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| Denis Ablyazin. Picture courtesy of Moskva Sportivnaya |
Denis Ablyazin, fast rising star of Russian - and world - gymnastics, spoke to Moskva Sportivnaya on Wednesday and addresses his recovery from injury, future prospects, life at Lake Krugloye and the forthcoming Moscow European Championships. The following is a brief summary of key points.
Denis sold his car awarded as a prize after his silver medal
winning performances in London, and bought a lovely apartment in his hometown,
Penza, instead. He does not want to live
in Moscow as it is too hectic there.
His injury was a broken heel suffered when he missed a pit
landing and hit his foot on concrete. In
gymnastics, he says it is considered better to break a bone than tear a
ligament. While he was in plaster, he
could do conditioning work, and the benefits can be seen in his work on rings,
where he has added a strength element.
He is not quite ready to vault at his previous level, but says that in
general his new programme is well underway.
He expects competition at Europeans to be very fierce – not just
from the Russians, but all over. It is a
benefit that the competition will take place in Moscow, as the gymnasts will be
familiar with the facilities, and also hopefully there will be lots of fans –
although Denis says he is usually oblivious to their support as he is
concentrating on his work!
He used to work all around, but can no longer do so as a
consequence of hand injuries which make it difficult for him to do pommel horse
(he had fractures in both hands, one in childhood, and the other practicing on
the bar).
Competition is fierce on the Russian team as it rebalances
following the departure of Anton Golotsutksov.
Denis mentions Mikhail Kudashov
as a possible future champion, and also emphasises the strength of Nikolai
Kuksenkov as an all round gymnast. Denis plans to work as a coach in future, perhaps specializing on vault and
acrobatics, but much may change before he gets to that point.
He responds to a question regarding living conditions
at Round Lake – which as a junior were difficult, he says it was ‘impossible
to live a normal life’. However, now
things are much more comfortable, there is entertainment, the gymnasts can meet
with friends, take a ‘coffee with chocolate’ and generally lead a good life. He says
the team is very close knit, like a family.
As far as equipment is concerned, they know that they will always
have the most up to date models available to work on at Lake Krugloye. As soon as they know whose equipment will be
used at a major competition, it will be delivered there and the gymnasts will begin
work on it.
In future, says Denis, there will be ‘serious competition’
as the younger generation, the youth team, make their way up to the senior
ranks.
thanks so much for this :) Denis seems pretty well grounded despite all his achievements so far. I hope he continues the same and here's to more medals for him!!
ReplyDeleteBtw, I find it interesting that this is the 3rd or 4th time its been mentioned that Russian MAG will be very competitive looking towards the future as youth and juniors go up the senior ranks. I really really hope the same bright outlook is true for Russian WAG as well-
I think the outlook for MAG is bright in general - the sport seems to have been invigorated by equipment and Code changes (though I must confess I don't much like floor exercises with 7 acrobatic passes). There is a great deal of competition internationally.
DeleteThe Russian men only have one or two strong all arounders but then competition formats encourage specialists. They are still relatively weak in depth on pommels, p bars and high bar but can contend for medals at world level in EF realistically on floor, rings and vault. The fact that there are six apparatus for the men makes team selections more complex than WAG, and makes the all around more difficult but the opportunity to specialise is greater. The men also compete for longer so there is not the rapid turnover rate we see in WAG.
In Russia gymnastics participation dipped in the post Soviet years. You can see how poor funding led many of their facilities to disintegrate by the scale and scope of current funding to refurbish or completely rebuild gyms. Gymnastics needs mass participation to support elite competitors and Russia just wasn't - perhaps still isn't getting the numbers it needs to develop consistent strength in depth in WAG. There are very few juniors upcoming in the next few years and this could well be a legacy of the poor years of the sport around the late 1990s and early 2000s. I suspect therefore that Russia may well need to rely on just a few top gymnasts in WAG for the next few years. After Rio there may even be a very fallow period of time while the effects of the current investment take hold.
its really a pity but I hope Russian WAG is on its way back up instead. I actually hope its the other way around- I figured the late 1990s and early 2000s was when the current crop of seniors such as Aliya/Komova/Grishina (94/95/96) where in the youth/junior levels so I hope that past Rio the girls who are age-eligible for 2017-2020 quad would have benefited from the new infusion of funding/coaching/facilities.
DeleteI really hope MAG Russia doesn't become specialist based and I actually disagree on this, because as far as I know, MAG and WAG for Olys are still 5 members thereby forcing gymnasts to be competitive on more events to be chosen for the team. While I don't agree with reducing the number of team members, from a personal standpoint I do prefer gymnasts who do all around than specialists :)
I agree re all arounders v specialists. I think Russia will always have one orctwo all arounders but the bulk of the men's team will remain specialists on multiple apparatus.
DeleteHope you are right about WAG!
Nice little article on Denis. I've read some Olympians sold their cars, and it's better for him to get a nice place because to maintain that car would cost a lot.
ReplyDeleteHe is a talented gymnast and hope he continues to do well in the future.
With all the Sochi preparations I wonder if there is a possibility to make a gymnastic installation at the mountain Olympic village. It could be a good place to train during the summer and gain some air because some of the Russian girls look like they are about to die after the second tumbling pass.
ReplyDeleteI think Rodionenko has suggested this.
DeleteThe Russian team has suffered a recent flu epidemic - perhaps explaining Mustafina's appearance at the weekend.
That would be great and not only for gymnastics, but they can also make some other installations for other sports.
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