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| Tatiana Nabieva is one of a group of mature gymnasts whom the Russian coaches hope to restore to the team |
Journalist Natalia Kalugina met with Valentina Rodionenko and Viktoria Komova. This live interview was transmitted on the internet for Moscow Echo. Lupita has provided translations of the key points which are summarised below:
Natalia Kalugina : is the situation with Komova comparable to Ksenia Semenova? [ed - Semenova was unable to recover from an injury and eventually retired]
Valentina Rodionenko : Vika is still growing, she has gained 5 kilograms, she is very strong. She and her coach are deciding where she will compete. She has recovered 50-60% of her programme. At Europeans, she wonāt help her teammates on bars - she will not be allowed to be on the podium.
This year is difficult for those girls who competed at the Olympics. There are many important competitions: Europeans, the Universiade, and the World Championships.
There can always be surprises from the judges. It is difficult to know how things will go with the new rules. There will be lower start values for the Russians on bars and beam.
The Universiade will take place in Russia. Our Sports Ministry wants us to compete with the best teams.
Vika Komova wants to compete there if she finishes school and recovers in time. Her recovery is going better than we thought. All the Olympians will compete there.
NK : I saw Kramarenko, Goryunova training.
VR: It was a mistake not to keep them. We have to keep our gymnasts, regardless of their age. Practice shows that you can compete after 25 and still win medals. Nabieva is recovering, and is working on her Amanar and her bars - we are working with all of them. Too many of our gymnasts retire early. It is difficult to keep them training.
Dementyeva in 2011 competed very well when Aliya got injured. She was at her peak. Then she was injured, Now, she is recovering, but it is hard, because there are mistakes. Not everyone can reach the top level. Second place is not good for us.
Artistry is of increasing importance. We have Ksenia Afanasyeva, a world champion on floor, who is capable of great acrobatics and spins. Execution is highly important. The judges are better in Europe. Outside of Europe there is only really China who are like the Russians, classical in their style.
On the individual apparatus, Mustafina is working towards a good score on beam, with upgrades. On bars Vika is looking to increase her start value to 7.1, Mustafina is currently at around 6.7-6.8. The Americans have less on bars, and the Chinese have lost a lot under the new rules.
At Europeans, we are expecting Romania's Larissa Iordache to be a main rival - she is well prepared; her execution could be better, but her acrobatics are very good and she is constantly making upgrades to her programme.
Of the other team members VR mentioned Maria Paseka and Alla Sosnitskaya, who are both preparing two events. Anastasia Sidorova is recovering from surgery (last week) to a knee injury. Anna Rodionova is very good, but currently going through puberty, and needs a special training programme - has not yet grown as much as Viktoria.
Afanasyeva and Shelgunova are both working on Amanar vaults.
Nastia Grishina is working on her Olympic programme and currently still in recovery. 'Let's see how she goes.' She has a new coach who worked with the Soviet champion Elena Shevchenko, but not everything depends on the coaches; sometimes a gymnast simply makes no progress. 'Not
everyone can become Olympic champion.'
OTHER NEWS (updated 15th April) : There is a brief interview with Ksenia Afanasyeva here : she says that she is practicing the Amanar into a pit, but isn't sure it is ready to compete just yet. After the Olympics, she thought of retiring, but decided that at 21 she was too young to give up something that was still working for her. The youngsters who are up and coming do not yet pose much of a threat.
Also, sadly, Alexander Alexandrov's name has vanished from the list of coaches nominated to be with the Russian team in Moscow. He has been replaced by Raisa Ganina who has coached Mustafina since childhood. It is hard to say what this quiet change signifies if anything. I hope it is not a bitter ending to the charismatic pairing that delivered, and promised, so much for Russia.
Is there anything else about that Alexandrov-Mustafina situation, besides the fact that he won't be on podium? Ganina, i understood, is the choreographer, and isn't actually replacing Alexandrov, is she?
ReplyDeleteNothing more at all, I'm afraid. As I have said, it may signify absolutely nothing ... but Ganina did not originally appear on the paperwork - Alexandrov did - so it is a direct replacement, at least on paper.
DeleteIt would be wrong to speculate, but I did think it was worth reporting given the background of uncertainty in this particular coaching arrangement. In the past few days, Valentina Rodionenko has suggested that Alexandrov and Mustafina are not on good terms, and has mentioned that Grebyonkin and Ganina take more of a hands-on role in her coaching, with Alexandrov overseeing matters.
"Outside of Europe, there is only really China who are like the Russians, classic in their style" hahahaha clearly hating on the robotic Americans. I love the idea the Russians have about not throwing away their careers after one successful year. I feel like its going to be a long time until we are another great American Gymnast. They win a few medals and call it quits to go to Hollywood. And then we have Aliya 9 world and Olympic medals and she still on top. I know most of the Americans haven't officially retired, but taking so much time off, Liukin, Sloan, Johnson, Memmel, Sacramone, its so difficult to come back. This is what puts the Russians, Romanians (look at ponor and izbasa) even the Chinese (Kexin and Linlin) in the history books and leaves the Americans out.
ReplyDeleteIs it me or this Rodionenko woman thinks her gymnasts are the best? The Russians are good, but not the best. For a coach shouldn't she be more realistic? I recently watched an interview with Octavian Bellu, and he was so calm, so down to earth and said that it could be possible for Larisa to win only beam and floor. And he didn't called the Russians rivals. What's this ? The cold war? He said that in gymnastics the biggest rival is yourself. I'm sorry for Aliya and for her coach. They were perfect together.
ReplyDeleteI actually hope that Romania do begin to do better, so that they and Russia together can begin to put more pressure on the USA team. Or the sport is in danger of being dominated by the athletic gymnasts of the USA.
DeleteI think that this year the Americans are going to have a harder time. With difficulty scores going down and artistry deductions increasing, I think we will see the super athletic gymnasts not go as far. Just looking at this years results, the Americans are scoring lower in execution on beam and floor than the top Russian and Romanians. I know this is a very broad statement cause noone really cares about these little competitions, but still, it is something to think about.
DeleteI think the whole lack of depth thing is a matter of the RGF playing favorites. This tumblr post explains it very well.
ReplyDeletehttp://lettherebestillrings.tumblr.com/post/48099855868/on-cultural-viewpoints-and-russian-gymnastics
After reading this article, I can be 100% sure that Pavlova is blacklisted due to other reasons...
ReplyDeleteValentina is critizicing Alexandrov's policy in her latest statements. When she says that a lot of older gymnasts were put aside, this is what she means. Alexandrov was concentrating on Aliya and not on the team. Right now, many of their gymnasts are training for the Universiade, which is important for the Ministry.
ReplyDeleteI dunno about that tumblr post.
ReplyDeleteBreaking into America's elite scene is a political process. It is not enough to be prodigious or diligent (or both). Those are prerequisites. The most promising athletes are also marketable, and marketing is what good coaches do when they aren't coaching.
"Liang Chow has guided two of the best gymnasts in U.S. history, so he knows talent when he sees it.
Still, when the West Des Moines coach first approached Rachel Gowey two years ago about making the jump to elite-level competition, she balked...
Chow's notoriety has led to an increase in talented young gymnasts seeking his services. That, in turn, has led college scouts to come calling on those gymnasts at younger and younger ages.
He said he has six gymnasts now that, at ages 15 and 16, are getting scholarship offers from top universities."
- Des Moines Register, "Has Chow found his next Olympian?" (April 6, 2013)
The tumblr post on Vika's and Aliya's tags? The one on Culture? I found it quite stupid.
DeleteIt would be helpful to say why ... that would keep the conversation moving.
Delete