Gymnastics News: Afanasyeva at 2014 Worlds?

In a telephone interview with R-Sport Valentina Rodionenko has revealed that Ksenia Afanasyeva is on the short list of potential gymnasts for the 2014 World Championships. In the interview she goes on to state that Ksenia has been training 'quietly' since her ankle operation. She goes on to say that Ksenia doesn't need to learn any new moves because she is an experienced gymnast.

There is something wrong with the way Valentina speaks about Ksenia without confirming with Ksenia beforehand. Valentina did the same thing early on in the year and was surely a factor in pushing Ksenia to perform at the Russian National's earlier this year. I don't think that she has anything against Ksenia but this is just the way she is with a gymnast that she becomes frustrated with. She really likes calling the gymnasts fat if they are out of shape or if she has a falling out with them.

My opinion is that if Ksenia is seriously training then she would be very appreciated on the team but will probably not be ready for Worlds. I have a lot of faith in Ksenia but hopes of her coming back so soon are not a good thing at this moment. Ksenia herself has said that her recovery is forecasted to take a year which would mean she'll likely be back for Russian Nationals next year.

Do you guys think that Ksenia will make to the Worlds?

Gymnastics News: The Comeback of Anastasia Sidorova

Anastasia Sidorova's comeback appears to be much more serious than I previously thought. Anastasia was back in the gym training some basic elements last time we saw her but now she has moved on to more serious moves. The most impressive of all is that she has almost gotten her triple twist back although a bit helicoptered legs there. Form is quite lacking in some of the Russian gymnasts of that generation but not so much in the newer gymnasts.

Anastasia has a decent looking two and half twist, a double back tucked, double back piked and a full twisting yurchenko. Her FTY is back and it's good compared to some of the gymnast I saw last week at the Youth Olympic Games. It should definitely not be long until she has a full difficulty routine up on floor but not for this year's Worlds.

Below are some videos of her training said elements. She does look a bit labored doing them but I'm sure all the time has something to do with that.

Via Alyssia Spaan on YouTube.

Gymnast Update: Anastasia Sidorova Back in Training!

Russian gymnast Anastasia Sidorova is back in training after failing to make the 2012 Russian Olympic team. Anastasia S. was pegged by many to make the team but was removed from real contention because of a bike accident. I'll describe the accident, she was riding a bicycle and apparently broke her wrists when her bike stopped. A gymnast is really really limited without the use of their wrists - they can train bars with a broken leg but not with broken wrists. She was able to make a run at a spot at trials but didn't have an amanar vault, had a weak beam set and her floor exercise was very watered down from when she was Russian champion on floor.

The videos being filtered of her are just recently out - within three hours of this post. She appears to be at her home gym and is training on vault. The video shows that she is the in the early phase of her comeback and is almost at the same point as Aliya Mustafina is. She does the basic yurchenko layout, then the full twisting yurchenko and then attempts a double twisting yurchenko. She does not successfully get the double twist in but I'm sure she can get it after more training.

I find this news to be a positive light because this particular gymnast is very talented and was on my predicted 2012 Russian national team. With that said I don't know if she has what it takes to make the 2016 team. The team is very light and needs top caliber gymnasts to supplant the aging talents but can she do it? I have hope that she can make a successful comeback and at least make a world team.  

Via Alyssia Spaan on Youtube - She always scores the best video!

Simply Grishina!

Nastia performing a switch ring leap.

After the previous post, the injury update, I stumbled upon a recent video of Anastasia Grishina training. She is sporting a bandage over her left knee and will probably have to wear a bandage for the rest of her competitive career. I think it is meant to provide support and to cover up the thick scar that probably resulted from the surgery - think Rebecca Bross type.

Anastasia is performing a simple layout on a tumbling track - clearly nothing intense. The video shows that she is on track to make a comeback but the video makes it clear she is not training at a competitive level. I didn't expect much and I'm not disappointed with the video, I'm just happy she's healthy and back in training.

For those that don't know much about Anastasia, keep reading for my short and sweet bio of her. Nastia, as she is sometimes called, was a promising Junior who defeated Viktoria Komova on two apparatuses at the Junior Euros. She is known for her great toe-point and artistry as well as for having the best twisting form in the Russian team. To say she was a promising gymnast would be an understatement and a dishonor. Unluckily for her, she was assigned a coach that simply lacked the capacity to turn her into a champion. Her coach steered her into working hard tumbling passes on floor, a double twisting double back tucked, while neglecting her best apparatus - the uneven bars. She had performed a double twisting double back tuck off bars, an F rated dismount, but didn't attempt it at London. Ultimately her coach was reassigned and she was given a more uneven bars oriented coach.

If Nastia Grishina had better coaching her potential would have meant that Russia would have had three of the best gymnasts in the world on their team. Sadly for Russia the cards were not lined up for them and it wasn't meant to be. But thinking of Nastia reminds me of what could have been and what didn't happen. Since the Olympics she has been battling injuries and Valentina - I'll talk about her later.

P.S.: I would have posted the video in the previous post but didn't find it in time for that post. I also didn't want to mess with the previous post because it would have gotten to long for my taste. To be honest it is surprising that the video hasn't made it to all of the gymnastics blogs yet. I guess you saw it here first!

Via Alyssia Spaan on YouTube

Gymnastics News! | Aly Raisman

After reading little things here and there and seeing pictures of a supposed comeback attempt by the three time olympic medalist, nothing is more convincing then seeing her tumbling. Aly Raisman posted a video of her tumbling on her instagram page - hopefully shot recently. There had been videos of her 'training' but nothing ever really showed her working out except for her trying to fix her poor toe-point. The video tells me that she is back and is definitely working on a comeback for a shot at Rio 2016.

The video shows her working on an arabian double piked. I will summarize what an arabian is now but will talk about that term extensively in a later post. An arabian is a half turn, the gymnast starts from a back entry and then takes the half turn and proceeds to forward twice. The most typical arabian being performed on the floor is an arabian double tuck, valued at an E. Gymnasts that are currently performing that particular skill are Aliya Mustafina and Maria Kharenkova.

The piked arabian is slightly more difficult, valued an F, and not that many gymnasts on the women's field are performing it. Part of the reason that there aren't that many people training it is because front moving saltos have difficult landings. If you see the video you will notice that she takes a very big step forward which would probably incur a three tenths, .3, in deductions.

Enjoy.

 Via GymnasticsCoaching