Skip to main content

Afanasyeva's availability for Rio will be decided later in July


The final Russian team selections will not be absolutely clear for another few weeks.  Men's national coach Valery Alfosov needs another week to make some difficult decisions after some rather unpredictable performances in the Russia Cup - most noteably, a strong showing by Vladislav Polyashov as compared to patchy showings by Ignatyev and Kuksenkov.  

The women's team selection, meanwhile, seems to hinge upon the availability of Ksenia Afanasyeva, who only recently underwent a cleaning up procedure to her right ankle.  The doctor who performed the surgery will fly to Moscow from his Munich clinic next week to provide his advice.  If given the medical all clear, Ksenia would be asked to compete floor only, says Valentina Rodionenko.  This might favour a team composed of Melnikova, Mustafina, Tutkhalyan (three AA) with Kapitonova filling the fourth qualifications place on vault, bars and beam.  Without Afanasyeva the team will be severely weakened on floor, and it is difficult to see what might be the best configuration.  Perhaps then the 'troika' would feel supported by Paseka on vault, with Kapitonova or Spiridonova on the other three pieces.  If you have time to do some sums based on the girls' D values, it would be interesting to speculate at this stage ...
 
It has also now, sadly, been confirmed that Maria Kharenkova is out of contention for Rio.  She will travel to Munich in mid July, with Viktoria Komova, to begin to address some problems with her ankle.  Head coach Valentina Rodionenko says that Maria has suffered with pain for a long time, but didn't say anything about it until two weeks ago, when she simply couldn't keep going any longer.  

EF got underway this morning.  Paseka won vault ahead of Tutkhalyan and Nabiyeva, with Kapitonova winning bars ahead of Melnikova and Spiridonova.  Floor was won by Ablyazin ahead of Ignatyev and Kuksenkov, PH Polyashov, Stretovich, Danilenko, and rings Ablyazin, Ignatyev, Kuksenkov.  You can follow quick hits of tomorrow's finals on Twitter from @TheAllAround, who are also posting occasional videos.  This morning, Nikita Nagorny transmitted most of the comp on his Periscope channel!  Great work, Nikita.  We will look forward to seeing the competition finish tomorrow, but clearly the final, full Olympic teams will not be announced for some time yet.

Good luck to all the girls - and thinking particularly of Ksenia and Maria at what must be very difficult times for them.

And big thank you again to RRG's anonymous contributor, for the links and translations .. Hugs 😍

Rodionenko on Kharenkova - http://tass.ru/sport/3425499
On Afanasyeva - http://tass.ru/sport/3425454

The RGF is posting videos on its YouTube channel - https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC62MoG67QWCrgd7YVrqE6qQ



WAG EF Day One results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/otdel-ny-e-vidy-zhen.pdf

MAG EF Day One results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/otdel-ny-e-vidy-muzh.pdf



Comments

  1. Now Rodionenko says that Akhaimova will be alt in women's Rio team coz of her strong fx :D http://sport-analitika.ru/2016/07/02/1155/ and Polyashov will be alt in men's team instead of Dalalyan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 😌 I'll have to put my computer down soon, or go mad ... Thank you. I suppose they will need to dig deep into their reserves, especially if Ksenia can't compete. Akhaimova isn't the most obvious choice, especially as Shelgunova is going well at present, but then I suppose Valentina is speaking if second reserve position.

      Not surprised to see Dalolyan considered beneath Pokyashov, who has already made a strong case for himself. But I think that for the sake of our sanity, I will leave any further team reports until the official announcements are made by Alfosov and Grebyonkin.

      Delete
    2. You're welcome! Queen Elizabeth, July 20 will be a big meeting with Putin and Russian Olympic committee, at which all surnames in all sports for the Rio will be approved and after even Valentina can't change anything :D

      Delete
    3. Lol. Do you think that if I email President Putun he might bring the date forward to avoid the need for too many interviews with Valentina? 😄

      Delete
    4. Queen Elizabeth, are you ready? Akhaimova doesn't has FIG license , so she can't be alt in Rio :D

      Delete
    5. 😅😅😅 you just have to love Valentina ...

      Delete
  2. I REALLY Just need Seda to hit in beam and floor finals.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Russian WAG at the 2014 World Championships

The Russians during a team talk in training for the World Championships.  Courtesy RGF Bronze all the way for Russia then.  Beyond the euphoria and surprise of this morning's competition there doesn't really seem to be much to write home about. I am delighted for Aliya personally that the efforts she has made to help the team have provided her with some tangible result, but the principal feeling at the end of the competition is that of relief.  As Vaitsekhovskaya said in her article last week, there were no moments of shock and awe from the Russians, and that's what will be needed if they are to compete for gold medals in Rio (translation available here ). Let's consider a timeline of the competition : before, during and after. BEFORE The promise of a return to the Worlds stage by Viktoria Komova gave Russia a feeling of optimism pre-Russia Cup.  However, Viktoria's performance at this important competition gave little reason for celebration.  Ye

Russia Cup - the road to Nanning!

The Russian MAG and WAG teams take their preparation for World Championships in Nanning one step further this week, as key players compete in the annual Russia Cup in Penza.  There will be team, all around and event finals. The WAG team Last year the gymnasts were rather depleted and suffering the effects of injury; this year the national squad is still short of some of its top members, but has greater diversity and experience up and coming into the ranks, so it will be an interesting time.  Last year saw St Petersburg gymnast and fan favourite Tatiana Nabiyeva lead the all around, ahead of Alla Sosnitskaya, Anna Pavlova, Anna Rodionova, Ekaterina Kramarenko and Polina Fyodorova.  With the individual-only World Championships up coming in Antwerp, I remember writing that Russia might well decide to send a team of only three gymnasts, such was the paucity of available talent.  The final reckoning saw Russia fare a little better than this, although performance lacked depth and re

Dmitrieva to replace Mustafina in Glasgow

    Dmitrieva in training this summer  The Russian Worlds team line up changed today as Valentina Rodionenko announced via Tass that Aliya Mustafina would be replaced in Glasgow by Anastasia Dmitrieva.  Aliya withdrew her place in the team as she was not ready to compete, but will travel to Scotland as a guest of the Russian team.  'Her support is crucial to our girls in such an important competition', said Rodionenko (source - http://tass.ru/sport/2325851). Dmitrieva's strengths are on floor and beam.  At best, her flighty double layout on floor, together with elegant presentation, make her a natural for a spot on the senior national team.  If she were to compete at Worlds it would be an opportunity to develop her competitive maturity.  Second place on both beam and floor at the Rusudan Sikharulidze International tournament are her best senior international results so far, and domestically she appears regularly in finals.  At the Russia Cup last month - not her best compet

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more