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| Aliya Mustafina, courtesy of Bolshoi Sport |
Mustafina will turn 21 in September 2015, just in time for the Glasgow World Championships which will be the qualifying event for her most important competitive target to date, the 2016 Rio Olympics. And on the 14th June, all being well, she plans to begin her competition in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the very first European Games. This will be the third multi-sports event of her career, following the London Olympics of 2012 and the 2013 Universiade, held in Kazan, Russia. Mustafina won gold at both of them. A mere 417 days will then elapse between the beginning of Aliya's attempt at the European Games title, and the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics. Every single day will count.
So as not to spoil, I have chosen but one of the three photographs of Aliya that have been circulating the internet - this one from the magazine's own website. You will have seen some of these pictures already, but I know that many fans will be interested in seeing the finished article and the complete photoshoot when it is published. The publishers have been kind enough to send me details of how to access the issue online, or buy a hard copy.
ONLINE ACCESS (free of charge) - you can go to the Bolshoi Sport Archive of past issues. Click on the cover of the magazine you want (remember that Aliya's interview will be appearing in the issue published on the 15th June) and you will be able to access the article online.
TO BUY A COPY - go to Zinio where you will be able to buy the issue of Bolshoi Sport with Aliya's interview in it. This costs 82 Roubles - which is only just over £1 sterling - but there will be postage costs on top of that. I will be trying this myself but haven't used Zinio's website before and as I don't speak Russian it will be an adventure. However, once I have tried it myself (not before the 15th June) I will post any information that I think will be useful on the blog.
Please respect the copyright in the photographs and article published by Bolshoi Sport - do not forget to link to their website and to mention them if you are sharing this information.
Finally, Valentina Rodionenko has announced the provisional teams for Baku - she says that Mustafina and Komova will compete, with the third remaining spot going to Tutkhalyan, Kharenkova or Shelgunova. Ignatyev, Belyavski and Kuksenkov will make up the men's team. The competition format for teams is three up, three counting, so all gymnasts will be all arounders. Today, Andrei Rodionenko elaborated on this, explaining that Mustafina and Komova are on the preliminary team, but that 'there is no rush to make a decision' about who will compete in Baku. Indeed, there is more than a month to go to the Games so any speculation about team membership is rather premature. We'll just have to wait and see.