Skip to main content

Pancake Day at Round Lake is delicious - Ksenia Afanasyeva

Thin blini with jam - a favourite of Ksenia Afanasyeva, especially when made by her grandma

VTB has been doing some great PR for Russia recently, covering some traditions that will be familiar to us in the West as shared rituals.  'Maslennitsa' - Shrove Tuesday - is celebrated in Russia in much the same way as it is in the rest of Europe, by the eating of pancakes ('blini').  Then afterwards there is Lent, 40 days of fasting.

Ksenia Afanasyeva says : 'Maslennitsa certainly isn't the 'right' holiday for gymnasts, but it is delicious! Don't think that we only look at the pancakes or pinch a small piece off the corner.  Since childhood we have celebrated the feast, and made pancakes with mother, but my grandma's are the best, simply delicious.  Since we lived in different houses, it meant we got to celebrate more than once.  

I like thin pancakes with jam.  With caviar or salt fish is still good, but sweet is best.

It is always nice; the chefs at Round Lake make pancakes, and we have them for lunch.  I will allow myself exactly two - I won't worry about the calories, because I will burn them off in the gym.  It is always a pleasure.'



Picture of Ksenia courtesy of her fan group on VK.com

Oh and for good measure, the recently happily pancaked Russian team is back at Round Lake.  Aliya proudly announced herself as the first arrival this morning; and now in this picture from Alla Sosnitskaya's Instagram page, we see Alla with team mates Seda Tutkhalyan, Anastasia Dmitrieva and Angelina Melnikova.  Can anyone say who that is having a back rub?


Thank you Alla!  And GOOD LUCK to the entire team as you continue your preparations for this vital year - we are all thinking of you xxx.



Comments

  1. Based on the hair my guess is that is Masha Bondereva getting the back massage

    ReplyDelete
  2. Definitely Masha Bondareva on the floor there!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Mustafina is no longer in pain' - Valentina Rodionenko

Picture of Aliya Mustafina, courtesy of RGF Valentina Rodionenko has provided some updates on the Russian teams and how their preparation for Worlds (Nanning, China, 3 to 12 October) is progressing, via Allsports (http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=84328) - The teams are now at camp in Italy, in two small towns close to Milan, by the sea, where the girls travelled on 29th June and the men on 1 July.  The athletes aren't only training, they can also relax. - Komova is working out at Round Lake, she didn't go to Italy.  We will see how she does at the Russia Cup, which will be held late August in Penza. Tatiana Nabiyeva is looking good in training and the other girls are also working.  Ksenia Afanasyeva won't have time to prepare for Worlds, and Anastasia Grishina's participation is also in doubt, we just don't know if she will qualify for the team.   We have hopes for Aliya Mustafina.  As always, she is our number one.  It would be great if there were t...

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...

The Produnova vault - should it be banned?

Elena Produnova - one of the most beautiful and powerful gymnasts ever There is a lot of discussion about this at the moment and I felt moved to add this blog's voice to the rising tide of opinion. The vault you can see below (a) should not be banned as it is exciting, innovative and beautiful. Vault (a) http://youtu.be/nQuIQ9s3ddM But the vault below (b) should receive a zero, leaving the coach and gymnast effectively disqualified from the running for team, all around and apparatus finals.  While you might argue that the gymnast nominally lands with her feet on the ground, she can't sustain the landing and her weight is taken by back, head, neck and several other body parts.  Surely common sense dictates a zero score.  You can argue, if you like, that common sense shouldn't come into judging, but surely it is not too much to expect judges to make judgements.  Or perhaps a minor change to the wording of the Code if Points is required to make this more comfortable for...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more