Anastasia Grishina : Lupita translates the Moscow Echo radio interview

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

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Lupita translates Alexander Alexandrov's interview

Lupita has been hard at work again, and here provides a full translation of the interview which featured in Wednesday's blog post.

'If Mustafina's health is good, I have no reason to doubt her'

 

-   Alexander Sergueievich, did you attend the EC?
-   Of course! I didn�t accompany Mustafina to the podium. I watched everything from outside.

-    Mustafina said she wanted to talk to you, because you might be offended, because she was accompanied by other coaches.
-    We have already talked, but not as long as we wanted, we had no time. I am old enough not to be offended. There are always misunderstandings between coach and athlete from time to time. I am no longer 30 years old, I do not need to be on the podium to prove myself.

-  How do you assess Mustafina�s performance?
-  It�s always difficult to start a new season. When the athletes start a new quad, it�s much more difficult to work with them. Aliya�s gold in the AA deserves credit. In spite of everything, she was able to collect herself, to compete and to win important medals. Yet, I want her preparation to be more precise because if things have not been worked through, it�s dangerous to compete, there is more risk of injuries. But Aliya is a fighter, she did everything she was able to do the second day.

-   Could you explain what was not worked through in the training process?
-   There were deviations in the process due to injuries or to other things. This is why I say that when we prepare for the important competitions, I would like to do more balanced and accurate work. I repeat, when something is not done thoroughly, there will be pain. I understand that Aliya loves competition, but her love for competition, her competitive skills cannot be overexploited. She has already done a lot for gymnastics. I think Mustafina should only perform when she is totally ready. We cannot lose her because of silly and sad injuries.

-  Mustafina asked to be replaced on the floor final.
-  It was a good thing that they took her opinion into account. You cannot make mistakes in those cases, her as well. It�s not about winning medals, it�s about the risk of getting injured, and be put out of action for a long time.

-   Does Mustafina have problems with her knee?
-   No, she now has problems with her back. For a long time we didn�t know what the cause was.

-    Does this mean that she competed at the EC not in her best form?
-    This is what I mean. She couldn�t perform what she wanted because her back was hurting. We didn�t prepare as we had planned. But she loves to compete and she stated that she would compete even if she was not very fit.

-    Mustafina was not very successful on beam.
-    Partially, we changed her routine a little bit according to the new rules. But her back and, later, her heel prevented her from performing the routine we wanted. Her combinations were highly difficult, but we couldn�t polish everything.

-   Are you going to upgrade her routines on some events?
-   Upgrading her routines means to increase the D score. It�s possible to do it on every event. There are elements from the D group on floor that allow to increase the routine�s D score. Of course, all gymnasts are working on that, including Aliya. She has to continue work on beam and to recover her bars. We will decide what we do on vault, because her double twisting Yurchenko is very powerful, and we will see if she is psychologically ready to perform the Amanar. This will allow her to fight for the medals in Europe and at the world level.

-   Alexandr Sergueievich, how is your work with Mustafina structured? What are your duties as a personal coach?
-   The personal coach is responsible for the whole programme. He is helped by the events specialists. ?his is how the Russian team works.

-   Mustafina could not train completely for the EC. This season there�s no time for a break. She will compete at the Universiade and at the World Championships.
-    What else can we do? There is no reserve to our team, there was reserve when I began my position as head coach, we prepared four gymnasts for the World Championships, and the four of them competed. It�s good that all the girls who competed at the 2012 Olympics are fit and can train even with some small injuries, compete and win. So far there�s no replacement. This is why we have to train and compete both at the Universiade and at Worlds. It�s a good thing that they decided to have Komova rest during the first half of the season. Vika is the most important gymnast to win medals for Russia, they did right not having her compete.

-   How are you going to plan Mustafina�s future preparation?
-   With the athletes who have competed at the Olympics, there is always a specific approach: they have experience, they are very different from those who just made the team. The main goal is to plan the training accurately, so that Aliya can compete successfully.

-   When will you begin to prepare the Universiade?
-   There is little time left, and there are small things to correct. Moreover, the preparation in gymnastics is multifaceted. You need constant physical condition, fitness, and to manage your weight.

-   Do you plan to introduce changes in the routines for the Universiade?
-   I think so. But it will depend if there are small injuries that increase with the years of gymnastics. First, Aliya has to recover her bars routine and to perform all planned elements on beam. Ideally, she should begin to train a more difficult vault. If she has no health problems, Aliya of course will improve. I have no doubts about this.

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Afanasyeva!

Courtesy RGF

Wearing her Olympics leotard yesterday afternoon, Ksenia Afanasyeva faced off all doubts about her ability to manage pressure with a breathtaking performance on the floor.  Afanasyeva's artistry is now matched by her confidence and aggression in the all-important tumbling.  Her start value of 6.3 was the highest of the competition, her score of 15.166 superior to that earned in Tokyo two years ago when she took the world title on this apparatus. Short term, she has sacrificed some of the choreography from her Olympic floor routine to favour work on consistency, but a new routine is promised for this autumn's World Championships.

The pressure Afanasyeva faced came from many directions, most tangibly in the audience she faced who included many of the most influential people in sport in Russia.  Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and senior representatives of sponsors VTB were there to check on and celebrate the results of their considerable investment.  History faced Afanasyeva in the form of Olympic champions Alexei Nemov and Larissa Latynina.  These were just four of the many dignitaries visible in the VIP tribune situated right in front of the floor area and who she faced as she took up her starting position

Afanasyeva asserted her right to a third major gold medal in her seven year long international career with a beautiful and feisty expression of her talent that has all but erased the bad memory of a flunked routine in London's team final last July.  At the end of her routine, the Russian who lays the greatest claim to Russia's classical tradition took a deep intake of breath before walking slowly away from the floor area, deep in thought, then running towards the tribune where family and friends congratulated here.  It was deeply moving to share her joy.

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David Belyavski - 'cat-like flexibility in the style of Kohei Uchimura'

David Belyavski, 22 years old, has long promised a gold medal in a major all around competition.  The 2012 and 2013 Russian national champion is set in the classical mould of Alexei Nemov and Vladimir Artemov.  Now chief coach of the Russian team, Valery Alfosov, is comparing him to the highly respected Olympic Champion, Kohei Uchimura.  

Belyavski performed with consistency and elegance to take the gold medal in this Friday's all around final, and promises much more.  The emotional intensity of his performance was impressive as he went head to head with the richest competitive field men's European all around gymnastics has seen in a long time.   

David trains at the Dynamo Club in Yekaterinburg with coach Viktor Lomaev, and at Russian national championships competes for the Siberian men's team that contributes so much to the national scene.  An interview with Valery Alfosov appeared in yesterday's edition of Sovietski Sport.

The senior men's national team coach Valery Alfosov compared David to Olympic Champion Kohei Uchimura, describing him as having the 'flexibility of a cat'. 

'With David, we always fight for a medal', he said, 'And today it all came together so that he became a champion of Europe.  The turning point came in the penultimate apparatus, the pommel horse.  Psychologically, it's quite difficult.  And after David completed his pommel exercise, he could progress to the rings exercises in a better state of mind.
David is not renowned for his rings work - people point out that he needs to learn to do a cross.  But really, David's abilities are pretty evenly matched across the apparatus - he just needs to close some of the gaps to be more competitive at the world level.  I cannot at the present moment in time promise that David will be able to compete for the all around title in Rio, but I can say that we will work hard to strengthen his programme and to raise his start values on his weaker apparatus.  His parallel bars has a number of strong elements which are ready to use in competition, but a classy all arounder should have at least two 'shock' pieces of apparatus to give an immediate advantage over his closest rivals.
David seems very calm and at the same cat-cautious.  He will never take up a complex element if he does not feel completely confident with it.  If you do not feel - do not force it.  And his cat's flexibility makes me want to put him on a par with the best Chinese and Japanese. There are similarities in this regard with Uchimura.  His calmness impressed me.  He knows how to manage his nerves.  He has never before had such a victory as today,  but he has always performed well for the team, even when others were nervous. I noticed it in the youth championships of Russia.  There, I saw a flexible guy, very acrobatic ...
David was an orphan, raised by his grandparents, and he grew up in a boarding school.   He lived in Votkinsk, 150 kilometers from Yekaterinburg. He lost his parents early, I do not know under what circumstances it happened ...  Soon after, he found himself in a sports school in Yekaterinburg.  He did gymnastics, visiting his grandmother.'

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Mustafina, Paseka take medals on bars

Vault bronze medallist Maria Paseka is congratulated by 1956 and 1960 Olympic Champion, Larissa Latynina  Courtesy RGF

Today's event finals saw mixed fortunes for the Russians as Aliya Mustafina won the gold medal expected on bars, while Paseka erred twice on vault but delivered beyond promise on bars with a surprise bronze.  

It was an emotion filled afternoon as Russia celebrated its emerging legend, Mustafina, and coped with the relative disappointment of somewhat below-par presentations in the men's competition.  We will have to wait till tomorrow to see whether Denis Ablyazin can finally win a long expected gold medal on vault at this championships  - and whether the brilliant but unpredictable Ksenia Afanasyeva can assert herself on the floor at European level, to match the Worlds gold medal she won two years ago in Japan.  Anastasia Grishina may be in with a chance of a medal on beam if she can perform her routine without error, and Emin Garibov will defend his high bar title won a year ago in 2012.

Full results and start lists for the competitions are available at this link.  Switzerland's Guilia Steingrueber won vault brilliantly, performing the handspring double twisting front somersault (6.2) to perfection.  In the men's events, British gymnasts Max Whitlock and Daniel Keatings won two gold medals, on floor and on pommels, and earned compliments from the knowledgeable audience here in Russia for their great technique - not surprising, since they are coached by Russian Andrei Popov.    Rings was won by France's Ait Said, and a first gold medal was won by Igor Radivilov for Ukraine.  Floor also was shared between Max Whitlock and Israel's Alexander Shatilov. 

There are too many draws in the men's competition in particular - it is the judges' job to decide who has won.

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Russia rules in Europe; Mustafina claims second major all around title

Courtesy of the RGF

Aliya Mustafina well and truly bridged the gap of time and space between Berlin and Moscow today, grabbing the gold all around at European level that is her second major title, and which she would in all likelihood have won had she not suffered the injury that stopped her competition two years ago at the last individual European Championships.  Hers was a convincing, joyful and somewhat relieved win in the Moscow Olympiski stadium this afternoon, and sets the scene for more gold in Kazan this summer at the Universiade, and at the World Championships in Antwerp, where she will doubtless be much better prepared.

Standing alongside her on the podium was silver medallist, Romania's Larissa Iordache, who had a near perfect competition but could not quite match the verve of a determined Mustafina competing on home turf.  Third place was taken by Anastasia Grishina, who competed without error in an all around competition for the first time in living memory.  Grishina did not present any new upgrades to her routines, but what she did she did well.

Russia pulled themselves back from the brink today.  Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko's presence in the arena underlines the importance Russia puts on these victories.  While the arena was barely half full today, belying the relatively low popularity level of the sport here, news of this victory will be transmitted around the world.  Tomorrow's apparatus finals - for the men, floor, pommels, and rings; for the women, vault and bars - will be interesting.  See below the results of today. More analysis to follow in due course.

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Russia's great and good comment on WAG qualifications

After yesterday's qualification hiccups, Russia's great and good have been putting in their oars and saying what they think.  Read Valentina Rodionenko's comments on The Couch Gymnast.  There is also a press statement by Leonid Arkayev, long time head coach of the Soviet Union and Russia, which I will reproduce word for word below :

Leonid Arkayev, merited coach of Russia:

The Romanians were strong, both of them.  They did make some mistake, Iordache on uneven bars, for example, however, overall they left quite a pleasant impression.  Frankly, I hoped that one of the members of the Russian trio would be able to 'upset' them, by either beating them or finishing between them, but it was not to be.  Grishina's mistakes in subdivision 1 on beam and bars were followed by Afanasyeva's mistake on bars, and then by Afanasyeva and Mustafina's ones on beam (this apparatus was a cursed one for our girls that day), and the Russians finished third, fourth and fifth in all-around qualification.  It is not a big deal for the all around, because Grishina and Mustafina will start anew tomorrow, but we lost a place in the Final on one of the apparatuses, but we will catch up in the remaining three.  As for gymnasts from other countries, I would like to compliment the Ukrainians, but not all of them.  The Spanish are slowly advancing, as do gymnasts from Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, but overall the level of rivalry in women's gymnastics is not as strong as in men event. 

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Belyavski European Champion

Today's podium ... Max Whitlock (silver), David Belyavski, Oleg Verniaeiv

It was a beautiful moment ... Belyavski's first major international title has been awarded.  The best classical gymnast of many years presented his best face and took gold.  Here are the results for now, courtesy of Gymnastics Results.

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WAG, MAG All Around finals - links to live streaming and more

Courtesy of the RGF/Elena Mihailova

Aliya Mustafina, David Belyavski, Anastasia Grishina and Nikita Ignatyev today represent the Russian Federation in the all around finals of the first major competition in the gymnastics calendar since last year's Olympics, the European Championships.  It is time to suspend all speculation: only what the gymnasts do in the Olympiski stadium, Moscow, in the next hours will have any bearing on the outcome of the competition.  All four of them have demons to overcome, unleashed during the qualification rounds earlier this week.  Mustafina in particular must overcome a psychologically bruising encounter with the balance beam (two falls), the piece on which she may begin today's competition (start lists still to be confirmed at time of writing).  As reported by International Gymnast, however, she dismisses all thoughts that her performance today might be compromised by negative thoughts of her hesitant beginning :

"I feel good, and before the performance on balance beam I didn't feel any strong emotions, no nerves. Everything was going as usual. In general, I see no reason for disappointment. Qualification is qualification, and in the final everything starts over."

It is basically just a question of wait and see now - so here are a few links to help you follow the competition.  I will not being doing Facebook updates during the competition today as there is live streaming available, but you will be able to read titbits there, and daily reports of the action on this blog.

Live streaming will be available via the UEG.

Start lists and results will be available from the Longines website.

Those of you in the UK or who receive BBC TV - don't forget the BBC2/online coverage this afternoon, Friday 19th April 1.00-4.30 pm - this includes live coverage of the WAG all around, and highlights of the MAG all around.

MAG begins at 1.00 pm Moscow time, WAG at 5.30 pm.

Good luck to all the gymnasts!!

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Russia prevails, against the odds

Maria Paseka in flight  Courtesy of the RGF

It has been a curious European Championships so far, for the Russian women.  A team somewhat depleted of new talent is looking to its veterans to carry Russia into the future.  It is a tricky year : with the Universiade coming up in the summer, and Worlds in the autumn, last summer's Olympians face a hectic and pressured time.  You get the feeling that the girls are almost reluctant participants in this, the earliest major competition of the year.  There has just been so much extra curricular activity going on; instead of focussing on the gymnastics, the girls have been at the centre of what at times has resembled the plot of a soap opera.

Regardless of the reality of their everyday training, the picture presented of their lives in sport is far from ordered.  For Mustafina, there has been an unsettling circumstance surrounding the status of her personal coach, Alexander Alexandrov, a man she last year called her 'second father', but who this year was quietly removed from the team roster at the last minute without explanation. The strongest competitor that Russia has had for many a year, its only Olympic gold medallist in the discipline, has been labelled as 'difficult' and 'lazy'.  For Grishina, there has been a change of personal coaching arrangements and a barrage of public criticism  from the Head Coach of the Russian team.  For Afanasyeva, new ambitions have been hyped beyond reasonable belief.  It is almost as though the words have become more important than the deeds, a good story for the press more important than the gymnastics.  You would think that the main thing would be that every gymnast prepared and performed to the best of her ability, wouldn't you?

Who knows whether the many changing stories surrounding their training influenced the results of today's qualifying competition.  Certainly, the level of expectation of the girls always seemed unrealistic to me.  The results certainly aren't disastrous.  Russia vaulted very well. Paseka, the only team member not exposed to some form of verbal assault this year or last, delivered to, and perhaps exceeded promise with places in both vault and bars finals.  Afanasyeva tumbled brilliantly on floor to finish there in first place.  Grishina recovered from a poor start to pull out what was least expected of her in the form of a solid floor exercise and qualification to the all around and beam finals.  Mustafina looked as though she was holding it all together, just as she always does ... until that awful beam exercise where she suffered the indignity of not one, but two falls, and looked somewhat discombobulated to boot.  With a mark in the 11s to carry, she squeezed into the all around final as Russia's second representative behind the much maligned Grishina, but was also the top qualifier on bars, and third on floor.  All four Russians have qualified to event finals; they lead the standings in two pieces, and have three gymnasts in the top five individual ranks from qualifications.

Yet all three qualifications all arounders suffered errors and at times looked to lack fitness, at a time when the sport demands more and more of its practitioners in terms of reliability and athleticism.  Choreographic passages were omitted from floor exericses to preserve energy for the tumbles.  Afanasyeva still performed with ambition and commitment on this piece, but a fall to her side on bars dismount, not surprisingly, led to a dispirited beam outcome.  All three all arounders suffered falls in their programmes.  I expect that the two qualified gymnasts (Grishina and Mustafina) wlll do better in the all around, and I so would like to see Afanasyeva win floor, but then I am an optimist.

Meanwhile, the two gymnasts from Romania (Iordache and Bulimar) looked full of life.  Either Bulimar or Iordache would be worthy all around champions this year, and they also look likely to sweep balance beam, a final with only one Russian qualified, Anastasia Grishina, thanks to the withdrawal of Britain's unlucky Gabby Jupp.  Russia managed to qualify six spots in event finals from a bank of four competing athletes.  Romania 'only' managed to qualify to five berths, but from a team of just two.  All members of both teams will compete again this week at least once.

Yet I am left with an uncomfortable feeling about the Russians. After all the talk, all the rearrangement of coaching, and the appointment of new specialists like beam coach Marina Bulashenko, you would expect them to look better prepared for this competition, the first home European Championships for Russia since 1998.  After all, other gymnasts have faced the rigours of Olympic preparation, are looking forward to a busy summer, and seem to have reached a better pitch of readiness. 

Tomorrow, we will see what the gymnasts can do.  I still feel convinced that a Romanian will take gold and that the Russians will have to wait for event finals if they want to be champions.  This competition has, put simply, come a little too early for them.   They will all, surely, be better prepared for the big competitions of the summer and the autumn.    They will have to be.  In their second home competition, the Universiade in Kazan, the Ministry of Sport is demanding results.

Find links to the scores here.

All around qualifiers

Vault qualifiers

Bars qualifiers

Beam qualifiers

Floor qualifiers

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WAG qualifications results ... individual

To keep you going till my report later on this evening.

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WAG qualifications, final subdivision

Anastasia Grishina this morning.  Courtesy of the RGF

Beginning in just over half an hour (5.15 Moscow time) we'll have the final subdivision of WAG qualifications, and ultimately find out who will qualify to individual and event finals.  I'll be putting brief updates of the Russian girls' progress on my Facebook page.

Current individual standings are as follows:

 

Grishina's performance in the first subdivision of the day wasn't that bad; she had falls on beam and bars, but went on to perform reasonably on floor (a landing error and long wait before her final tumble) and excellently in her one vault (double twisting Yurchenko).  With so many gymnasts yet to perform, we will have to wait and see if she will make a final.  

Maria Paseka did an outstanding DTY and a good second vault, and delivered to promise on bars.  She was one of only fifteen gymnasts presenting two vaults at this Championships, so I expect she is reasonably well assured of a place in the final there, and will probably contend for a medal.  

Let's see how things go ...

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Women's qualifications - some useful links

Aliya Mustafina projects that mystical charisma, while Europeans team mate Ksenia Afanasyeva looks on at last year's Russian Championships.  Courtesy RGF

The Couch Gymnast has put up some extensive reports on women's podium training from yesterday as a preparation for tomorrow's competition - read them.  It is the age old story of Russia looking tired and off form with Romania soldiering on.   No, better than that, shining at the first major competition of the year.  Russia normally shake themselves down in time for the actual competition, but can they pull off another revival again this time?  It must take so much energy overcoming all the emotion of a poor warm up performance ... the pre-competition publicity, spun by Valentina Rodionenko, does not make them sound a happy ship.  Has Russia lost its passion for artistic gymnastics?  I hope not.  Let's see how qualis go first, then finals.

Here is the start list for tomorrow's competition, and a link to the judges' assignments.

Here is a TV report of podium training featuring Maria Paseka and Anastasia Grishina.

Go to RRG's Facebook page for comments on the Russian and Romanian performances, tomorrow from 10.30 am Moscow time.

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European Championships 2013 - men's qualifications

David Belyavski's hard working and rather elegant hand.  Courtesy of the RGF

It has been a fascinating day at the Olympiski stadium, watching the new order of world gymnastics battle it out for places in this weekend's all around and event finals.  I am not sure that things went quite the way the Russians would have wanted today.  As ever, large errors found them missing out on final places to which their gymnasts, on capability, should easily qualify.  They lead in three out of the six finals, but surely with fewer errors could have topped the qualification stakes, and seen a greater proportion of their team represented in finals.

In Europe, at this present time, it seems to be a fight between three countries - the ambitious and competitive Ukraine, determined to vindicate the disappointment of a fourth place finish in London; relative newcomers Great Britain, whose steadiness and strength in depth point to a bright future; and Russia, the team who will perhaps always seem slightly disappointing, compared to their mighty past under the aegis of the far larger, far more confident Soviet Union.  (At this competition Germany did not present its strongest face - we will have to wait and see if this is training strategy or a downturn in their fortunes.)

The British team qualified the highest number of gymnasts to event finals, six, while Ukraine managed to match Russia's five. I mentioned before that Russia lead three out of the six apparatus finals.  Ukraine and Britain share one lead each (the remaining apparatus, pommel horse, is still the domaine of Hungary).  Russia's efforts rely on only three gymnasts out of their six nominated performers, as do Ukraine's, but Britain qualify four.  Britain qualified no gymnasts to parallel bars, rings or vault finals, while Russia's real bug bear, as ever, was the pommel horse, on this occasion a highly competitive final with no score of less than 15 in the top 13 places.  Britain did in fact score highly enough to finish in the top eight on vault, but only one of their gymnasts presented two vaults, Theo Seager, who fell on his second attempt.  Ukraine's real strength appears to be parallel bars, where their gymnasts stand in 1st and 3rd position with some stunning and original work.

Russia could have improved their qualification status if only both David Belyavski and Nikita Ignatyev had not sat down their vaults (the first thing I saw on entering the arena), and if Ablyazin and Balandin had not suffered severe landing errors on floor and rings respectively.  (Ablyazin's floor work is astounding for its difficulty but I must question the wisdom of a Code of Points that rewards a floor exercise that is essentially a composite of back to back tumble runs with barely even a second for anything else.  Remember the rhythmic, linear work of such greats as Artemov?)  At the same time, Ablyazin must be congratulated for his amazing work on vault, a piece which he has been unable to train at full strength since recovering from his injury; and on rings, a new strength of his since the same injury gave him time to work on upper body strength.  He leads both these pieces, while Emin Garibov leads high bar.

Friday's all around final promises much, with a top four (Whitlock, Verniaiev, Belyavski, Stepko) who should provide a beautiful podium and a great advertisement for European gymnastics.  Nikita Ignatyev adds to Russia's efforts with his seventh place finish in the all around, while Daniel Purvis's 8th place finish means that all but one (Theo Seager) of Britain's men have made a final of some kind or other.  The British team are trained by Russians, Andrei Popov and Sergei Sizhanov, and it shows.

Men's all around qualification results

Floor exercise

Pommel Horse

Rings

Vault

 Parallel Bars

High Bar

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European Championships 2013 - updates

Greetings from sunny Moscow - it really is a beautiful day here.  I arrived last night in one piece, slept well, had a hearty breakfast, and made my way to the stadium this morning with only one slight hiatus that involved a conversation with a Russian road sweeper, who pointed out to me that I had got off the Metro at the wrong stop.  This isn't covered in the phrase books and since I do not speak Russian, it took some understanding.  He was a very nice road sweeper and I am grateful for his kindness. Hey ho I finally overcame the odds and arrived just in time to see both Belyavski and Ignatyev land their vaults on their tight little bottoms.  I'm now wondering if David Belyavski will hang onto his first place all around in the face of an outstanding showing from Britain's Max Whitlock (but which would be less threatening to Belyavski had the Russian actually managed to go six for six).

It's sunny outside, the birdies are tweeting ... and, of course, I am sitting inside a harshly lit arena with my laptop on my knee, watching the gymnastics competition ... this probably confirms what most people who know me already think (yes, I have only one knee). 

If you want comprehensive quick hits of all the excitement, you should follow the UEG Facebook page.

I will be updating Russian highlights on my Facebook page as much as possible during qualifications, assuming the battery life of my computer holds out long enough to get me to the end.  Each day I am also aiming to upload the key results and links as well as present my own completely biassed account of events and happenings - for you to comment on. 

One subdivision to come, starting at 6 pm Moscow time, so let's see how things pan out.  I'm hoping we will see the Russian men qualify strongly across the board.

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'You can compete after 25 and still win medals' - Valentina Rodionenko

Tatiana Nabieva is one of a group of mature gymnasts whom the Russian coaches hope to restore to the team

Journalist Natalia Kalugina met with Valentina Rodionenko and Viktoria Komova.  This live interview was transmitted on the internet for Moscow Echo.  Lupita has provided translations of the key points  which are summarised below:

Natalia Kalugina : is the situation with Komova comparable to Ksenia Semenova? [ed - Semenova was unable to recover from an injury and eventually retired]

Valentina Rodionenko : Vika is still growing, she has gained 5 kilograms, she is very strong.  She and her coach are deciding where she will compete.  She has recovered 50-60% of her programme.  At Europeans, she won�t help her teammates on bars - she will not be allowed to be on the podium.

 

This year is difficult for those girls who competed at the Olympics.  There are many important competitions: Europeans, the Universiade, and the World Championships.

 

There can always be surprises from the judges.  It is difficult to know how things will go with the new rules. There will be lower start values for the Russians on bars and beam.

 

The Universiade will take place in Russia. Our Sports Ministry wants us to compete with the best teams.

Vika Komova wants to compete there if she finishes school and recovers in time.  Her recovery is going better than we thought.  All the Olympians will compete there.

 

NK : I saw Kramarenko, Goryunova training.

VR:   It was a mistake not to keep them.  We have to keep our gymnasts, regardless of their age.  Practice shows that you can compete after 25 and still win medals.  Nabieva is recovering, and is working on her Amanar and her bars - we are working with all of them.  Too many of our gymnasts retire early.  It is difficult to keep them training.

Dementyeva in 2011 competed very well when Aliya got injured.  She was at her peak.  Then she was injured,  Now, she is recovering, but it is hard, because there are mistakes.  Not everyone can reach the top level.  Second place is not good for us.

 

Artistry is of increasing importance.  We have Ksenia Afanasyeva, a world champion on floor, who is capable of great acrobatics and spins.  Execution is highly important.  The judges are better in Europe.  Outside of Europe there is only really China who are like the Russians, classical in their style.

On the individual apparatus, Mustafina is working towards a good score on beam, with upgrades.  On bars Vika is looking to increase her start value to 7.1, Mustafina is currently at around 6.7-6.8.  The Americans have less on bars, and the Chinese have lost a lot under the new rules.

At Europeans, we are expecting Romania's Larissa Iordache  to be a main rival - she is well prepared; her execution could be better, but her acrobatics are very good and she is constantly making upgrades to her programme.

Of the other team members VR mentioned Maria Paseka and Alla Sosnitskaya, who are both preparing two events.  Anastasia Sidorova is recovering from surgery (last week) to a knee injury.  Anna Rodionova is very good, but currently going through puberty, and needs a special training programme - has not yet grown as much as Viktoria. 

Afanasyeva and Shelgunova are both working on Amanar vaults.

Nastia Grishina is working on her Olympic programme and currently still in recovery. 'Let's see how she goes.'  She has a new coach who worked with the Soviet champion Elena Shevchenko, but not everything depends on the coaches; sometimes a gymnast simply makes no progress.  'Not everyone can become Olympic champion.'

 

Viktoria Komova commented on the new coaching arrangements :  'Grebyonkin wants us to smile.' He is very supportive.  'After the Olympics we gymnasts started to help each other.'

OTHER NEWS (updated 15th April) : There is a brief interview with Ksenia Afanasyeva here : she says that she is practicing the Amanar into a pit, but isn't sure it is ready to compete just yet. After the Olympics, she thought of retiring, but decided that at 21 she was too young to give up something that was still working for her. The youngsters who are up and coming do not yet pose much of a threat. 

Also, sadly, Alexander Alexandrov's name has vanished from the list of coaches nominated to be with the Russian team in Moscow.  He has been replaced by Raisa Ganina who has coached Mustafina since childhood.  It is hard to say what this quiet change signifies if anything.  I hope it is not a bitter ending to the charismatic pairing that delivered, and promised, so much for Russia.

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