Did you know that in the past Artur Dalaloyan, our new European silver medalist in AA, was thrown off the national team? Apparently, there were disciplinary issues and general quarrels with his coach. He doesn't specify what were the issues, but there were serious enough for him to be suspended. At first, he decided that he doesn't care and can finally live a normal life and do whatever he wants. After a couple of months, he started missing gymnastics and realized he was wrong. He made amends with the coaches and the national team administration and they let him back. He says the experience made him grow up and he now has a new appreciation for gymnastics and, especially, for his coach.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Verniaev's coach reflecting on Euros
Gennady Sartinsky, the personal coach of Oleg Verniaev, gave an interview about Oleg's performance at Euros.
He talked about how Oleg had basically no time to prepare for Euros, as he was sick with strep throat between Stuttgart and London and had only three days of preparation between coming back from London and leaving for Cluj. According to Sartinsky, the Russian coaches and gymnasts knew about Oleg's health issue and counted on him to have a bad performance at Euros hoping that Russian gymnasts would be able to beat him.
One of the reasons Oleg keeps going to all these competitions is publicity and promoting gymnastics in Ukraine. Every time he wins a medal the news outlets in Ukraine write about it, which brings more attention to gymnastics (and, hopefully, more funding, as a result). Between the competitions or when no medals are won, there is no coverage of gymnastics, media simply forget about it.
He says the first day of the event finals was especially hard on Oleg because he had no time to recover after the all-around final. The second day was slightly easier, because Oleg only performed three competition routines the day before. Competing in all of the event finals was quite complicated since Oleg needed to warm up between them, but he also needed to participate in the medal ceremonies instead of using this time to warm up. He also, apparently, doesn't really eat right before or during the competition, so by the time the EFs were over on each day, he was absolutely starving.
By Worlds, Oleg is going to upgrade all routines except for vault and rings.
He talked about how Oleg had basically no time to prepare for Euros, as he was sick with strep throat between Stuttgart and London and had only three days of preparation between coming back from London and leaving for Cluj. According to Sartinsky, the Russian coaches and gymnasts knew about Oleg's health issue and counted on him to have a bad performance at Euros hoping that Russian gymnasts would be able to beat him.
One of the reasons Oleg keeps going to all these competitions is publicity and promoting gymnastics in Ukraine. Every time he wins a medal the news outlets in Ukraine write about it, which brings more attention to gymnastics (and, hopefully, more funding, as a result). Between the competitions or when no medals are won, there is no coverage of gymnastics, media simply forget about it.
He says the first day of the event finals was especially hard on Oleg because he had no time to recover after the all-around final. The second day was slightly easier, because Oleg only performed three competition routines the day before. Competing in all of the event finals was quite complicated since Oleg needed to warm up between them, but he also needed to participate in the medal ceremonies instead of using this time to warm up. He also, apparently, doesn't really eat right before or during the competition, so by the time the EFs were over on each day, he was absolutely starving.
By Worlds, Oleg is going to upgrade all routines except for vault and rings.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Sokova on ending her career
Ekaterina Sokova made a video explaining why she retired from artistic gymnastics.
She has been doing gymnastics for 12 years and has been on the national team for 4 of these years.
In February 2016 her hip joint started hurting and she gradually stopped training because of pain. She could barely walk, so training was out of the question. She did MRI in April 2016 and learned she had a fracture of the femoral neck (part of the hip joint). She was still trying to train for 2,5 months - doing regular conditioning despite having to use crutches for walking. Then, in the summer of 2016, she got a bit better and started doing some tumbling. However, she was still in a lot of pain, she says she was walking like an old woman. She was very frustrated both with the pain and with the reactions of the people around her who told her she simply needs "to stop limping" and that it's all in her head. From July to December 2016 the pain never stopped and only got worse. She couldn't even sleep because of the pain. For some reason, her coaches didn't take her complaints about the pain seriously and didn't send her for a follow-up MRI for 8 months. She seems to be very pissed at her coach and the national team management for that. In December 2016 Katya's mom refused to let her go to the training camp at the Round Lake and took her to the doctors to do a proper check up and MRI. Then, in January, mom took her to Moscow to a renown doctor. The doctor said she can't do gymnastics anymore. Turned out she had arthrosis of the hip joint and it was so bad she needed a hip replacement. At 16 years old. It was also to be her first surgery ever. She says she and her mom cried rivers in the doctor's office because the news was so shocking. She expected to stop doing gymnastics because she felt something is seriously wrong with her body, but she never thought she'd need a hip replacement at 16. She didn't want to speak publicly about the surgery until now, despite a lot of people asking her why she stopped doing gymnastics. It was very hard for her to process and she was depressed for a few months. She says that if she were treated properly from the very beginning, she would be able to keep her joint. She blames her coach and the national team management for needing this surgery. In 15-20 years she will need to replace the prosthetic joint she has now and she's "thrilled" about this as well. In the days leading to the surgery, she didn't really care about ending her gymnastics career, she only cared whether she'll be able to walk unassisted like a regular person. Doctors said she'll be able to walk and even maybe run recreationally and do fitness exercises. She won't be able to take up any professional sport ever again. She says that even she could return to gymnastics, she wouldn't.
She had a surgery, has a new hip joint now, and needs to walk on crutches for 6 weeks, before she'll be able to walk again. She was in intensive care for two days after the surgery and hospitalized for another 8 days after that. Turned out her "bad" leg was 1,5 cm shorter than the other one because of the hip issues. Now her legs are the same length.
She tells people to listen to their bodies and insist on getting proper assessment and treatment because their health is the most important thing. She hopes this video might help other people in similar situations.
While she gained a lot doing gymnastics, there are many things she is sad about, like not going to a regular school, not having any friends in her hometown (and outside of gymnastics), not spending enough time with her baby brother. She doesn't regret doing gymnastics, but she is glad to start a new chapter in her life. She finishes: "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, even though gymnastics apparently tried to kill me".
She has been doing gymnastics for 12 years and has been on the national team for 4 of these years.
In February 2016 her hip joint started hurting and she gradually stopped training because of pain. She could barely walk, so training was out of the question. She did MRI in April 2016 and learned she had a fracture of the femoral neck (part of the hip joint). She was still trying to train for 2,5 months - doing regular conditioning despite having to use crutches for walking. Then, in the summer of 2016, she got a bit better and started doing some tumbling. However, she was still in a lot of pain, she says she was walking like an old woman. She was very frustrated both with the pain and with the reactions of the people around her who told her she simply needs "to stop limping" and that it's all in her head. From July to December 2016 the pain never stopped and only got worse. She couldn't even sleep because of the pain. For some reason, her coaches didn't take her complaints about the pain seriously and didn't send her for a follow-up MRI for 8 months. She seems to be very pissed at her coach and the national team management for that. In December 2016 Katya's mom refused to let her go to the training camp at the Round Lake and took her to the doctors to do a proper check up and MRI. Then, in January, mom took her to Moscow to a renown doctor. The doctor said she can't do gymnastics anymore. Turned out she had arthrosis of the hip joint and it was so bad she needed a hip replacement. At 16 years old. It was also to be her first surgery ever. She says she and her mom cried rivers in the doctor's office because the news was so shocking. She expected to stop doing gymnastics because she felt something is seriously wrong with her body, but she never thought she'd need a hip replacement at 16. She didn't want to speak publicly about the surgery until now, despite a lot of people asking her why she stopped doing gymnastics. It was very hard for her to process and she was depressed for a few months. She says that if she were treated properly from the very beginning, she would be able to keep her joint. She blames her coach and the national team management for needing this surgery. In 15-20 years she will need to replace the prosthetic joint she has now and she's "thrilled" about this as well. In the days leading to the surgery, she didn't really care about ending her gymnastics career, she only cared whether she'll be able to walk unassisted like a regular person. Doctors said she'll be able to walk and even maybe run recreationally and do fitness exercises. She won't be able to take up any professional sport ever again. She says that even she could return to gymnastics, she wouldn't.
She had a surgery, has a new hip joint now, and needs to walk on crutches for 6 weeks, before she'll be able to walk again. She was in intensive care for two days after the surgery and hospitalized for another 8 days after that. Turned out her "bad" leg was 1,5 cm shorter than the other one because of the hip issues. Now her legs are the same length.
She tells people to listen to their bodies and insist on getting proper assessment and treatment because their health is the most important thing. She hopes this video might help other people in similar situations.
While she gained a lot doing gymnastics, there are many things she is sad about, like not going to a regular school, not having any friends in her hometown (and outside of gymnastics), not spending enough time with her baby brother. She doesn't regret doing gymnastics, but she is glad to start a new chapter in her life. She finishes: "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, even though gymnastics apparently tried to kill me".
Oleg is only getting 10 days of 'vacation' in May
We all know that Oleg is exhausted and badly needs rest, what's with competing non-stop for several years now.
He even said in an interview a couple of months ago that he'd go on a real vacation after Euros. Well, he wished.
In a new interview, Oleg says that the only vacation he'll get will be 10 days in Israel in the end of May, but this will actually be for physical therapy (and hanging out with Shatilov and his dogs, I guess). Right now he's going to compete in three Bundesliga meets. Then, after his rest/therapy sessions in Israel, he's preparing for the University games and Worlds, of course.
His preparation for Euros didn't go well as he had a bad case of strep throat in Stuttgart and couldn't really train for two whole weeks because of it.
After the qualifications, he thought of scratching from some of the event finals (he qualified for all of them), but then decided to do everything. Except that by the horizontal bar final he was absolutely spent, so that led to two falls.
He's looking forward to compete with Uchimura again!
He even said in an interview a couple of months ago that he'd go on a real vacation after Euros. Well, he wished.
In a new interview, Oleg says that the only vacation he'll get will be 10 days in Israel in the end of May, but this will actually be for physical therapy (and hanging out with Shatilov and his dogs, I guess). Right now he's going to compete in three Bundesliga meets. Then, after his rest/therapy sessions in Israel, he's preparing for the University games and Worlds, of course.
His preparation for Euros didn't go well as he had a bad case of strep throat in Stuttgart and couldn't really train for two whole weeks because of it.
After the qualifications, he thought of scratching from some of the event finals (he qualified for all of them), but then decided to do everything. Except that by the horizontal bar final he was absolutely spent, so that led to two falls.
He's looking forward to compete with Uchimura again!
More nonsense from Valentina
Do you enjoy reading Valentina's verbal diarrhea she calls "interviews"? If yes, here's some more for you. I don't have the strength to translate all the stupid things she says, but I'll give you a summary.
Valentina says she's not surprised with the results as the current national team lacks depth. She is only happy with how Eremina competed and calls her their ray of sunshine and last hope (previously she similarly praised Komova, Grishina and Melnikova, but they all fell out of grace). She claims that Eremina has one of the best floor routines in the world (everyone just fell from their seats reading this). She especially praises Eremina's modesty and lack of "diva behavior" and thinks Eremina will become the new leader of the Russian team (bye bye Gelya, I guess?). She thinks the rest of the girls were too full of themselves and is angry with Paseka for going to Euros instead of letting someone else go (because, obviously, Paseka simply decided to go all by herself, she didn't need the federation's and the coaches' permission or anything). Valentina's like 'yeah, Melnikova took gold on floor, ok, fine, but what about her HORRIBLE qualifications and vault final? We don't care about her gold medal, she's trash from now on, Eremina is our everything'. Also, the team won't get any rest (especially not Gelya, who didn't deserve any) and their next training camp starts on Sunday 30.04.
Valentina says she's not surprised with the results as the current national team lacks depth. She is only happy with how Eremina competed and calls her their ray of sunshine and last hope (previously she similarly praised Komova, Grishina and Melnikova, but they all fell out of grace). She claims that Eremina has one of the best floor routines in the world (everyone just fell from their seats reading this). She especially praises Eremina's modesty and lack of "diva behavior" and thinks Eremina will become the new leader of the Russian team (bye bye Gelya, I guess?). She thinks the rest of the girls were too full of themselves and is angry with Paseka for going to Euros instead of letting someone else go (because, obviously, Paseka simply decided to go all by herself, she didn't need the federation's and the coaches' permission or anything). Valentina's like 'yeah, Melnikova took gold on floor, ok, fine, but what about her HORRIBLE qualifications and vault final? We don't care about her gold medal, she's trash from now on, Eremina is our everything'. Also, the team won't get any rest (especially not Gelya, who didn't deserve any) and their next training camp starts on Sunday 30.04.
Monday, April 24, 2017
After Euros: round up of news and interviews in Russian media
In the news from Russia:
Emin Garibov has officially retired. He was toying with the idea of retirement for some time now, while taking on more official roles on the national team.
He says that after watching Euros he realized there is too much competition right now and his health will not allow him to return to the competitive level. He will work with the national team as the marketing manager.
Angelina Melnikova was so devastated after qualifications and the vault final, she did not want to compete in the floor final. She expected to do poorly again, so, at the end, she stopped caring about her placement and just competed for herself. Apparently, this approach worked. This gold inspires her to continue training and improving.
Valentina Rodionenko was really not happy with the results and the coaching team is going to have a discussion about it when they get back home. She's worried that if the girls can't keep up even with the European competitors, they'll have no chance at Worlds.
Andrei Rodionenko is praising Eremina noting that she did very well for her first senior Euros.
He has, however, some harsh words about Paseka. He thinks Masha was not ready for Euros after just two months of training and, maybe, she shouldn't have been included on the team.
In an interview to Match TV he adds that they basically expected that Masha will easily win with her vault combination and they didn't know there will be so much competition in the vault final. He adds that Paseka's Olympic vaults were not enough for this final.
Which is actually not true, Paseka's Olympic vaults would've won here. Only she did Lopez instead of Cheng here and her Amanar in the vault final was poorly executed.
Rodionenko believes that new qualification rules for the Olympics make room for more event specialists and this will lead to more competition for the event medals. He feels that it's already started happening and there is already more competition on the rings and vault. Apparently, they had no idea about Coline Devillard's vaults and didn't expect for anyone to have higher vault difficulty than Paseka at Euros. In general, he likes the new qualification rules and thinks it's going to be good for the sport.
He paid attention to Chinese and Japanese nationals and knows that the gymnasts there are very strong.
Russian gymnasts will get a very short break after Euros and will get back to training after that.
In the same tv feature, Artur Dalaloyan talks about his vault gold. He was sure he would do his triple twist well because he's been doing this vault forever. He was quite worried about his second vault, though (handspring double front pike), because it's relatively new for him and he made a mistake on it in qualifications. However, when he was preparing to run for the second vault he suddenly felt very confident about landing it.
Alfosov is very happy with MAG results, but, according to him, European medalists will have no priority when the Worlds team will be selected just because of their titles. They'll still need to be competitive and go through the selection process.
In Ukrainian news:
Oleg is super tired what with having no break after the Olympics and this exhaustion lead him to the falls on horizontal bar. Fortunately, he's not injured. Israeli team doctor and physical therapist Adam Badir was helping Oleg throughout the championships. Oleg's been treated by Dr. Badir several times in the past and next month Oleg will come to Israel for physical therapy. Oleg says he's already planning for Tokyo and can't relax because there is so much competition right now, especially from younger athletes.
Emin Garibov has officially retired. He was toying with the idea of retirement for some time now, while taking on more official roles on the national team.
He says that after watching Euros he realized there is too much competition right now and his health will not allow him to return to the competitive level. He will work with the national team as the marketing manager.
Angelina Melnikova was so devastated after qualifications and the vault final, she did not want to compete in the floor final. She expected to do poorly again, so, at the end, she stopped caring about her placement and just competed for herself. Apparently, this approach worked. This gold inspires her to continue training and improving.
Valentina Rodionenko was really not happy with the results and the coaching team is going to have a discussion about it when they get back home. She's worried that if the girls can't keep up even with the European competitors, they'll have no chance at Worlds.
Andrei Rodionenko is praising Eremina noting that she did very well for her first senior Euros.
He has, however, some harsh words about Paseka. He thinks Masha was not ready for Euros after just two months of training and, maybe, she shouldn't have been included on the team.
In an interview to Match TV he adds that they basically expected that Masha will easily win with her vault combination and they didn't know there will be so much competition in the vault final. He adds that Paseka's Olympic vaults were not enough for this final.
Which is actually not true, Paseka's Olympic vaults would've won here. Only she did Lopez instead of Cheng here and her Amanar in the vault final was poorly executed.
Rodionenko believes that new qualification rules for the Olympics make room for more event specialists and this will lead to more competition for the event medals. He feels that it's already started happening and there is already more competition on the rings and vault. Apparently, they had no idea about Coline Devillard's vaults and didn't expect for anyone to have higher vault difficulty than Paseka at Euros. In general, he likes the new qualification rules and thinks it's going to be good for the sport.
He paid attention to Chinese and Japanese nationals and knows that the gymnasts there are very strong.
Russian gymnasts will get a very short break after Euros and will get back to training after that.
In the same tv feature, Artur Dalaloyan talks about his vault gold. He was sure he would do his triple twist well because he's been doing this vault forever. He was quite worried about his second vault, though (handspring double front pike), because it's relatively new for him and he made a mistake on it in qualifications. However, when he was preparing to run for the second vault he suddenly felt very confident about landing it.
Alfosov is very happy with MAG results, but, according to him, European medalists will have no priority when the Worlds team will be selected just because of their titles. They'll still need to be competitive and go through the selection process.
In Ukrainian news:
Oleg is super tired what with having no break after the Olympics and this exhaustion lead him to the falls on horizontal bar. Fortunately, he's not injured. Israeli team doctor and physical therapist Adam Badir was helping Oleg throughout the championships. Oleg's been treated by Dr. Badir several times in the past and next month Oleg will come to Israel for physical therapy. Oleg says he's already planning for Tokyo and can't relax because there is so much competition right now, especially from younger athletes.
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Eremina talks about AA and UB finals
Eremina finished 4th in the AA final at Euros and got a silver medal in the bars final yesterday.
Eremina seems like such a clear-headed person, none of that usual Russian nonsense about bad judging.
She believes her AA performance was far from the best, she would grade herself a C- on it because there were issues on all four apparatuses. She thinks a mistake on her toe-on full in bars lead to getting silver instead of gold, but she's not sad. She really wanted to get a medal, any kind, so silver makes her happy and motivated to do better next time.
Grebyonkin is just happy that Eremina's Nabieva to Pak is finally solid.
Eremina seems like such a clear-headed person, none of that usual Russian nonsense about bad judging.
She believes her AA performance was far from the best, she would grade herself a C- on it because there were issues on all four apparatuses. She thinks a mistake on her toe-on full in bars lead to getting silver instead of gold, but she's not sad. She really wanted to get a medal, any kind, so silver makes her happy and motivated to do better next time.
Grebyonkin is just happy that Eremina's Nabieva to Pak is finally solid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)