Skip to main content

'Mustafina will fight for gold, Nabiyeva is very beautiful' - Valentina Rodionenko

By
Tatiana Nabiyeva at the recent Universiade, where she won a gold medal with her team
Lupita has been translating for us, the words of Valentina Rodionenko on the forthcoming worlds.

Aliya will fight for the AA gold. I think that her rival is Larisa Iordache from Romania, who has a very strong beam. Her technique is very original. On floor Aliya and Larissa are at the same level. Aliya is better on vault and, of course, bars. Her routine is more difficult than the one she performed at the London Olympics. For instance, she does the Shaposhnikova with a 360º twist. Very few gymnasts have performed this element we will see in Antwerp. So lets’ hope…

On Nabiyeva, Valentina has also said : 'she has become thinner now, she is a 'krasavitsa' right now (beautiful woman).


Labels:

Comments

  1. Susana20 September 2013 at 12:39

    Even when she tries to compliment her gymnasts she sounds awful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown20 September 2013 at 13:31

      Really, Rodionenko? Mustafina is a very talented fighter who will challenge for the gold and Nabiyeva is "very thin"? Someone please fire this idiot.

      Delete
    2. Queen Elizabeth21 September 2013 at 14:15

      Please note the altered totranslation above .. apparently she said that Tanya had 'become thinner', not that she was 'very thin' ... a small difference and the same meaning but altered out of fairness to Valentina.

      Delete
  2. Unknown20 September 2013 at 14:56

    Love how she completely ignores Biles and Yao who will most likely beat Mustafina if that's the case.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous21 September 2013 at 16:30

    Uh no, Valentina. Aliya's greatest rival is definitely Biles! I don't think Iordache will be able to challenge solely due to her bars weakness. Biles, on the other hand, has a strong and consistent Amanar, and if she can manage to be consistent on her other events (like she was at National Championships) she would have a great shot at AA gold. That said, I'm still rooting for Aliya! However, I hope she only debuts the TTY if she really is ready for it because I don't want to see another ACL tear.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Russian WAG at the 2014 World Championships

By
The Russians during a team talk in training for the World Championships.  Courtesy RGF Bronze all the way for Russia then.  Beyond the euphoria and surprise of this morning's competition there doesn't really seem to be much to write home about. I am delighted for Aliya personally that the efforts she has made to help the team have provided her with some tangible result, but the principal feeling at the end of the competition is that of relief.  As Vaitsekhovskaya said in her article last week, there were no moments of shock and awe from the Russians, and that's what will be needed if they are to compete for gold medals in Rio (translation available here ). Let's consider a timeline of the competition : before, during and after. BEFORE The promise of a return to the Worlds stage by Viktoria Komova gave Russia a feeling of optimism pre-Russia Cup.  However, Viktoria's performance at this important competition gave little reason for celebra...
43 comments
Read more

Aliya Mustafina - I competed as best I could

By
Picture credit RGF Aliya speaks in Sports Express http://news.sport-express.ru/2014-05-18/699607 I am very pleased with my performance today, I don't know what the judges didn't like about my bars, but I didn't ask them ... I did my routine fairly well without serious error. On beam I didn't have the start value but I received the highest execution score.  We will try to fix that before the World Championships. Considering the problems I had with my ankle, I think I performed to the optimum at the moment.  I did everything I could. I'm not  the least bit sorry that I performed here -  Very glad that I could help the team. I think my presence made things easier for the girls.   It is very difficult to compete at such serious senior competitions for the first time.  Of course they were very worried.   But I'm sure that with time they will learn to cope easily with their nerves (smiles). 
38 comments
Read more

Sport, friendship and the Olympics - reflections on McLaren report implications for Russian gymnastics

By
BREAKING - President Putin on the McLaren report -  http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/52537 What is happening today, is perhaps the end of an era.  The end of an era when sport was truly playful, and international.  Will we ever see our athletes in the same way again? The findings of the McLaren report are devastating to me.  They made me think about the value and meaning of the Olympics.  People have written whole books and volumes of books about the history of the Olympics. I am not going to try to unravel all the different strands of the history of the Olympic movement from the Ancient Greeks to the present day.  I'll just reflect here on the current values of Olympism; you can see below an extract from the new Olympic Charter , which was published in 2015. I certainly am inspired by the values of Olympism; I have followed the Olympics all my life.  But unfortunately it seems that they have been under attack, not just in Russia b...
24 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more