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

Dmitri Zanin on Melnikova and the Russian team in Zagreb

By
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

By
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...
48 comments
Read more

No Paseka for Russia in Berne

By
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...
41 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more