Photo credit: RGF
'I think that we are to be congratulated on this bronze medal, we are more satisfied than frustrated', said Aliya Mustafina.
'We were a new team, all the girls are young, and it's their first time in such a serious competition. I think today we performed to the best of our ability. Yes, we have had two falls today - on the uneven bars and balance beam.'
'The young girls failed psychologically, but the first time you compete on the senior podium - it's not very easy. No one is sad. I am very pleased with such a performance. Everything was fair enough, maybe not everywhere and in all things, but overall it was quite as expected, both our rivals, and the judging.'
'I began to experience more pain in the ankle - continued Aliya Mustafina. - To do the dismounts I had to muster all my strength and clench my teeth. The coaches have decided that after the European Championships next week I will go to Germany for a check up, to see exactly what is happening with my ankle. In Moscow before Europeans the ankle was checked and nothing too serious was found.'
" Everything was fair enough, maybe not everywhere and in all things, but overall it was quite as expected, both our rivals, and the judging."
ReplyDeleteThis sentence says a lot about judging and I think I got what she has alluded to specially these words "not everywhere" and "in all things" and I perceive it like "not in every apparatus" ...
john
Oh please....http://allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=83073
Deletelol, Valentina needs to get real. There's no way Russia was going to win this competition. She's sure a pro at throwing her athletes under the bus!
DeleteI'm so tired of Valentina. This kind of thing doesn't help at all. In fact it is unhelpful to the girls concerned, I am not even going to report this, at this stage.
Deleteya know what's funny about valentina saying that? that even if they got the two points from the fall, they STILL wouldn't have been in first place.
DeleteI think that the root problem of the team is their planning.
Delete1. Does anybody feel weird that many top gymnasts are injured? I cant believe this actually. After the Olympics, the old members should have good enough rest. Larisa, Diana, Yao Jinnan, Kyla Ross etc can all come back to top level. Those Russian gymnasts, however, are either injured or overworked. This has to be about the planning. In the last quad, especially, for less important meets, new members or the "team B"s should have more experience. These girls have so few experiences that they do not have enough confidence in large meets. If they had those experiences, I think they will be better prepared mentally for big competitions.
2. Other teams have young members who contribute hugely to the team, and those young members have a huge opportunity to develop into good aces. But for Russia, most of the job is done by Aliya, who has competed in basically every big meets. I think this is overworking her. If they had Aliya injured, then the team has no big aces to rely on. Masha is a good one to rely on too, but so far in the entire Russian senior team, she may not be the best or the high hopes on most of the apparatus.
4. Confidence issues. Especially on beam. This is already seen in actually before the Olympics. Many of the new seniors have issues on beam. Mostly it is about the mentality. They didnt fall on the same skills, but on different skills, and each time the skills are different. There must be some mentality hurdles that they have to cross in order to confidently hit the beam routines.
5. Difficulty issues. Less than 4 years ago Russia had two amanar vaulters, and the third one could do a double twisting yurchenko perfectly. Now, the team can't even being 3 girls to execute a double twisting yurchenko consecutively at a 8.9 E score. On bars, no gymnast now can hit that 6.5 D score bar, whereas in 2012, 2 gymnasts had D scores of 7. On beam, the same..... their mistakes hinder the connections. It seems that the Russians are now relying on connections as well. I remember in the past they had really huge skills. Finally on floor, we can see, execution problems, difficulty issues.......the development of tumbling is not compatible with other nations.
6. Dear Valentina, if you wish your team to excel, DON"T EVER MENTION THE JUDGES. If you think that you are marked down, then try to think ways to improve and understand why you are marked down. Is it because of the form? the choreography? the unsteadiness? You have to find ways to suck the judges' mouths so that you get higher scores! If you always blame on others, it is never going to work! And please don't press too hard on your girls. They have already tried their bests under all those pressure. Or else all your girls are gonna leave the team, just like Anna and Yulia. Grow up and learn from Aliya's attitude. SOmehow if Aliya is the team coach I think the Russians will do even better.
You said everything. That´s why I miss Arkayev....and Alexandrov!!!!
DeleteI agree, with Aliya they did well. They were on the podium that's good for them. They need to work on their difficulty and see how things go.
ReplyDeleteThe young gymnasts (Spiridonova, Rodionova, Kharenkova) are not ready to upgrade vault or acro. In an interview Valentina says that vault is easier tan bars. Please, do it! Do perform more difficult vaults, if you can. But select more powerful gymnasts.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the judging, Mustafina was overscored on beam and vault. On beam she just stands too many seconds before dismounting. Her vault is so crappy compared to the British!
Mustafina was not overscored, her scores were fair. She even deserves some credit for doing that DTY on an injured ankle. Stupid Rodionenkos are running the Russian team into the dumpster, but I'll keep praying to the Good Lord that they get fired before Rio comes.
DeleteIn fact she underscored on UB, she deserved 9+ E-score for her immaculate routine not just 8.866!!!
DeleteI mean Bulimar got 8.833 can you believe that?
Are you joking? There is no credit for performing with an injury! Aliya's routine is easier than what she did in 2010. It was her decisión to perform.
DeleteBulimar had a clean routine, but a lower difficulty. It seemed fair to me.
DeleteDiana's errors are mostly toe-point issues. She also had a muscled kip at the mount, tiny bit of leg separation on the stalder full turn and the dismount, the minor step on the dismount and perhaps minor handstand issues. Overall the execution is cleaner than before. It deserves around that range for sure. BUt well competitions are always subjective, but seeing her improve is very nice. The golden thing about that routine is NO LEG SEPARATION, whereas many european and american gymnasts tend to have major leg separations. Perhaps the other gymnasts got hugely deducted for leg separations?
DeleteIf they want results, they should bring back Alexandrov. Also this is Valentina's fault. She pushed away so many good senior gymnasts: Nabieva, Dementieva, Pavlova etc. And now the junior can't fill the big shoes because the coaching isn't going ok.
ReplyDeleteQ.Elizabeth, I understand your reasons for not wanting to post Valentina's remarks, for the outrage it would spread, but considering that her remarks, absurd or not, are valid because of her status within this team, can you please translate her words? Google translate is so bad when it comes to Russian...much better with Italian and Spanish i find. There's so much she's saying that I know is lost in translation.
ReplyDeleteThe British and the Germans are fat.
Deleteman....she sounds so bitchy. sorry for my bad French, but really. Like can't she look in the mirror ?
DeleteValentina says that the British and the Germans have improved!
Deletewho needs to be specific with that woman? who needs to even interview her? it's always going to be about 'obesity' of those who beat Russians plus how overscored they were, how they had an easier start, better apparatus to finish on, how everyone lacks artistry (it makes me vomit a little considering that theTRUE artistry in this sport expired with Liukin and is now in pain with Komova) etc etc and on we go forever.. if any of the judges read her words yesterday than there will be no medals for seniors in EF. What a help she is to 'her' athletes.
DeleteGuys, Comrade Valentina is 82 years OLD. It is just age :) . We do care about the girls, the team and whole of russian gymnastics. Yet, obviously no one cares in russia. That's the reason for her being there, so take it easy
ReplyDelete