Skip to main content

Grebyonkin: Aliya succeeded in spite of knee pain


In an interview with Albert Starobutsev of ITAR-TASS, Russian WAG team coach, Evgeny Grebyonkin, spoke of Aliya Mustafina's performance in the all around yesterday.  'We are very happy with the performance of Aliya', he said, 'she completed her task, pulled herself together and managed to win a bronze medal, even though she had hurt her knee.  This explains why her bars dismount was not perfectly landed.  On beam, I liked how Aliya performed'.

Aliya herself has also spoken of the impact of her health on her performance at these Worlds.  'It is a joy' she said of the bronze medal she won, 'especially as just before the World Championships I suffered a virus, which left me with almost no physical strength, and even worse, sapped my morale'. 

Aliya added another bronze medal to her collection in today's uneven bars final, while in the men's competition Alexander Balandin secured a silver in rings.  You can find full results of these competitions here.

Congratulations to all the gymnasts, and good luck to Aliya again, and to young Anna Rodionova, who compete in the beam final together tomorrow afternoon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dmitri Zanin on Melnikova and the Russian team in Zagreb

Melnikova’s gesture on the podium, the "Slavic face," the coldness of rivals—Zanin captures the details of gymnastics at the Euros. Natalia Maryanchik, sports.ru  Жест Мельниковой на подиуме, slavic face, холод соперниц – детали гимнастики на Евро от Занина - Дальний лес - Блоги Sports.ru The European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Zagreb concluded with a triumph for the Russian women, even though Melnikova and Kalmykova only made it to the tournament following intervention by the Foreign Ministry and competed practically straight off the plane. Melnikova and Kalmykova took first and second place in the all-around event. Competing under a neutral status, the Russian women won the team competition. Melnikova also claimed gold in the vault, as well as bronze on the balance beam and in the floor exercise. Match TV commentator Dmitry Zanin, who covered the tournament, recounted that Melnikova was moved to tears during the vault medal ceremony. He described her standing in h...

No Paseka for Russia in Berne

Barely two weeks will elapse before the WAG European Championships begin in Berne, Switzerland, and the news we had been fearing has been confirmed : world vault gold medallist Maria Paseka is  off the Russian team while she nurses a back injury.  This leaves Russia significantly weakened for the coming competition, with co-star Viktoria Komova also missing from the line-up.  It is a little disappointing, but it seems the right decision to rest the gymnasts so that they can be at their best when and where it really matters. Who will replace Paseka?  Valentina Rodionenko says that the youngster Natalia Kapitonova, who trains in Penza, has been chosen on the basis of her solid performances at national championships.  Well, we will have to wait and see - these announcements often turn out to be unreliable.   I personally would prefer to see the dynamic Seda Tutkhalyan be given a chance at this level, but Kapitonova has certainly shown herself to be more reliab...

Aliya Mustafina - 'each medal is very special'

'I'm very happy that everything turned out well today  ... Each medal is very special.  The UK team made mistakes, so there was a wide margin [of victory]... But naturally, [what I did] is not enough for the Olympics.  I prepared well for beam and bars but I am not ready for floor, I stepped up to help the team. ... To be honest, I did not look at the scores [when asked how the team reacted to the 6.5 gap before the final apparatus].  Gelya (Melnikova) is a good girl, she did everything and did not falter ... Seda fell on quite a complex element.  There is more work to do, but everything else went well.' [About a protest taken by the coaches on her beam score]. 'I am used to my protests being rejected, everything is normal!' Via vk.com I n other news , the UEG has confirmed that Spiridonova will replace Melnikova in tomorrow's bars final. No reason is given, but it is generally considered that Dasha has a better chance of gold.  This decision also means tha...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more