Skip to main content

Afanasyeva's availability for Rio will be decided later in July

Image
By

The final Russian team selections will not be absolutely clear for another few weeks.  Men's national coach Valery Alfosov needs another week to make some difficult decisions after some rather unpredictable performances in the Russia Cup - most noteably, a strong showing by Vladislav Polyashov as compared to patchy showings by Ignatyev and Kuksenkov.  

The women's team selection, meanwhile, seems to hinge upon the availability of Ksenia Afanasyeva, who only recently underwent a cleaning up procedure to her right ankle.  The doctor who performed the surgery will fly to Moscow from his Munich clinic next week to provide his advice.  If given the medical all clear, Ksenia would be asked to compete floor only, says Valentina Rodionenko.  This might favour a team composed of Melnikova, Mustafina, Tutkhalyan (three AA) with Kapitonova filling the fourth qualifications place on vault, bars and beam.  Without Afanasyeva the team will be severely weakened on floor, and it is difficult to see what might be the best configuration.  Perhaps then the 'troika' would feel supported by Paseka on vault, with Kapitonova or Spiridonova on the other three pieces.  If you have time to do some sums based on the girls' D values, it would be interesting to speculate at this stage ...
 
It has also now, sadly, been confirmed that Maria Kharenkova is out of contention for Rio.  She will travel to Munich in mid July, with Viktoria Komova, to begin to address some problems with her ankle.  Head coach Valentina Rodionenko says that Maria has suffered with pain for a long time, but didn't say anything about it until two weeks ago, when she simply couldn't keep going any longer.  

EF got underway this morning.  Paseka won vault ahead of Tutkhalyan and Nabiyeva, with Kapitonova winning bars ahead of Melnikova and Spiridonova.  Floor was won by Ablyazin ahead of Ignatyev and Kuksenkov, PH Polyashov, Stretovich, Danilenko, and rings Ablyazin, Ignatyev, Kuksenkov.  You can follow quick hits of tomorrow's finals on Twitter from @TheAllAround, who are also posting occasional videos.  This morning, Nikita Nagorny transmitted most of the comp on his Periscope channel!  Great work, Nikita.  We will look forward to seeing the competition finish tomorrow, but clearly the final, full Olympic teams will not be announced for some time yet.

Good luck to all the girls - and thinking particularly of Ksenia and Maria at what must be very difficult times for them.

And big thank you again to RRG's anonymous contributor, for the links and translations .. Hugs 😍

Rodionenko on Kharenkova - http://tass.ru/sport/3425499
On Afanasyeva - http://tass.ru/sport/3425454

The RGF is posting videos on its YouTube channel - https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC62MoG67QWCrgd7YVrqE6qQ



WAG EF Day One results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/otdel-ny-e-vidy-zhen.pdf

MAG EF Day One results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/otdel-ny-e-vidy-muzh.pdf



Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous2 July 2016 at 13:56

    Now Rodionenko says that Akhaimova will be alt in women's Rio team coz of her strong fx :D http://sport-analitika.ru/2016/07/02/1155/ and Polyashov will be alt in men's team instead of Dalalyan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Queen Elizabeth2 July 2016 at 14:18

      😌 I'll have to put my computer down soon, or go mad ... Thank you. I suppose they will need to dig deep into their reserves, especially if Ksenia can't compete. Akhaimova isn't the most obvious choice, especially as Shelgunova is going well at present, but then I suppose Valentina is speaking if second reserve position.

      Not surprised to see Dalolyan considered beneath Pokyashov, who has already made a strong case for himself. But I think that for the sake of our sanity, I will leave any further team reports until the official announcements are made by Alfosov and Grebyonkin.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2 July 2016 at 14:51

      You're welcome! Queen Elizabeth, July 20 will be a big meeting with Putin and Russian Olympic committee, at which all surnames in all sports for the Rio will be approved and after even Valentina can't change anything :D

      Delete
    3. Queen Elizabeth2 July 2016 at 17:30

      Lol. Do you think that if I email President Putun he might bring the date forward to avoid the need for too many interviews with Valentina? 😄

      Delete
    4. Anonymous2 July 2016 at 22:22

      Queen Elizabeth, are you ready? Akhaimova doesn't has FIG license , so she can't be alt in Rio :D

      Delete
    5. Queen Elizabeth2 July 2016 at 22:56

      😅😅😅 you just have to love Valentina ...

      Delete
  2. Anonymous2 July 2016 at 17:57

    I REALLY Just need Seda to hit in beam and floor finals.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aliya Mustafina - new interview

By
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...
37 comments
Read more

Panel discussion, Rodionenko, Mustafina, Shevchenko

By
I have yet to source a full translation of this 2nd November television discussion between National Coaches Rodionenko, Olympic Champion Aliya Mustafina and 1988 Olympic Champion and FIG judge Elena Shevchenko.  Some fragmentary details provided by Rachael Liv on Gymfever (:-)) suggest that it addresses the results of the 2013 World Championships again, with Andrei Rodionenko providing reasons that his team did not perform as well as, perhaps, the Russian public had expected.  Pretty much a re-run of his earlier press interview that appeared on VTB.  Shevchenko apparently mentions that the biggest worry during her competitive years was making the Soviet team, so evidently some comparisons are being made between today's gymnastics and the Golden Era. If anyone has time to add any translations to the comments on this post, we would all be very grateful ... I know that translating such a discussion in its entirety is painstaking and arduous ... NOTE : PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO...
26 comments
Read more

Komova should have won!

By
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...
45 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more