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| Ksenia Afanasyeva - still carrying the team |
Soviet Olympic gold medallist from 1956 and 1969 and senior Russian judge Lidia Ivanova yesterday confirmed in an interview with Sportbox that Anastasia Grishina was unable to compete at Worlds. 'By refusing to compete in Penza, Nastia has deprived herself of a chance to compete at the World Championships' said Ivanova, who also regularly commentates on artistic gymnastics events on Russian TV. 'The fact that we were unable to take the gold in the team event at the London Olympics is at least partly her fault', she added, stressing that Grishina had been given the opportunity to rehabilitate herself after the Olympics, working with new coaches, but had failed to engage in enough serious competition so far this year to make her eligible for Worlds consideration.
Ivanova acknowledges the problems of selection that this presents to the Russian team. While Maria Paseka has participated fully in qualification, she has still not shown that she has perfected her vaulting and improved since last year's Olympics, which Ivanova sees as a 'big problem'.
So far, therefore, only Mustafina, Afanasyeva and Nabiyeva can be confirmed to the Russian team and the names of the fourth member and reserve are as yet undecided. Ivanova mentions as possible contenders the veteran Anna Pavlova (bronze all around) and newcomer Alla Sosnitskaya, who performed consistently at the Russia Cup to secure a silver medal all around and a gold on the floor exercise and whose age (1997 born) suggests she will peak for the Rio Olympics. Thus competing in a World Championships would be good experience for Alla.
The problems that Russia this year has in naming a full WAG team for the Antwerp World Championships underlines not only the terribly bad luck that leading contender Viktoria Komova has suffered in succumbing to a serious virus infection so close to the Championships - it also highlights the team's dreadful lack of strength in depth. Russia relies too heavily on a small number of star performers, in particular Afanasyeva (turned senior in 2007) and Mustafina (senior in 2010) to win its gold medals and has noteably failed to bring through consistent gold medal winning performances from its promising juniors. Komova (senior in 2011) is arguably the most talented technical gymnast in the world but even she has yet to confirm this dominance in competition.
Grishina's absence (senior in 2012) from these World Championships is also a major disappointment in light of the promise shown at junior level and the standard of her work at European Championships this year. Is the Russian team shooting itself in the foot by excluding her from Worlds selection? Grishina's coaches say she was legitimately signed off Russia Cup because of a pinched nerve in her back but have publicly requested an opportunity to prove her readiness, suggesting the back problem was temporary and that appropriate protocols were followed for withdrawal. Internal politics between the coaches, or a real lack of preparation on Grishina's part? Perhaps we will never know, but Grishina's absence from the qualifying for these Championships and her clear alienation from her team seems tragic both personally and for Russian gymnastics.
Ivanova's mention of Pavlova as a potential team member for Worlds may please many fans, but this is a clear admission that the team has very few options but to draw on its veteran ranks (Pavlova turned senior in 2003 and last competed for the national team in 2008) and is thus a telling indictment of Russia's inability to bring through its promising juniors in sufficient numbers. Tatiana Nabiyeva, whom Ivanova praises for her comeback, may well have rehabilitated herself onto the team by a regime of realistic target setting and concentration on consistency, but the fact that promising youngsters such as Evgeniya Shelgunova, Anna Rodionova and Polina Fyodorova have so far failed to match or outstrip her performance asks questions of the team's motivation and discipline. Russia's mature and stunning gymnasts, Mustafina and Afanasyeva, may well pull out some memorable performances at this year's Championships, but by now they should be feeling the breath of their team mates and rivals.
The men's team does not seem to suffer problems of a similar magnitude and Ivanova mentions in particular the excellent pommel horse work of Mattvey Petrov.
The deadline for nominative registrations for the World Championships is next Tuesday. RRG will keep its eyes open and provide a link as soon as lists are published. The health of Viktoria Komova is a critical issue for the Russians and little will likely be known within the timeframe given so I suspect any team named will be highly notional and likely subject to change.
I wish good luck to all those gymnasts named to or in contention for a place on the Russian team.