A popular figure ... Coach Anton Stolyar with the Russian team this week
Some good work should be acknowledged. Spiridinova and Rodionova have made significant progress on bars under the guidance of coach Anton Stolyar (who formerly led the Italian juniors to great things on this piece). Stolyar appears to be a popular figure with the gymnasts, and regularly accompanies teams on overseas trips for the second level competitions. Elfimov will no doubt shape Komova as beautifully as humanly possible; the two of them have become as much a compelling partnership as Khorkina and Pilkin once were. Afanasyeva has the diligent and supportive Nazarova, one of the leading coaches of Russia's new era who regularly fosters new talent on the Russian team. Kharenkova and experienced coach Olga Sagina (who formerly coached Produnova and Sidorova) appear to be joined at the hip.
But who is on Mustafina's side? Raisa Ganina certainly supports her in competition and has been responsible for the Olympic Champion's progress on beam. But Ganina was always a beam specialist and choreographer before Alexandrov's departure to Brazil. Has Alexandrov left a gap in Mustafina's training regime that has yet to be filled? Is the Olympic Champion getting all the support she needs?
I remember a similar situation when Boguinskaia so tragically lost her coach after the 1988 Olympics; no single coach could ever appear to mentor Boguinskaia in quite the same way as Miromanova had. So Boguinskaia seemed to benefit from the collective efforts of Alexandrov, Ostapenko and Kozeev, as well as a coach from her Minsk club. This arrangement no doubt exploited the talents of each one to the full, as well as challenging the complex network of relationships between the gymnast and her coaches, and was dependent on strong management and a clear focus on competition goals and the gymnast's welfare.
Are the strong working relationships, focus and goals of the Soviet team shared by today's coaches? National coach Grebyonkin, who as a bars specialist shaped the Russian team's success on this piece prior to and during 2012, was sporadically visible throughout the competition, showing his rather unshaven face for Mustafina's bars, Nabiyeva's vault and Spiridinova's beam.
And, speaking as an incurable coach-watcher, what of the apparent growing popularity of Stolyar versus the ebbing visibility of Grebyonkin?
The Seniors have lost competitiveness. They seem not to be ready and they lack the will to win and to train new elements. Compare their routines to the gymnasts' performances in Tokyo yesterday! Such drabness!
ReplyDeleteClearly, there is no leader for the Russian coaches. The Rodionenkos are playing hands off game here and dropping all the weight on coaches to figure out a way of making their gymnasts score 15s. What matters for the Roidionenks is claiming the credit and being in the media once a medal is scored, classic!. Giving the Rodionenkos lack of leadership skills, lack of strong technical knowledge and practice of coaching gymnastics, innovation and history of achievements, I dont see an optimistic future for the Russian program. Obviously, the Rodionenkos are doing this to stay in the safe zone where they can fire the coaches if no medals and claim the credit if any medals, nasty. Andrey Rodionenko never rings a bell in terms of glorious champions. Personally, all I could remember about him is ZERO medals in Beijing. As for Valentina Rodionenko, all I could remember is what Alexandrov said "she never coached a day in her life" and "the loose canon". In conclusion, for Russia, there seems like no plan, "just upgrade and they will come" :) and no leader to direct the ship. Alexandrov was the only leader of that team till VR and AR decided to play the leaders to be in front of the cameras. Catastrophic!
ReplyDeleteAlfi
Who knows, I can't give a full impression until seeing them at the bigger events starting with Euros. I didn't really watch all the broadcast as yet, but I think I saw Grebyonkin there from time to time. I am not sure he is "head coach" material, who can really push the girls. He was really likeable as the bars coach, but does it mean he can be firm with them when needed like Alexandrov, or would they even listen when he is firm.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully last year the Russian program succeeded because of Aliya working her but off last year when there were so many injuries. I would be more worried for that program when she does retire. I am not sure she is as close to her new coach as she was with Alexandrov, but I am sure she gets support from her. Hopefully there will be some juniors who can step up. There is still time, so I have faith.
Hi M
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I really hope your perspective turn right. It is not like i want them to fail. Russian Gymnastics is a stand alone style and i'd love it to sustainably succeed but the dynamics of the Puppets Show played by Rodionenkos don't seem sustainable. Compared to the constant timely upgrades and improvements seen during Alexandrov days and compared to the American steady machine, i don't feel that optimistic. Valentia is no more than a media sales person whose statements are not necessarily true. The closer getting to any championship the more injuries witnessed. Personally, I have never witnessed this amount of injuries in any program other than the Russian. What does this tell us? These guys are not strategic and their coaches don't know what they are doing. There is no clear line of improvement. Let's hope for the better. We'll wait and see. I hope i am proven wrong.
Me too.
ReplyDeleteRe injury rates. I think the Russians are no worse than other top countries in this respect - USA, China and Romania all have their fair share of injuries. The problem for Russia is no strength in depth meaning that the same gymnasts continually take the lion's share of the strain, which makes it difficult for them to rest. Also quite frankly I find it rather sorry that Komova isn't raring to go competitively now and fighting fit after her very long break. The attitude in competition is markedly different between Mustafina and Afanasyeva and Komova.
Secondly, I do not think Valentina is a very good shop window for Russian gymnastics, I just think she happens to be the one who takes up the slack in terms of press and PR and because of her personality says the wrong thing very often. I do not think she lies to the press about team composition, it is just that these things change over time naturally (this is in response to an earlier comment).
I do think the coaches know what they are doing, they couldn't produce gymnasts of the quality of Komova, Afanasyeva, Mustafina, Kharenkova and Grishina if they didn't, but I agree that the whole team seems to lack direction, leadership and focus. Those gymnasts just named should be an Olympics gold medal winning team as they are collectively by far the most complete gymnastics team on the planet, and the FIG has to take some of its share of responsibility for the fact that they do nit have more gold medals from the past four years. This is demoralising.