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| Aliya Mustafina after last night's all around competition, where she won a bronze medal. Courtesy RGF |
In the meantime, I wanted briefly to review the Russian press, which includes a couple of short interviews with Aliya, and an Itar-Tass discussion with Alexander Alexandrov, the first Russian language press coverage of the charismatic coach since well before his departure from Russia three months ago, and the first time that he has spoken in Russian about the reasons for his resignation, and his relationship with Aliya Mustafina.
Aliya Mustafina : 'I need better health' - interview with Elena Vaitsekhovskaya/Sports Express
She says that in order to do better against the Americans, she needs to be in better health, and to strengthen her vault. Everything in the AA final went as she planned. In qualifying she had been extremely nervous and shaky, but for some reason in the final she had felt that everything would turn out all right.
She speaks of the stability of the American girls and compliments Jinnan Yao as a nice girl and a good gymnast. Vaitsekhovskaya mentions that Grebyonkin seemed a little worried about bars final; Mustafina says she has a new programme; and that generally it takes at least a year for a new routine to bed in. She had been practising her gold medal winning Olympics routine for two years. When asked if she found it distracting to perform in a group with all the top gymnasts; especially when others began to fall off beam, she responded that she was only thinking of her own performance. And on floor, she says it was just her aim to finish off the day nicely, and to dance a little bit :-).
Aliya Mustafina : 'I was a little bit surprised by the beam score' - interview with I Rasskasova/Sovietski Sport
Aliya says that in beam qualifying she was much worse than in the final, and yet the score was about the same; she doesn't know how to understand it. But she doesn't like to question the judges; perhaps the routine looked different to outside observers to the way it had felt to her on the inside when performing it.
When asked about her floor performance, and whether she was completely satisfied, she said she was a little disappointed as she had failed to complete her triple Y turn. However, it is a new routine, so that's to be expected and she didn't want to get upset. Indeed, to the contrary, she went straight to Rodionova to help her to prepare for bars. She felt that Anna had performed well in her first major competition.
Alexander Alexandrov: 'I left Russia to shield Mustafina from non-sporting issues' - interview with Albert Starobutsev/ITAR-TASS
In this interview Alexander revisits some of the points in his earlier interview about the reasons for his departure from Russia, and talks about his work in Brazil.
He adds some points regarding the Russian team in Antwerp; that he is surprised that Grishina is not on the team; after her poor performance at the Olympics last year he expected she would be targeting these Championships; he felt that all of the girls from the Olympics should have been here, with the exception of Komova who has been ill.
With reference to the team's participation in the University Games in Kazan, he says he does not feel that the competitive programme this year was too heavy, but that perhaps the training of the team needed to be planned differently.
He emphasises that the only reason he left Russia was to protect Aliya Mustafina after Valentina Rodionenko had begun to make unfair statements about her to the press. He adds that he has seen Aliya at these Worlds, they are on good terms; they embraced, and he wished her a happy birthday. Aliya's father has told him that Aliya will only ever have one coach: Alexander Alexandrov.
Aliya Mustafina - vault
Aliya Mustafina - bars
Aliya Mustafina - beam
Aliya Mustafina - floor
With thanks to Rachael Liv for the links.
I admire her. I think she deserved way better than a third place. She is a wonderful performer and a fierce warrior.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think that under this Code, she did remarkably well to achieve a bronze. But I like what Natalia Kalugina said: 'It was a bronze that was more expensive than gold'.
DeleteIt was a remarkable and very moving performance; I hope Aliya now takes some time off, but comes back reinvigorated and all the stronger for next year's Worlds.
First I want to say I love this website and the facebook version. I get all the best news on Russian gymnastics here. 2nd I want to add that I admire Russian gymnastics and enjoy watching them. 3rd I agree that I wish the Code of points would reward artistry more. But I get a little concerned when I see excuses being laid out like this and with similar complaints about judging.
DeleteAre you saying that Aliya is incapable of getting anything higher than a Bronze because of the current code of points? Because I think she is a talented enough gymnast to keep her artistry and maximize her scores under any code of points. And I will admit I still see the old Soviet block vs. American block of judges and their suspicious scores, but I believe they even themselves out for the most part.
I say this with all due respect because I enjoy this site, but I just had to get my thoughts out there on this subject.
Sincerely,
Todd
Hi Todd,
DeletePlease bear wuth me ... A review of the outcome of this comp and its implications will be the subject of a future blog post. I am sure you will want to contribute to the discussion about that.
Thanks for your words and I'll look forward to hearing your views.
She is definitely a warrior. She was able to pull out all the stops when it really mattered. We have seen her achieve this in many major competitions. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite moments of the WAG AA was when Aliya ADDED choreography when she paused on beam between the Onodi and the double turn. Don't think I've ever seen a prettier broken connection.
ReplyDeleteSimplemente una Reyna...elegancia, dificultad, gracia, belleza, poder. #1
ReplyDeleteShe is so beautiful to me... not just when she added choreography and paused on BB between the Onodi and the double turn. She is the Queen! Just remember that sunshine always follows the rain, so wrap your troubles and dreams ... Because the troubles is not for the Queen!
ReplyDeleteConsidering the crappy qualifier she had and illness and knee pain, she did very well. A healthy Mustafina could very well dominate and she has dominated many, many times over. She has a World All-Around title, plus the two that she won this year, four Olympic Medals, two European Golds. I was surprised that she didn't win the uneven bars gold.
ReplyDeleteWell now she has won gold on beam.
DeleteWhich proves one good thing : talent will out, my dears!!! The Diva rules.
I can't describe how happy her beam gold makes me :D Really shows the world what she's made of! Aliya's a true fighter, and a beautiful one. Always comes out at the right moment :)
DeleteAnyways, it's been a great worlds, hopefully she can get some real rest now. She deserves it.