Russian gymnastics - 2013 in words and pictures part 1 - WAG

We began the year with a photo montage of Viktoria Komova, who was expected to shine at Worlds ...

Olympic gold medallist Aliya Mustafina was in the news ... 

'When I was recovering from surgery, I watched all the competitions. I didn’t panic. Nobody was doing anything that I couldn’t handle. Of course the responsibilities of the Olympics were greater than other meets. The Olympics don’t come along everyday, and not everyone gets there. I cannot say that that responsibility came lightly. In my mind I told myself to simply do my job, and that was all. I worked for 12 years to lay it on the line on the Olympic stage. Six months before the Olympics I was still far from being in gold medal form. It was tough to force myself to work hard, and the doubt that I could make it constantly surrounded me.'  Aliya Mustafina, December 2012

The list of national team coaches was published, officially confirming Evgeny Grebyonkin in his new position as head coach of WAG.  Alexander Alexandrov was listed as Aliya Mustafina's coach, but rumours were already circulating of Alexandrov's departure for Brazil. 

'I hope we can prove that gymnastics can be both difficult and beautiful', said Rodionenko in a training video from Round Lake.  But only a few days later, Grebyonkin was complaining in his first major interview that the team had no reserve.  'This season will be very difficult', he said.

In February, Valentina Rodionenko spoke of the prospects of the team, picking out Mustafina for special comment - more of this developing theme later ...

'No talented lazy girl will ever reach good results. Mustafina is a talent. She possesses an excellent combination of talent and the capacity not to train a lot but to reach results. Тhis doesn’t happen often. She is very gifted. She has such character that she cannot train, compete and perform her routine better than if she had trained. At the Olympics Aliya proved her character and her talent. She was not better prepared than the rest, but she performed an impeccable bar routine.' 

In March, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Grishina, Evgenia Shelgunova and Ksenia Afanasyeva won the event finals in the Russian Championships (vault, bars, beam and floor, in that order).  Mustafina, Grishina, Afanasyeva and Paseka were subsequently selected for the forthcoming European Championships, to be held in Moscow.  Rodionenko announced that Komova had an injury, and needed to sit out the early part of the year.

In Canada, youngsters Anastasia Dmitrieva and Maria Bondareva won the Gymnix International Junior Cup.

To be continued ...