Skip to main content

Vika is back! Russian team in training in Sochi

Some pictures and a short video of Viktoria, Aliya and Katya Kramarenko are available here. The girls are benefitting from a last few rays of sun before returning to chilly Moscow for winter training.

The location, Sochi, will of course be the home of next year's Winter Olympics.  Russia's oligarchs and government have invested in significant changes to the infrastructure there, including the building of training facilities.  Andrei Rodionenko has suggested some of these be adapted post-Games to provide the Russian gymnasts with a mild weather winter training retreat, so no doubt this publicity is part of that lobby, as well as providing motivation to the team.

Comments

  1. Dear Queen Elizabeth

    You think Aliya and Vika will be in the Russian team for the 2016 Olympics? They have some new girls like Maria Bondareva, Maria Kahrenkova, Vitoria Kuzmina, Anna Rodionova, Eugenia Shugunova, and others....

    I really really love Alyia and Vika, and I would like to watch them competing the Olimpics again. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It depends on whether they can remain healthy, their commitment to training and whether the coaching is appropriate. At present I am not particularly hopeful about

      Delete
    2. the new generation - there are too few strong gymnasts coming through and they are all event specialists. Teams need a strong reserve. There is a lot of work to do.

      Delete
    3. Dear Queen Elizabeth,

      Now that was quieter (because I am passionate about this sport, and the beautiful Russian gymnasts, and despite being quite mature, I still lose my mind with the injustices done by the judges).

      Therefore, I would like to make some remarks on the statements about the interview Nelli Kim.

      First of all, I would like to clarify that I have great admiration for some American gymnasts, and especially the Romanian gymnasts.

      Nelli Kim says the gym has become a sport for girls who have power and like to smile, just as are the American gymnasts. This is absolutely unfair because it varies according to the character of the person. Personally, I am a melancholic appearance, but quite aggressive when need be. So if this or that gymnast does not smile all the time, or gets upset at his own performance, she can not demonstrate their dissatisfaction? How Vika Komova and McKayla Maroney?

      With that statement, now was implicit but clear, the reason being the American Overscore, while Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian are underscores. FIG gymnasts want of strength and power. And almost melancholy seriousness of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians do not pleasants FIG.

      As to the method of Rodienkos, I think Nelli Kim is absolutely right. The Rodienkos have to do your homework. The resignation of Aleksandrov (and Oleg Stapenko in my view), was shot in their own foot.

      Nelli Kim has a good point about the fact that federations of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia should unite to fight against the low scores of its gymnasts or criticism to FIG. This way they will be heard.

      She is also terribly right in saying the reason why the Russians coaches left Russia and went to the USA. And for them to come back, everyone knows that Russia needs to offer: A decent salary and good working conditions (which also means stop interfering VR)

      In the end, I think Nelli Kim was absolutely frank in saying that prefer the American gymnasts, however absurdly unethical to openly criticize Komova and Mustafina.

      Personally, I felt Komova fight to the end (the FX in the Olympics AA) for the gold medal. Maybe because I also do not be a person smiling all the time with everyone. However, this criticism never fit the Aliya Mustafina. She has nerves of steel, heart of a lion, and always smiles when he finishes his routines....











































































      Google Tradutor para empresas:Google Toolkit de tradução para appsTradutor de sitesGlobal Market Finder




















      Delete
  2. Good to hear that Vika is back and training, hopefully we'll see her at next year's Worlds.
    Meanwhile, can anyone provide a translation for this interview with Aliya from before Worlds?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1qVX5yEf7A

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘My daughter likes gymnastics. For us, this is the big success’. Aliya Mustafina talks to Match TV

Via VK.com.  Google translate A big interview with Aliya Mustafina was published on MATCH!. We provide a small excerpt below, and the full version is available on the website at the link below  ❓ Aliya, you are now the head coach of the junior artistic gymnastics team. What does your typical day look like? 💜 My current life is similar to what it was when I was competing. In the morning, I have breakfast and go to work by 9:00, we train for four hours, have lunch, rest and train for another three hours. During the training camp, the athletes live at the base. They live and train on the same territory. ❓ Do you manage the gymnasts' personal trainers or do you evenly distribute the responsibilities? 💜 We work in contact with the personal trainers, I listen to their opinions. For example, if the trainer believes that their athlete needs to be given a little rest or do fewer repetitions of a particular exercise, we do so. ❓ Describe the current generation of children. Do they nee...

Who really won the WAG All Around?

You will find a link to the FIG's newly published book of results at the Olympic Games here .  This year, they have broken down the judge's execution scores so you can see exactly how each judge evaluated the gymnasts' performances.  It makes for interesting reading - if only I had more time to analyse each judge's marking.  A skim reading already highlights multiple inconsistencies in individual judges' marks and makes you wonder why they bother with the jury at all. I have taken the time to look at the reference judges' scores for the top four in the women's all around.  The FIG explains here what their role is, and how they are selected.  I even used my calculator, which is a risky thing in my hands.  My, how I wish we could have seen a similar document for the Tokyo World Championships. I wonder if anyone can explain how, if the FIG's Code of Points is so objective and fair, it is possible to come up with two different results using two differ...

Denial of visas - some background

Can I remind everyone interested in Russian gymnastics that the restrictions imposed on Russia following its state-sponsored doping scandal were quite separate from the restrictions introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? The Russian doping scandal came to prominence in 2016, while WADA imposed further sanctions in 2019. Although these sanctions restricted Russia’s participation under its national flag, they did not impose a blanket ban on Russian gymnasts. Athletes who met the relevant eligibility requirements were still permitted to compete. Artistic gymnastics has historically recorded relatively few positive doping tests, and Russian gymnasts were not collectively excluded from international competition as a consequence of the doping scandal. Russian gymnasts therefore continued to compete at the Olympic Games and major international championships, including the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The situation changed in February 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukra...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more