Skip to main content

Aliya Mustafina - 'I'm glad we didn't hit'


Speaking on the Nanning official website, Aliya Mustafina had a few words to say about the day's competition:

On being in the first Subdivision:
“That was our strategy, to go first and have it over and done with, so with the qualifications out of the way we can relax and see what other teams are going to do. It is just so much easier when you have already started; it takes the pressure off you.”

On the Russia team performance:
‘I am actually glad we did not hit it perfect today. Now we know what we need to fix and where we need to put in extra work. The team has now been exposed to actual competition; we got to test all the apparatus in real competition, so we can improve further for the finals.”

“We were not tasked with making it to the finals; we just had to do the program we'd tested during the actual competition.“

On Sunday's biggest difficulty:
“It is toughest to finish on the balance beam. The emotions tend to wear thin towards the end of the session and fatigue is catching up with you as well, while you have to be super-focused. That’s a tough call."

On her own performance:
“I am most happy I had a clean workout with no falls.”

On the pressure of being the team leader:
“I do not feel the pressure, in fact the very opposite. It gives me pleasure to help my teammates. It is much easier for me this way.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mustafina on Roschina

ROTTERDAM (Netherlands), October 24. /TASS/. Russian gymnast Lyudmila Roshchina, who won silver in the individual all-around at the World Championships, succeeded precisely because she focused on challenging herself rather than competing for medals. This is the assessment of Aliya Mustafina, a coach for the Russian national team and a two-time Olympic champion, who spoke to TASS. "Of course, I wasn't certain that Lyudmila would end up on the podium in the all-around, though I certainly hoped she would," Mustafina said. "The general instruction was not to think about medals or rankings. As they headed from the warm-up area to the competition floor, I told the girls: 'Don't worry about where you place—just focus on challenging yourselves.' And Lyusya managed to do exactly that." "Her mindset played a major role, too; she was in a very positive frame of mind even back in the warm-up area. So, I wouldn't say that winning this silver was an incre...

Belyavski on Rotterdam, the Russian men, and lots more …

  "The greater the challenges, the better Russian gymnasts perform." An interview with Belyavsky Tatyana Postnikova, Championat October 28, 2026, 14:00 Moscow Time An Olympic champion reflects on the 2026 World Championships, discusses his athletic plans, and talks about his participation in the Gymnastics Premier League. The World Artistic Gymnastics Championships have concluded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. For the first time since 2009, the Russian national team has returned from the tournament without any gold medals. However, the Russians did secure four medals—two silver and two bronze—and, crucially, earned an Olympic quota spot! Given the visa issues our athletes encountered, this is a respectable result. Immediately following the 2026 World Championships, we spoke with a star of the recent Russian national team—Olympic and World champion David Belyavsky. In an interview with *Championat*, he reviewed the tournament, shared his thoughts on competing in the Gymnastics...

Nelli Kim - 'Russian gymnastics has closed in on itself' - Lupita translates

Lupita has translated this ITAR-TASS interview with Nelli Kim.  It's controversial, to say the least. Ed's note : much of the initial response to this interview - both here and in the wider gymternet -  has focussed on the detail of Kim's words and especially her comments about Viktoria Komova, and smiling.  But I think these have to be taken in context, and not too literally. Don't forget that just a day ago Andrei Rodionenko complained bitterly about the judging in Antwerp, calling Kim's behaviour 'aggressive'. Kim is responding to this here, and to the wider current context of Russian gymnastics.  What she is essentially saying to the Russian coach is 'get your own house in order, produce confident, disciplined, well trained gymnasts - stop complaining, do your job, and I will do mine.'   She goes about saying this in a somewhat long winded way and says some things along the way that seem contradictory, unfair, inappropriate even for th...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more