×Nouvelle video de Mustafina

×C'est bizarre, je me souviens d'articles pendant les Jeux disant que la petite Grishina avait son caractère et n'était pas facile à entrainer, et c'est elle qui est mentionnée comme catalyseur de l'ambiance délétère au sein du groupe Russie....(je n'ai plus la source de cet article, c'était sur Couchgymnast)

×Fargat Mustafin: “He Said He Would not Leave Her.”

One of the better piece of news that has emerged in the Russian news has been that despite his being dismissed as the head coach of the Russian women’s team, Alexander Alexandrov has claimed he has no intention of giving up his work with his pupil, Aliya Mustafina.

Russian news source, F Sport held a phone interview with Fargat Mustafin, Aliya’s father, who shared his opinion on the firing of Alexandrov and Alexandrov’s continued coaching relationship with his daughter.

While it remains to be seen what will happen to the women’s group as a whole under the leadership of Grebyonkin, the master of Russian bars, many think, Fargat included, that this change could actually be of great benefit to Aliya, who will now be the source of Alexandrov’s near undivided attention. In the past he had “a double burden”, according to Mustafin, of being head coach and Aliya’s trainer.

Despite the oft-reported fiery relationship between the two, it seems the partnership works well. How else could Mustafina have come back from injury so quickly and so effectively? I am sure a large part of it is testament to her immense will and passion for the sport and for success, but a large part must also be attributed to the coach who safely restored her to this success. A coach of Alexandrov’s dedication and mettle would hardly give up such a pupil.

“He did not say he would go and throw Aliya, he said he would not leave her” Fargat told the site.

In his phone interview, Mustafin, who has had his own experiences in working with Olympic sports (Greco-Roman wrestling, both as athlete and in administering it, said that he believed this dismissal was unfair and Alexandrov was being punished somehow. He also, however, took pains to point out that the Rodionenko had also played a highly significant part in rescuing Russian gymnastics since they joined the team. It is hard to doubt Alexandrov’s effectiveness as a coach, given that he guided the Russian women to their first team gold in a World Championships in 20 years- no mean feat.

It will, however, be interesting to see how Grebyonkin runs the Russian show. He is clearly a superb bars coach, given that is the Russian women’s greatest strength, but we are yet to see how he will fare coordinating the team, dealing with personal coaches, and making big decisions- if he will be able to do so alongside the Rodionenkos. As Fargat Mustafin points out this is not like the days of Arkaev, who, though he had no individual gymnasts,at the same time treated all the girls as if they were his, and their personal caoches were somewhat secondary.

“When Alexandrov took the women team as a head coach, he has already coached Aliya, and he never had any plans to overtake any other gymnast in the team.”

Something tells me this would not fly in the current Russian regime!

Well, the good news is that the wonderful and volatile coach/gymnast pairing of Mustafina and Alexandrov lives on. Let’s just wait and see how the rest plays out, shall we? I wonder how many days she will spend not speaking to him (she said four days in an interview recently) now she will have his undivided attention!

http://www.thecouchgymnast.com/?p=7304

×Des résultats décevants, non je ne trouve pas!

×
SEP 28 / Sovietski Sport : what is behind the departure of Alexander Alexandrov?
Lupita translates
Andrei Rodionenko makes reference in his 27th September interview with Sovietski Sport to a video tape of the Coaches' Council meeting at which Alexander Alexandrov was voted out of his job of head WAG coach. Here, Lupita translates an article from the same newspaper, with what are suggested to be key points of the meeting.




At first sight it doesn’t make sense. Our coaches are not often recorded. But here…
Rodionenko makes the suggestion that Alexander Alexandrov should concentrate on another job.

At Krugloye I watched the recording of the Coaching Council where it was announced that the head coach would be replaced by someone else. The situation turns out to be not as simple as it seemed at the beginning. I have to say I watched the video with the idea that I would see a trial against the winner. What will happen if we start to judge the winners of our rare victories?

After an introduction by Andrei Rodionenko, Alexandrov’s speech raises a variety of issues.

First, there was no analysis in the head coach’s report. He mentions general topics that we all know. It’s like explaining what we saw on TV during the Olympics.

Behind closed doors, Alexandrov tells things that he didn’t reveal in open interviews. In the AA where Komova won silver, the judges helped Douglas in three apparatus (giving her higher scores than she deserved), contributing to the American’s victory which should have gone to the gymnast from Voronezh.

Аndrei Rodionenko suggests he draw some conclusions in order to explain which opportunities we missed and how this can be avoided in the future.

Alexandrov drew three conclusions.

i) The gymnasts need early diagnosis of any injuries.
ii) Attention should be paid to the Junior team.
iii) And finally, discipline…

Then gunfire begins.

A PITIFUL SHOW

Marina Nazarova, Afanasyeva’s personal coach, Маrina Ulyankina, Paseka’s and Serguei Zelikson, currently Grishina’s former coach.

They all take the floor against Alexandrov. Тhe three of them are against him. One abstention: Komova’s coach, who compares the national team to a sinking ship!

The fifth personal coach is Aliya Mustafina’s coach…

The personal coaches express their grievances. This is what Marina Nazarova wanted to say:


'There was no discipline in the team! When Alexandrov arrived, we talked about discipline and of having control of the gymnasts'. But he failed. The girls did want they wanted. It all started with Aliya. Aliya is difficult. They are all difficult… She didn’t want to train. The others looked at her and asked: 'Am I worse than her? Why do I have to?'. Alexandrov allowed her to do anything. What could we do as personal coaches?'

It was a pity and a shame to watch our girls in training. No other gymnast from another country behaved like that. The Romanians, the Americans, all worked quietly, listening to their coaches, repeating the elements… Our gymnasts didn’t train up to the third apparatus. If they did, it was with discussions and hysterics. We stood there thinking: 'How will we win a medal? Will it be like in Beijing where we won fourth place…?'. Thus our silver medal is incredible lucky ….



'CORPSES WALKING IN THE GYM'

Nobody opposes Nazarova. Nobody opposes her when she says that, before the team final, the team had no single training session where the girls did all the apparatus in the order they had to compete a day later!

Serguei Zelikson, now former coach to Anastasia Grishina, uses the words 'cemetery' and 'corpses':


At any moment any gymnast could leave the gym if she didn’t like something. Afanasyeva went out in your presence, Alexander Sergueievich. And you didn’t say anything.

Physical conditioning was mentioned as well. “After a long session of conditioning, it was necessary to plan something easier, but you continued to pile on the work. Everyone was surprised at Grishina limping. Komova had surgery and had to take pain-killers… It was as if they were ready for the cemetery! Corpses walking in the gym!”


…Then up stands Alexei Yushin, responsible for the scientific preparation:


'All the girls that I had to rehabilitate had the same problem. Their mind. In the team there was one main course: Mustafina. The rest felt like 'side-plates'. They all suffered because of this'.

Gennadi Elfimov, Komova’s coach, asks the others to calm down:


With Alexandrov everything went normal. When I had something to tell him, I did. But the national team was like a sinking ship. I cannot but say this. We sailed a sinking ship!



Another thing is the person who will be named to rule it - someone who lacks experience. Watch him, he agrees with me.


… Grebenkin, named to replace Alexandrov, nodded…

×Aliya Mustafina : Twelve Reasons Why...

Today Russia’s Aliya Mustafina turns eighteen years old. She is still so young, but has already achieved so much in her short life.

If any gymnast could be described as ‘the’gymnast of the last quad, in the same way Cheng Fei was described as ‘the’ gymnast of the 2004-2008 quad, for her gymnastics, her personality, her personal story, her uniqueness and presence, it has to be Aliya Mustafina. In four short years she brought so much to the story of gymnastics. At first, she entered the gymnastics world as a promising, hotly anticipated junior. Then she became a sixteen-year-old rookie, unleashed upon the world who lived up to her promise fully and astonishingly. Sure, some will say, so what? Other gymnasts did that too in this quad.

But there is more to Mustafina’s story. There is the way she was the part of the squad that was the new hope of Russian gymnastics, taking the first World team gold in twenty years with such conviction and confidence, taking the title so utterly convincingly just two years after the Russian women departed Beijing medal-less. Then they produced a new World AA champion who was competitive and talented and charismatic in a way no Russian gymnast had managed to be since Khorkina. In this way, her presence changed the gymnastics-scape for this quad. There are the unique skills and combinations, the way she combined difficulty with a kind of regal elegance. There were the fearless eyes and enigmatic smile. There is the massive, potentially career-ending injury, chased by the mammoth comeback. There is the intensity with which she competes, and the joy with which she celebrates her victories. There was Hijo la Luna on floor, imaginatively connected Onodi’s on beam and mind-blowing bars sets. There was personality and presence. And then there was London, a dream- somewhat different than the one set out for her in 2010- realised.

So, in honour of Aliya Mustafina’s birthday, twelve reasons why her last four years has commanded- no demanded- my respect…..

Beauitful baby Mustafina. Remember when she was the pretty, elegant little gymnast, a tiny brunette ballerina ever second to her powerful, bouncing blonde friend Nabieva? And though we all loved her sweet dance and toe point, we used to wonder if she would ever be able to catch up in difficulty to her tough and talented team mate in getting the big skills. Then came the 2010 Mustafina, with huge skills to match her polish and presence, and our hopes were realised.

Mustafina = Russia was back. Yep, part of our delight in witnessing Mustafina’s 2010 success was tightly wrapped up in the delicious fact that those dramatic, mercurial and brilliant Russians of old were back, baby. How we had missed them seeing them battling it out with the fierce Americans, the stoic Romanians and the virtuosic Chinese again on the competition floor. Led by their brilliant young rookies, they were back in the battle. I hope they are here to stay.

Her bars. Mustafina is a great all arounder, there is no doubting that. But if there is anywhere where she truly shines, it is on bars. Here, all her best qualities come to the fore. There is her ability to perform huge levels of difficulty. That Tktachev to Pak to stalder half on the low bar at the American Cup, chased by a toe-on shoot transition was a breath-stealer. Then there tucked full-in half-out dismount- so difficult, so solid and exciting And this is the apparatus where she is also the cleanest, with few of the form issues she can show on her tumbling and vaulting. And then there is the mere fact she is a Russian-trained, born bar-worker, which shows in her rhythm, her natural swing and, like the best bar workers, her ability to always improve and always innovate. It is here I admire her most.

Her competitive intensity. People call Mustina’s competition demeanour all kinds of things. Some brand her diva, or stuck-up, while others simply love it. No doubt about it, she moves around the competition floor with such presence and conviction, that it makes her competition ever more interesting to witness. I will never ever forget Mustafina on the night she was crowned World AA Champion. Never before had I seen a gymnast, let alone a sixteen-year-old gymnast so calm, so aloof, so apparently unruffled by the immensity of what was happening around her. It was captivating. As one Russian article said after her victory; “In her eyes was reflected Damascus steel. She really is afraid of nothing. And for her there are, and can be, no limits or prohibitions. At least on the podium. She does not know anything else yet. And does not want to know.” Her father once told a story of her in a competition, that mirrored this very image, when he realised her competitive spirit for himself. He approached her on the competition floor; “She was by herself, warming up, practicing some skills, and I shouted, “Aliya! Aliya!” -And she didn’t even turn her head in my direction. At that moment I realized that she was no longer a child, but instead, a warrior.”

Her tenacity. The one small comfort after Mustafina’s devastating vault accident in 2011, when gymnastics fans prayed the Russian’s serious knee injury would not end what was the beginning of a brilliant career, was the sight of Mustafina back in the gym so soon after the fact. It was only a very short time before we were greeted with the comforting sight of the determined Russian back at Round Lake, lugging her her huge knee brace around the gym working as fiercely as ever, desperate to return to her sport- to her form- of old. There was such comfort to be taken in this young woman’s tenacity and resilience. In some way, shape or form, she would be back. She even told journalists during that difficult period of post-injury training, where she was not allowed to vault, and had to dismount bars into a pit for eight months, that she would leave training and go back to the residence and work on her leg conditioning in the stairwell. This, my friends, is what you call die hard determination.

Her relationship with her coach. The ray of light in all the Russian coaching drama this week has been the news that Alexander Alexandrov, while no longer Russian head coach, has no intention of leaving his pupil. The story of their coach-gymnast relationship, told in bits and pieces in the media since 2010, has been a source of much interest and much amusement for gymnastics fans and commentators. Handed Mustafina after her former coach quickly and dramatically departed for the USA, Alexandrov was told to be ready for a heart-attack when he took on this new pupil. While his new, immensely talented and competitive protege did not give him the promised heart attack, Alexandrov had made it clear that coaching Mustafina has been no easy feat. Mustafina herself has admitted to going for days without speaking to her coach. Yet in some ways, it seems quite a happy relationship. And, as Alexandrov has joked, he kind of likes it like that; “Yes, I actually like it when my nerves are frayed.” he once said, ”Argue, quarrel – and then at once find a working tone! And when they get up on a pedestal, you experience such happiness! This moment atones for everything.”

Her commitment to gymnastics. When asked what would be a reason not to come to practice, she responded with ‘Death’.

Her strong sense of team. Despite all the attention paid her and her dominance in the 2010 World Championships, and all the meets beyond, Mustafina has always seemed to be the consummate team gymnast. Despite the fact that early in her Round Lake days she claims she was disliked by the other girls because of the way she ‘walked alone’, Mustafina has grown into what appears to be a loyal and loving team mate. She demonstrated this time and time again in Rotterdam. Every time team baby Anna Dementyeva went up on the apparatus, even when in direct competition with Aliya in beam finals, Aliya was there at the side of the podium, coaching and calling to her. When Nabieva competed In vault finals, it was Mustafina who talked her though the motions, sweetly and somewhat comically holding her foot as she leaned onto the podium and coached her team mate and friend. When Ksenia Afanasyeva faltered in floor finals it was Mustafina who comforted her and walked her from the floor. She appeared to be everywhere and anywhere her team mates needed her to be. And as we all saw in London, it was Mustafina who held Komova closely as the tiny gymnast at the end of the all around competition as Komova vainly awaited the score she hoped for, just two years after being in that position herself, ready to comfort or celebrate, to do whatever needed to be done.

She openly admires other gymnasts. While Mustafina has insisted she does not want to be compared to Khorkina, that she is her own gymnast, she has also been generous in her compliments of other gymnasts, even those outside Russia, such as Nastia Liukin, who she claimed to admire for her elegance, her difficulty and her beauty on bars.

She is human. The Mustafina we saw at the 2012 Europeans was a frightening sight. This was not in any way the pre-injury Aliya we had so enjoyed or the post-injury Aliya her domestic results had favoured. There were flashes of trademark Mustafina, in a beautifully landed DTY, and in her alluring dance on floor, but we still had to face the prospect that, despite all her work and all her determination, Mustafina might not be able to get it all together in time for London, or even more frighteningly, ever. The coaches had said, and history had told us, that returning from this kind of knee injury is one of the hardest things for a gymnast to do. Now we were confronted with the fact that even someone who had seemed superhuman, might in fact only be human.

She allowed us to be surprised. While D score potential told us who were the top medal contenders coming into the Olympics, Aliya’s injury and her mixed performances in 2012 gave no clear picture of what to expect in London. That, it turns out, was part of the fun.I miss the the element of surprise of surprise in gymnastics. While the new code has done a lot to reward difficulty in gymnastics, it has also made things a little more predictable. The upside of this, however, is that, this makes surprises even more valuable. And if there were a handful of delightful surprises at the Olympic Games, such as Deng Linlin’s gold on beam, and Team Canada’s team efforts, Mustafina’s dominance at the Games, when even the Russian coaches were talking pre-Games as though they had no idea what to expect from her, was astonishing- and wonderful.

Her comeback. Everybody loves a comeback. If her incredible performances in 2010 didn’t win you to the Mustafina side, her performances in London probably did. Who can resist the hero who has fallen and then resurrected herself so surprisingly, so bravely and so successfully? And if you didn’t feel at least a teeny touch of the joy Mustafina so clearly felt at the Games, in her ability to return from such devastating injury, to hush the doubters. If you didn’t feel a tiny pang of empathetic happiness at that calm, sated smile when she saw she’d made the podium in the all around after all the work and tears of a hard-fought comeback, then you must be made of stone.

Welcome to adulthood, Aliya, may you inhabit it with the same talents, drive and tenacity with which you moved through your childhood.



Article: Brigid McCarthy

×-Comment vous sentez-vous après avoir été nommé entraîneur principal de l'équipe de gymnastique féminine?

-Vous savez, je ne ressens pas d'émotions particulières. J'ai travaillé avec ces enfants pendant quatre ans en tant que spécialiste des barres. Je vais continuer à travailler avec eux.

- Une question d'ordre juridique. Avez-vous officiellement signé votre contrat?

-Non, je n'ai rien signé à ce jour.

- La Fédération n'a pas défini votre travail avec l'équipe féminine ...

- Non, pas encore.

- Vous avez été nommé dans une situation très tendue. Cela pourrait-il avoir un impact négatif sur l'équipe?

-Ma nomination était calme. Le remplacement d'Alexandrov a eu lieu dans une situation tendue.

- Je dois interroger sur votre relation avec Alexandre Alexandrov ...

-J'ai une bonne relation avec lui. J'ai travaillé avec Mustafina comme j'ai travaillé aux barres asymétriques. Nous n'avons rien eu à redire. Après la réunion, nous nous sommes serré la main, nous avons parlé de ce que nous pourrions faire à l'avenir, avec qui nous allions travailler, quels éléments nous allions enseigner et ainsi de suite. Maintenant, les athlètes doivent récupérer. Les gymnastes masculins se reposaient après les Jeux olympiques. Nous allons commencer le nouveau cycle étape par étape.

- Alexandre Alexandrov a dit qu'il ne sait pas encore s'il restera l'entraîneur de Mustafina. Savez-vous s'il a pris une décision?

-Aujourd'hui, il est venu à la salle de gym et a travaillé comme entraîneur personnel de Mustafina. Il est le seul qui peut dire quels sont ses plans pour l'avenir. Jusqu'à présent, Alexandrov travaille dans le gymnase, entraine. Tout est normal.

-Quelles sont les prochaines compétitions pour l'équipe nationale?

- J'ai vu le calendrier des compétitions. Le premier tournoi aura lieu à Stuttgart à la fin de Novembre. Pourtant, tous nos gymnastes olympiques - pour autant que je sache - ont décidé de ne pas concourir ici. Ils ont décidé de ne pas forcer l'entrainement et de récupérer tranquillement. Comme vous le savez peut-être, deux gymnastes américains ont été blessés après les Jeux olympiques de Londres quand elles ont participé à une tournée (note: le kellogg's tour). Ils sont «cassés», comme on dit. Maroney a déjà subi une intervention chirurgicale.
Avant ma nomination en tant qu'entraîneur principal, les gymnastes ont décidé de ne pas concourir à ces tournois. Ils vont récupérer et nous allons travailler pour le prochain cycle. Cette année, il n'y aura pas de tournois pour les membres de l'équipe olympique. L'équipe junior ou une partie de la première équipe concourra là-bas. Je parle des gymnastes qui n'ont pas participé aux Jeux olympiques.