Why didn't 2011 World Champion Viktoria Komova compete here?

Viktoria has an individual plan. We did not envision her competing at this competition. She is recovering and treating all her little pains and so she will begin competing a bit later. Komova's main meet will be the Russian Cup in June. All our athletes have individual training plans; that is the only way we can prepare a competitive, fighting team.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Aliya Mustafina - 'I'm just trying to stay healthy'

A brief interview with the World and Olympic Champion from All Sport is summarised below. Russian national gymnastics continues to prepare for the World Championships, which will be held October 3-12 in Nanning (China). Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina told Mary Staroverova about her health and about preparations for the competition. - In June, I went to Germany to solve the problem with my ankle.  I had a small operation to clean the joints of a build-up of bone particles.  Nothing serious was evident, and the operation went well.  Now I have to tumble.  But there is still some discomfort, a slight pain at full load, and I can not tumble at full force.  For the time being, I try to go easy on my legs.  After the Russia Cup I will have to fully prepare for Worlds. That is just one month.   Even if I'm not tumbling, I will keep myself in good shape, and that should suffice (smiles). - I can't say if it is a different pain to before Europeans, because at...

Dmitri Zanin on Melnikova and the Russian team in Zagreb

Melnikova’s gesture on the podium, the "Slavic face," the coldness of rivals—Zanin captures the details of gymnastics at the Euros. Natalia Maryanchik, sports.ru  Жест Мельниковой на подиуме, slavic face, холод соперниц – детали гимнастики на Евро от Занина - Дальний лес - Блоги Sports.ru The European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Zagreb concluded with a triumph for the Russian women, even though Melnikova and Kalmykova only made it to the tournament following intervention by the Foreign Ministry and competed practically straight off the plane. Melnikova and Kalmykova took first and second place in the all-around event. Competing under a neutral status, the Russian women won the team competition. Melnikova also claimed gold in the vault, as well as bronze on the balance beam and in the floor exercise. Match TV commentator Dmitry Zanin, who covered the tournament, recounted that Melnikova was moved to tears during the vault medal ceremony. He described her standing in h...

No Paseka for Russia in Berne

Barely two weeks will elapse before the WAG European Championships begin in Berne, Switzerland, and the news we had been fearing has been confirmed : world vault gold medallist Maria Paseka is  off the Russian team while she nurses a back injury.  This leaves Russia significantly weakened for the coming competition, with co-star Viktoria Komova also missing from the line-up.  It is a little disappointing, but it seems the right decision to rest the gymnasts so that they can be at their best when and where it really matters. Who will replace Paseka?  Valentina Rodionenko says that the youngster Natalia Kapitonova, who trains in Penza, has been chosen on the basis of her solid performances at national championships.  Well, we will have to wait and see - these announcements often turn out to be unreliable.   I personally would prefer to see the dynamic Seda Tutkhalyan be given a chance at this level, but Kapitonova has certainly shown herself to be more reliab...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more