Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...

A nice interview with Aliya from just before the Russian Championships. Key points from the Google translate : She won second place in an R Sport vote for the best Russian sports woman, behind Evgeniya Kanaeva but ahead of Maria Sharapova.  She says Evgeniya came first because she is a beautiful gymnast; but knows little about Sharapova. She has no time for life outside of gymnastics, as she trains three times a day - can only meet with her friends on rare occasions, and declines to comment about whether she has a boyfriend in gymnastics. Her father is her main supporter, but the person whose opinion she values most in gymnastics is her coach, Alexander Alexandrov :-) She does not have any gymnastics idols. Good luck to all the Russian gymnasts as they prepare for the European Championships!