Newcomer Seda Tutkhalyan did well to improve her floor performance for her team.
It was a tough competition today for Russia. Put simply, they fell too much for a better outcome.
The girls were on a swell following a great vault performance and two top class bars exercises. Next, however, returning champion Viktoria Komova went for an extra dimension on one of her pirouettes - and fell. It was a domino effect that ran through to first time World championships gymnast Seda Tutkhalyan on beam, and carried over via Kharenkova, back again to Komova. 4.5 points were lost as the checkers tumbled one after another. In the end, Moscow's Maria Paseka steadied the boat with her fluent floor exercises, and Tutkhalyan held things together with a routine that was much improved since Monday. Afanasyeva topped things off.
At the end of the comp, the girls were all cheers and smiles. But there were glum looks behind the ironic smiles. I think that all the team will be very unhappy after losing the medal in such a way.
What's the learning here? It's not the fact that you fell, that can happen to anyone. More the manner of the reaction to the fall.
There were some good moments. Vault saw a significant improvement since Sofia, and floor was much better than in qualifications. There is clearly much potential on the team. But potential does not win medals. Russia needs to learn how to balance on the crest of a wave and exploit the adrenalin of success to pursue gold or silver in future. This is exactly what the USA does so well and, today, China and Britain did better than Russia.
Valentina says that all the coaches and gymnasts are upset by this performance. And so they should be. Even President of the RGF, Vasily Titov, looked a bit sheepish at the medal ceremony. Perhaps heads will roll, and Romania won't be the only ones seeking coaches after this. After qualifications Russia looked to be respectable silver medalists here. But they weren't even scratch bronze medalists. Home advantage for rivals Britain or not, they should have done better.
In quals, Komova seemed to have mastered her nerves and to be on track in her revival as a team leader. Hmph - it is back to the drawing board there. Something has to change if the Olympian is truly to have profited from her career break. The youngsters have more grace from me for their errors, understandable under the pressure of competition and the strain of seeing their returning hero collapse at the first hurdle.
I don't want to blame any individual for a team failing - and the coaches have to take much of the responsibility - but Russia needs more confidence than that. Phoney smiles and shrugged shoulders are probably a sarcastic or philosophical reaction to adverse media and fan reactions to tears - what do you expect, they seem to say? But I would suggest that the girls need to start building themselves back up during EFs. I hope that everyone will reflect and realise that this was a lost opportunity to pressurise America in the run up to Rio. A close fight without Mustafina here could have been even closer with her next summer. Now, the exclamation mark will remain a question mark, and the pressure is all on Russia to prove themselves once more. The psychology of winning has to be more positive than we saw today.
Congratulations to the medalists, who all fought hard for their booty. To all the finalists, who truly deserved to be at the top table of gymnastics. Good luck for the coming days, and bring home some medals. Keep heart in the coming months as you prepare for the Olympics.
If Komova wins a medal on bars on Saturday, I hope she gives her beam finals place to Maria Kharenkova - who deserves a boost after a disappointing time here. The young girl has been competing with a painful right leg throughout quals and finals. She and Seda both looked very downmouthed about this result. They are Russia's future and both are much better gymnasts than we saw today. Russia cannot survive on past glories forever.
Full results are here. Fetch a handkerchief, a gin and tonic or a bar of chocolate. No, all three. http://www.longinestiming.com/File/Download?id=00000E0001000103FFFFFFFFFFFFFF03
Yep, that's why I didn't comment on the other article about the others surpassing Aliya and she would have to fight for her place....I was waiting to see if Russia would not be inconsistent as usual and they were. Vika still needs to back up good qualifications results with finals. The nerves hit her when it comes to the finals. They need to learn to hit when it matters (finals) as well as when it doesn't (qualifications).
ReplyDeleteThey need a good floor coach - did they change the person? there is a big difference to how they did floor in 2012 in comparison to now. They need to find a way to do their artistry and get the D score up. Beam always up and down and unfortunately it was down.
The good thing is they've qualified for Olympics so they just need to work towards that for me. I will cheer for them in the individual finals and see how things go. They have a lot of work to do before Rio.
I have to congratulate China especially, I don't know many of them but they are young and they really improved on qualifications, so well done to them.
When I saw them smiling after such a disaster, I remembered TF in Sydney. How low have their standards dropped! It seems like these girls just don't care enough and I am sure they lost a lot of fans today. I bet Mustafina would be and is crying. Maybe it's best that she retires because she doesn't deserve this team, or better, they don't deserve her.
ReplyDeleteI also don't get your optimism about Kharenkova and especially Seda. They are nowhere near the old Russians and Russia seems to be going down the same route as Romania once Mustafina, Afan, Paseka retire. Also, I'd like your opinion on why are the new seniors in Romania and Russia so "petite"? They completely lack power (and I am not even considering the new American standard of power -- their floor routines are ridiculously easy even for pre-Beijing standards) and they are not elegant or particularly good on bars as well (except Spiridonova, but I am talking about AA-type gymnasts).
And about the results from today... we all know that "artistic temperament" and consistency don't walk hand-in-hand, and it takes a very rare "genius"-like gymnast such as Boginskaya and Mustafina to break this rule, but today's showing was just disastrous and shows a much deeper problem with mentality on this team.
Komova shouldn't be struggling on bars other than her height being an obstacle but even that shouldn't be a problem now. What has she done in three years? The same routine and barely any modification to her height. She got injured and sick but during her ankle(?) injury she should have done bars just Mustafina did back with Alexandrov. I'm also looking at Aliya's pictures on instagram and she seems to be having too much good time. Yes, her knee injury prevents her from tumbling and her back pain won't go away but she has no choice but to perform in such circumstances or quit.
ReplyDeleteI know you keep saying how these girls don't train less than the Americans but they clearly lack strength and stamina. Alexandrov left and it seems like now everyone is walking around. We can't even say their dance is beautiful when they lack air for that.
" I'm also looking at Aliya's pictures on instagram and she seems to be having too much good time. Yes, her knee injury prevents her from tumbling and her back pain won't go away but she has no choice but to perform in such circumstances or quit. "
DeleteUmm, reread what you read and tell me if that makes any sense. She has back pain, and a knee injury so she should suck it up and perform still? and how pray tell would she be able to do anything properly and get good scores? You want her to risk long term injury that will affect her for the rest of her life? She has been the only one who has performed since 2012 consistently, she has done numerous events while others haven't done much, this is Vika's 1st big tournament in 3 years! Aliya is not to risk her health if she wants to do her last hurrah at 2016 olympics.
This was tough to watch. Komova has so much talent, but they need to work on her mental strength as much as her physical strength. This is true for all of them. The only gymnast who looked confident was Paseka, her vault was fab!, but even she showed nerves on bars and then left out her double tuck turn on floor. I really hope that heads rolls, because after qualifications you can see the potential to actually win the silver with ease.
ReplyDeleteQueen Elizabeth, I will take two chocolate bars!!!
Russiafan
After Komova's mistake on Bars, I was sure that there will be more, it's like "a domino effect" as you described, and that what exactly happened in MAG Qual. for the Russians on FX, a total melt down.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in the next days
John
I'm wondering if the smiles after Afan's floor from the girls and the peace sign to the camera were more relaxed b/c they didn't realize GB was so close they could take the bronze from them? I just have a hard time believing they'd be so smiley at that point if they knew and were instead relieved it was over and thinking they'd get a medal. But who knows, of course.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Seda and Maria looked more serious and upset - even a bit down. And they are the future, so event final medals would go a long way to encourage them to stick with it.
I am a fan of all the countries. I am happy for US, China and GB - and for all the teams who made the Olympics, especially NED, but I am quite sad for Russia and even more so for Romania. The burden of high expectations is great.
You are 100% right, Russia was smiling because they had no idea that GB was surpassing them. It was a shame and hard to stomach.
DeleteThey don't need Mustafina's gymnastics half as much as her constitution. Komova is imo a much better gymnast than Mustafina but Mustafina has had much more success.
ReplyDeleteQueen I'm so sad, the qualifications brought an unexpected ray of light over these girls. I don´t know if it was exactly (or only) the domino effect the reason for the catastrophe today, I think the main issue is that those girls, and even coaches, need desperately an importan training, even more than increasing D scores, they need mind strenght, we've seen her nerves burst over and over again, competitions after competitions even when they have been succesful, and like the othe commentator wrote before "they have to learn to hit when it matters and when it doesnt".
ReplyDeleteIt is so disappointing because of their unquestionable talent, they had to fight more, and at one point it didnt even matter the medals, but the performances, there was a moment when i Thought "girls dont fall, dont fall for medaling but for DIGNITY, That hunger, that rage, that thirst for conquering own fears and limitations (that Americans posses) look inexistent here.
About the sarcastic laughs you mentioned, I know those reactions depend on personality, but regarding those laughs, sometimes It looks that they aren´t enough demanding with themselves, only Seda, I have to say, showed that anger spirit, that internal frustrated warrior that knows that the situation simply is not right and wants more. At the end of the competition I remembered your post "Maybe it's the end", I thought "now is turn for Russia to diminish?", we're light years far from the greatness of Khorkina, Produnova, even the strong team with Mustafina in 2010. The nowadays girls team is a gloomy essence of the glorious past and that saddens me the most.
Nevertheless our support won't fade and I really hope they can find redemption in EF.
I feel bad for the Russian girls. They have the talent and execution to be World silver medalists. They literally gave it away. It is so frustrating to watch them implode.
ReplyDeleteVika is beautiful. Her bars and beam work are outstanding. However, it has come to the point where I expect her to do something strange. I do not expect clean performances from her.
Russian coaches need to teach mental toughness. The Soviet system knew how to teach that. I cannot imagine why the Russian system cannot.
The Chinese coach seemed to be doing a lot of spotting and "encouraging" during the routines. I can't speak Chinese, but I wonder if he bordered on providing coaching advice. I was surprised they got through the bars rotation so well...but they also seemed to have a lot of support from the coach.
ReplyDeleteI'm really disappointed in Russia. They almost seemed to not care. And their reaction to get fourth was very blasé, I thought. They're just better gymnasts than this, but I'm getting sick of seeing them fall apart and can't make excuses for them anymore. Yes, they are graceful and artistic, but it's like they don't know how to compete. And just when I thought Komova was learning from past mistakes (salvaging her bars routine in qualifications), she has a major melt down in the team finals. I'm just so fed up!
So disappointing given their qualifications performance. Potential doesn't win medals, you must hit on the day, and Great Britain and China did. Frankly, Russia was lucky to finish 4th given the strong performance by the Japanese.
ReplyDeleteOnly Paseka and Afanasyeva really gave it their all- I thought Spiridonova doing a safe bars routine was a missed opportunity considering she is a one event gymnast in a TF situation. Those extra 2 tenths in difficulty would have certainly put Russia closer to closing the gap with GB going into the final rotation.
I hesitate to criticize Kharenkova as she is competing slightly injured, but what is there to say about Komova? Her fall off bars was a concentration error at its finest and her remarks about the Americans, made in anger or not, indicate to me that she is not taking full responsibility for herself. Anyone can have a bad day (see Aly Raisman in qualifications) but you need to pick yourself up and come back stronger (see Aly Raisman in TF). I find Komova's gymnastics infinitely more pleasing than Raisman's but again, without being able to produce it on the day...
At this stage, I think it's difficult to justify her inclusion on future major teams without a significant investment in her mental toughness- with promising juniors and the hopeful return of Mustafina (not to mention Paseka's continued improvement on bars), what place does a Komova who only can hit 1/3 routines in a TF have on an Olympic team?
And while Seda did improve her floor performance since qualifications, her beam is a continued source of frustration to me. Her hit percentage is just abysmal. I think that routine is either too difficult for her or she doesn't have the endurance to make it through in one piece. Yes, she is a first year senior, but i think that is an excuse that Russia falls back on too often given that other first year seniors hit their beam routines in competition yesterday. You MUST be able to reliably contribute a score of 14+ to a team score at this level and she, at this stage, seemingly cannot (vault, yes, but she is not needed on this apparatus without better execution or a more difficult vault).
I can only hope that the athletes and coaches are as angry and disappointed as the fans are and that they will channel that anger into working towards a stronger, more reliable team for Rio.
Vika, please look at Mustafina in 2013. how did she perform in beam and floor? what about in BB EF and FX AA? I hope, since they are so close to each other, that vika can learn from Aliya. i think that Vika has much more talent than Mustafina but she just give it all away due to mental toughness. It is NOT the end of the day that you fail on one event. What you need is to start your next event with much more confident to seek for redemption instead of just messing up again!
ReplyDeleteI understand the disappointment but all these comments just illustrate why gymnasts can cave under pressure. Just imagine how they feel knowing what lies ahead of them should they falter. Some of these girls are just teenagers and have little international experience. As for Komova, she has battled injury after injury and is still in the process of returning to full strength. We saw glimpses of brilliance in qualifications, as little bearing as this has on the medal count; everyone commented on her new found mental strength and willingness to fight, so we know it's there. Other veterans like Douglas and Raisman have both made errors. It just happens that their errors have had less impact on the results. Stop comparing Komova and Mustafina, they're two different people, two different gymnasts with different strengths. Mustafina has the mental strength to perform on the day, but Komova is a much better gymnast with better artistry, technique and form.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else feel like they personally jinxed the Russian team by thinking that gold wasn't actually out of reach for Russia ��
ReplyDeleteI think with the upcoming Melnikova and Skrypnik, Paseka should focus on vault and floor. She clearly has the power to tumble well and Russia desperately needs another rock on floor. Their problem is not lack of difficulty or lack of execution, but lack of mental toughness and Aliya attitude. I am not sure where they can learn that.....
Booo I officially hate these Worlds and will pretend they didn't exist! Onwards and hopefully upwards to Rio!
My picks for 2016 olympic team:
ReplyDelete1. Mustafina
2. Komova
3. Tukthalyan
4. Paseka
5. A new gymnast (Angelina Melnikova possibly)
I'd love to see Afanasyeva make it three!
DeleteAt this point, I think Afan and Skrypnik are both more valuable than Seda. As long as there aren't any injuries, the Russian team will be hard to pick.
Delete