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| European Champion Aliya Mustafina with national team coach Evgeny Grebyonkin in Friday's all around final |
Mustafina's appearance at last week's European Championships was good enough to secure two gold medals, but her somewhat erratic performance, particularly in qualifications, leaves a few question marks over her readiness for such a high level competition. She herself acknowledges that she came to this competition not prepared to her best, pointing out that on bars, for example, she was not competing her full repertoire of skills. But, she says, it was not her intention to show new routines - merely to compete for her country.
Mustafina's participation in these European Championships has clearly weighed a significant physical strain after taking only a month's holiday following the Olympics. Alexandrov points out that she has been suffering from a painful back injury that has inhibited her preparation and prevented her from competing her full difficulty. And whilst Mustafina herself was ready to appear - and enjoys competition - Alexandrov clearly has some misgivings about whether it was the right thing for her to perform in Moscow, pointing out that competing without proper preparation represents an injury risk.
'In preparation for such major competitions, we would like to conduct a more systematic and thorough job ... I understand that Aliya likes to compete, but we cannot always count on her fighting spirit and boundless energy ... She has already done a lot for gymnastics. And in my opinion: Mustafina should compete only when she is completely ready. We cannot afford to lose her just because of some silly and annoying injuries.'
He goes on to say that :
‘In spite of everything, Aliya was able to collect herself, perform and win important medals. But I want there to be more careful preparations, because if there are any defects, to act is very dangerous - the risk of injury is very high. But Aliya is a soldier, she did everything she could at this time.'
Indeed, all of the Russian gymnasts are under pressure as they prepare for an extremely busy competitive calendar this year, with only Viktoria Komova allowed to rest in the early part of this year. In addition to the usual European and World Championships (April/October) there is also the Universiade (July), which Andrei Rodionenko has explained takes place at exactly the time when the gymnasts would ideally begin training for the World Championships. It would seem that there are significant clashes of interest over who competes when, and at which competition.
This situation is complicated by Russia's relative lack of strength in depth in this (and the next) generation of the national team, and by its dependency on funding from the Sports Ministry of the Russian Federation, who no doubt are demanding high profile medal victories from the Russians to justify their significant continuing investment in the sport. Yet, Svetlana Khorkina points out, Russia's reserves are weak, and young gymnasts are not being prepared to the high level they once were.
Meanwhile, the pressure remains on an injured Mustafina to deliver medals for Russia. But gold in Moscow has not been good enough for Valentina Rodionenko, ‘The victory in Moscow does not mean that you have everything in order’, she reports herself as saying to Mustafina, adding that with the routines she presented at Europeans she might be able to compete for medals in Worlds this year, but probably not next. The routines that Mustafina performed in Europe were the same ones she prepared with personal coach Dina Kamalova, says Rodionenko.
If there is continuing disagreement amongst the Russian head coaches and the former WAG team coach, Alexandrov is refusing to be put into a bend or break position over his exclusion from the podium team at the Moscow championships, and his 18 year old protegee is showing considerable poise in deflecting questions, claiming that the only reason that Grebyonkin was on the floor with her was that he helps her with her bars. (Certainly, all the women's team appear relaxed and at ease with the new WAG team coach, in particular Ksenia Afanasyeva who is blossoming into an accomplished veteran performer.)
The message from those who matter seems to be that there is really nothing much of any significance in Alexandrov's omission from the team roster.
Is there, however, a story behind the story: should Mustafina have competed in Moscow?