Sad, but happy ... Anna Pavlova will compete again ... For Azerbaijan

Anna Pavlova, who last competed for her home country of Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and has maintained a solid presence on the domestic circuit since, today announced that she will prepare to compete for the Azerbaijan national team at the 2015 European championships, which will take place in the Azerbaijan capital city of Baku.  Her mother, who is Anna's personal coach, will take up a position as Azerbaijan's national coach.  Working alongside Anna will be 2011 World Championships team member, 2012 Olympic reserve Yulia Inshina from Voronezh.  On the men's side, rings specialist Konstantin Pluzhnikov will also make the move to the Azerbaijan team.  All the gymnasts will be working at home in Russia, as there is no equipment available in Azerbaijan.  Pluzhnikov is considered a world medal contender on his specialist piece, the rings, and Pavlova has regularly beaten national team members on vault, beam and floor in Russian domestic competitions.

Pavlova says the gymnasts will receive payment if they win medals, but there is otherwise no financial incentive for them.  She has wanted to compete internationally for many years, but the doors to the Russian national team have been closed to her despite the fact that there are many young team members at European and World Championships who have never beaten her at home.  She does not want to discuss this in more detail before her retirement from competitive sport, but it is clear that it is a situation she finds unfair, and which gives her pain.  If she is in good shape and does well in the 2015 Championships, she says she will attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.  

Pavlova, an international fan favourite, is known for her graceful presentation and strong beam, floor and vaulting work.  In 2009 she suffered a serious knee injury for which she still wears heavy support.  Head coach Andrei Rodionenko has cited the injury as a reason for Pavlova's exclusion from the team, saying it would not be 'respectful' to the gymnast's health to expect the heavy loads of training required consistently at the top level, but Pavlova has nevertheless regularly taken medals in competition against national team members since her rehabilitation.  Given Russia's problems with strength in depth, and their relative weakness in the events Pavlova favours, her continued exclusion has been controversial.  Her transfer to the Azerbaijan team seems to be a measure of last resort.

Azerbaijan's last Olympic level gymnast was Soviet team member Valeri Belenki, who won gold all around at the 1990 World Cup and bronze at the 1992 Olympics.  He is now a senior coach for the German MAG team.

There is an interview with Anna at http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=77893.