Skip to main content

Sergei Starkin to coach Aliya Mustafina

Coach Starkin with his World Champion, Denis Ablyazin

Valentina Rodionenko: "Aliya asked Sergei Starkin to begin coaching her.  He gave her certain conditions, and she agreed."

IF this is confirmed, it is great news.  Sergei coaches Denis Ablyazin as well as other members of the senior MAG team in Penza.  He is obviously hard working, dedicated to gymnastics, and has a positive charge ...

UPDATE - Via Vladimir Zaglada's direct contact with Penza, this fabulous news has been confirmed!!! More later from RRG.

Comments

  1. I'm glad that Aliya finally has a coach! I guess she had watched him coach at Round Lake and was impressed enough by him. Just curious if Sergei had coached women gymnasts before?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay, finally some good news from Russia!!! This is an early Christmas gift!

    Russiafan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Im curious to what conditions he gave her. It's well known that she can be difficult to work with and i really hope it works out. It has neen painful to see her decline oner the last two years, this could be the best think for her if she is willing to work with him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. that's fantastic ! A gymnast who managed to win several world championship medals without a coach clearly has a lot of talent. It will be very interesting to see how she progresses with her new coach.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations to Aliya! :)

    Queen Elizabeth, do you think Russia will have three Amanars by the Rio team final? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't think so - see Vladimir Zaglada's idea of the priorities for Aliya in the most recent post on this blog.
      If this appointment works it should help Aliya get closer to her potential as an all arounder - but the team as a whole will still face the same problems as before as nothing has changed on a national level, as far as I know.
      My hope is that this arrangement will insulate Aliya from the worst influences at Lake Krugloye - establish a strong positive mindset and environment for her and assert a reasonable competitive strategy to make her feel good on both physical and psychological levels.
      Keep thinking positive thoughts for her!!

      Delete
  6. Definitely great news! Starkin is a hard working and conditioning oriented coach. He kind of shares similar methodologies with Alexandrov. Yet, I am not sure about his approach to coaching "all around" gymnasts. He is a great floor and vault coach, yet I don't know about his UB approach. I think he is a superb choice for Aliya though. He will definitely get her back to a great shape. And about Aliya being difficult, I think he is more hard headed than her :) . If I should be thinking about a future Head Coach for Russia it is going to be him no doubt.

    Alfi

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...

Simone and the others - results and reflections

In the end, it was as predicted : Simone and the others, with Simone's teammate, Alexandra Raisman, providing the back up.  I do not need to point out that, by definition, the Americans are scoring significantly higher marks than the rest of the field.  Congratulations to them! Aliya Mustafina finished in third place.  The 2012 bronze medalist led the competition after vault and uneven bars, but had a very nervous outing on beam that might have taken a less experienced gymnast out of the medals.  A bravura performance on floor brought Aliya back though to confirm her third place all around.  From her senior debut in 2010 to today, Mustafina has continuously set high standards of grace.    It is the first time since 2000 that a gymnast (Amanar) has medalled in the all around at two consecutive Olympics, and  if Aliya can medal on Saturday's uneven bars final, she will once again be Russia's biggest medal winner of the women's gymnastics.  Russ...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more