A brief interview with the World and Olympic Champion from All Sport is summarised below.
Russian national gymnastics continues to prepare for the World Championships, which will be held October 3-12 in Nanning (China). Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina told Mary Staroverova about her health and about preparations for the competition.
- In June, I went to Germany to solve the problem with my ankle. I had a small operation to clean the joints of a build-up of bone particles. Nothing serious was evident, and the operation went well. Now I have to tumble. But there is still some discomfort, a slight pain at full load, and I can not tumble at full force. For the time being, I try to go easy on my legs. After the Russia Cup I will have to fully prepare for Worlds. That is just one month. Even if I'm not tumbling, I will keep myself in good shape, and that should suffice (smiles).
- I can't say if it is a different pain to before Europeans, because at that time, I was trying to tumble at full force and now I'm just trying to do only what does not cause any discomfort or pain. It is therefore difficult to compare.
- I have only really had two weeks with the team since the operation, not counting the two weeks spent with the team in Italy. But that was really just recovery. The main goal was to improve our health, to swim, relax and gain strength. We do this every year, combining business with pleasure (smiles). Full operations began here only two weeks ago. Now we begin to recover and to prepare for Worlds.
- Whether I change my programme will depend on my health. If things go well, of course, I will try to strengthen it. Yes, the routines that I have right now, they're at a pretty good level. But we want them to be even stronger (smiles).
- The draw for our team did not go very well, and we are in the first subdivision. But if you prepare for this, I think it makes no particular difference. There is no other particularly strong team in our group, so I think that we will even be able to watch our rivals. After our performance in qualifying we will have a couple of days to catch our breath - there will still be preliminary competitions for the boys. The schedule of the World Championships is a little better than at Europeans.
Link to Russian language original interview : http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=84974
Video of Aliya practicing vault at Lake Krugloye recently - http://instagram.com/p/rCQ4Xiq_9N/