Skip to main content

Mustering up that musty magic

Image
By

Moments after qualifying for the team, AA and UB finals, Aliya gave a short interview to Elena Vaitsekhovskaya for Sports Express.  The accompanying pictures tell as much as the words.

Asked about her fall from beam, Aliya said, 'I have forgotten about it already.  There is no point in remembering it.'

'It was very hard waiting for the competition to begin; I could only just bear it.  Every morning, I wake up with the same thought, wanting it all to be over as quickly as possible,' said Aliya.

Asked about her bars performance, where she scored the highest of all to date, Aliya said, 'Can I tell you a secret?  It was me who did it!'

     Team captain, consoling a disappointed Angelina Melnikova

    The life of a champion is essentially a solitary one, when it comes to the hard moments of competition.

    Seda Tutkhalyan is the top Russian qualifier in the AA

Source - Sports Express.ru



Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous7 August 2016 at 23:17

    I hope Mustafina can dig deep and pull out some of the best routines of these games. She deserves all the praise she's gotten through the years and I hope her future will be as a bright as her gymnastics has been.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown7 August 2016 at 23:36

    Sad for Melnikova but happy for Seda. I wish there'd be more Russian presence in Event Finals, no beam, no floor ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown7 August 2016 at 23:37

    but to consider that with that amount of falls Russia placed third, I'd say silver at TF is quite achievable

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown7 August 2016 at 23:39

    I can't believe Kocian qualified 1st in UB with those unacceptable flexed feet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 07:13

      Really it was Fan who was screwed. Can't believe Jessica Lopez out scored her. Also, if she had gone in a later subdivision her scored would've been much higher. It's so unfair.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 12:42

      Yes!! The bars judge should be looked into some kind of investigation!! Lopez is nice but couldn't surpass Fan! And I think Gabby's bar E score was overscored!!

      Delete
  5. Sasha8 August 2016 at 00:09

    I love that line about UB! she is so precious.

    the bars judging was quite infamous today. even viewing that last picture of Seda's bhardwaj has me scrambling to explain how so many routines got 8.7 or more in e-score. I feel sorry for those from sub 1 (although China is very flat in their swing and I confess to not liking the work they did today). But comparatively, they were screwed out of EF's by early judging restraints.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 00:43

    It's such a shame that Daria and Aliya don't get to go into the bar final's 1-2 like they deserve. Am I the only one that think's the scoring of the American's(espically on bars) was offensive? It was discusting that Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian were given higher execution scores than Aliya and Daria; one of the biggest injustices ever in gymnastics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 06:51

      The UB scores the Americans were given are RIDICULOUS. I honestly feel it was fixed. I can't even call it biased after seeing that they gave Raisman a higher e score than the Chinese, and both Kocian and Douglas higher e scores than Mustafina. I feel bad for both Yilin and E. Downie being knocked out of UB Ef. Then again,I am not too surprised. Douglas is the reigning OAA champion and I imagine the US garners the most money for the FIG (WAG)...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 12:44

      Yeah! Totally... But that's doesn't affect too much. It was really Fan's chance to be taken away by those biased judge!! Are those judges the same as World 2015?!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 12:46

      Hernendez's beam was overscored too but she did do a good rouitne but a robot on beam lacking of artistry!!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 18:20

      you are not alone, me too, it's inscrutable but it's a pattern for a while now among the judges because they no longer can differentiate between a "Solid" and "Artistic" routine, Can you believe that Douglas' e-score more than Mustafina' e-score in UB final last Olympics? or Ally can get more than 8.3 by any means??
      John

      Delete
    5. Anonymous9 August 2016 at 09:39

      Out of all of the olympic gymnasts, to single out Hernandez as a "robot" is laughable. She is known for bringing artistry and to her high difficulty routines. She has more artistry than the majority of beam routines at her level of difficulty, and is a pleasure to watch. I look forward to seeing how she develops as a senior gymnast.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous9 August 2016 at 13:46

      I would agree with you that to single out Hernandez is laughable. I too look forward to seeing her develop as a senior. I also wish her luck in beam event final.

      Todd

      Delete
  7. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 03:01

    Beautiful in and out

    ReplyDelete
  8. Antonio ThunderHunter8 August 2016 at 03:43

    Do you know if the Olympic channel will upload all subdivision qualifications like last time? Or if there is any video out there of them competing other than the snippets NBC Olympics has

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 04:54

    This is not the way I wanted to pay Aliya A farewell. Coming to the games with spirit of wanting all of it to be over is just not right. I think mentally she is done. I wouldn't blame her. She has done more than enough. It is time to drop the burden of the Rods.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Unknown8 August 2016 at 06:27

    Aliya will bring us Gold in UB. She will fight to defend her title and she will fight for Russia.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 10:12

    I found it! 2nd part of Aliya FX music at the Rio games are "Raul Di Blasio-Consuelo (vals para mimi)."! and first one "Moscow Nights"! P.S. I Love Aliya and her FX at these Olympics!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 10:44

    Musty looked so sad and washed out. So different from how I'm accustomed to seeing her.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8 August 2016 at 17:53

    Aliya and girls interview for russian tv in mixtzone after Quals in Rio to Dima Zanin(starts at 1:03:58) Our Russian beauties looks OK, not depressed it is important! even Melka! Aliya is such honey and i love her smile, the moment when she smiles with her eyes ;) Also Dima ask Masha about her health, and Seda say that need to fix mistakes in final ! btw Aliya is boss :P http://news.sportbox.ru/olympics/spbvideo_NI646926_Vse_na_Match_Rio_2016?ci=288179 P.S. in the beginning of the program( 1:00:40) also little video interview with Chusovitina after Quals :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous9 August 2016 at 09:49

    A big interview from Vaytsehovskaya with Alexandrov from Rio! He speaks about Aliya too! http://www.sport-express.ru/olympics/rio2016/artistic-gymnastics/reviews/komanda-sensaciya-aleksandrova-1030977/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous9 August 2016 at 11:40

    Alexandr Alexandrov im interview from Vaytsehovskaya from Rio http://www.sport-express.ru/olympics/rio2016/artistic-gymnastics/reviews/komanda-sensaciya-aleksandrova-1030977/ P.S. some info about how in works is interesting and his opinion about Mustafina on these games also.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous9 August 2016 at 13:08

    Video is filmed by ROC before Rio an interview and trainings footage with Aliya ( She is beautiful in and out!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkDrgqgOOQA

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10 August 2016 at 05:12

    I just can't watch WAG in this Olympics with Vika gone and judges favoring acrobats instead of gymnasts.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10 August 2016 at 17:19

    Mustafina is not acting smartly. She says she wants to go home and is sooo tired. Not a good strategy for the judges who are all against Russia in these games.
    By the way, can't she choose leotards for herself and the team? She looked square in one of them.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alexander Alexandrov in his own words 1 - A Difficult Decision

By
Alexander Alexandrov with his daughter, Isa, at the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Rio.  (c) Alexander Alexandrov Russian coach Alexander Alexandrov has been prominent in the sport since 1983, when he came to the public eye as coach of the brilliant Dmitri Bilozerchev.  He has over thirty years’ experience of coaching World and Olympic Champions both in the country of his birth and in his adopted home, Houston, USA.  In his most recent position as Head Coach of the national women's artistic gymnastics (WAG) team for Russia, he quite simply resurrected his country’s gymnastics programme, re-establishing his team at the very top of the sport.  Prior to Alexandrov’s appointment, at the 2008 Olympics, Russian WAG had walked away empty handed, without medals.  At last year’s London Olympics, artistic gymnastics was one of Russia’s most successful sports.  Alexandrov’s Russia won the most gymnastics medals of any country competing, and his athlete Al...
11 comments
Read more

Fact or fiction? The press, gymnastics and pregnancy doping

By
It was a Sunday morning.  I was drinking my coffee and contemplating the day ahead - a workout at the gym, shopping for groceries, an evening reading a book, or catching up on last night's episodes of crime thriller The Bridge .  How nice it was not to have to think about work for a day. Then I saw it - a story about the history of doping in The Observer .  Interesting reading. Of course, cheating is as old as the hills.  It is, unfortunately, human nature for some people to try to gain easy advantage in any kind of competition.  That is why we have laws, rules, ethical guidelines.  People who cheat should face justice and shouldn't complain when they are found out. But the story about pregnancy doping bothered me.  Hadn't that been found to be fictional?  The author began with Olga Kovalenko's allegations made in 1994 - but the rumours had started way back in 1991 with the documentary series More Than A Game .  The practice...
3 comments
Read more

Does Russia need Mustafina in Glasgow? Vaitsekhovskaya adds her voice

By
'Should Mustafina compete in Glasgow, considering her fragile state of health? - aren't the Olympics more important?' are the key themes of this brief news piece by Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, a top sports journalist who has interviewed Alexandrov, Arkayev, Starkin, Mustafina and Rodionenko in the last five years since Aliya won the World Championships. Elena stresses that this year nothing unusual has happened.  Aliya has worked hard with her new coach Sergei Starkin.  She did a 'great job', demonstrating her work at the European Games in Baku where she won the all around, bars and team events as well as silver in the floor exercise. But, says Vaitsekhovskaya, more important than the medals was the fact that Aliya showed a new technical level, began work on upgrades for the Rio Olympics.  Just competing in one event - the Baku games - could be enough for a veteran athlete of Mustafina's experience.  The body ages in both time - and injuries.  Athletes always respond...
26 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more