Skip to main content

Russian team predictions from Valentina

Ksenia Afanasyeva in podium training yesterday


Reserves are confirmed at this stage as Dmitri Lankin and Evgeniya Shelgunova.

Competing AA will be - WAG - Daria Spiridonova and Seda Tutkhalyan; MAG - Nikita Ignatyev, David Belyavski and Nikolai Kuksenkov

It will be tough for the men's team as the top six are extremely competitive.  To be realistic, the men are not likely to finish in the top three.  The American men are very strong, also the Chinese and Japanese, other teams - she mentions Brazil.

The women can compete for one of the top places.  Of course the Americans are out of reach but they are on the same level as the Chinese and Romanians so there is a chance.  But they will have to be clean.

On the AA, it's another picture; the gymnasts can compete for a medal.  For the men, David Belyavski and Nikita Ignatyev.  It will be harder for the women as both Daria and Seda do not yet have extensive international senior experience.

It is expected that Viktoria Komova will compete in three apparatus (vault, bars, beam).  Ksenia Afanasyeva has the ability to perform at the level of a medal in floor, and Maria Paseka on vault.  The odds on Seda Tutkhalyan AA are longer, but she does have one apparatus - beam - where if she performs without error, she has a difficult routine and may be in the battle for a medal.

David Belyavski has a good routine on p bars, and Denis Ablyazin on floor, rings and vault.  They expect a good competition and a medal from Nikita Ignatyev - perhaps on high bar or on p bars.  

This is really only a preliminary assessment of the team's readiness - there are still a few days left to polish the routines.

source : http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=98577

I think Valentina's ideas are pretty much what I would say - nothing unexpected.  Good luck to all the gymnasts!  We are looking forward to supporting you!

Comments

  1. What happened to Kharenkova as an AA gymnast?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. She is fragile psychologically
      2. She has only a FTY, not good enough for Russia in terms of their need to qualify for Rio as a team.
      3. She wouldn't medal AA anyway.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Komova should have won!

It was a very tight battle in the North Greenwich arena today, with American Gabby Douglas beating out Viktoria Komova by a mere 0.259 points (see results below) and the legendary Aliya Mustafina sealing her comeback from that career-threatening injury with a well deserved bronze medal. Yes, she suffered a fall from beam after her Arabian somersault but elsewhere she was at her best, a real endorsement of the work of the Russian coaches in nursing her back to almost-top form since that fateful day in 2011. Komova had a faultless competition apart from a step on landing her Amanar vault. Frankly, she must feel utterly shattered after coming second once again by a very small margin to an American who was treated very generously by the judges. Komova soared and took every beam move to the max, rounding off with her rare double Arabian dismount in fine style; Douglas literally sidled along the beam, seeming frightened to take her feet off the apparatus for all but her somersaults. Kom...

Simone Biles - 'on her way to Olympic gold' in the opinion of Russia

Prosport is carrying the following article about Simone Biles, who they tip as a favourite for Olympic gold.  I thought I would share it here (Google translate in italics) as it gives an interesting perspective on where the Russians feel the sport is heading.  Elena Zamolidchikova and Alexander Alexandrov are both extensively quoted. Atypical American. Simon Biles on the way to Olympic gold Simone Biles, American gymnast, turned 18 on March 14, 2015. Shortly before this, the first in US history absolute Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton called Biles perhaps the most gifted athlete in the history of the sport. In 2014, Simon became the first gymnast for 40 years to win four gold at a World Championships. But Biles is not only talent. This is the first gymnast in recent years from the United States, who is not going to earn on its potential Olympic success. Text: Alexander Vladimirov March 15, 2015 9:35 The article on Prosport/Photo: Lintao Zhang / Getty Images / Fotob...

Aliya Mustafina - new interview

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...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more