Andrei Rodionenko: 'We are living London time' - translation by Lupita

Andrei Rodionenko, courtesy of the RGF

This is a fascinating glimpse inside Russian preparations for the London Olympics, kindly translated for us by Lupita, who has been working at an amazing pace today!  Read here in the original Russian language Andrei Rodionenko's opinions on the injury rate in women's gymnastics, the impact of puberty on the progression of female gymnasts, the value of the Amanar vault, judging alliances and his team selection.  Or see below if you want the English language translation.

One of the journalists arrived at Krugloye Ozero*.  He could not believe that the second training session began at 8 pm and finished at 11 pm. He stayed there to be sure that the national coach wasn’t pulling his leg.

Andrei Rodionenko - The injuries they had didn’t allow us to carry out the whole volume of planned work. Mustafina, Grishina, Afanasyeva … all of them were injured.  And two gymnasts went into puberty.  They grow taller, the centre of gravity changes.  One cm growth means one kilogram more.  The technique has to change.  In gymnastics the consequences may be the most unpredictable.  The most important thing is that the gymnasts do not always understand what is happening.  They train as usual, they do the same, but nothing goes as they want.  The girls are always crying.  What can you do?  Bruno Grandi, President of the FIG, had the idea of increasing the age for girls.  It’s totally justified from a woman’s standpoint.  If you consider American gymnastics, it’s almost all college gymnastics. The sports career of most of the girls starts after they’ve gone through puberty.

Concerning the Romanian team, two adult gymnasts came back to the national team.  Catalina Ponor and Sandra Iszbasa quit due to injuries sustained during puberty.  No one can avoid that.   The reason for those injuries is not a technical error or a bad landing, but loads that the organism is no longer able to cope with. Ponor was able to come back due to the unique capacities of her body.  Like Oksana Chusovitina, who competes and competes - she’s almost 37.   Also due to excellent medical care during recovery.  I don’t even know where the Romanian gymnasts recovered from injuries, but everything was done at the top level.  

Concerning the team, the most difficult thing was to name the five gymnasts. The last decision was made by the coaches’ council.  Before the competition it was impossible to know if the decision was the right one.  In a sense we ran some risk, in order to fight for a position higher than fourth.

In Tatiana Nabieva’s case, she had to recover from an injury and did everything to gain one spot on the team, but she didn’t do it. 

She didn’t do the most important thing: 2.5 twist vault. The worst was not that she injured herself again the day before the selection, but without this vault she had no possibility of being on the team. Her vault has a D score of 5.8.  2.5 twists: 6.5.  Three American gymnasts will perform this vault.  So will the Chinese, although they will not show their cards until the last moment. 

How come the Amanar is so complex that it’s worth 0.7 points more?

In fact, it’s not. The FIG made a mistake. The most surprising thing is that this gap between real complexity and the D score exists in vault only.  As a result, a gymnast may have three average events and become champion in the all around thanks to her vault.  It doesn’t make sense.  But the FIG understood this too late when it was impossible to change it.  This is why we named Maria Paseka and not Nabieva.  Although Tanya could be very useful to the team, not only because she is excellent in bars. She is world vice-champion and has a lot of abilities, including psychological skills. But not the vault...

Naming the women’s team was much easier. you discussed the team for a long time. And you had to explain the underlying risks.

Pommel horse and high bar are our weakest events where nevertheless we expect to perform at the best level. At the European Championships we included Anton Golotsutskov, but he couldn’t fulfil his task.

During this Olympic cycle did the judging changed?

How can we assess this? Judging was subjective in gymnastics and still is. I think we have to take it as rules of the game. When a gymnast or a coach blames the judges, they always want to justify their weaknesses.

Still, can we state that there is a kind of judges’ lobby concerning some specific countries?

Yes, absolutely. But only if the interest of those countries don’t conflict.  Then, all the friendship disappears.  For instance, countries from the Commonwealth always support one another.  But will the Canadians support the Australians if they are fighting for a spot in the finals?

When you announced the Olympic teams to the press, you introduced the captains - Emin Garibov and Ksenya Afanasyeva. Is this position significant in such an individual sport as artistic gymnastics?

The captain is someone trusted by the team.  Many gymnasts are kids, even if they are adults. We need someone who is able to convey the coach’s words in their own words.  Another important thing is that, when they choose the captain, the gymnasts subordinate to him or her.  They recognize his or her authority.  This is important on the podium, where there are always two coaches with the team.  The gymnasts may have to solve situations by themselves.

Svetlana Khorkina herself shouted to one of the least experienced gymnasts in Sydney. Yet it was indispensable because Khorkina knew very well what the Olympics were about.  The Olympics and their crazy tension always create difficult situations inside the team. How do you prevent this kind of situations?

I don’t think this can happen to our teams.  The gymnasts have been competing together for a long time and they know how they behave in case of a victory or in the case of a defeat. Gymnastics is a very specific sport.  After a day or two people go back to their normal reactions.  You are always in front of other people: you are judged, you are watched by the audience.

Why do you continue those mock competitions performing all the routines as if it were the real competition?

We carry out those mock competitions every other day for the sake of modelling the competitons as they will take place in London. When a gymnast finishes floor, panting like a dog, and two minutes later he has to perform vault.  This is the most difficult thing: to compete when you feel like having a break and taking a breath. We are preparing them for that.

*Ozero Krugloye = Lake Krugloye, the Russian National Training Centre for Gymnastics