Skip to main content

'We are strong enough to aim at medals of any colour' - Andrei Rodionenko


Ksenia Afanasyeva has been praised for her 'sports character'. 




A round of press conferences took place at Lake Krugloye National Training Centre last week.  Lupita translates here the bones of a key report from Championnat in which the respective coaches - Valeri Alfosov for the men, Alexander Alexandrov for the women and chief coach Andrei Rodionenko - reflect on team strengths and medal prospects.












12th July, at a press conference organized by the Russian Gymnastics Federation and VTB Bank in 'Ozero Krugloye' [Round Lake, the Russian National Training Centre for Gymnastics], the Olympic teams were officially announced by national coach Andrei Rodionenko.

Later, Alexander Alexandrov explained how the team was shaping up during the Olympic cycle: Ksenia Afanasyeva is the only gymnast who participated in Beijing [2008 Olympics] and she has been able to defend her spot for London. In 2010, Mustafina and Nabieva joined the national team; a year later, Komova; and this year, Grishina. The selection resulted from the scores at competitions, the gymnast's character, and her work capacity. A lot of work was carried out.  “I guess the girls will do everything they can to fulfill expectations. And we want their effort to be crowned by success.”  He explained the choice between Nabieva and Paseka.  “We imperatively need a vault with a high base score such as Maria has. This was the case in her favour. We expect her to help the team in London”. 
Concerning all the injuries sustained by the women’s team over the last years, it was discussed if all these incidents had been overcome by, for instance, Aliya Mustafina. “This season Mustafina took part in several competitions, and we saw that she had no problems with her knee”. Alexander Alexandrov is also Mustafina’s personal coach. “Of course, we are working with caution. But she can compete at the Olympics and help the team. Aliya has recovered her programme, except for vault. It’s a very complex vault. She has tried to do it in training, but we haven’t tried it on hard mats". Aliya could come back to the sport after a serious injury thanks to her character, praised by all the other gymnasts.
"All our leaders have a very strong character that they show in all the competitions. Mustafina competed brilliantly in 2010 and Komova became World Champion on bars last year. Grishina joined the national team last season. They’ll be responsible for the big work in the team in London. Concerning Afanasyeva, I’d like to give her special thanks for the high level she has reached over many years, although in gymnastics the sport cycle is very short. To perform in two Olympics one needs a sports character, which she has been proven to have ". 

Then, the men’s team coach, Valeri Alfosov, introduced his pupils: 
"Our men’s team is very young. The oldest is Alexander Balandin, who just turned 23. They all joined the national team in 2012, but they adapted very well and have achieved excellent results. Thanks to their work capacity, their ambition and obstinacy, they were able to stand the competition of elder gymnasts and they reached a spot in the national team. They have already taken part in significant competitions – European and World Championships - and have acquired experience in order to compete well at the Olympics. They are ambitious and full of will to fight any rival." 
 Emin Garibov, as Captain, mentioned the apparatus on which every gymnast excels: "Mine are high bar and parallel bars, Igor Pakhomenko excels in high bar and pommel horse, David Belyavski is our best all-arounder. Denis Ablyazin’s best disciplines are vault, floor and rings. Alexander Balandin’s are rings and parallel bars."

At the end of the press-conference, national coach Andrei Rodionenko answered a question that interested the audience concerning the result that can be expected from the team in London: 
"The Olympic rules in artistic gymnastics are one of the most strict: we don’t have alternates, we don’t have warming-up before the finals. This is why we can only count on doing our own stuff well.  Our aim is to put up decent performances, of which we won’t feel ashamed. If we succeed in doing so, medals will come.  But, frankly speaking, the girls have more opportunities; there is less competition between women’s teams. Only four teams will fight for the medals, while we’re witnessing a genuine “boom” among the men. As we saw in the London Olympic trial, after the first round sixteen teams achieved similar results. We believe in our boys. We have a strong and interesting team, but we have two to three times more rivals. Nevertheless, they are strong enough to aim at medals of any colour".

Picture of Rodionenko and Afanasyeva courtesy of the Russian Gymnastics Federation.

Comments

  1. Agree with Andrei - they are strong enough to compete for medals.

    I also agree with Alexandrov - Musty was able to come back because of her character. People have such high expectations of her because of how good she was that they forget she is still not 100%. I think that's one of the reasons I am such a huge fan of hers, her character.

    I don't pay much attention to the Russian men, but I guess I should. Who knows they might surprise.

    Also nice praise for Ksenia, she has lasted until this second Olympics, and showed dedication.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who really won the WAG All Around?

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.  My, how I wish we could have seen a similar document for the Tokyo World Championships. I wonder if anyone can explain how, if the FIG's Code of Points is so objective and fair, it is possible to come up with two different results using two differ...

Simone and the others - results and reflections

In the end, it was as predicted : Simone and the others, with Simone's teammate, Alexandra Raisman, providing the back up.  I do not need to point out that, by definition, the Americans are scoring significantly higher marks than the rest of the field.  Congratulations to them! Aliya Mustafina finished in third place.  The 2012 bronze medalist led the competition after vault and uneven bars, but had a very nervous outing on beam that might have taken a less experienced gymnast out of the medals.  A bravura performance on floor brought Aliya back though to confirm her third place all around.  From her senior debut in 2010 to today, Mustafina has continuously set high standards of grace.    It is the first time since 2000 that a gymnast (Amanar) has medalled in the all around at two consecutive Olympics, and  if Aliya can medal on Saturday's uneven bars final, she will once again be Russia's biggest medal winner of the women's gymnastics.  Russ...

Andreev to replace Rodionenko

Dmitry Andreev has replaced Andrei Rodionenko as head coach of the Russian national artistic gymnastics team. This was announced on his Telegram channel by the Russian Minister of Sports and head of the Russian Olympic Committee Mikhail Degtyarev. 💬"I signed an order to appoint Honored Coach of Russia Dmitry Andreev as head coach of the Russian national artistic gymnastics team," Degtyarev said. "He is a highly qualified specialist with modern views, but at the same time he will be able to ensure continuity and support for the rich traditions of the Russian school of artistic gymnastics. Since 2015, Andreev has been working as a senior coach for the preparation of the national team's reserve. As an international judge, Dmitry Valerievich has extensive experience working at major international tournaments and participated in four Olympics (2012-2024). Since 2010, he has headed the All-Russian Collegium of Judges. 👏I would like to thank Andrei Rodionenko for his work...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more