Skip to main content

Natalia Kapitonova - personal travelogue to Rio

By

Natalia, seen left here in this personal picture with team mates Angelina Melnikova and Maria Paseka, is a relative newcomer to the senior national team, but not its youngest member - having turned 16 in May (Angelina only celebrated her 16th birthday a few days ago).  She is Russian Cup champion on the uneven bars - and strong enough in the all around to provide a good back up, as first reserve, if back up is needed.

The famous gym club in Penza - home to 2014 World floor champion Denis Ablyazin - is where Natalia has trained since childhood under the direction of the Starkin family - who also direct the training of Russian team captain, Aliya Mustafina.  Despite her relative lack of experience internationally, Natalia has shown herself to be a steady and optimistic team mate.  

The flight to Brazil - over 12 hours - was the longest of her life.  At first she slept, but she also read, watched movies and listened to music.  She says that the team weren't too worried about whether they would be allowed to compete; they felt reasonably confident about the IOC decision.

'I can hardly believe that I am in Rio!' said Natalia to local newspaper Penza Sight.  Everything has happened very quickly.


Natalia is sharing a room with Evgenia Shelgunova, and the two reserves are housed in a separate accommodation bloc to the main team.  They haven't had a chance yet to see much of Rio - just the gym, the supermarket and their hotel.  The main thing now is to stay in good form for the Games - no time for much rest.


Source - http://penzavzglyad.ru/news/11419/natalya-kapitonova-do-sih-kazhetsya-chto-ya-ne-v-rio-de-zhaneyro

Please visit RRG's Facebook page for more pictures of the team in Rio, and follow my Twitter feed (RussianGymnast) for quick updates.  With thanks to the Gymnastics group page on vk.com.

Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous27 July 2016 at 09:54

    Valentina says that FIG has questions about Kapitonova, coz she doesn't suits IOC criterium and they may disqualify her from Rio Olympics :/ Also Paseka has now a back injury and only on 3 august doctors will decide will she compete in Rio at all ;( Rodionenko says that they also need to lose some dif for Melnikova coz her injury((( PS Russia why!?( http://tass.ru/sport/3489095

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should the Russian gymnasts be allowed to compete in Rio? RRG's view

By
We are waiting for the IOC's decision, this weekend, while they seek legal advice about the implications of a blanket ban.  I just wanted to add my thoughts about this to the pot. It isn't a purely legal decision, it is also ethical, and it is about the future of the Olympic movement.  Just my ideas, and please add your own in the comments. Clean Russian athletes cannot speak out about their country's behaviour; have you seen what happens to dissenters?  Russian people are seeing life through their own media mirror that only partly reflects the way that we see things. The gymnasts can only speak through their performances.  They are part of an international community of peers who support their participation in the Games.  If Olympism is about promoting harmonious relationships and world peace, if what we are seeing on a broader level is the beginning of a new Cold War, how awful to isolate these individuals from their wider community and to deny them the right t...
19 comments
Read more

Viktoria Komova - 'In general, I'm rarely sad' - interview with Sports Express

By
Courtesy of the RGF/Seda_tutkhalyan_fans on Instagram Viktoria Komova interview by Vladimir Ivanov, Russian language source -  http://www.sport-express.ru/artistic-gymnastics/reviews/884027/ The World Champion told Sports Express' correspondent about her expectations right before her first international competition in three years. At the Youth Olympic Games 2010 in Singapore Victoria Komova won three gold medals.  The athletics legend Yelena Isinbayeva was so inspired by Vika's performance that she ran to congratulate her on all the successes.  A year later, Komova won gold on the uneven bars at her first World Championships and in the fight for the AA lost by a paltry 0.033.  Viktoria cried.  There were no tears a year later when the Voronezh athlete was considered favourite for Olympic gold in the all-around.  But an unfortunate mistake in the vault meant that she could not beat the American Gabrielle Douglas. The worst problems began after Komova returne...
17 comments
Read more

Aliya Mustafina - new interview

By
Aliya in her new Olympic Games outfit.  The teams were kitted out at the Bosco Olympic centre in Moscow last week 'Europeans went quite well, for me personally and for the team.  There were no big blunders or falls and we were able to show a good result.  If we continue to work in the same way as we approach the Olympics, everything will be fine ... Although of course we will need to do a little more in Rio.  For the Olympic Games, everything will be right. 'My knee [Aliya suffered a torn meniscus for which she had surgery last November] is all right, there are no problems with it, I am not worried. 'We will try to fight for first place. But we will be happy with any medals . As usual, our main rivals will be the teams of America, China and the UK. 'It will now be very, very difficult to fight Simone Biles [in the AA] because she has a very large D score. In general, in the individual competition, my goal is just to perform well. The most important thing in the Olymp...
37 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more