There have been lots of requests for translations of these two recent interviews - and I will be publishing them here, to keep the record comprehensive (thanks for permission to Lauren Cammenga, Rachael Livingston and Olya Terentyeva, who are all contributing their work).
The interviews are both rather important, especially Khorkina's, but I am busy in my lecturing job at University every day. I am also entrenched in writing another article for this blog which I am trying to get down while the ideas are flowing, so please bear with me for a little while. I will finish and publish my article as soon as I can.
After that will come the translations, and these will basically be republications of the links that you find on the pages linked below. I might add a little bit of the context if I think it will help.
In the meantime, Lauren's, Rachael's and Olya's good translations are already available on the internet, and I am providing links below, so you won't be missing anything.
Svetlana Khorkina
Aliya Mustafina
I agree with some of the points Khorkina made. She is so right when she says that who would of thought Russia would have lost to GB? It's like thinking that USA would loose to Italy somewhere is the future, it's unthinkful given the strength of the US team today to think that that would ever happen. Same goes for Russia, they were so dominant that it's unthinkable to khorkina that GB would ever win Russia.
ReplyDeleteAs for Mustafina, I am so happy she isn't going anywhere and that she plans to recover some of her skills. I think these worlds would have been a success had she not fallen on FX in AA. She would have hit 15 for 15 but unfortunately she went 14/15 and she missed out on a medal. Although she looked tired throughout especially in Team, I'm quite confident now that it was because of her sickness given that she was able to medal and looked very strong on the last day of competition meaning it wasn't a stamina problem but more caused by illness.
I also hope 2015 is much better and that by the Europeans she is in at least as good of shape as she was here preforming all the skills in QF, TF and AA and for worlds she upgrades her bars and maybe add that whip whip to arabian to the whole competition meaning to develop the stamina to compete big passes and complex routines for all finals, not just EF like Simone. I want Mustafina to be the most decorated gymnast of this generation and she needs to catch up because simon is catching up to her and Simone doesn't look like she is going anywhere.
And then, Russian gymnastics federation is admitting that Alexandrov was right all this time? He was the "guy" to coach the team? And Arkayev?
ReplyDeleteSince reading this interview, I'm wondering who pull the wrath Russian team training to a higher level and, mainly, who will train Mustafina.
I think she made it clear that continuing with Ganina is not working.
Well, I understood that Khorkina and Mustafina agree that training in Rounde Lake has to change.
Khorkina's interview is great on so many levels. She makes some really good points and if she is seeing it, I don't know why the Rodioneko's aren't.
ReplyDelete"I watch our girls finish their floor routines with tucked double backs, a skill I did a decade ago. It’s the same on bars, where none of our girls show anything special. On vault and floor exercise, we generally lag behind the leaders by a whole order of magnitude"
That is true, a skill Khorkina did so long ago, should not be what these girls nowadays are doing. That was a high level skill 10 years ago, it isn't now. they need to be trying new things.
"Of course it’s very comfortable to train with someone who does not make you work, watch your weight, stick to a regime. But with such a coach, what kind of results would you get?"
That is true again, you need to train with people who will make you work. Alexandrov did that and they complained, but it got results and they look fitter (in terms of they have endurance), they lack endurance now. Everyone can see it. Heck in a way Aliya mentions it when she said, "When Vika Komova, Tanya Nabieva and I were young, we could already do everything we do now. If I hadn't been in that kind of shape when I was younger I would never have achieved anything."
Also Khorkina says it here " I can still remember circuit training with Alexandrov to develop endurance. Perhaps they are doing something like this is now, but to me it’s obvious that the girls are working on the equipment with great difficulty, and this is the first indicator that a person lacks stamina."
Khorkina also said "In training we were panic-stricken if we fell while performing a combination. Because it meant that you would repeat the exercise several times" I wonder if they do this with the current Russian team now.
As for Aliya, it is nice that she still confirms that she wants to aim for Rio. I hope she can get there. I don't like that she doesn't really think a rest is needed. She does need to rest (not from practices but from a couple meets) and missing the next European Championships is what I hope she does -Not only to rest but to see how these gymnasts can do without her. She won't be doing gymnastics forever
Also she said "I know what are you talking about - about a personal coach. I have already started thinking about it. I can’t say more for now. But I am thinking. Bcz it’s really hard. You have nobody to both “push” and “protect” you".
This is what she also needs. she is making decisions herself and that shouldn't be. I hope she gets one.
I've always thought, if these gymnasts had to work with Irina Viner or train how the synchronized swimmers do, (spend 12 - 15 hours a day in the pool), what would they do? how would they react? Not saying little kids should be crying but as they get older and turn senior, things get more demanding and from what I see Irina is really demanding but guess what the gymnasts get the results. Also it has paid off for the synchronized swimmers as well doing so much training. I know there is less depth for the Artistic Gymnastics in Russia than the other two sports I mentioned, but it would still be nice for the juniors and seniors to have more difficulty, and actually have some stamina to complete routines.
I wonder why the men's team don't get scrutinized. For too long they have been a disappointment.
One thing I have notice is that maybe Russians end up buying the BS Americans used to say about Soviet kids being mistreated by their coaches? Yes, hard training and abuse are two different things and I'm not going to say it didn't happen or doesn't happen right now, but looking at how the Americans are doing now with similar type of training makes me want to say one, the Americans who once criticized the Soviet system are bunch of hypocrites because they end up sending their rich girls to train with those very same evil former Soviet coaches and two, Russians need to put the BS aside and start training hard.
DeleteWhen are they going to wake up? Every kid complains and cry when they are being push too hard (I have been there) but about the age of 9 to 12 you stop crying and realize what you want to be unless your mentality hasn't grow by them and that seems to be a problem with the Russians. A gymnast like Ksenia shouldn't be seen crying, but she was during her training for the 2012 Olympics. Only if she was hurt or frustrated but if she was crying for not wanting to do something, then she needs to get out.
I would love to see Viner working with the Artistic team at least when it comes to dancing. It seems like her RGs have a good ballet base but also a combination of modern dance. I know the Artistic gymnasts have to concentrate less on the dancing and they are not going to do the routines RGs do but it will be an improvement since no one in Round Lake is doing this right.
I agree that they need to start training hard, I remember when all this blame went on Alexandrov, they said he worked them too hard etc and caused injuries. Yet they seem to have more injuries now. Everyone is smiling and happy etc which is fine, but that doesn't translate into results and they haven't seemed to improve since 2012.
DeleteNow you can see that they aren't training as hard as they should, because this lack of endurance thing should not be happening, especially with these senior gymnasts.
I also agree that their mentality isn't strong. I never liked this giving up attitude some of them have especially Komova on beam, something doesn't go right, she doesn't fight enough to try and keep it.
Russia has some injuries right now, but Komova, Paseka and Afan should be ready for next year competitions, so let's see how much work they put in and what new things they try.
They can't expect to compete for the top without putting in the work. Even though I wonder how they would be with Viner, truthfully, I don't think they could deal with her demands at all, she doesn't take crap. Her and the RG team seem to look for new and difficult things all the while, which AG in Russia obviously doesn't.
I think right now Komova has shown to have grown mentally since I don't think the old Komova would have continue with all these setbacks. Also, of all the Russian veterans I think she is the one with better shape since she had always worked hard with her personal coach. It surprise me that she could do all the stuff she did at the Russian cup after all the interruptions so I have high hopes for her.
DeleteWe'll see, her performance was ok at the cup. She looked laboured at times, but that could be because she is just getting back in the groove of things. Her continuing with the setbacks didn't surprise me, it is when she is in actual competition, I want to see how she does. It would be nice if she does come back well, because she has been out for 2 years.
DeleteWait....Aliya has no coach now? I'm confused .
ReplyDeleteWhat I understood by Aliya's interview is that her coach, Raissa Ganina, is basically a choreographer, so Mustafina doesn't have a real coach on her side right now.
ReplyDeleteThese interviews make me happy and a bit scared. I love Svetlana, but I have to disagree with her on some level: the Russians do have the depth and talent. You can't say Kharenkova or Spiradanova or Musty is less talented than, say, Kyla or Simone. In my opinion they have the same talent, they can do more or less the same level skills; they just have different training. You can say that Simone has a lot of difficult tumbling, but the Russians have elegant turns or difficult leaps or amazing bar elements to match up to that if they want to. (also the lovely onodi...:))And I think that training is about training smarter, not more, which makes me scared for Aliya when she says she can't take a break. Like, Rio is two years away, taking a long break is unacceptable, but maybe a month break is good--- not a sit-on-the-couch all day break, but maybe more physical therapy and stuff like that. She has injuries, she's getting older, I think she shouldn't rush in her recovery. Of course, I'm no expert, but am I the only one that has this opinion?
ReplyDeleteAfter the 2012 Olympics Mustafina said that if she wanted to continue until Rio she would not stop. She rested for a month at the beginning of this year and then came back. Now she has realized that she needs new elements and new routines to be at the top.
ReplyDeleteSome gymnasts did have long breaks and came back: Boguinskaya, Chusovitina, Ponor... to name a few. It all depends on the gymnast, I think. Kyla, the Italians and Mustafina seem to be fighting to stay in a sport that is becoming very harsh. Look at their feet, legs, etc. They all seem to have small injuries.
The Russian gymnasts have talent, I agree with you. But perhaps they lack what is currently needed in gymnastics that Biles and Iordache have. Mustafina mentions Fyodorova. Fyodorova is light and has good technique. But she is not able to show good acro, whatever she does.
They should train gymnasts like Sosnitskaya who is important for the team (vault) and could upgrade on floor.
They have the juniors as well who might become good seniors.