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| 76 year old Valentina Rodionenko. Picture courtesy of the RGF. |
Valentina Rodionenko : Alexandrov stays as coach to Mustafina. Therefore, he is not allowed to be a national coach!
Head coach Valentina Rodionenko commented on Alexander Alexandrov’s dismissal specially for “Sovietski Sport”.
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Alexandrov hasn’t been fired. You don’t need to make up things like
that. We have been assigning the duties. When we dismissed Leonid
Arkaev, it was decided that the team’s coach doesn’t have the right to
be a personal coach at the same time. Alexander Sergueievich combined
both functions, but it was against the rule. Now we have eliminated
this.
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In an interview with “Sovietski Sport”, Alexander Alexandrovich said
that he had been blamed for working poorly. Do you personally think that
he didn’t work well? Can you say so if Mustafina is the most decorated
Russian athlete at the London Olympics?
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Exactly. I have been blamed for having said unpleasant things about
Aliya Mustafina. It’s true. I said good and bad things about her. But
above all it was the truth. For instance, I said that her mood changes
rapidly. Today Aliya wants to train, tomorrow she doesn’t want to. Aliya
herself acknowledges she’s unpredictable. Not only for the coaches, but
for herself. So let's be objective and targeted. Aliya, (and I am very
happy about that), become bars Olympic champion and won four medals in a
very difficult situation. But where were the rest? What’s the reason for the gymnasts’ injuries, why did Viktoria Komova, after having won the
Americans in the qualifying competition, look paler and paler every day,
as if she had disappeared? Who is to blame for the failure of her
functional preparation?
- Аlеxandrov? What for?
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Because when Aliya was in a bad mood, he was the same. I mean that if
Aliya didn’t train, the national team didn’t train. This explains the
injuries and Komova’s insufficient preparation.
- The gymnasts worked with their personal coach even if Alexandrov was not in the gym. What prevented them to continue training?
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They all need corrections, advice from the head coach. Otherwise, what
does he do? If we think that personal coaches can solve everything, the
head coach is not necessary, he is redundant. For those four years when
Alexandrov combined his work as personal coach and as head coach, there
were only problems, and all suffered from the situation. Marina Nazarova,
Ksenia Afanasieva’s coach, said when her gymnast became World Champion
on floor: 'At last I have been able to prove everything to him! He has
been so harsh on this girl…'.
- Alexander Alexandrov thinks that his dismissal is due to a personal reason.
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There is nothing personal. The assignation of duties has been done in
the interest of the national team. I videotaped the meeting, where all
the gymnast’s coaches expressed their standpoint on this issue.
Thank you for the translation, Lupita -
Now, what do YOU think, dear readers?
- Should Alexandrov be allowed to coach the team and take care of Mustafina as her personal coach? Do you think other team members were poorly prepared, and if so was Alexandrov to blame?
- What effect do you think that the publicity surrounding team members before the Olympics had on team morale?
- All polite and well reasoned comments are welcome:-)
1) IF there really was a coach revolt then probably not - he is the most successful head coach of Russia as Russia but you wouldn't believe it from the above comments, but if the coaching team refuses to rally around him then either he goes or all the coaches who don't like/respect/are annoyed with him go (no exact numbers on this but at least 3). Its a tough call, i think they made the wrong one, but the new coach might well be a good choice.
ReplyDelete2) The publicity, adversely affected the team for sure. Also the comments from on high i think as well.
This Valentina person is really quite horid - certainly she doesn't pause to consider her words or does and really is intending to offend. Her statements about Aliya and her training/not training meant the same from her coach are simply staggering and simply can't be true - its this sort of statement that really shows her up. Also it is obvious from her comments that Komova was her favorite and Mustafina had been written off, and frankly she'd rather have abandoned her in favor of Komova and Grishna, and is seemingly annoyed by Mustafina's success/proving her wrong.
"This Valentina person is really quite horrid"
DeleteAgreed. She talks about Alexandrov having a favorite, but she clearly had a favorite herself, Komova. She's mad that her favorite was "less" successful. (Perhaps if Komova had won, Valentina would have continued to overlook the scenario.)
As other posters have pointed out, Alexandrov has been both Aliya's personal coach and the team head coach for several years now. If they didn't want this scenario to happen, they should have nipped it in the bud years ago.
Plus, from what I heard, the new head coach also the personal coach to a junior Russian gymnast. When she turns senior, will he stop coaching her or step aside?
the thing is if they were that upset about Alexandrov having Mustafina as her personal gymnast, why didn´t they fired him before? why to wait until now? also that thing Valentina says that if Aliya didn´t train the whole team wouldn´t train, if I were her I would have acted inmediately. They could well suspend Lozhechko & Maxim for whatever reason they suspended them, why wouldn´t they suspend Aliya if the girl didn´t want to work? This kind of things of someone refusing to train are not something to fool around, its not like its a small gym school with 10 students, we´re talking about the National team of a country, one that happens to be a powerhouse in the sport.
ReplyDeleteI think its curious what she says about Nazarova´s comments, wasn´t Nazarova, alongside Yerlfimov the only one voting in Alexandrov´s favour?? why would she do it of clearly she wasn´t agreeing with him.
and about what she says, basically blaming Alexandrov and Mustafina for Komova´s "failure" to win the gold, its all about the type of gymnast. While I think Komova deserved the AA gold, lets just say had she fought more on her vault landing she could have had it. She´s talking about how Viktoria beat the americans in QF but later she was looking pale, when overall she perfomed much better in the AA final than in QF. Later she bombed on her 2 events finals, is that Alexandrov´s fault for devoting more time to Mustafina? how come? Aliya and Vika are different gymnast,...Aliya did wonderfully on her EF and Aliya competed more than Komova during the games. this is a question of Stamina and mental toughness, having the head coach dedicating more time to you won´t make you a fighter. The same goes for Grishina, didn´t Aliya took one for the team by replacing her on the beam line up?
so far Rodionenko´s reasoning is not convincing me
i totally agree with your comments, Valentina would certainly have suspended Aliya if she had refused to train (since she had such a poor opinion of Aliya's abilities too!). it is the responsibility of the personal coaches to coach their gymnasts!
Deleteshe probably just took some random comment of Nazarova (probably from back in 2010!!!) and used it here to make it seem like she has more support in her decision to boot Alexandrov out.
She's maximizing the animosity among the gymnasts and the coaches ... she and her husband are the real problem in the Russian Team ...
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Anyone can play the blame game. Correct me if I'm wrong but I haven't seen a contribution from Valentina. What is her position exactly? I cant help but think that this could have been handled in a more diplomatic manner if it werent for her.
DeleteYeah, I think that so. There was an article about the retirement of a male russian gymnast, and he said that the rodionenko's is a problem for russian gymnastic, because they can't be trusted.
DeleteThis woman is so annoying, why can't she just thanks Aliya who won the gold for Russian gymnastic?!!
They also sound so obviously jealous that he got credit for his success. Poor us where is our credit? For what? Undermine the self esteem of Mustafina or trying to by saying she is out of shape and can only hope a Bronze on bars? Sounds to me like they also are responsible for letting Grishna train at home who is the Diva there? When he disagreed and wanted Grishna with the rest of team. Lets face it, he should not only keep his job as head coach but replace them as well. That is if whoever is funding the current program wants any more success. And the team will not compete all year? The ones from the Olympics? I wonder if this is so nobody can witness in case they go straight downhill.
DeleteThey better dismissed theirselves(Rodionenko).
ReplyDeleteWhy can't they have one coach? Like the Romanians. Bellu is the only coach there and he treats the girls the same. Why can't the Russians have the same? Keep this Alexandrov guy, he is good.
ReplyDeletethe vitriol/arrogance/crap that comes out of this woman's mouth just makes me speechless. does she even think what she's saying and how she sounds?! I have no words to describe this whole situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with every single post above mine. including the fact that if anyone should go are the Rodionenko
I hope that the Russian federation rectifies the situation by firing the Rodionenkos and instate Alexandrov instead of them, it will be a great scenario ...
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Rodionenkos should go. They are not doing anything positive to help the team and are just fracturing the relationships between the gymnasts and the coaches further. I can't see how this can be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteYou can't teach mental toughness or how to be a fighter. At least for Komova it was certainly not through lack of competition exposure, so I can't see how this is Alexandrov's fault. The personal coaches should look at themselves rather than pointing their fingers at Alexandrov - and even then, Komova and Afan's coaches voted to save him so they can't have found him that intolerable isn't it? Grishina's coach should certainly take a look at himself. Had Mustafina not stepped in for the TF, I don't know who would have done beam. Grishina's coach should be ashamed of himself.
Sigh I love Russian gymnastics but I'm actually depressed for Rio now.
This is ALL ABOUT POWER! What Valentina is saying is irrelevant. She was dismissing Alya right before the Olympics, and if the results had been different, she would give different reasons..
ReplyDeleteOne should not waste time reading what comes out of her mouth. They took over power, and this is it,
1. I don't see why Alexandrov can't be both personal coach to Aliya and head coach. Irina Viner does it just fine and no one complains. I think Alexandrov is in the wrong gymnastics coaching, lol. If the other coaches are complaining then he might as well not stay as heach coach because they will complain more.
ReplyDelete2. I don't know how much the publicity had on team morale. I loved the team from the 2010 World Championships. In this case, it was clear they wanted Komova to be the number 1 girl. Although there were interviews with Komova and Aliya, there were more interviews with Komova alone. The publicity of them saying she will win AA puts too much pressure on her ad she even said she didn't like it. Her coach was trying to ease that as well. That is Rodionenko's fault because he doesn't stop his wife from spewing to the media and that's all Valentina kept talking about.
Then Valentina's comments about Komova and Aliya. I don't know what she means by "pale" but if she meant regressed. Komova was rested from doing the floor in team finals so she would be fresh for AA. The difference between them is 1. Stamina and 2. Mental toughness. Komova lacks mental toughness and she dwells too much. I remember reading an the translation to a radio interview, (I think it was on this site), where Valentina, Komova and Aliya were answering questions about Olympics, and they asked them about dreams after team finals. Komova said something about dreaming they won team finals and Aliya said she didn't have any, she slept like a log. Aliya also said she starts fresh in a new day because it makes no sense to dwell on the past and there are things still to do.
That right there is the difference, Komova dwells on everything. You can tell she was still disappointed from the AA result and that went to the other days she had to perform. She did good in bars until she hit the bar going for dismount and then she dwelled on that for the rest of the bar competition. Then in beam she even said she gave up after she fell the first time and that was that. Like seriously, the head coach can't really teach mental toughness, you need to find it within you, or get a professional like a sports psychologist to help her with that. Aliya did the most total apparatus for Russia even if she wasn't fully prepared for beam and floor because of her injury.
Aliya did beam because Grishina was scared, that again is mental toughness. All the girls got injured before Olympics, Komova's was more to do with growth spurt, not sure what they want the head coach to do about that.
BTW how come no one is complaining about the men result? because they are in transition stage? because Rodionenko is the head coach of the men's team? They qualified 2nd and went to 6th in TF!
The main thing for me is why does Valentina get to say anything when she has no position? I mean her husband is head coach of Men's and Women's team, and her position is what? I don't remember her having any, yet she spews to the media like there is no tomorrow.
Hopefully the new head coach, can change things around. Since the main complaint that Valentina says is that Alexandrov can't be a personal coach and be head coach, I expect them to not be complaining about anything anymore. I also hope Alexandrov does get to stay past December 30 to personally coach Aliya.
Alexandrov is no saint. A little bit of self-critique would do no harm. He stated that Zelikson criticized him, that Grishina was going to "help" the team, but failed.
ReplyDeleteFirst, he shouldn't attack gymnasts individually. He was the head coach, so he was responsible for the whole team, including Grishina. In doing so, he is giving ground to the Rodionenkos.
Second, he's obsessed with age and weight. When he says that the gymnasts on the London team won't continue gymnastics, what's the perspective for those who want to go on training? Afanassieva took part in her second Olympics, only because she was light, he says... Perhaps also because she had a good coach - Nazareva.
Third, Aliya may be very confident but Alexandrov was not able to improve her twisting technique. It's still horrendous. What about her arms on beam? What about her beam routine in the AA competition? Mustafina was third because the other gymnasts were more tired than she was. I was very happy for Mustafina, but she's not an ideal gymnast.
I dont know how much one could say that Alexandrov is responsible for Grishina's performance because the Rodionenkos gave Grishina's personal coach permession to train her away from the rest of the team and this is where bulk of your skill is going to improve. Also, remember that Grishia refused to perform on beam because she was to afraid to fall - hence lack of mental toughness. That is something that her personal coach is suppose to prepare her for.
DeleteI think you may be being a little to critical on aliya. Yes she does have some form issues (crossing her legs) but to say that other gymnast were more tired than her is a bit extra. aliya did did all 4 apparatuses for qualification, all four on team final and of course all four for all-around, (as well later the two event finals). Remeber just a year and half ago, she tore her acl and shes still dealing with other injuries as this time so one would think she lacks the stamina and mental toughness if anything but thats not the case.
This not so ideal gymnast left the olympics as the most decorated gymnast :)
You are right, Aliya and Douglas were the only ones to perform 14 times.
DeleteHow can Aliya be less tired than the other gymnasts, when she was the only Russian who did all 4 events in the team final? Even when you compare the rest of the AA contenders from the big 4, it was only her, Douglas and Huang who did all 4 events in the TF. Speaks a lot about her stamina if she was less tired than the rest :)
DeleteAlso, I really don't get why Zelikson is complaining about the head coach not spending time with the rest of the gymnasts when he decided to train Grishina separately anyway. Agree with the point that as head coach he shouldn't openly criticize individual gymnasts. But I feel after Zelikson complained and criticized him. It was right for him to point out where he thinks the problem really was - Grishina not being prepared enough for the Games as she was away from the rest of the team. When you have only one gymnast that doesn't get to the finals, who refuses to even put up a performance on beam for the team, isn't it clear that there was something that was not working in her training?
Iordache was injured, Isbaza is not truly an AA gymnast. Aliya hadn't much opposition from other gymnasts. Had she become third if Wieber had competed instead of Raisman?
DeleteWe would like to have Grishina's version of what happened. Or other coaches'.
The problem with current gymnastics is that you can win bronze with a fall (beam)and an unsteady performance. That's matter for thought for the FIG.
this is gymnastic, you can not say what if this what if that to make a point like that. thats like saying what if wieber did qualify over raisman and she fell on beam, or jumped out of bounds on floor with her already struggling bars or sat on her vault. there is endless of possibilities
Deletei think you just have to take the results as they are and not attempt to undermine a gymnast accomplishment by stating "what if this, what if that"
also, if there wasnt must opposition for aliya in AA, then why did valentina say aliya would only medal in bars. Clearly others doubted her capabilities.
it would be great to hear grishina version on why did her and her coach decide to part ways - was that her decision or someone else
Well she got third on floor and Wieber was in the same floor final :)
DeleteWhat Alexandrov should do right now is to teach these ungrateful Rodionenkos a lesson or two. He should just continue coaching in the US and bring glory there. Of course to bring along Aliya to the US and then to train her to be the best in the US. I'm sure Martha would have her with open arms. Then to show the ungrateful Rodionenkos who's the real deal. MOVE ON ALIYA AND I BELIEVE THAT ALEXANDROV WILL ALWAYS STAND BEHIND YOU!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope all this drama shit, doens't affect the girls friendship with each other, I mean if they can't work as a team, than it doesn't matter who coaches who.
ReplyDeletebut seriously blaming vikas faliure on practically aliyas mood, is bullshit.....if there is one person who should be balmed here for not helping the team on finals should be you-know-who, who didn't do a thing to help
perhaps it was really necessayr changing the head coach, but valetinas excuses for are just stupid! I sincerely hope they are all stil good freinds, specially sice all this is happening near aliyas birthday....
i wonder if grishina qualified for all-around, would she have still refused to take the beam or another apparatus.
ReplyDeletevalentina's comments are a paradox in itself. First she stated that vika's failure to deliver was because aliya refused to train, thus the whole team couldnt train. (how come this is the first time we are actually hearing about this. if this was going on, i doubt they would have allowed this and im sure as big mouth valentina would have said something prior to this). Then she (as well as some of the other coaches) said that Alexander only help train aliya and none of the other gymnast. (so under this premise, how was it possible for aliya to walk away with four medals if she was not training- because of her moods- just like vika and the other girls. in other words, how was it possible for her to medal in every event she participated in with lack of training, yet vika didnt achieve their expectations.)Also, i doubt if one is coming off a recent acl tear that they can practice when they feel like it and is still able to be successful
Why is the Rodionenko woman so powerful?? Looks like she hates the idea of things NOT going her way.I wonder why she really hates Anna Dementyeva and Aliya so much??? There must me something seriously wrong with this woman
ReplyDelete