Andrei Rodionenko makes reference in his 27th September interview with Sovietski Sport to a video tape of the Coaches' Council meeting at which Alexander Alexandrov was voted out of his job of head WAG coach. Here, Lupita translates an article from the same newspaper, with what are suggested to be key points of the meeting.
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| Aliya Mustafina with personal coach Alexander Alexandrov. Courtesy of Sovietski Sport |
At first sight
it doesn’t make sense. Our coaches are not often recorded. But here…
Rodionenko
makes the suggestion that Alexander Alexandrov should concentrate on another job.
At Krugloye I watched the recording of the Coaching Council where it was announced that the head coach would be replaced by someone else. The situation turns out to be not as simple as it seemed at the beginning. I have to say I watched the video with the idea that I would see a trial against the winner. What will happen if we start to judge the winners of our rare victories?
At Krugloye I watched the recording of the Coaching Council where it was announced that the head coach would be replaced by someone else. The situation turns out to be not as simple as it seemed at the beginning. I have to say I watched the video with the idea that I would see a trial against the winner. What will happen if we start to judge the winners of our rare victories?
After an introduction by Andrei Rodionenko, Alexandrov’s
speech raises a variety of issues.
First, there was no analysis in the head coach’s
report. He mentions general topics that we all know. It’s like explaining what
we saw on TV during the Olympics.
Behind closed doors, Alexandrov tells things that he
didn’t reveal in open interviews. In the AA where Komova won silver, the judges
helped Douglas in three apparatus (giving her higher scores than she deserved),
contributing to the American’s victory which should have gone to the gymnast
from Voronezh.
Аndrei Rodionenko suggests
he draw some conclusions in order to explain which opportunities we missed and
how this can be avoided in the future.
Alexandrov drew three conclusions.
i)
The gymnasts need early diagnosis of any injuries.
ii)
Attention should be paid to the Junior team.
iii)
And finally, discipline…
Then gunfire begins.
A PITIFUL SHOW
Marina Nazarova, Afanasyeva’s personal coach, Маrina Ulyankina,
Paseka’s and Serguei Zelikson, currently Grishina’s former coach.
They all take the floor against Alexandrov. Тhe three of them
are against him. One abstention: Komova’s coach, who compares the national team
to a sinking ship!
The fifth personal coach is Aliya Mustafina’s coach…
The personal coaches express their grievances. This is
what Marina Nazarova wanted to say:
'There was no discipline in the team! When Alexandrov arrived, we talked about discipline and of having control of the gymnasts'. But he failed. The girls did want they wanted. It all started with Aliya. Aliya is difficult. They are all difficult… She didn’t want to train. The others looked at her and asked: 'Am I worse than her? Why do I have to?'. Alexandrov allowed her to do anything. What could we do as personal coaches?'
It was a pity and a shame to watch our girls in training. No other gymnast from another country behaved like that. The Romanians, the Americans, all worked quietly, listening to their coaches, repeating the elements… Our gymnasts didn’t train up to the third apparatus. If they did, it was with discussions and hysterics. We stood there thinking: 'How will we win a medal? Will it be like in Beijing where we won fourth place…?'. Thus our silver medal is incredible lucky ….
'CORPSES WALKING IN THE GYM'
Nobody opposes Nazarova. Nobody opposes her when she
says that, before the team final, the team had no single training session where
the girls did all the apparatus in the order they had to compete a day later!
Serguei Zelikson, now former coach to Anastasia
Grishina, uses the words 'cemetery' and 'corpses':
At any moment any gymnast could leave the gym if she didn’t like something. Afanasyeva went out in your presence, Alexander Sergueievich. And you didn’t say anything.Physical conditioning was mentioned as well. “After a long session of conditioning, it was necessary to plan something easier, but you continued to pile on the work. Everyone was surprised at Grishina limping. Komova had surgery and had to take pain-killers… It was as if they were ready for the cemetery! Corpses walking in the gym!”
…Then up stands Alexei Yushin, responsible for the
scientific preparation:
'All the girls that I had to rehabilitate had the same problem. Their mind. In the team there was one main course: Mustafina. The rest felt like 'side-plates'. They all suffered because of this'.
Gennadi Elfimov, Komova’s coach, asks the others to
calm down:
With Alexandrov everything went normal. When I had something to tell him, I did. But the national team was like a sinking ship. I cannot but say this. We sailed a sinking ship!
Another thing is the person who will be named to rule it - someone who lacks experience. Watch him, he agrees with me.
… Grebenkin, named to replace Alexandrov, nodded…
Firstly, isn't it their fault if they are not able to make their own personal gymnasts work? Presumably these girls have been with their coaches for a long time, how can it be that after a lifetime of training to get to where they are, they suddenly won't work? That picture doesn't match up with the videos of training and interviews with the girls that we've seen before either. I would think that the girls were expected to have certain standards of discipline and that enforcing it is the job of the personal coaches, not the head coach.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, then they complain about too much work/conditioning. This doesn't really make sense, because how can they have too much work and have injuries but then also not train when they want to (as earlier alleged)?
Again I think all these comments about them not training when they didn't want to etc are all rubbish, I don't think they could have gotten to the level they did by taking random days off when they didn't feel like it. Plus, the Russians and the Soviets before them were known for training very intensively and much more focused.. Aliya herself said in an interview that she had no time to think about other things because she was so tired everyday. It seems to me like perhaps there were a few times where Aliya threw a tantrum but they are blowing it up and acting like it happened everyday. On the whole I believe Aliya more because what she says doesn't change across interviews and at different times.. she strikes me as being brutally honest all the time in interviews even if she sounds unfriendly sometimes.
All this sounds like total BS. Before the Olympics everybody was saying that Komova number 1 contender, and now "In the team there was one main course: Mustafina." WTF?
ReplyDeleteWith all of these complaints about the gymnasts not working, I don't see why the personal coaches were unable to handle their own gymnasts. Yes, the head coach helps to unify the team, but there should not be total chaos without him. Also, if the coaches really wanted gymnasts with good work ethics and positive attitudes, they should've taken Anna Dementyeva! She is a special gymnast and the coaches seem to be overlooking her; I mean she should've at least been Olympic alternate!
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