 |
| Anastasia Grishina in typical flowing movement at last week's Europeans. Courtesy : RGF |
I am convinced that we have yet to see the best of Anastasia Grishina. The 17 year old native of Moscow gave us a glimpse last week of the consistency, purity of technique and sheer amplitude that makes her one of the brightest upcoming lights in world gymnastics.
Anastasia ('Nastia') has had an action-packed first year in senior gymnastics, with all the ups and downs one might expect of a young adult starting out in a fiercely competitive sport. It certainly has not been plain sailing. A painful leg injury hampered her preparation for the Olympics, and meant that routines presented last week at the European Championships were still work in progress. She and her new coach, Viktor Razumovsky, attracted criticism from Russian head coach Valentina Rodionenko for their failure to deliver upgrades and to increase start values.
But Rodionenko missed the point. Grishina is an execution gymnast, a true artist, one whose form and expression will always be her brightest light. Greater difficulty will follow when she can perform the new elements to perfection. Third place in the all around and on beam last week rewarded Grishina's beautiful execution, but a happy, smiling face told us more about her achievement than any medal. Perhaps later this year, at this autumn's World Championship, Grishina's lustre will turn from bronze to gold.
Now read on as Lupita provides highlights of Anastasia's Moscow Echo interview with Natalia Kalugina, which took place on Wednesday evening.
'The gymnasts competed well at Europeans, although we were not in the best form.I performed in the first round with Maria Paseka. Maria Paseka performed well on vault and bars. I was surprised on bars, I fell on an element I usually don’t miss. It was a technical error.
On beam, none of the team were sufficiently prepared. I expected to fall there, because I fell very often during the training sessions. We haven't talked about what happened on beam. Beam was Mustafina’s and Afanasyeva’s last event, they were tired. Mustafina made mistakes on elements where she doesn’t usually fall, they were not acrobatic elements. All of us had minor injuries. When you compete, you forget about your injuries. After my mistakes, my coach told me that this would not be my last competition. Later I knew that I would compete. I thought that I was the only one who made mistakes. I just had to forget about what happened in qualifications.
At the European Championships, I made a mistake on floor. But it was not an element I performed in London. About the London Olympics: I understood that I had to rest, to recover and come back. I didn’t think about not training for the AA or floor, but it was very difficult to recover. My teammates understood that even without my mistake and Afanasyeva’s, it would have been impossible to beat the Americans. We were behind them from the first event. The Americans are very strong on vault and floor. You could feel that we were less confident.
I am not going to perform the full twist on beam in the near future; on beam we are working on confidence, and at the moment I cannot risk this element. All the American juniors are performing the Amanar, but so far I haven’t had time to recover this vault. I also performed it, before my foot got injured. I will recover my double double for the World Championships. The Romanians are very confident on beam. It’s their event. After my errors on beam in qualification, I had to prove that I could collect myself.
Concerning the AA, I don’t have a best event.
I have a new coach from the end of October, and feel more confident. The Razumovskys had come back from Japan. You need a certain time to adapt to another coach. We spend a lot of time together. It’s painful to go to another coach, but sometimes you have to do it.
I don’t know which junior gymnasts can make the team. Shelgunova, Rodionova will compete with us. Khorkina has said that the team is weak for the World Championships. We’ll do everything to fight until the end. When you compete, you forget about prize money. You think about your country.
I sustained many injuries. Often you don’t have time. It’s not easy to recover. I haven't yet recovered the programme I had at the Olympics.
We supported the men’s team.
It was very pleasant to compete in front of Russian audience. At other Championships, we didn’t get the support of the audience.
My mother is my agent. She helps me with my school work, she goes with me to TV, radio.
My programme has to be better, both difficulty and execution. My training is going as normal.
After the Rio Olympics, I want to become a sports journalist, to promote gymnastics.'
Anastasia's floor exercise at the 2010 Junior European Championships
Floor exercise in the AA final, Europeans 2013
Beam, AA final, Europeans 2013