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| Anna Rodionova will compete in her first Worlds this autumn. |
News of Russia's embattled WAG team is now being confirmed in the Russian press, and we are all grateful to Lupita for translating the key points from this article, an interview with team coach Evgeny Grebyonkin.
1) Dementyeva is not going to retire. She went home and has now decided to continue.
2) Komova is recovering in hospital (note: I have read elsewhere that she will leave hospital on the 27th September, but won't be able to train for anything up to two or three months). In a mock competition prior to her illness, she had scored more than 60 points all around.
3) Afanasyeva will compete in Mexico in November. Surgery went well.
4) Mustafina has a cold. She has upgraded bars, beam and floor and has added a vault (note: elsewhere, Mustafina's bars D value is said to be 6.7. Her upgrades on beam come from connections. Her ability to perform her beam, vault and floor upgrades is dependent on her health.)
5) Paseka has a back injury of some kind. They don’t know if she is going to compete on two or three events (vault and floor are as certain as can be at this stage; she may not do bars, and in this event Rodionova will perform on the latter apparatus).
6) Grishina also has a back injury
7) Rodionova is going to compete (beam and perhaps bars).
8) Nabieva has also upgraded her vault from a 5.2 D value to a 5.6
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| Emin Garibov flies high above the high bar in training this week |
There has also been a press tour of Lake Krugloye, of which a picture record is available at the RGF website. I haven't found any reports of the MAG team's progress yet, but as far as I can tell from these pictures, they are looking competition-fit and impressive. UPDATE: Belyavski and Kuksenkov have suffered minor injuries ... read a report here.
For the benefit of those in the UK, I have just read that the BBC will be covering Worlds on TV, Radio and online. Hoorah ... I will post details of the schedule as soon as available.
Lara Mara has found this short news clip of the gymnasts' preparation at Round Lake.
Lara Mara has found this short news clip of the gymnasts' preparation at Round Lake.
Finally, as I type this a full moon is shining brightly through my window, illuminating my perfect and beautiful black and white cat, Harry, as he chases the moonbeams across the garden. I am hoping that this forebodes good luck for the Russian gymnasts. Davai, Rossiya!!!
I have three wishes. One, that all the gymnasts remain in the best of health; two, that they compete to the best of their ability. And the third one ... well, that relates to Aliya, and will remain my secret until after the competition is over.
What are your three wishes for the Russians this autumn?