Skip to main content

Russians' chances of gold in London 50/50 - Alexander Alexandrov

Image
By
National team coach Alexander Alexandrov at the recent press day


There is a great radio interview with Russian team coach Alexander Alexandrov at NPR.

Alexandrov acknowledges the disadvantages Russia face: no Amanar vaults to date because of the injuries to Komova and Mustafina, and the American girls are all more athletic than the Russians (but do not benefit from the constant attentions of specialist choreographers, making them less elegant).  He rates the team's chances of gold as about 50-50, with probably the highest chances on the bars, but the lowest on the vault.

Veteran Lidia Ivanova, however, points out that the funding from VTB Bank has improved conditions and  attracted top coaches like Alexandrov back to Russia -  stating that 'You Americans should be getting nervous'.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Abdul Razak Abdul Kader23 April 2012 at 18:32

    I hope and wish that the Russian Team will be show that they are the best.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Russian WAG at the 2014 World Championships

By
The Russians during a team talk in training for the World Championships.  Courtesy RGF Bronze all the way for Russia then.  Beyond the euphoria and surprise of this morning's competition there doesn't really seem to be much to write home about. I am delighted for Aliya personally that the efforts she has made to help the team have provided her with some tangible result, but the principal feeling at the end of the competition is that of relief.  As Vaitsekhovskaya said in her article last week, there were no moments of shock and awe from the Russians, and that's what will be needed if they are to compete for gold medals in Rio (translation available here ). Let's consider a timeline of the competition : before, during and after. BEFORE The promise of a return to the Worlds stage by Viktoria Komova gave Russia a feeling of optimism pre-Russia Cup.  However, Viktoria's performance at this important competition gave little reason for celebra...
43 comments
Read more

Valentina Rodionenko on Alexandrov's dismissal - Lupita translates

By
76 year old Valentina Rodionenko.  Picture courtesy of the RGF . Read below Lupita's translation of what Valentina Rodionenko had to say yesterday evening about the current staff changes at Russian Gymnastics, from Sovietski Sport . Valentina Rodionenko : Alexandrov stays as coach to Mustafina. Therefore, he is not allowed to be a national coach! Head coach Valentina Rodionenko commented on Alexander Alexandrov’s dismissal specially for “Sovietski Sport”.   - Alexandrov hasn’t been fired. You don’t need to make up things like that. We have been assigning the duties. When we dismissed Leonid Arkaev, it was decided that the team’s coach doesn’t have the right to be a personal coach at the same time. Alexander Sergueievich combined both functions, but it was against the rule. Now we have eliminated this. - In an interview with “Sovietski Sport”, Alexander Alexandrovich said that he had been blamed for working poorly. Do you personally think that he d...
26 comments
Read more

Elena Produnova - interview

By
The gymnastics group at VK.com has published an interview with 2000 Olympian, Elena Produnova.  Thanks for their permission to provide an edit of it here. People will remember Elena in particular for two reasons: her original vault that no one else has been able to emulate; and her own special brand of powerful  acrobatics, energetic temperament and musical flow, a heady mixture that today's gymnasts find impossible to match. Recently there have been some photographs of Elena working in a gym.  Although she has always said that she wouldn't have a coaching career, it seems that now she is a coach at a gym in Nalchik,  a town in the very south of the Russian Federation, in the foothills of the Caucasian mountains, in the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.   The first question, tell us how you ended up in Nalchik? - Nalchik came up at the right time, in terms of my life circumstances.  Through my previous work I had a very good friend - head of the sports depart...
4 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more