ICYMI
Aliya and Vika are both attending the training camp currently underway at Round Lake. Ablyazin, Belyavskiy, Paseka, and Eremina will miss the camp to rest (or see the doctor) but Melnikova will be present when she returns from her vacation in Bali, Indonesia [in two days]. Tutkhalyan and Dalolyan are at the Hotel Bavaro Princess in the Dominican Republic so they will not be in attendance either.
Bringing it back to Worlds, here's our team departing for the buses after a training session:
Maria Paseka captained the Worlds team in Montreal and gave her country it's only gold medal. Returning home, she accepted a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Dmitri Kipyachenkov! Masha also gave an interview to Izvestia and said she wants to fix her form on vault, upgrade, and possibly get a vault named after her. A concise translation can be found on the ever useful, ever wonderful, Gymnovsti website (x). Imo, Maria's always been aware (and apologetic) of her shortcomings but irregular health prevents her from correcting things. It's hard to progress when every step forward is met by an injury that takes you two steps back. I love you Masha and congratulations on your engagement
Vladimir Putin's letter to Paseka: “Dear Maria, Congratulations on your performance in Montreal. Thanks to the great strength of your will, your skill and talent, you have confirmed your leadership qualities in World Artistic Gymnastics. And in the struggle against worthy rivals, a beautiful victory was claimed. I’m sure this will continue to help you achieve meaningful results. I wish you further success and good luck!”
Aliya's been at RL for one month but hasn't found training as difficult as she expected. "Or maybe I just want it so much that the work doesn’t seem too hard to me.” A lengthy break from the sport was all she ever needed. You could see how she was losing her passion last quad, even when she did everything she could to keep Russia relevant. I wonder if this renewed vigor will lead to some elements she's never attempted before? Why is 2018 taking so long to get here??? Arrive already!
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| Hold her baby, she's back. |
Daria Spiridonova and Nikolai Kuksenkov (yay, Nik!) will be at the Arthur Gander Memorial on November 1, 2017. Some other exciting competitors include Marcia Videaux of Cuba, Igor Radivilov, and Catalina Ponor.
Angelina Melnikova will attend the Tokyo Cup on Dec. 9-10 despite telling us her ankle worsened over the course of Worlds. No rest for the weary. Ever.
The VTB Cup concluded with some... indulgent scoring, but it's still interesting to see where people are showing promise. Kharenkova scoring a 15.350 on beam tells me she had a really solid set, probably identical to how she looked at the Russian Cup. She'll make things real interesting next year if she regains some decent swing on bars. Still upset she wasn't at Worlds btw. Akhaimova won the AA with a 54.8 and finally debuted the piked arabian on fx, but sadly fell on the attempt. She is training an amanar and the Rodionenko's apparently considered her for Montreal, so the more she upgrades the more inclined they'll be to pick her over a middling All-Arounder with no EF potential. Next year's Words team will have five spots not six :(
Seda Tutkhalyan's commentary on Match TV stirred plenty of ire after she seemingly belittled Elena Eremina's achievements at the recent World Championships. She had this to say: "Regarding Lenka, I’m saying, she got lucky that the championships happened like this, that the leaders got injured and Lena ended up in the first three with such a program. Because to vault 1.5 twists and to have such a major mistake on bars and still get into the first three was, well, I guess, it happened for the first time." I don't think Seda is giving this hyper critical narrative because of envy- although I'm certain Eremina's success is shaking up the traditional structure at RL- but because she is feeling defensive on behalf of someone else...Angelina. Lena's had a phenomenal year and each of her consistent performances threw others in the shadows. During Worlds, most people could only garner sympathy for Melka while the worst of her critics were very nasty indeed. It has not escaped my notice that people are constantly comparing the two girls, Melka and Lena, when they used to attract significantly different levels of attention. If Seda was reading all those comparisons and nasty comments about Melka, she was probably feeling sorry for her best friend and taking out her frustration on the person least to blame for Melka's sorrows. Like, I'm sorry Lena's success puts Gelya in a bad light but they were both in that "lucky competition" and only one girl made use of the opportunity. Seda showed remarkable grace when she encouraged Melka after her 16th place finish (ironically, wishing her luck), so if she's capable of being supportive toward one girl she should extend that to the other. As I said, her response seems reactionary, but it could very well be bitterness at her own missed opportunities.Seda might feel doubtful about Elena Eremina but not the US National team coordinator, Valeri Liukin, who eyed her as one to follow and praised her and all of Team Russia
. (x)
Over Facebook, Tatiana Gutsu alleged that she was raped by six time Olympic gold medalist, Vitaly Scherbo, at the 1991 DTB Cup in Stutgart, Germany when she was fifteen. Her teammate sharing the same room when the incident occurred, Tatiana Toropova, says "I suppose they made out a little" but denies any sexual violence happened. Gutsu says she is seriously considering legal options and in replies on FB said she had proof that he was blackmailing her to keep quiet. None of her statements have stopped a barrage of negative comments from the Russian/ex-Soviet contingent and one news source even printed Aly Raisman's supportive tweets next to a picture of her in a bikini to show condescension towards her advocacy. The same website also tied Gutsu's accusation to the Harvey Weinstein scandal in an implication that Gutsu is using the attention for her own PR. I am writing a separate post on how I feel the FIG could better protect gymnasts so I won't elaborate my thoughts here. All I can say is that it's abhorrent to see an empowerment movement for both males and females ("me too") diminished to being called a PR stunt. Gymnovsti has a summary of the main players' statements (x).
My aim in delaying the article on the men's AA is to convince everyone that it never happened 
. It is coming along very slowly as I transition through the stages of grief. The article is about 3/4 done so one day, maybe in 2017, you'll see it...
. It is coming along very slowly as I transition through the stages of grief. The article is about 3/4 done so one day, maybe in 2017, you'll see it...Kidding. David's moved on so I'll try to have that article out soon. My problem is that I've spread myself thin writing several different articles, Japan Junior etc., and all are still in draft phase. So I've got to crank these out. But they're a'coming folks.
In the meantime, watch this interview David did for the Russian Olympic Committee recounting his start in gymnastics, training regimen, and his Rio experience (it's subtitled):
Guys, check out the muscles on Uliana
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| I feel like I haven't seen this kind of muscle definition, without flexing, since Alexandrov was busting their asses. Can't what to see what she has in store for the new year. |
Yay a new post! Anyway, my opinion on Seda's comments: it really does sound like there's some sort of feud/unfriendly rivalry between herself and Elena, I don't know what line of questioning the reporter took but her reply comes across as quite mean spirited and pre-meditated. It may well be true that she was reacting out of solidarity to her friend Gelya but did she really need to resort to personal attacks on a team mate and training partner? I'm fairly new to the Russian WAG scene so correct me if I'm wrong but from what I've gathered it appears that the girls on the national team use Round Lake as their main training base as opposed to in the US where the majority of the programme is provided by the clubs with monthly camps in Texas for fine tuning? If my assumptions are right that would mean the RU girls spend most of the year in very close proximity which makes it even more surprising that she'd break ranks in public, I'd expect such a tight knit group to be a lot more discrete about any interpersonal issues and really strive to maintain team cohesion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Seda's comments are probably a misguided attempt to support Melka, who she is close to. Lena and Melka pretty much had polar opposite competitions. My impression is that this was also the first time in years that Russia has had 2 AAers come into major competition with relatively similar levels of expectations in a long time (expectations for new senior Melka were high last year, but not Aliya-high assuming she showed up in decent shape), so the comparisons were inevitable.
ReplyDeleteFor Aliya - I LOVE that picture. I am very excited to see her back in whatever capacity next year but like you I wonder if she'll have any new surprises - I'm trying to keep my expectations low about both her and Vika's comebacks for now. Her comment about thinking it'd be harder is the most Aliya thing ever. My only worry is that she'll burn herself out again if left to her own devices, but I'd like to think she's learned from her many past experiences.
Probably shouldn't be, but I'm far more optimistic than I was at this point last quad. This seems like the most depth Russia has had to work with in a long time, even if Aliya and Vika's comebacks don't go according to plan. It was very encouraging to see both Kharenkova and Perebinosova looking decent (better than decent in Masha's case) at Russian Cup after both were out for so long.
I don't know, it would be a very weird choice of words if she had just wanted to support Gelya, I mean, why attack a team mate if she just could have blamed it on Gelya's injury? Also, from Lena's videos, it seems that Lena and Gelya are in good spirits with each other, so it would be extra weird if Seda would bash Gelya's friend to support her. Seda must know that. But Lena really doesn't seem to be the favourite regarding the russian team staff, I noticed that at the Russian National Championships. Maybe that has changed tough I also never saw any coach/Paseka near Lena for the whole AA Competition at Worlds (only on Gelya's side - shich definitely was good for her) which I found weird because it's her first major international Competition aside Euros. But maybe that just were Cameras. However, after the Russian Cup (and Euros), I thought that maybe the reason why many Team members didn't really acknowledged her (didn't mention her in interviews etc.) was maybe because she is from St. Petersburg, which kind of rivals Moscow like LA rivals NY?? That's just me speculating though, maybe (probably) I'm completely wrong. I did notice, that most Girls are from Moscow or smaller cities east-south. What do you guys think about it? Am I talking rubbish?
ReplyDeleteNo idea about favorites, but Lena does have her own personal coaches, the Kiryashovs, who were with her during the AA. Meanwhile Gelya's rumored to have left her previous personal coach earlier this year and is now being trained by the national team staff (it might be beyond rumor at this point since I don't think he traveled to Euros or Montreal), so it's not surprising at all that they were with her. Honestly I think Melnikova needs the support more, as we've seen all year that Lena looks more confident and sure of herself in competition - some people just struggle with nerves more than others. Whatever Lena is doing is working for her since she went without a single fall the entire competition and never really looked rattled.
DeleteGelya definitely needed the Support. I think she should start to lower her difficulty so her execution benefits from it and than gradually works her way up again. I think going back to the basics will give her some confidence and a stronger base to work with. She probably just upped her difficulty so much because she was going for the Olympics but right now, she doesn't need it and should take that as a chance to slow/calm down a bit.
DeleteI'm so exited for next year!
Replying to the original poster: I think I remember reading in an older blog post that Gelya and Seda had glittering junior careers whereas Lena's , aside from her victory at 2016 Euros was unremarkable, so judging from that perspective the current pecking order in Russian WAG must have come as a shock! At present Elena's career is on an upward trajectory and with the veterans also making a return the other twos' status as national team members is looking precarious, 2018 really is shaping up to be interesting!
DeleteHi I'm just getting around to visiting my own blog lol.
ReplyDeleteI am hesitant to present Seda's commentary as envious because I haven't seen the footage to hear what the interviewer asked her (like "are you surprised that your younger teammate has managed to win a medal?") or to hear her tone of voice (is she lighthearted and neutral sounding?) or even her body language (is she shrugging off Lena's success or is she actually pondering how the competition played out?). If I could see the video then I'd feel better about side eyeing her, although many commenters are correct, she has given us plenty of leverage to suppose she is jealous. On the other hand, the Russians are blunt speakers and perhaps Seda didn't have malice behind her words but it reads that way on paper?
This sorta brings to mind the post-London team assessment, when the team and the staffers had a sit down meeting and many of them attacked Alexandrov's harsh coaching methods and his partnership with Aliya. They completely threw her under the bus, insisting that her medals were not just won by her own effort to rebuild herself after an ACL injury, but because of his particular attentiveness towards her program and favoritism. Aliya was sitting surrounded by people she'd worked with all her life, people she called friends! And when fans criticized the girls for their behavior they responded that they liked Aliya but it was a separate issue to air grievances they felt were overdue.
I think I'm seeing a bigger theme play out once again. Success is often alienating and whether one girl is or isn't jealous of her, Elena has started down a path very similar to Aliya's.
To add to that, I will say that Elena's bff's seem to be Ilya, Akhaimova, and Saifulina. Her videos also show her spending a lot of time with Simakova and Shekoldina. With the exception of Lilia, all her closest friends (the ones I consistently see her around) are girls who will turn senior this quad whereas Kharenkova, Seda, Kapitonova and Gelya were geared towards the Rio Olympics and got to mingle more with the vets (their contemporary teammates all burned out: Skrypnik, Dmitireva, Bondareva, Sokova, etc.).
ReplyDeleteAn interesting observation is that after Rio, Andrei Rodionenko said he had low medal expectations for this quad, so if we include Lilia as a B-team senior, none of Lena's friends (or herself) were expected to be medal threats. Yet they are all on the rise and looking super promising! That's going to make 2018 very interesting in more than one way. I'm not as worried about Lena as I was for Aliya in 2012 when I didn't know what to make of the post Olympic drama.
This is also nothing compared to the drama that was the 2012 Olympic fallout. That was a 9 on the Russian gymnastics drama scale (I really hope we never see a 10). Seda's comment is more like a 1.5.
DeleteHahahahaha :D Can we please make the RGDS a thing?!?
DeleteI'm glad I came to gymnastics afterwards, I'm not sure if I could have dealt with multiple people bashing Aliya for winning such awesome medals just after recovering from an ACL tear.
Rodionenko just announced, that almost all of the National Team members will compete at the Voronin cup, and those who want to become team members too. She specifically said something about Akhaimova, Afanasyeva,Iliankova and Eremina, but I didn't understand exactly what.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of aliya mustafina at the nemov show?
ReplyDeleteInterview from Elena Eremina:
ReplyDeletehttps://sportfm.ru/media/audio/zhenskiy-sostav-28-10-2017-gost-elena-eremina.html
Come back soon - miss you posts. Hope all is well!
ReplyDeleteПриветствую всех на этом блог-форуме, я хочу рассказать вам о финансовом прорыве, который мистер Ли предложил мне пережить, когда я голодал вместе со своим бизнесом и семьей во время пандемии covid19. Я наткнулся на мистера Ли в блоге, кто-то порекомендовал его всем, кто ищет ссуду, я был так взволнован, и у меня тоже появилась мотивация находиться в таком положении финансовой свободы, поскольку моя семья голодала, я связался с мистером Ли по поводу того, какое приложение я сказал ему история моей жизни о финансовом положении он присылает мне форму заявки, чтобы заполнить мои данные, что я и сделал после того, как он отправил мне кредитный договор, затем я отправил его своему юристу, чтобы он посмотрел и посоветовал мне, как это сделать, затем после Я подписал кредитный договор после того, как мой кредит был одобрен через несколько часов после того, как банк связался со мной для перевода средств и сборов, которые мне нужно снять на стойке банка Я снял расходы, которые я получил свой кредит на следующий день, когда я снял банковские сборы, поэтому Было действительно приятно работать с мистером Ли, и я очень благодарен ему за помощь, которую он мне оказал, которая действительно помогла моей семье от голода. свяжитесь с мистером Ли по электронной почте: 247officedept@gmail.com или поговорите с ним по whatsapp + 19893943740. для быстрого ответа, потому что он всегда занят, но у них есть другой профессиональный коллега, работающий с ним, но я рекомендую мистера Ли всем, кто ищет за финансовую помощь.
ReplyDelete