Anna Pavlova, who last competed for her home country of Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and has maintained a solid presence on the domestic circuit since, today announced that she will prepare to compete for the Azerbaijan national team at the 2015 European championships, which will take place in the Azerbaijan capital city of Baku. Her mother, who is Anna's personal coach, will take up a position as Azerbaijan's national coach. Working alongside Anna will be 2011 World Championships team member, 2012 Olympic reserve Yulia Inshina from Voronezh. On the men's side, rings specialist Konstantin Pluzhnikov will also make the move to the Azerbaijan team. All the gymnasts will be working at home in Russia, as there is no equipment available in Azerbaijan. Pluzhnikov is considered a world medal contender on his specialist piece, the rings, and Pavlova has regularly beaten national team members on vault, beam and floor in Russian domestic competitions.
Pavlova says the gymnasts will receive payment if they win medals, but there is otherwise no financial incentive for them. She has wanted to compete internationally for many years, but the doors to the Russian national team have been closed to her despite the fact that there are many young team members at European and World Championships who have never beaten her at home. She does not want to discuss this in more detail before her retirement from competitive sport, but it is clear that it is a situation she finds unfair, and which gives her pain. If she is in good shape and does well in the 2015 Championships, she says she will attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Pavlova, an international fan favourite, is known for her graceful presentation and strong beam, floor and vaulting work. In 2009 she suffered a serious knee injury for which she still wears heavy support. Head coach Andrei Rodionenko has cited the injury as a reason for Pavlova's exclusion from the team, saying it would not be 'respectful' to the gymnast's health to expect the heavy loads of training required consistently at the top level, but Pavlova has nevertheless regularly taken medals in competition against national team members since her rehabilitation. Given Russia's problems with strength in depth, and their relative weakness in the events Pavlova favours, her continued exclusion has been controversial. Her transfer to the Azerbaijan team seems to be a measure of last resort.
Azerbaijan's last Olympic level gymnast was Soviet team member Valeri Belenki, who won gold all around at the 1990 World Cup and bronze at the 1992 Olympics. He is now a senior coach for the German MAG team.
Azerbaijan's last Olympic level gymnast was Soviet team member Valeri Belenki, who won gold all around at the 1990 World Cup and bronze at the 1992 Olympics. He is now a senior coach for the German MAG team.
There is an interview with Anna at http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=77893.
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It's good that she will be able to finally compete in some big tournaments. Her difficulty is low and she always has injuries so she needs to work on that. However, she at least will get the chance to perform and make some serious money doing it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to Inshina as well. I never like seeing athletes change nationality to compete; however, if that is the only way they can get a chance then go ahead, at least they are not giving up.
That being said, I've seen on another site Valentina's response to them leaving and I have to say, if it is the correct translation or even a true article etc, I never thought I could dislike her anymore than I already do. If it is true - her response was downright mean esp since Russia has no depth so really can't afford to be losing gymnasts.
I saw the reported response from Valentina, too, but could not find the original source.
ReplyDeleteYeah, which is why I said if it is a true article. Who knows, maybe the source will be found, or maybe she will officially give a reaction soon.
DeleteEither way I am happy for Pavlova, I am not a huge fan of hers, but she obviously loves the sport and will now finally get to compete on bigger platforms. Maybe she kept going because she felt she let down people with her previous performances.
Is there any chance that they will be able to compete for Azerbaijan during the 2014 season, or will they not be able to because of the whole process of switching nationalities and all?
ReplyDeleteAll of the named gymnasts have been cleared by the FIG to compete for Azerbaijan, so technically I guess there would be nothing stopping them from competing next year ... Let us wait and see.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the Valentina comments http://www.sovsport.ru/news/text-item/663362
Valentina says none of the gymnasts were on the national team, so this isn't a real loss. Anna didn't have the difficulty, Yulia had grown and had injury problems.
ReplyDeleteI could say more. It is really a case where I feel Valentina would be wise to maintain a dignified silence.
I think V-Rod is retarded or something ( aging problem ) and I hope it's not contagious.
DeleteI really like Anna, but I think this is a mistake. As far as I know, Anna had a lot of injures and it could be dangerous for her to continue as an elite. Nevertheless, decision was made and I hope, she proves me wrong.
In the interview , Ana Pavlovja said there will be four gymnasts who will go to Azerbaijan. She also criticizes the way the gymnasts are chosen by the head coaches : . . " Reasons to form the team are not very clear, the leaders of Russia who form teams have at their own discretion take, for example, the last World Cup in Russia there Alla Sosnitskaya ranked second in all-around and won three medals in individual events , but she didn´t go to the World Cup . No entanto, Anna Rodionova , who came fourth in the all-around and individual events will and who didn´t get win any awards was choosen to go the World Cup. Yes , the coach saw it as the future , and at the World Championships , she really got into the finals on the beam , but the principles of selection does not seem to be more comprehensible " and also says " There is a girl - Marina Nekrasov she never stood for the national team, dispite she have won the title The promisse in gymnast russian Cup. But as far as I know , she has no problems with the transition to Azerbaijan . More unplanned transitions to our federation is not very happy with such a mass exodus . Neither party now do not need to climb situation. " Hopefully with this mass exodus , the Russian authorities will think for best in agree to policies adopted by Rodienkos .
ReplyDeleteI'm very pessimistic as to the prospect of any change in Russia before the 2016 Olympics.
DeleteBesides which, I think there are real justifications for not including Pavlova on the national team. Rodionova was selected over Sosnitskaya for the 2013 Worlds team because of the contribution she could make all around/on beam. Russia already had their vault specialist in Paseka.
I am not especially happy to see Pavlova and, particularly, Pluzhnikov, go away from Russia to another country, because I think they could both add to their teams' strength in depth. Valentina says that Pavlova doesn't have good enough difficulty, but Pavlova could contribute to a team by making appearances at such competitions as the Massilia Cup, thus taking some of the stress and injury risk off the top members. And her good execution regularly makes up for her lack of difficulty.
But this is my opinion, and I am not a Head Coach.
It is my further opinion that it is the failure of the Russian team to realise the full potential of such gymnasts as Komova, Grishina, Nabiyeva and Rodionova that is a greater problem than their omission of gymnasts like Pavlova from the team roster. If the new members of the team had been trained to compete at full strength, Pavlova would have been left behind long ago, and the whole team would be a lot happier.
I agree with your stataments, mainly your words about Anna Pavlova, when she could contribute to a team by making appearances at small competitions, thus taking some of the stress and injury risk off the top members. And her good execution regularly makes up for her lack of difficulty. she could add to their teams' strength in depth".
DeleteI'm also pessimistic as to the prospect of any change in Russia before the 2016 Olympics.
I also think the failure of the Russian team to realise the full potential of such gymnasts as Komova, Grishina, Nabiyeva and Rodionova, thanks to Rodienkos.
Very sad about all these things.
I'm happy she did this. Not just to see her in competitions international and see what she can do there, but also that she has and will air more dirty laundry. The more that comes out to push the Rodionenko's out, the better.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Pavlova has always been very popular so this will affect the Rodionenko's image even more than before.
DeleteWith us fans it will - but I doubt that the Russian government (who seem to be the ones with the power) will pay much attention.
DeleteAt the risk of making myself unpopular, I should also add that I don't think the Rodionenkos could really do much about this. Anna genuinely doesn't have the level of difficulty required of top members of the national team. I'm of the opinion that the real problem is that the current members of the national team have not developed sufficient consistency that they can regularly beat Anna in domestic competition. This is a real shame considering it is now five years since Anna competed against them on the international stage.
I know that bearing in mind all that has been said, it seems that the Rodionenkos have been unfair to Anna. It seems to us fans that teams should always be selected according to who we think are the favourites, who has done well at the latest edition of the Russia Cup etc. I confess there have been times when I have felt that the team would do better with Anna than with some other gymnasts selected.
But the national coaches have to try to select the team with the best potential, and adopt that potential to develop it long term.
The real failure of the system under the Rodionenkos has been its inability to foster new talent and bring it through to fruition, not to exclude Pavlova from the team. The unfair exclusion of Dementyeva from the Olympic selection process is in my opinion far more important than Anna's deselection from the national team. Anna's migration to Azerbaijan is to fulfill her own desire to continue competing, rather than an acknowledgement of the Russian coaches being at fault in not having selected her for major competitions.
There are clear problems with the way the team is working at present, but we as fans will almost probably will never have the full picture.
The way Valentina speaks to the press is a real PR problem for the Russians. Her words cause more controversy than anything else. But we cannot relate everything that happens in Russia to Valentina Rodionenko - that would be to accord her far too much power.
I don't think those factors are separated. The bad selection of the team gymnasts includes Anna Pavlova's "deselection". Before the 2011 Tokyo World Championships Anna Pavlova performed better on vault and beam. Dementyeva was ill and very weak at the end of the season. She was never factored in. Why didn't Alexandrov mention this in his interview with RRG?
DeleteAlso: Grishina was well prepared for London, her execution was excellent, but she couldn't stand the pressure of the fight between coaches.
There're a lot of unclear things and, as you say, we'll never have the full picture.