Skip to main content

Gymnast Afanasyeva - Grishina, Komova, Mustafina are the leaders of the team

Image
By
Find here Lupita's translation of another excellent R Sport interview, this time with Ksenia Afanasyeva :

Ksenia Afanasyeva at a recent press conference

“The National gymnastics team has three strong leaders: Anastasia Grishina, Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina”, World champion Ksenia Afanasyeva told the agency R-Sport.

Аfanasyeva was the winner of the team competition (2010) and won an event title (floor, 2011).  “I can’t say who the leader of our team is, because we have three strong gymnasts, three leaders – Аnastasia Grishina, Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina- “, said Afanasyeva. – “And they are all strong in their own way”.

Concerning her own position in the national team, the sportswoman said:  “Those three girls are very strong in the all around, and I am very strong at floor”  “I am perhaps the leader on floor, but they are leaders in the all around and will be more useful to the team”, - she added. – “I know that I can help the team on floor and, perhaps, on beam".

Concerning the overall 2010 World Champion  Mustafina, who came back to the team after a severe injury sustained during the European Championships, the gymnast explained:  “From my point of view, Aliya is a unique person”. “She is able to focus her mind”, - added Afanasyeva. – "She is a strong person and comparing the 2010 World Championships and the fact that she has recovered all her strong program, she has a strong chance to compete successfully at the Olympics”.

The gymnast thinks that her most important aim in the near future is to recover from a foot injury she sustained at the Russian Championship and to put in a good performance at the European Championships in May". "If I can’t compete at the European Championships, it will be very tough, - the gymnast from Tula asserts. – “I hope I’ll recover, that I’ll have time to prepare and that I’ll compete – without this tournament it will be very difficult to go to the Olympics.  It’s difficult without competitive practice and it’s necessary to perform in front of the judges during the new season".
 
"At the World’s Championships (last year) I qualified for the Olympics, as a team and as an individual gymnast”, - Afanasyeva adds. – Yet the selection of the team takes place over several different stages – the first one was at the last Russian Championships and the next ones will be the European Championships and the Russian Cup.  Мy preferred event is the floor and in the time left until the Olympics, I will try to take my performance to the ideal level. There’s a lot of work ahead".


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering last summer - Nelli Kim, her judges and Viktoria Komova

By
In view of Nelli Kim's recent interview , Lupita and I thought it timely to revisit the performance of some of the WTC President's judges over past competitions ... this article from 27th August 2012 is reposted here, as a reminder. You will find a link to the FIG's newly published book of results at the Olympic Games here .  This year, they have broken down the judge's execution scores so you can see exactly how each judge evaluated the gymnasts' performances.  It makes for interesting reading - if only I had more time to analyse each judge's marking.  A skim reading already highlights multiple inconsistencies in individual judges' marks and makes you wonder why they bother with the jury at all. I have taken the time to look at the reference judges' scores for the top four in the women's all around.  The FIG explains here what their role is, and how they are selected.  I even used my calculator, which is a risky thing in my hands.  M...
42 comments
Read more

Nelli Kim - 'Russian gymnastics has closed in on itself' - Lupita translates

By
Lupita has translated this ITAR-TASS interview with Nelli Kim.  It's controversial, to say the least. Ed's note : much of the initial response to this interview - both here and in the wider gymternet -  has focussed on the detail of Kim's words and especially her comments about Viktoria Komova, and smiling.  But I think these have to be taken in context, and not too literally. Don't forget that just a day ago Andrei Rodionenko complained bitterly about the judging in Antwerp, calling Kim's behaviour 'aggressive'. Kim is responding to this here, and to the wider current context of Russian gymnastics.  What she is essentially saying to the Russian coach is 'get your own house in order, produce confident, disciplined, well trained gymnasts - stop complaining, do your job, and I will do mine.'   She goes about saying this in a somewhat long winded way and says some things along the way that seem contradictory, unfair, inappropriate even for th...
30 comments
Read more

Russia Cup - the road to Nanning!

By
The Russian MAG and WAG teams take their preparation for World Championships in Nanning one step further this week, as key players compete in the annual Russia Cup in Penza.  There will be team, all around and event finals. The WAG team Last year the gymnasts were rather depleted and suffering the effects of injury; this year the national squad is still short of some of its top members, but has greater diversity and experience up and coming into the ranks, so it will be an interesting time.  Last year saw St Petersburg gymnast and fan favourite Tatiana Nabiyeva lead the all around, ahead of Alla Sosnitskaya, Anna Pavlova, Anna Rodionova, Ekaterina Kramarenko and Polina Fyodorova.  With the individual-only World Championships up coming in Antwerp, I remember writing that Russia might well decide to send a team of only three gymnasts, such was the paucity of available talent.  The final reckoning saw Russia fare a little better than this, although performance ...
32 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more