Lupita translates here the first interview of any significance with Evgeny Grebionkin, newly appointed senior coach of the Russian WAG team. The article appears on the press website of the Russian Ministry of Sport.
The gymnastics national team’s head coach, Evgeny Grebionkin, has talked in an interview to FTP-Press about the changes in the staff, the specificities of the new season and the new Code of Points.
- Evgeny Anatolevich, what has changed in your work as the national team’s head coach?
- I’ve been working with this team for four years. The thing is that I have more duties now. I used to focus on bars, essentially. Now I follow the athletes on all apparatus. I have to organize the training process right now.
- How do you feel about the young gymnasts who have joined the team?
- So far it’s difficult to say something specific. Four years ago Mustafina, Komova, Nabieva joined the team the same way. It was tough for them at the beginning. Nevertheless, this year the young gymnasts don’t have competitions.
- There are new coaches working for the team …
- Exactly. We have two new coaches: an experienced coach Marina Bulashenko (beam) and a young coach Anton Stolyar (bars).
- Do you share your experience between yourselves?
- Our group is very friendly. We help each other because when you are following the gymnast, you can miss something. From the outside errors are easier to see.
- At the beginning of a new quad there’s always a new Code of Points.
- Yes, there are new combinations that add value to the score for execution. Beam will be scored more severely. The elements have not changed, but they will not be given bonus for the combination. If Mustafina had a 7.1 start value, according to the new CoP, her routine will be worth 6.5. This is why we have to look for elements that will add value to her routine.
- What can the fans expect from our gymnasts this season?
- This season will be very difficult for the Russian national team. Everywhere the majority of Olympic medalists will rest. For instance, a lot of American gymnasts will not compete this year. Some of them have injuries. In our situation we cannot replace the team. Our gymnasts will have to compete. It’s difficult for them after the physical and psychological loads of the Olympics to resume training. Yet the girls are trying hard, and this is nice to see.
- Do you train for this year’s competitions or do you focus on Rio 2016?
- This year we are preparing for the European Championships and the Universiade in Kazan. Contrary to other years, we plan to have our first team competing there. We have four good junior gymnasts (born in 1998-1999). We’ll prepare them for Rio. Some of them are too young to compete in competitions for gymnast born after 1997. We plan for Shelgunova to participate at some stages of the World Cup for her to gain experience.
- Which control competitions are foreseen before the European Championships?
- First, the Russian Championships [editor : 1st to 7th March, Penza]. We will choose the team for the European Championships [17th to 21st April]. Then the World Cup stage in France [16th March] invites gymnasts who performed in the Olympic finals. Four more girls will compete in Cottbus [22nd to 24th March].
Дмитрий Рачиций, Роман Шишов. Фото: Георгий Шпикалов, агентство PR+Sport
Cool, thanks for the translation. I feel it for the gymnasts, because as he said, they still have to compete, while many from other countries will be resting.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they can do good though...without getting an injury.
i hope komova gets better because i know shes not compieting for any of th events this year :(
ReplyDeleteKomova is not preparing for Russian Championships or Europeans, she is not old enough to go to the Universiade, but I think she is expected to prepare for Worlds - barring further injury problems.
DeleteI personally think that the Russians - and the Romanians - could do rather well this year - but beyond 2013 their performance will give cause for concern. It all depends on their mature gymnasts (Mustafina, Komova, Grishina et al) remaining fit and their youth gymnasts (Shelgunova, Kharenkova and whoever else comes through) maturing enough to make the team competitive.
However, it is true to say that the Russians do not currently have the strength in depth to compete for gold in the world team event consistently every year.
I think this is interesting because it's true that Russia really needs their old seniors to stick around. Many of them are capable of DTY's that not many new Russian juniors or seniors can produce. I think Shelgunova has one but needs to be consistent with it. They still need a floor routine like Afanasyeva's or Aliya for the difficulty. And Komova Grishina and Mustafina bars are really needed. Russia needs to do a lot of work to build more competitive difficulty for the new quad. USA is just too strong. Oh and they need consistent beam workers. SO far Afanasyeva and Goryunova are consistent and Dementyeva have the great difficulty. I just wish Komova can get healthy for once and get consistent with beam same goes to Grishina!
ReplyDelete