Yup, definitely still wishing worlds was yet to come instead of finishing a few weeks ago.
Location
Glasgow is a great city, I really enjoyed it. Not exactly spectacularly different to Dublin...certainly they have the same mild at best-wet and cold at worst weather systems, but that's okay since I don't have much time for the sun anyway. I'm getting good at picking hotels and always aim for an old one that's not a dump. Our hotel was not only a spectacular Victorian behemoth of a building, it was right in the centre and above the train station, which was a whopping 2 stops away from the arena. Seriously convenient. Glasgow seems to have a bad reputation here, most people made a face and suggested Edinburgh instead, a very nice city which spectacularly lacked the main reason for going in the first place. I get the impression it used to be a rough place but you can tell a lot of work has gone into regenerating it and I always felt safe, even on Hallowe'en night which is a spectacularly dangerous night back home. Very friendly place.
The arena itself is fantastic, very fancy. The seats are tiered quite high and I'm not happy that the 'priority' seats released first afforded me seats in the upper tiers only, despite buying a few hours after release. Clearly I am dedicated, do not shaft me on this. I'll know next time not to go ahead and buy, I just thought that was the availability. Lol. Antwerp was very, very different. Anyway, the view was fine, I just suffered jealousy of the people with seating much lower down. But it WAS good to get a great overall view, and our best seats were for the AA which was most important to me.
Stage
I never realised that introductions were missing from worlds, but it really added a lot to the atmosphere and it was wonderful to see teams and individuals recognised like this, with their huge flag behind them and some very catchy music-sometimes even matching the gymnast in some way. Nice bit of hype-building and I really hope that's not the last we've seen of it.
Diverse finals/better depth
It was just great to see much more diverse finals than we are used to, echoing MAG almost. This hasn't been an overnight change, but was more noticeable than in past worlds I thought. It's a big jump from the last Olympics and will be interesting to compare to Rio's finals. Vault was as usual the most diverse, but beam wasn't far behind for once. Two Dutch girls. While beam itself has suffered bigtime this quad and inconsistency even among the best is still a major issue, the fact that it's less deep than last quad is balanced out for me by the refreshing different styles on display, afforded by the diversity of the finalists. If only they could stay on the beam.
Floor and bars are stronger than ever, which is very exciting and bodes well for next year. And that was a floor final without Aly Raisman. Considering the quality of this year's floor final, there were quite a few big names missing. When you think that next year we'll be expecting Simone Biles, a second American such as the aforementioned Aly though medal-winner Maggie was certainly a worthy finalist, Ellie Black, Giulia Steingruber, Shang Chunsong, Ellie Downie, Claudia Fragapane, Larisa Iordache/?? Catalina Ponor ??, Vanessa Ferrari, Sae Miyakawa, Ksenia Afanasyeva and more to be vying for places...
On bars, the standard has definitely been raised. There have always been routines of the calibre the 4 gold medallists showed (what a sentence) but not quite so many. And there are plenty that are right behind them. The fact that most routines are fairly similar and shap-heavy is a bit of a drag, but some managed to stand out, such as Shang Chunsong with multiple releases, and Ruby Harrold for her unique skillset. A great routine to cap off the final.
The AA rankings both in qualifiers and finals were certainly an unusual mix, it was great to see Giulia Steingruber qualify 2nd behind only the untouchable Simone Biles and even though a fall on beam put paid to a repeat in finals, it really bodes well for how far she has come as an all-arounder. A shaken Romania clawed back to great places in the AA, from which they were completely out of the top 10 in qualifying-Larisa Iordache of course admirably clawing her way to bronze and Laura Jurca showing her potential finally to finish in 8th after qualifying 22nd. The best though was seeing Mai Murakami completely unexpectedly finishing 6th. It will be great to see Russia have more of a presence in the AA next year hopefully, with Seda's inconsistency putting paid to any glory there, but it was nice to have the focus more spread out.
GB Bronze Team Final
I don't think anyone expected that, and it blew the roof off. To get their first ever team final medal on home soil is just incredible. Seeing their reactions when the score came in and the realisation that their vault scores had been enough - it looked like they didn't let themselves believe it could be even after Russia imploded- was just such a great moment, historical and heartwarming. I didn't think it was possible-they are still a team that are on the way, having made huge strides but still affected by issues such as depth and messy form lowering scores, and of course it's a team final that didn't have Romania in it and had Russia counting no less than 4 falls-but it comes to the same thing, it doesn't matter what you CAN do, unless you can put it together when it counts like in the team final, and GB certainly accomplished that.
Netherlands qualifying for team final
Up there in terms of achievements with GB's medal. Who'd a thunk it? Doubly fantastic since it means they've qualified a team to the Olympics. Their greatest achievement to date on worlds and Olympics stage was Celine Van Gerner placing 12th in the London Olympics. Competing singly for her country, since NL haven't qualified a team to the Olympics in a long, long time, if ever. And this isn't even through the Test Event, but directly through worlds. This is a team who I was hoping would individually make a final or two, so that I would be able to watch them in person, but I never anticipated team final. One of those elegant types to enjoy watching but withhold hope from. They definitely had some issues in team finals, which was perhaps not surprising, but were nevertheless glorious to watch from the very moment they came on stage and performed their stunning and elegant salute, encompassing all they are as a team.
Netherlands individual qualifying and finals
Staying with the Dutch girls, I was flabbergasted to see Lieke Wevers qualifying 5th into the all-around. In the best way. Considering her start values, it highlights how vital execution and expression can be to scores, and how seriously FIG can take it. Sadly, Eythora Thorsdottir was just barely knocked out of the AA herself, but snuck into the beam final. Of course, she proceeded to have the oddest fall there but she was in good company with 50% of the finalists falling and it was still great to see her in person. I didn't dare hold out hope that Sanne Wevers would hit in the beam final, after qualifying second but having a nightmare in team finals-no outright disaster but failing her connections and thus a composite requirement, but lo and behold, beam silver! Brilliant result!
US steadiness
When you see teams with enormous potential dealing with enormous flaws- such as mass inconsistency from Russia, chronic lack of depth, political issues and abysmal bars from Romania, lack of depth, politics and power from China, form issues, lack of depth and minor inconsistency from GB etc. etc....it is just so GREAT to see a team nail everything. 12 solid, hit routines. Not only do they show power and consistency, but confidence, and the skills are always secure, you never have to hope the gymnast will rotate it fully. It's refreshing. Their qualifications performance was just so jarring and odd, but never fear, they were back to their robotically solid selves when it counted.
Watching Simone Biles in person
History in motion, she is fascinating to watch and it's fun to think that I've so far been able to see her in action twice, considering she will go down as one of the most legendary and talented gymnasts of all time. It's just bizarre to be blown away by her routines and know that she still has more to give and the potential for yet more difficulty.
China
Getting their act together for team silver. I've become too used to falls and mistakes from them, and qualifications did not inspire confidence, so I was thrilled to see them so solid in finals. Not perfect, (why can you never stay on the beam Wang Yan??) but 11/12 and a really quite super vault rotation of all things is still not to be sniffed at.
Shang Chunsong 4th AA, general hit record
She has previously stood out at worlds for all of the wrong reasons, so to witness her hitting again and again (yup, fell off beam after waiting far too long for the judges in quals but...just quals) and coming so close to beating Larisa Iordache was wonderful. She'll always be let down as regards AA as long as she carries a flat FTY, but to come so close is impressive. It's also nice to see her become the face of her team, and gain a ton of fans. The spread of her story has definitely helped, and has helped explain her circumstances etc, but I do feel a bit uneasy about it considering how detailed it is, just wondering does she know or did she give permission for all of it. Anyway, to come away from worlds with 2 4th places and one of them undeservedly low is disappointing, but she still has great performances and showed more of her potential than she has previously on the international stage.
Russia
Coming back from being a complete nonentity in the all-around and a meltdown in the team finals to shine in event finals, with no less than 3 golds and 1 silver. Despite some qualms about colours of some of those medals, there's no doubt they were impressive and it's great they were able to make a comeback.
Harsh scoring
I definitely have some issues with individual scores but overall, I felt the scoring was harsh and fair. It was reassuring to see them come down hard on things, on a relatively equal playing field.
Last but definitely not least..
Meeting the Biles
Still feels bizarre to have been invited to meet them, and very flattering to have my blog recognised. I had a great morning to start off event finals day 1, lovely people.
I'll probably do a part 2 to this, with lowlights, routines, things like that. Definitely still more to talk about this worlds. What were YOUR highlights? Favourite unexpected hitters? Or moments from off the competition floor? Best hair bow?
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Things to look forward to in 2015
New year's resolution is...blog more often. I can't really do a 'year in review' since a lot of it is blurry, and only worlds received my undivided attention.
Anyway, the new year is just a few hours away now here in GMT, with lots to hopefully look forward to.
NEW SENIORS
First and foremost, we will get a bumper crop of new seniors. Of the entire quad, 2015 has long shown itself to be the year. There are more exhaustive lists, but here is mine. YOG this year offered a good look at some of these, but of course, only one per country and the US were missing. There are plenty of exciting names here, like the trio of Ellie Downie, Tyesha Matthis and Amy Tinkler who are going to inject team GB with much needed depth and difficulty to boost their programme higher, particularly since Rebecca Tunney is having difficulty after injury after difficulty and Hannah Whelan seems to be fading away. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade has been anticipated for years, and Flavia Saraiva has definitely made a more recent name for herself too.
Romania will get Laura Jurca and Andreea Iridon amongst others, while the exciting Seda Tutkhalyan and Daria Mikhailova will swell Russia's much depleted ranks.
One name stands out of course, and that is...
BAILIE KEY
Finally. FINALLY. Not only does she have 'it', Bailie is 'it'. Form, execution, much improved choreography/dance, oodles of difficulty, no weak event, textbook gymnastics. Very ready for an amanar, already has a beam in the mid 6's, floor is over 6 with room to grow, bars have enormous potential and are getting there with steady upgrades. I can almost forgive the really shoddy layout on beam (PLEASE rework her acro line!) because of that glorious Pak on bars. It's just stunning, like much of her work. She'll never be as exciting as for instance, Simone Biles, yet there is something very exciting about how good she is at ticking almost every box. Bailie is a better Kyla, a gymnast worthy of Simone. Her main source of criticism tends to be robotic, dead inside performances. This really improved last year with a much-needed overhaul of her floor routine. Hopefully her expression continues to improve.
Her explosion in height and injury in the last year caused some concern, but she really seems to be paced extraordinarily well. She is clearly not doing anything she's not capable of, everything looks very easy and it's good to focus on the long-term goals to minimise burnout, particularly when the gymnast adds several inches to their height in a short period of time and skills need to go reworked to accommodate that safely.
Bailie can absolutely give Simone a run for her money, and I'm really looking forward to seeing that in action all season. Some people seem to think that the latter may as well give up since she stands no chance now, an attitude which is downright bizarre, with the information we have now as regards difficulty, and certainly in terms of experience, our double world champion has the advantage.
LESS SHITTY TEAM FINAL
One can always hope? The crop of new seniors will have a big hand to play in this. Of course, the US are getting excellent gymnasts like Bailie, Nia Dennis, Alexis Vasquez and others, but the gymnasts other programmes can now count in their ranks should still lessen the gap. Hopefully, Laura Jurca will show improvement on her 2014 performances. Andreea Iridon's bars and beam will be very valuable to Romania, and the lesser known Dora Vulcan should boost the programme too. The premature fizzling out of Madalina Blendea is a big loss though, if only for the beauty of her work.
For Russia, Maria Bondareva and Anastasia Dmitrieva have been fading for years, so I don't really count them. Seda and Daria will be very welcome, especially if the former bucks up her consistency. It looks like Ksenia Afanasyeva will be back and ready to go for Russia, and there's always the possibility Vika can stay healthy long enough to deliver on bars and beam (NOT AA, that ship has sailed), who knows. Along with Aliya Mustafina and Maria Kharenkova that's a good, strong core for 2015 teams. It would be nice if Evgeniya Shelgunova emerged too..
GB could definitely be in the mix with their new seniors, I expect them to keep building. Chin a on the other hand, don't get their big guns until 2016 but they will get Wang Yan and also Deng Yalan, who is also a much-needed vaulter. Yuan Xiaoyang who should be turning senior also...her status is unclear, and a retirement would not be surprising, unfortunately. An injection of power on their weak events is exactly what will help them.
Can any of the above chase the US? No. But hopefully they can look better while doing so and narrow the massive gap a bit.
THE PRETTY ONES
There's always the gymnasts who aren't exactly going to shine in the medal stakes, but who are just fantastic or highly interesting to watch. Previous examples this quad are Eythora Thorsdottir and Ilaria Kaeslin. Case in point is Sae Miyakawa of Japan who has some seriously floaty work and the seriously elegant Mara Titarsolej of the Netherlands. Also stunning Fan Yilin of China who looks set to make a comeback of sorts after an earlier retreat from the national team, but I'm hoping she can also be successful.
THE UNKNOWN
There will always be surprises. My money is on Lauren Navarro of the US, I have my eye on her and have done since she singlehandedly inspired Marta to bring in hair rules last year. Her routines were fairly average, but brimming with potential to me. I don't see big massive all-around hope, but her beam in particular looks really good. This year's routine was much improved, perhaps cutting off half her hair had an impact. Elements of it are really, really nice, like her toepoint, general ease, and the dismount. There's something about her. I wouldn't be surprised if she surprised, basically.
THE COMEBACKS
Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas have both attended camp and released tempting footage of themselves. I hope we don't have to wait until Classics to see where they're at in terms of full routines, maybe Jesolo? That would be great. I don't really want to see them exhibition at SCAM...I'd prefer a new senior in that particular role. Both gymnasts are immensely talented and seem to be very, very serious. Gabby never reached her peak, and Aly looks like she could get back to hers with ease. Hmmm. As well as that, I'm looking forward to seeing Afan back in action, and hopefully Didi Bulimar.
WORLDS
Ooooo the year before Rio, where we can expect to see gymnasts really showcasing Olympic routines and solidifying new skills. Not to mention what will hopefully be a killer showdown between super-duper gymnasts Simone Biles and Bailie Key, though hopefully with some international input too.
And....I have tickets because it's in my back garden as far as flights are concerned :D Good thing too, since the next major competition in Europe won't be until 2019! It will be extremely interesting to compare against Antwerp. That had a great atmosphere, but I expect bigger numbers of course at this since it's more important. Shiny new arena will be very interesting too, it's huge..
What and who are you looking forward to? How much faith do you have in much-anticipated comebacks? Will SCAM still be a SCAM? Will anyone understand the announcers and locals in Glasgow? CAN Simone triple it? Will Mykayla Skinner do the half-on two and a half off one-handed and live to tell the tale?
Anyway, the new year is just a few hours away now here in GMT, with lots to hopefully look forward to.
NEW SENIORS
First and foremost, we will get a bumper crop of new seniors. Of the entire quad, 2015 has long shown itself to be the year. There are more exhaustive lists, but here is mine. YOG this year offered a good look at some of these, but of course, only one per country and the US were missing. There are plenty of exciting names here, like the trio of Ellie Downie, Tyesha Matthis and Amy Tinkler who are going to inject team GB with much needed depth and difficulty to boost their programme higher, particularly since Rebecca Tunney is having difficulty after injury after difficulty and Hannah Whelan seems to be fading away. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade has been anticipated for years, and Flavia Saraiva has definitely made a more recent name for herself too.
Romania will get Laura Jurca and Andreea Iridon amongst others, while the exciting Seda Tutkhalyan and Daria Mikhailova will swell Russia's much depleted ranks.
One name stands out of course, and that is...
BAILIE KEY
Finally. FINALLY. Not only does she have 'it', Bailie is 'it'. Form, execution, much improved choreography/dance, oodles of difficulty, no weak event, textbook gymnastics. Very ready for an amanar, already has a beam in the mid 6's, floor is over 6 with room to grow, bars have enormous potential and are getting there with steady upgrades. I can almost forgive the really shoddy layout on beam (PLEASE rework her acro line!) because of that glorious Pak on bars. It's just stunning, like much of her work. She'll never be as exciting as for instance, Simone Biles, yet there is something very exciting about how good she is at ticking almost every box. Bailie is a better Kyla, a gymnast worthy of Simone. Her main source of criticism tends to be robotic, dead inside performances. This really improved last year with a much-needed overhaul of her floor routine. Hopefully her expression continues to improve.
Her explosion in height and injury in the last year caused some concern, but she really seems to be paced extraordinarily well. She is clearly not doing anything she's not capable of, everything looks very easy and it's good to focus on the long-term goals to minimise burnout, particularly when the gymnast adds several inches to their height in a short period of time and skills need to go reworked to accommodate that safely.
Bailie can absolutely give Simone a run for her money, and I'm really looking forward to seeing that in action all season. Some people seem to think that the latter may as well give up since she stands no chance now, an attitude which is downright bizarre, with the information we have now as regards difficulty, and certainly in terms of experience, our double world champion has the advantage.
LESS SHITTY TEAM FINAL
One can always hope? The crop of new seniors will have a big hand to play in this. Of course, the US are getting excellent gymnasts like Bailie, Nia Dennis, Alexis Vasquez and others, but the gymnasts other programmes can now count in their ranks should still lessen the gap. Hopefully, Laura Jurca will show improvement on her 2014 performances. Andreea Iridon's bars and beam will be very valuable to Romania, and the lesser known Dora Vulcan should boost the programme too. The premature fizzling out of Madalina Blendea is a big loss though, if only for the beauty of her work.
For Russia, Maria Bondareva and Anastasia Dmitrieva have been fading for years, so I don't really count them. Seda and Daria will be very welcome, especially if the former bucks up her consistency. It looks like Ksenia Afanasyeva will be back and ready to go for Russia, and there's always the possibility Vika can stay healthy long enough to deliver on bars and beam (NOT AA, that ship has sailed), who knows. Along with Aliya Mustafina and Maria Kharenkova that's a good, strong core for 2015 teams. It would be nice if Evgeniya Shelgunova emerged too..
GB could definitely be in the mix with their new seniors, I expect them to keep building. Chin a on the other hand, don't get their big guns until 2016 but they will get Wang Yan and also Deng Yalan, who is also a much-needed vaulter. Yuan Xiaoyang who should be turning senior also...her status is unclear, and a retirement would not be surprising, unfortunately. An injection of power on their weak events is exactly what will help them.
Can any of the above chase the US? No. But hopefully they can look better while doing so and narrow the massive gap a bit.
THE PRETTY ONES
There's always the gymnasts who aren't exactly going to shine in the medal stakes, but who are just fantastic or highly interesting to watch. Previous examples this quad are Eythora Thorsdottir and Ilaria Kaeslin. Case in point is Sae Miyakawa of Japan who has some seriously floaty work and the seriously elegant Mara Titarsolej of the Netherlands. Also stunning Fan Yilin of China who looks set to make a comeback of sorts after an earlier retreat from the national team, but I'm hoping she can also be successful.
THE UNKNOWN
There will always be surprises. My money is on Lauren Navarro of the US, I have my eye on her and have done since she singlehandedly inspired Marta to bring in hair rules last year. Her routines were fairly average, but brimming with potential to me. I don't see big massive all-around hope, but her beam in particular looks really good. This year's routine was much improved, perhaps cutting off half her hair had an impact. Elements of it are really, really nice, like her toepoint, general ease, and the dismount. There's something about her. I wouldn't be surprised if she surprised, basically.
THE COMEBACKS
Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas have both attended camp and released tempting footage of themselves. I hope we don't have to wait until Classics to see where they're at in terms of full routines, maybe Jesolo? That would be great. I don't really want to see them exhibition at SCAM...I'd prefer a new senior in that particular role. Both gymnasts are immensely talented and seem to be very, very serious. Gabby never reached her peak, and Aly looks like she could get back to hers with ease. Hmmm. As well as that, I'm looking forward to seeing Afan back in action, and hopefully Didi Bulimar.
WORLDS
Ooooo the year before Rio, where we can expect to see gymnasts really showcasing Olympic routines and solidifying new skills. Not to mention what will hopefully be a killer showdown between super-duper gymnasts Simone Biles and Bailie Key, though hopefully with some international input too.
And....I have tickets because it's in my back garden as far as flights are concerned :D Good thing too, since the next major competition in Europe won't be until 2019! It will be extremely interesting to compare against Antwerp. That had a great atmosphere, but I expect bigger numbers of course at this since it's more important. Shiny new arena will be very interesting too, it's huge..
What and who are you looking forward to? How much faith do you have in much-anticipated comebacks? Will SCAM still be a SCAM? Will anyone understand the announcers and locals in Glasgow? CAN Simone triple it? Will Mykayla Skinner do the half-on two and a half off one-handed and live to tell the tale?
Monday, 13 October 2014
Aliya Mustafina's interview translated
Translated by Lauren C ( translater's notes/explanations in Italics)
I didn't expect anything today. On beam I was lucky. On floor I had nothing to lose so I decided to go for the harder routine. Today was a reminder that I need to keep moving forward. I can't compete with my current repertoire; I know that. It's hard to learn new elements at my age. This year was hard because I kept taking breaks-first at the beginning of the year, then after Euros, then I had surgery and couldn't do anything for a month. I won't be able to take those kinds of breaks again before Rio.
It is difficult to have a personal coach who is really a choreographer. I have to make a lot of decisions on my own. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I'm not going to go scouring the earth for such a person, but if they happen to appear it would be nice.
(They [interviewer] imply that she won't stop training until she's bleeding) : Certainly I train bars long after everyone tells me to stop. I keep going until I get it right. It's emotional vampirism.
I have changed. It was time. I've begun to act more truly as myself instead of as I am "supposed" to. I communicate differently and more, I'm happy more often. Recently I realized that while you have to surrender yourself to this sport, you can't look at it as work. It can't be coerced; you have to want to do it, like a hobby. We have young ones who train with us who have to be forced. Some cry; some can handle it, some can't. The Americans are always smiling; they love it. Children shouldn't have to cry. Everything starts there.
Nobody told this to me, I just came to the realization over time. When things don't go my way in training, I tell myself it's okay, that there's always tomorrow. Or I have to sit around until I have a plan. Then I get up and train until I get it done, even when I rip all my calluses off.
[The situation with the younger girls] is a problem, of course. When Vika Komova, Tanya Nabieva and I were young, we could already do everything we do now. If I hadn't been in that kind of shape when I was younger I would never have achieved anything. I'm still not discouraged. I hope the younger girls can strengthen their programmes. It will be difficult to compete with the Americans, of course; they're strong, and that's putting it lightly. And it seems that it doesn't matter that we work to hit splits and point our toes; even though they're often not quite in splits or have not-quite-pointed toes, nobody cares.
*that last bit was a significant paraphrase and maybe a little harsher than she meant it. She's just saying that a vague "they" (probably the judges) don't seem to put as much emphasis on those kinds of deductions as they have said they would in the past
We'll still keep trying to make our exercises beautiful. If we could do as much difficulty as the Americans and even add a little beauty it would be a big plus. For the fans if not the judges. The judges are a separate issue. Sometimes it seems like they have already decided the outcome before the competition has even started. That's the worst thing, and sometimes it makes me want not to try. I understand that no matter what I do, they will place Biles ahead of me. The thought [not to try] occurs to me, but it goes away quickly. We [all] had two open training sessions every day, and the Americans were always doing something - running, circuit training, extra things. Some of it is probably genetics. Just look at them - they're healthy, brimming with life. We don't have gymnasts like them in Russia. Look at Polina Fyodorova, Masha Kharenkova, Dasha Spiridonova. They will always be small and skinny. They'll never have the kind of muscle the Americans have. Look at the Chinese....
Interviewer: By the way, have you lost weight?
Aliya: I don't see it, but I guess it looks like it.
I'm really comfortable with this team (she specifically mentions Masha, Elf and Alla). They're really nice to be around, they're not jealous and they don't say mean things. I want to help them. I help, they listen, and it's really pleasant for me.
*Translation note: When she says "I want to help them," she uses a reflexive construction which normally means she feels as though the desire comes from outside herself or is innate, as opposed to something she actively wants.
I'm on my third book this Worlds, an Italian novel. I listen to music while I drive to Round Lake. I'm an "omnivore" - I like a lot of things. Except I'm a picky eater. I hate onions. If a dish has onions, it's no longer even food to me. I have to take a napkin to meals here in China. Maybe that's why I've lost weight?
My leg is fine, but I do have other body parts. My back has been bothering for two and a half years. It was really bad at this Worlds. I don't like to talk about it and I feel I shouldn't, but during the team final I felt like I wouldn't be able to do anything at all. Sometimes I can't even run. I'm not protecting my leg. I don't do something if I'm not confident on it. So if I'm standing on the vault runway and I feel I won't be able to do the double, I don't do it. It's a kind of intuition. Sometimes I won't do something even when I think I can, because I can no longer think, "Oh well, if I underrotate a little, no big deal!" My ankle or knee start bothering me if I underrotate. My knee doesn't bother me anymore except when I land poorly. So I only perform an element when I'm certain I won't get hurt doing it.
I'm now thinking only of what to do in the off season and how to stay patient until Rio. No, not stay patient, but put all of my strength, everything that I have, into training for it.
The night before AA finals, my temperature started to rise, my throat started to hurt, I was congested and coughing, all at once. I tried not to think about it. I couldn't lift my arms or legs at training. We went to the doctor and asked for everything they had. Anti-fever [medicine], a load of pills, I sprayed something and gargled something. And when I got to the competition I was still shaking. It wasn't so bad the next day during bars finals. The worst part was the watery eyes - I wanted to rub them but they were made up! And when I was warming up on bars, sometimes I couldn't even see them. My eyes couldn't keep up with my body somehow.
I didn't expect anything today. On beam I was lucky. On floor I had nothing to lose so I decided to go for the harder routine. Today was a reminder that I need to keep moving forward. I can't compete with my current repertoire; I know that. It's hard to learn new elements at my age. This year was hard because I kept taking breaks-first at the beginning of the year, then after Euros, then I had surgery and couldn't do anything for a month. I won't be able to take those kinds of breaks again before Rio.
It is difficult to have a personal coach who is really a choreographer. I have to make a lot of decisions on my own. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I'm not going to go scouring the earth for such a person, but if they happen to appear it would be nice.
(They [interviewer] imply that she won't stop training until she's bleeding) : Certainly I train bars long after everyone tells me to stop. I keep going until I get it right. It's emotional vampirism.
I have changed. It was time. I've begun to act more truly as myself instead of as I am "supposed" to. I communicate differently and more, I'm happy more often. Recently I realized that while you have to surrender yourself to this sport, you can't look at it as work. It can't be coerced; you have to want to do it, like a hobby. We have young ones who train with us who have to be forced. Some cry; some can handle it, some can't. The Americans are always smiling; they love it. Children shouldn't have to cry. Everything starts there.
Nobody told this to me, I just came to the realization over time. When things don't go my way in training, I tell myself it's okay, that there's always tomorrow. Or I have to sit around until I have a plan. Then I get up and train until I get it done, even when I rip all my calluses off.
[The situation with the younger girls] is a problem, of course. When Vika Komova, Tanya Nabieva and I were young, we could already do everything we do now. If I hadn't been in that kind of shape when I was younger I would never have achieved anything. I'm still not discouraged. I hope the younger girls can strengthen their programmes. It will be difficult to compete with the Americans, of course; they're strong, and that's putting it lightly. And it seems that it doesn't matter that we work to hit splits and point our toes; even though they're often not quite in splits or have not-quite-pointed toes, nobody cares.
*that last bit was a significant paraphrase and maybe a little harsher than she meant it. She's just saying that a vague "they" (probably the judges) don't seem to put as much emphasis on those kinds of deductions as they have said they would in the past
We'll still keep trying to make our exercises beautiful. If we could do as much difficulty as the Americans and even add a little beauty it would be a big plus. For the fans if not the judges. The judges are a separate issue. Sometimes it seems like they have already decided the outcome before the competition has even started. That's the worst thing, and sometimes it makes me want not to try. I understand that no matter what I do, they will place Biles ahead of me. The thought [not to try] occurs to me, but it goes away quickly. We [all] had two open training sessions every day, and the Americans were always doing something - running, circuit training, extra things. Some of it is probably genetics. Just look at them - they're healthy, brimming with life. We don't have gymnasts like them in Russia. Look at Polina Fyodorova, Masha Kharenkova, Dasha Spiridonova. They will always be small and skinny. They'll never have the kind of muscle the Americans have. Look at the Chinese....
Interviewer: By the way, have you lost weight?
Aliya: I don't see it, but I guess it looks like it.
I'm really comfortable with this team (she specifically mentions Masha, Elf and Alla). They're really nice to be around, they're not jealous and they don't say mean things. I want to help them. I help, they listen, and it's really pleasant for me.
*Translation note: When she says "I want to help them," she uses a reflexive construction which normally means she feels as though the desire comes from outside herself or is innate, as opposed to something she actively wants.
I'm on my third book this Worlds, an Italian novel. I listen to music while I drive to Round Lake. I'm an "omnivore" - I like a lot of things. Except I'm a picky eater. I hate onions. If a dish has onions, it's no longer even food to me. I have to take a napkin to meals here in China. Maybe that's why I've lost weight?
My leg is fine, but I do have other body parts. My back has been bothering for two and a half years. It was really bad at this Worlds. I don't like to talk about it and I feel I shouldn't, but during the team final I felt like I wouldn't be able to do anything at all. Sometimes I can't even run. I'm not protecting my leg. I don't do something if I'm not confident on it. So if I'm standing on the vault runway and I feel I won't be able to do the double, I don't do it. It's a kind of intuition. Sometimes I won't do something even when I think I can, because I can no longer think, "Oh well, if I underrotate a little, no big deal!" My ankle or knee start bothering me if I underrotate. My knee doesn't bother me anymore except when I land poorly. So I only perform an element when I'm certain I won't get hurt doing it.
I'm now thinking only of what to do in the off season and how to stay patient until Rio. No, not stay patient, but put all of my strength, everything that I have, into training for it.
The night before AA finals, my temperature started to rise, my throat started to hurt, I was congested and coughing, all at once. I tried not to think about it. I couldn't lift my arms or legs at training. We went to the doctor and asked for everything they had. Anti-fever [medicine], a load of pills, I sprayed something and gargled something. And when I got to the competition I was still shaking. It wasn't so bad the next day during bars finals. The worst part was the watery eyes - I wanted to rub them but they were made up! And when I was warming up on bars, sometimes I couldn't even see them. My eyes couldn't keep up with my body somehow.
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