Thanks to Vera Nikitina who posted this picture on Ksenia Afanasyeva's VK.com group
Just a brief list of all the ups and downs of the past few days. My main wish now is that all the Russian gymnasts take time to recover fully and come back to competition only when they are ready, at full physical and psychological strength.
Ksenia Afanasyeva has just (Friday) had an operation on her leg (nothing more specific, not sure if it is a re-injury) that she injured on vault in team final at Russian nationals. She will stay in Munich for a further two weeks, and have to remain on crutches for six weeks. 'It's not easy', she says. Thanks to Olya Terentyeva for the information.
I thank Radio Moscow Echo journalist and gymnastics specialist Natalia Kalugina for the following updates from Round Lake :
Ekaterina Kramarenko is very ill and in hospital; on a drip :-( She will be replaced by Anna Rodionova in Sofia. Anna is looking beautiful on beam, but struggling with her own injuries, so we will have to wait and see.
Aliya Mustafina will probably compete bars and beam only as she is experiencing leg pain. (Via VK) : she has had MRI scans in the past few days, ankle.
(Via VK/Instagram) Viktoria Komova had her operation last week and is currently sharing a room at the Munich clinic with Ksenia Afan. In a recent interview, Vika's coach, Gennady Elfimov, says he hopes she will be ready to compete at Worlds; but he is pretty non-committal.
Evgeniya Shelgunova has just returned to Moscow from Munich following arm surgery. It is expected she will resume full training in the summer.
Maria Paseka is having back problems and will not be considered for Euros.
No more news from Anastasia Grishina and her injury/operation, other than early reports that the injury wasn't quite as bad as first thought.
Finally, I think that overall, given the level at Europeans, the young Russian team (Rodionova, Spiridinova, Sosnitskaya, Kharenkova and captain Mustafina) will probably gather a fair number of berths to finals, and probably win a few medals in events. There is no all around competition so the important thing though is the team. Romania will most likely be strongest there; Iordache and Bulimar are both currently on excellent form. Personally speaking, I hope Russia will fight for silver and I am expecting that they may finish with bronze. Britain is looking strong for these Championships and Italy and Germany could be in contention too if they have good competitions.
This young team stands to gain experience and develop competition toughness by exposure at an important competition such as Euros, provided they are properly prepared. What Russia stands to gain, if they capitalise on this situation well, is added strength in depth. Russia is currently too reliant on its Olympians to win medals, given their injury-stricken state, and these young girls, competition-hardened and fit, could be a vital reserve. A healthy team of Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva and Kharenkova is potentially world-beating against any team in the world. But questions have to be asked about Russia's 100% injury rate amongst its veterans. Is something lacking in the training? Is the competition schedule too dense? Was Valentina Rodionenko wrong to pressure Afanasyeva to compete at nationals? Or is it just that Russia has too few top performers? The USA has its fair share of injuries, but they are less consequential as there are good reserves, and less pressure therefore to recover quickly. Injuries are often down to bad luck. But having said all that, Russia currently seems to be an accident black spot.
RRG wishes all the gymnasts the best of luck. All of us, readers and writers, send our love to the girls who will be competing in Sofia, and to those recovering from injury. We know that you will all do your best, you will delight us, and we look forward to seeing you with smiling faces and on winning form, in Sofia and beyond.