Undesirable Alexandrov - Lupita translates Vaitsekhovskaya's commentary from Sports Express

Elena Vaitsekhovskaya (26th September) commented on current toings and froings in the Russian camp (Sports Express). 


Vaitsekhovskaya reveals how Anna Dementyeva was needlessly excluded from camp by the Rodionenkos, roster decisions were made that went against the basic interests of the gymnasts, and much more.

The key sentence in this excellent piece is, in my opinion :

'Isn’t it a paradox? If we count Mustafina’s medals out of the titles conquered by Russian gymnasts, it becomes quite clear: in this situation, the Federation’s bosses could lose their jobs.'

Basically, it appears, Alexandrov was far too good at his job for the liking of the Head Coaches.

There is a second part to this article, and many other emerging pieces including interviews with Evgeny Grebenkin, Farhat Mustafin and, at last Andrei Rodionenko.  Summaries and key quotes will appear on this blog as soon as possible.

But for now, Lupita translates.  Read on, enjoy, and comment, please, dear friends.

Alexander Alexandrov and Aliya Mustafina.  Courtesy Sports Express.

UNDESIRABLE ALEXANDROV

On Monday the Coaching Council of Russian Artistic Gymnastics dismissed Alexander Alexandrov from a job that he had held since 2009. What happened?

Commenting on what had happened, Valentina Rodionenko, Andrei Rodionenko’s wife, who is the Federation’s head coach, stated:

- Аlexandrov has not been fired.  We have been assigning the duties.  When we fired Leonid Arkayev, we decided that the team’s coach could not have his own gymnasts. The fact that Alexander Sergueievich combined both functions at the same time was against the rule.

When asked if this dismissal was due to personal reasons, Valentina Rodionenko answered:

- There’s nothing personal about it. The assignation of duties has been done in the interest of the national team.

* * *

In the four years since Alexandrov has led the national team, our gymnasts have achieved appropriate results. For example, they became world champions in 2010 in Rotterdam, bringing back to this country the title of World Champion after a gap of 19 years.  At the same time, Aliya Mustafina, Alexandrov’s personal pupil, became AA around champion and won two gold medals, two silver and one bronze.

A year later, at the 2011 World championships in Tokyo, Alexandrov’s gymnasts won silver in the team competition. Viktoria Komova was second in the AA. Komova and Nabieva won gold and silver on bars, and Ksenia Afanasyeva became world champion on floor. Mustafina did not compete in Tokyo. She was recovering from a serious injury.

By comparison, at the five world championships before Alexandrov’s arrival on the team, the Russian gymnasts won only three medals on individual events.

Andrei Rodionenko explained the status of the women’s team before their departure to the Olympics.

- Unfortunately, the injuries sustained by Mustafina, Komova, Grishina and Afanasyeva, didn’t allow us to carry out the volume of work we had planned.  Moreover, two athletes went through puberty. We don’t need to explain what puberty means in sport. Gymnasts grow taller, their centre of gravity changes. One centimetre in height means automatically one more kilo. The shift in the centre of gravity, even by a centimetre, means changing the whole technique ...

In the context of all these problems, which for the coaches made the Olympic preparation more difficult, the performance of the women’s team was more than worthy. The team was second again, like at the World Championships before the Olympics, although it was thought that in this sport Russia could win gold. All in all, Mustafina won three individual medals of different colours, including gold on bars; Komova was second in the AA, аnd newcomer Maria Paseka won bronze on vault.

Nevertheless, the head coach’s work was considered unsatisfactory.

In one of my papers on gymnastics I wrote: 'By hiring Alexandrov, Andrei Rodionenko realized what he did. Excellent coaches, as a rule, are people with a strong character. They are very self-demanding and demanding of people surrounding him. Sometimes they may be harsh, sometimes difficult. They always have a standpoint they defend, even if it doesn’t coincide with their bosses’.

Yet, does it make any difference when the task is to drag yourself from the brink with a united, team approach?

I realized there was no unity in Tokyo in 2011.  I was told that Valentina Rodionenko was not happy with what she had read, an article, a small fragment of which was an interview with American gymnast and Olympic champion Dominique Moceanu, who had been coached by Alexandrov, . When I went to find out what the coach found incorrect, the head’s coach wife started shouting at me, in spite of the presence of quite a few people.

- Who is Alexandrov? Why do you magnify him artificially? What are his results as a coach? Nobody knows his relationship with Moceanu and nobody will allow him to be a second Arkayev!

From the conversation it became clear that they had favoured Alexandrov, calling him from American, but that they could easily send him back 'if he continued to misbehave'.

* * *

When Mustafina came back to the national team this current season, the relationship between the head coach and Valentina Rodionenko became more difficult. The fact that Alexandrov was personal coach to Aliya was making his task much more difficult. But it was not because Alexandrov was too busy with his pupil, as Valentina Rodionenko had told journalists several times.

The problem was that all the decisions concerning the national team, including the line-up of the team, were made by Valentina Rodionenko, with her husband’s full support. For instance, she insisted on not inviting European champion Anna Dementyeva, although she was recovering well after an injury and performed well at the Russian Cup. Later, at the mock event in Penza, Anna performed well on three events and came second on beam behind Komova with a score of 15.1.  It meant that, according to every indicator, Anna could be included in the team.  But Dementyeva was sent home on the first day by Valentina, without giving her the chance of competing at the trials.

Alexandrov was against this decision, but once again his hands were tied, because he understood pretty well that anything he would do would go against Mustafina and the whole team.

Aliya was taken to London in a secondary role to support the team. Rodionenko announced this in one of her pre-Olympics statements, pointing out that Mustafina, in her condition, could only fight for a medal on bars.

Fortunately, everything turned out quite the opposite.

* * *

Anastasia Grishian was supposed to play an important part in London. Rodionenko spoke many times. The young star would shine so much that everybody would be stunned. Grishina had high potential. With the Rodionenkos’ approval, the gymnast and her coach, Serguei Zelikson, were free to go to Krugloye only when they thought it necessary.  Zelikson couldn’t stay at Krugloye, he had his own business in Moscow.
In training Grishina performed the most difficult floor acrobatics. It’s true that she was always spotted, and that is not the same as competing on the podium. The team arrived to London with a clear decision: in the team qualifying, Grishina would compete on floor and beam; Мustafina, on vault and bars.

But after the qualifying competition, the debutante got afraid before the team final. Мustafina had to compete in the team final on all events, to cover the unexpected gap.

The only thing Alexandrov asked for in London was that in the qualifying competition his pupil had the chance to compete on beam and floor, but not going up first in the team. Not because the first to compete always gets lower scores. The order was important for Mustafina because, in order to minimize the risk of an injury, she had to perform with her feet tightly taped. After warming up, she had to remove the tapes because they stopped her blood flow. She needed time so that her feet could rest a little before taping them again, and then going to compete. If she competed first, there was no time. But the athlete and her coach didn’t get the approval of the bosses.

* * *

Isn’t it a paradox? If we count Mustafina’s medals out of the titles conquered by Russian gymnasts, it becomes quite clear: in this situation, the Federation’s bosses could lose their jobs. 

But in fact it happened the opposite way.

It seems that hiring Alexandrov to rescue the team, a decision made by Andrei Rodionenko, became for the latter a real threat: what would happen if, at the top, they decided to name the successful coach, not only head coach, but as the boss of gymnastics? Those fears resulted in a sentence that after the Olympics we often heard from Valentina Rodionnenko: 'He came to reap the fruit of what was already done and now he is benefitting from the results of the others’ work'?..

Elena VAITSEKHOVSKAYA