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| Ksenia Afanasyeva - still carrying the team |
Soviet Olympic gold medallist from 1956 and 1969 and senior Russian judge Lidia Ivanova yesterday confirmed in an interview with Sportbox that Anastasia Grishina was unable to compete at Worlds. 'By refusing to compete in Penza, Nastia has deprived herself of a chance to compete at the World Championships' said Ivanova, who also regularly commentates on artistic gymnastics events on Russian TV. 'The fact that we were unable to take the gold in the team event at the London Olympics is at least partly her fault', she added, stressing that Grishina had been given the opportunity to rehabilitate herself after the Olympics, working with new coaches, but had failed to engage in enough serious competition so far this year to make her eligible for Worlds consideration.
Ivanova acknowledges the problems of selection that this presents to the Russian team. While Maria Paseka has participated fully in qualification, she has still not shown that she has perfected her vaulting and improved since last year's Olympics, which Ivanova sees as a 'big problem'.
So far, therefore, only Mustafina, Afanasyeva and Nabiyeva can be confirmed to the Russian team and the names of the fourth member and reserve are as yet undecided. Ivanova mentions as possible contenders the veteran Anna Pavlova (bronze all around) and newcomer Alla Sosnitskaya, who performed consistently at the Russia Cup to secure a silver medal all around and a gold on the floor exercise and whose age (1997 born) suggests she will peak for the Rio Olympics. Thus competing in a World Championships would be good experience for Alla.
The problems that Russia this year has in naming a full WAG team for the Antwerp World Championships underlines not only the terribly bad luck that leading contender Viktoria Komova has suffered in succumbing to a serious virus infection so close to the Championships - it also highlights the team's dreadful lack of strength in depth. Russia relies too heavily on a small number of star performers, in particular Afanasyeva (turned senior in 2007) and Mustafina (senior in 2010) to win its gold medals and has noteably failed to bring through consistent gold medal winning performances from its promising juniors. Komova (senior in 2011) is arguably the most talented technical gymnast in the world but even she has yet to confirm this dominance in competition.
Grishina's absence (senior in 2012) from these World Championships is also a major disappointment in light of the promise shown at junior level and the standard of her work at European Championships this year. Is the Russian team shooting itself in the foot by excluding her from Worlds selection? Grishina's coaches say she was legitimately signed off Russia Cup because of a pinched nerve in her back but have publicly requested an opportunity to prove her readiness, suggesting the back problem was temporary and that appropriate protocols were followed for withdrawal. Internal politics between the coaches, or a real lack of preparation on Grishina's part? Perhaps we will never know, but Grishina's absence from the qualifying for these Championships and her clear alienation from her team seems tragic both personally and for Russian gymnastics.
Ivanova's mention of Pavlova as a potential team member for Worlds may please many fans, but this is a clear admission that the team has very few options but to draw on its veteran ranks (Pavlova turned senior in 2003 and last competed for the national team in 2008) and is thus a telling indictment of Russia's inability to bring through its promising juniors in sufficient numbers. Tatiana Nabiyeva, whom Ivanova praises for her comeback, may well have rehabilitated herself onto the team by a regime of realistic target setting and concentration on consistency, but the fact that promising youngsters such as Evgeniya Shelgunova, Anna Rodionova and Polina Fyodorova have so far failed to match or outstrip her performance asks questions of the team's motivation and discipline. Russia's mature and stunning gymnasts, Mustafina and Afanasyeva, may well pull out some memorable performances at this year's Championships, but by now they should be feeling the breath of their team mates and rivals.
The men's team does not seem to suffer problems of a similar magnitude and Ivanova mentions in particular the excellent pommel horse work of Mattvey Petrov.
The deadline for nominative registrations for the World Championships is next Tuesday. RRG will keep its eyes open and provide a link as soon as lists are published. The health of Viktoria Komova is a critical issue for the Russians and little will likely be known within the timeframe given so I suspect any team named will be highly notional and likely subject to change.
I wish good luck to all those gymnasts named to or in contention for a place on the Russian team.
Ivanova is often involved in commenting on the gymnastics competitions. Many people don't like NBC commentators, but Ivanova is 100 times worse. I don't even know who I dislike more Ivanova or Rodionenko.
ReplyDeleteIs she? Why not a thousand times worse? Or, even better, a million? 100 is such a paltry figure to express dislike ;) And if you have a valid reason for being quite rude when talking about an Olympic and world champion, I'd be interested in hearing it. Do you have any cogent arguments to support your opinion? Out with it then ;)
DeleteI, for one, enjoy her commentaries a lot - they're informative, humorous and down-to-earth. If she sees something praiseworthy, she gives her approval unstintingly, be its recipient a gymnast from Russia, Romania, China, US etc. And if something's not up to the mark, she doesn't hesitate to say so, explaining what's gone wrong. I find it refreshing, especially when I listen to the BBC commentators. I don't know why - out of political correctness or a desire to please everybody - their commentaries are often... bland. "Oh, that was marvelous!" - Really? Well, I guess everybody is marvelous in their own way. "Oh, she just faltered a tiny little bit!" - About a gymnast who fell off balance on a pirouette and had to take a huge step to right herself. "Oh, SUCH clever choreography!" - Where? All I can see is impressive tumbling interspersed with rather meaningless movements not even in time with the music. Seriously, give me Ivanova any day.
As to the article, what did Ivanova say that we didn't know already? That Grishina is a fabulous gymnast capable of performing on the highest level, but sometimes held back by a case of nerves? That's true, she had a panic attack at the Olympics. It's her task, and her coaches' task, and the team psychologist's task to help her overcome this fear. Unfortunately, Nastya is less of a fighter than Aliya. It's no use thinking what MIGHT have been if... but it's really vexing to see such a talented and promising athlete not realizing her full potential. Especially when (let's face it) there's a dearth of talented and promising athletes in Russian artistic gymnastics.
Being an Olympic and world champion don't makes one smarter or give a right to be rude. Following your logic we should remember and take notes on everything Michael Phelps does or says, because he has a lot Olympic and world medals.
DeleteI went to find some examples of her being rude and it was to easy. Here's Annika Urvikko sitting down her vault and Ivanova commenting on it "No need to stand up so fast, everybody saw, that you fall" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeOxrd7Y9Mw&feature=player_detailpage#t=2218 I can give you a lot of examples of her being really rude, but I don't think it worth to spend my time on.
I love old soviet commentators, they were harsh but never rude.
Ivanova has seemingly forgotten that Grishina was not the only one to make mistakes in the team competition. Afanasyeva, anyone?
ReplyDeleteIt's a translation mistake. Ivanova said than Grishina was one of the reasons, not the only reason.
DeleteThanks Cpt. Hook. I amended the post last night - this was a difficult translation.
DeleteYou are welcome Queen Elizabeth, glad to help.
Delete'The fact that we were unable to take the gold in the team event at the London Olympics is her fault'
ReplyDeleteReally??? that's totally wrong and mean, you wanna encumber the whole guilt on her? Afan faltered and Musty too
Grishina is graceful gymnast and proved herself multiple times, and this year she's the European All- Around bronze medalist, Beam bronze medalist, right?
Please stop this disparaging comments and let the kid alone ...
Lidia and Valentina need to leave Grishina alone. Lidia seems like a puppet of the Rodionenkos. It is very unfair that they say that she is out of World's contention for missing the competition in Penza, when she had back pain. Komova missed it as well, but she is given a chance. The fact that Grishina is now being blamed for losing gold is sheer stupidity. Before, it was Aliya, which was even worse because she contributed the most. However, Grishina doesn't deserve the blame. Ksenia fell as well, and even without the falters, the Americans would have still won. While I thought the amount of favoritism Grishina was getting last year was unfair, she doesn't deserve the amount of blame she is getting this year. Valentina seems to go through phases of hate. Demy, Nabs, and Aliya were all getting hate before this. Well, Demy might have still been getting it, since she is rumored to have retired. Nabieva was called obese, until she loss 5 lbs. We all know what Aliya's hate was.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping that the team would be Vika, Nastya, Ksenia, and Aliya. This is impossible with the addition of Nabieva. I am happy for her because of my love for her personality, but, is she worthy of this spot? I don't think so. She made 56 in the AA, yet she is now being considered for an AA spot. Afan, Grishina, and even a sick, injured Vika would have a better chance. Still, if Vika isn't ready by Worlds, I would rather have her stay home. If she does stay home, according to Valentina, Maria will make it. The team does not fit together that way. Maria, Aliya, and Afan will have to do vault. That leaves no room for Nabs on that apparatus. Bars will be Nabs, Aliya, and maybe Masha. Then, beam will be Nabs, Aliya, and Afan. Floor would be Aliya, Ksenia, and Nabs. That is how I think the line up would go, which isn't the strongest. If you add Grishina, you get an arguably better bars, beam, and floor, plus AA. A healthy Vika would of course make things better too.
Oh gosh, I feel so bad for Grishina. The Russian press is unfairly turning her into the main scapegoat of the disappointing Olympic team performance. Yes, Grishina had a big mistake on floor exercise that probably cost the team 2 points from what it could have scored, but the rest of the team also had big errors that chipped away from the team total: Paseka's awful Amanar landing (where she stepped WAY off the podium), Komova's awful double arabian dismount landing (also stepped sideways and way off the podium), Mustafina's wobbly beam, and Afan's crash on the double pike. I feel like the only reason the Russian press has decided to target Grishina is that she was the only team member to receive a score in the 12s (every other score was above 14). However, the Russian press needs to stop sulking over the Olympic loss and realize that even without Grishina's error, the Russians' team total would still have been far behind that of the Americans' and that the Russians really had no chance at Olympic gold even before Grishina took to the stage! That said, I really hope this Russian politics doesn't ruin Grishina's career!
ReplyDeleteLupita comments :
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. Ivanova’s TV comments are awful. During the floor final of the Russian Cup she doesn’t realize that Nabieva is not competing. She comments the first routine as if it were Nabieva’s.
What is all this campaign against Grishina? Ivanova, Latynina, Khorkina
Lupita
In my opinions,Grishina is the best about elegance,grace and power about Russia.
ReplyDeleteNo Mustafina,no Komova.... Grishina needs only the right time to feel herself better and I hope and I wish her,the sun of victory is going to shine on her.