'We cannot afford to prepare gymnasts for one competition'

Anastasia Grishina - a 'butterfly for a day'?

Valentina Rodionenko here provides clarification of some of the points made in yesterday's interviews. In a more measured account than her Allsport interview which is summarised as part of yesterday's blog post, she emphasises the need to retain and develop gymnasts on the WAG team and says there is a new, smiling, face of the team management, with greater collaboration between personal and lead coaches.









Key points are :

There is a new atmosphere in the Russian team since London, under new head coach Evgeny Grebenkin.  Everything is OK: everyone is friendly, works hard, there is no shouting and generally 'good human relations'.

 'Perhaps because we have worked abroad for a long time, we have never had any desire to humiliate or offend anybody.  We do not use such methods.'

Evgeny Grebenkin has brought the personal trainers into the centre of the team, rather than working on the sidelines as previously.  It is implicit in what Rodionenko says that the personal trainers were alienated from their gymnasts under the old system, leading to a loss of strength in depth on the team.  There were only four adult girls in the ranks of the team in the lead up to the Olympic Games, and she laments the fact that Nabieva (amongst others) was not available for the Olympic Games (Nabieva is now recovering and preparing for the Universiade).  'I can think of many more names, which have disappeared. It's wrong.' 

'We cannot spend so much money to have the girls make only one start.'  

So now the team is going to try harder to keep gymnasts, and to return gymnasts who had been removed.  She mentions Katya Kramarenko as a 'gorgeous, beautiful' gymnast who is preparing for the Universiade, and says it is important that the team works with all the gymnasts, not just the six who will eventually go to the Olympics

When asked how the team coaching changes might have affected Aliya Mustafina, Valentina replies that it is the head coach's job to organise the training process, and in this sense Aliya's situation has not changed.  On bars she is working with Evgeny Grebenkin, on beam with Raisa Ganina (whom Mustafina has worked with since 1993).  [In yesterday's interview, Valentina had suggested that there was a rift between Mustafina and Alexandrov and that Alexandrov now mainly oversees Mustafina's training work.]  Mustafina went with the team to Spain after the Olympics - was told to relax, but said that if she stopped she might find it difficult to return to work.  She has now restored her beam routine but has yet to get to grips with upgrades to her vault.  On bars she 'has no equal'.  Anastasia Grishina has restored her programme to its previous level, but has made no improvements and they have yet to draw any conclusions about her and are very worried about her performance at the Europeans as she is not in the condition they would like.  She still thinks Anastasia is a very promising gymnast, but she changed her coach at the advice of her mother and is working with Viktor and Irina Razumovsky who have recently returned from Japan.  We will have to wait and see.Evgeniya Shelgunova was originally reserve for the European Championships on grounds of her third placed finish all around at Russian Championships.  Grishina had finished in second place there, but since then the gymnasts' readiness has changed, and Shelgunova now has the edge over Grishina.  Rodionenko says they cannot change the team selections as the decisions are made on 'sporting principles'. 


They have added some new gymnasts to the team.  Coming onto the senior formation alongside Shelgunova is Alla Sosnitskaya, who will perform at the World Cup in Portugal.  They have also recently held five selections over ten days at Lake Krugloye for girls born 2000, and have selected eight for training with the national junior team. 

Ksenia Afanasyeva, active since 2007

Valentina stresses that the older girls on the team train more conscientiously, without the need to force or persuade them, in particular Ksenia Afanasyeva whom the team is now hoping will continue till the Rio Olympics.  'Even Aliya now has a mature approach to work' says Valentina.  She says she hopes that this will lead to long term (not short term) results.  They were surprised when Afanasyeva said that she wanted to prepare an Amanar vault, but that Afanasyeva's technique - and her attitude - is very good.  They do not, however, know if she is ready to perform the vault at Europeans.

'It is important to keep Ksenia Afanasyeva to the next Olympics.  She will be 24 years in Rio ... Aliya will turn 22 in 2016.  We believe that there are young talented girls, and it is important to preserve them and bring them to a level where they begin to show a conscious effort, and are more than butterflies for a day'.