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Valentina Rodionenko - beam mistakes were not psychological

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Valentina Rodionenko during podium training.  Courtesy of the RGF

Allsport today interviewed the Russian head coach as Russia's women took their first steps in these World Championships.  Competing in the first subdivision, on the first day of the competition, qualifications 'didn't go badly', according to team captain Aliya Mustafina on her Twitter account.  She was right: apart from a hesitant presentation on beam, the team did about as well as could be expected, perhaps even exceeding expectations on vault and floor.  Now read on as Valentina responds to Maria Staroveva's questions directly after the first subdivision.

You can say that the girls have qualified normally,  said Valentina Rodionenko. Yes, mistakes were made. But there is nothing wrong with that. Our team took the lead. In three of the four rounds - floor exercise, vault and bars - our gymnasts have been great, they all showed what they are capable. But on the balance beam things went wrong. Almost all the athletes made mistakes and so the gymnasts didn't receive the marks they should have.  But I repeat: there is nothing wrong with that. In the final - and there is no reason to doubt that we will get there - everything starts again.

There isn't really an explanation for why we suffered errors on this apparatus.  Yes, the first girls did not experience too many problems. I should just say I don't think the problems were psychological. I think the girls just relaxed a bit before they performed their combinations on beam. They were ahead pf the second team with a margin of 13 points - and probably decided that it would be easy.

Let's see what will happen next. Today we have to meet with the team, we'll talk and figure out what happened. Especially we had counted on Masha Kharenkova on the balance beam, but she did not hit her exercise.   During the performance there were mistakes and the dismount was unsuccessful. Perhaps even Aliya Mustafina will not get to the finals on this apparatus.

At the moment it is very difficult to say anything specific. Tomorrow qualifications will be completed - then we can draw conclusions, make plans. The judging is an important question. Will the judges hold the line and judge the same way at the end of the second day as they did at the beginning of the first? They are only people, and a lot will depend on their work. Let's see ...

So far, Mustafina has the best result in the individual all-around and Sosnitskaya is second.  Sosnitskaya is first on vault and Mustafina on bars - but we'll have to see how things stand at the end.

It is very difficult to compete first ...  you can not even imagine how difficult it is to go out at 9 am. And now it's even more difficult - to sit and wait while all the qualifications go ahead. Again, I have no doubt that we are going to finish in the top eight teams. But on some apparatus, to break into the final eight will be much harder.



You will find live results at the FIG website.

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  1. Anonymous5 October 2014 at 22:26

    Hail Valentina, finally!

    She sounds like a Pro. To me qualifications went well, actually, better than expected. I really really want to see Kharenkova in the BB final. Replacing Mustafina by Kharenkova in BB EF is possibel. I mean, Mustafina, a world champion on BB, is guaranteed to hit in the finals but Kharenkova, if she hits, would definitely be golden. This should be a replica of 2011 scenario when Afan replaced Komova on floor and hit a golden routine. YET, it is the Glorious Mustafina vs. fresh Kharinkova, difficult decision.

    Alfi

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    1. Queen Elizabeth5 October 2014 at 22:40

      I think quals went well, too.
      Kharenkova is well down in the beam scores - Russia would not be able to substitute her for Aliya, even if Aliya finishes in the top eight after all the remaining gymnasts have competed.
      But she still has team finals to vindicate herself - and as a young gymnast there will, hopefully, be plenty more opportunities to compete.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6 October 2014 at 02:01

      Yeah, the 2011 scenario was possible only because Afanasyeva had qualified ninth, and thus was the first alternate and the first in line when Komova pulled out though.

      I'm impressed though, a Valentina statement where she sounds completely sane the whole way through? Someone call a doctor, maybe she's come down with a fever that's affecting her brain. She said that the girls did well and mentioned their errors without throwing blame around, discussed judging issues also without blaming the judges, and didn't call anyone fat. Wow.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous5 October 2014 at 23:08

    I was pleasantly surprised with Nabs performance. Did a sold UB; and other than her typical bent knee, her DTY was good. She also displayed a solid veteran leadership as she was the first to talk with Kharenkova after her fall on beam.

    Well done team performance with room to improve in finals, and a drive for redemption for Kharenkova.

    ReplyDelete

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