Moscow's Alla Sosnitskaya gives us the latest information on her preparations for Worlds this autumn.
Doctors have now cleared Alla to train at full capacity after her mid-April foot injury, but she is still training in pain.
Alla withdrew from the European Championships, which was held April 14-19 in Montpellier, right before the competition because of leg pain. She was diagnosed with a ligament tear and put in plaster.
"I have just got back to tumbling. Up to this point I have been taking treatment, doing special exercises. Doctors have now said that I can begin to tumble and train at full force. I'd like to work, but my foot aches a little"
"Sometimes I have to be cautious, but I still try to do everything, even through pain ..."
Alla added that she expects to be ready to compete at the Russia Cup in September, and to have restored all of her difficulty by then.
Get well soon, Alla!!
"I must work through the pain...i will have all my difficulty restored in a few weeks even tho i'm in pain" says every Russian gymnasts ever. Is it any wonder they perform subpar or get re-injured? Geez, what this team could be if everyone was ever at 100% and actually being paced right. Ankle ligaments re-tear the easiest (I should know...I'm on my third re-tear in two years and i'm just a jogger, not an elite athlete). Alla should be working only on UB and BB while she builds delicate ankle strength back up. With Russia still covered on VT in both EF and TF scenario's, why kill yourself to make this world's team if it might lead to a bigger injury reducing your chances of going to Rio? I'm not saying she shouldn't have ambition and not try for the team but if you're in pain and not delivering performances w/the execution worthy of a World's team member why not just take your comeback slower-get better on ur weak events- and return a stronger AAer and vaulter maybe for the World Cups at the end of the year. Olympics is no longer a far off vision, its almost here. Train smarter not harder when you're injured.
ReplyDeleteRemember when Simone Bile's shoulder felt just a twitch of pain and Martha pulled her from Pan Ams because she was so valuable to their long term goals- worlds & eventually the olympics- that they subbed in someone else? Remember when Afan put on a boot after her amanar at Euros? lol, Russia...
Bear in mind that all gymnasts work through pain most of the time. The Russians have had high profile injuries thanks partly to their willingness to discuss them, while media in many of their competitor countries is better managed. For example there is a policy of low exposure for injured gymnasts in a Britain, until recovery is well underway. The US is very savvy in this respect also.
DeleteDo not forget that many of Russia's top gymnasts have been competing for longer than average, for example as an all arounder Aliya Mustafina is one of only five gymnasts in the top 30 to have competed continuously since 2010. The longer a gymnast competes, the more likely s/he is to need to rehab injuries.
I don't really think the injury rate is worse in Russia than elsewhere, just that their PR management is poor and their strength in depth less than ideal, so gymnasts are relatively more exposed. There is an excellent audit of injury at the Arabian Punch Front blog.
I hope all gymnasts who are currently recovering from injury get well soon! http://arabianpunchfront.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/gymnastics-injuries-apr-jun.html
Alla is talking here about the aches you get from training - hopefully nothing worse. Her honesty is a credit to her, given the tendency of the press to exaggerate such matters.