Skip to main content

Russia rules in Europe; Mustafina claims second major all around title

By
Courtesy of the RGF
Aliya Mustafina well and truly bridged the gap of time and space between Berlin and Moscow today, grabbing the gold all around at European level that is her second major title, and which she would in all likelihood have won had she not suffered the injury that stopped her competition two years ago at the last individual European Championships.  Hers was a convincing, joyful and somewhat relieved win in the Moscow Olympiski stadium this afternoon, and sets the scene for more gold in Kazan this summer at the Universiade, and at the World Championships in Antwerp, where she will doubtless be much better prepared.

Standing alongside her on the podium was silver medallist, Romania's Larissa Iordache, who had a near perfect competition but could not quite match the verve of a determined Mustafina competing on home turf.  Third place was taken by Anastasia Grishina, who competed without error in an all around competition for the first time in living memory.  Grishina did not present any new upgrades to her routines, but what she did she did well.

Russia pulled themselves back from the brink today.  Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko's presence in the arena underlines the importance Russia puts on these victories.  While the arena was barely half full today, belying the relatively low popularity level of the sport here, news of this victory will be transmitted around the world.  Tomorrow's apparatus finals - for the men, floor, pommels, and rings; for the women, vault and bars - will be interesting.  See below the results of today. More analysis to follow in due course.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tatyana Nabiyeva on work and love in China

By
Some highlights from a long interview with 2010 World champion Tatyana Nabiyeva.  Source: Russian team page on VK.com.  Translation - Google translate A big interview with Tatyana Nabieva about the peculiarities of work and life in China, the bright years of her sports career, a little about modern gymnastics and about love. On the Nabiyeva flight — At the same championship, you presented a new element on the bars, which was later added to the rules with your last name (flying over the top bar with a straight body, difficulty group F. — Sport24). How did you come up with the idea to try something new? — Actually, it happened spontaneously, I think. We worked with Vera Iosifovna [Kiryashova] on the purity of the elements on the bars, sometimes I didn’t fly all the way to the Shaposhnikova element. Once I didn’t fly all the way to the bars either and stood on my feet between the bars, bending my legs in flight for safety. Then Vera Iosifovna said that this was a different eleme...
Post a Comment
Read more

‘We all love her very much’ - Roschina speaks of Mustafina and the need to perfect an Amanar vault

By
From sport.ru via vk.com.  Google translate  A big interview with Anastasia Loginova from Sport24 with Lyudmila Roshchina following the Strongest Cup, where the gymnast won four out of five gold medals. We quote several fragments, the full version is available on the publication's website, link at the end. ❓ The Strongest Athletes Cup has recently ended. Did you have time to analyze your performances? 💬 I just rewatched the broadcast, looked at my shortcomings. ❓ Did you set a medal plan for this start? 💬 I didn't think about it. Only that I needed to do my program - and then what will happen. ❓ Did you have time to discuss the competition with your coach? 💬 She praised me, said that I was great. She didn't scold me for mistakes on the beam - on the contrary, she supported me. ❓ Can we say that the beam is your weak spot? This is the only final you didn't get to. 💬 Probably yes. I have this apparatus that is a bit unpolished, so to speak. Treacherous. I need to work...
Post a Comment
Read more

Angelina Melnikova photo session

By
Daria Isaeva has done a photo session with Angelina Melnikova at Dynamo Moscow.  Here are Angelina’s words about it.   "  The first time I was on a balance beam I was six years old. I was scared because of the height, so at first I walked hand in hand with my trainer." "The hardest thing on this apparatus is to keep your balance. Usually, when I'm on the beam, I imagine that I'm in a corridor 10 centimeters wide." "You can't be afraid of the beam! Coaches say that if you have fear, you will perform poorly." "The first difficult element I did at the age of eight was a backflip. In adult gymnastics, this element is considered one of the easiest." “I still can’t do a cartwheel on a log; I can easily fall off it, although children can do this element at the age of six.” "It's better to perform on the balance beam barefoot - you feel the apparatus better that way. But to avoid injuries, we sometimes tape our ankles." "It...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more