- Valentina Aleksandrovna, did what you saw in Penza meet your expectations?

- Yes, the championship left a good impression. Young girls showed themselves perfectly: Melnikova, Daria Skrypnik and Natalya Kapitonova. Obviously, they will be our "weapon" in the next Olympic cycle. If we talk about the leaders, today they have fulfilled their tasks, they have shown what they were supposed to. A bit unexpected was the result of the 2015 world champion in the vault of Pasieka. On her crown shell, she took only fourth place. But, firstly, Masha healed old sores for two months and could not train in full force. And secondly, this is not an excuse, but ... you need to understand: such the most difficult jumps, like hers, it is impossible to do it all the time without error. There is still a month and a half before the European Championship. Apiary, like everyone else, will definitely improve both in terms of performance and stability during this time.

- The composition of the team for the European Championship is known with the exception of one candidate. At the same time, Komova did not perform at the Chechen Republic due to health problems ...

- Shortly before leaving for Penza, she began to complain of back pain, and we decided not to risk it. Still, you can’t joke with this part of the body. Vika spent ten days in the hospital, and now she has already resumed training at our Krugloye Lake base. Of course, the team in Bern really needs her, but if something goes wrong, the gymnast may miss this start. To prepare for the Olympics one hundred percent. At the end of June, all candidates for a trip to Rio de Janeiro can again be seen in Penza at the Russian Cup. After these competitions, we will call the final Olympic squad in men and in women.

- Can any of the young gymnasts, for example Melnikova, compete with the leaders for a place in the Olympic team?

- Without a doubt! Despite the fact that for the first time Angelina competed on a par with adults, her programs do not look childish. On the contrary, they meet all the requirements that are imposed today on the leaders of world gymnastics. Yes, and her character, it seems, is champion. In general, this gymnast, in my opinion, is in many ways similar to Mustafina: she is just as confident in herself, a fighter by nature. If only we had more girls like this...

– And what did Aliya look like in Penza? For her, after all Russian championship became the first start after a long break.

- So far, she has made only two shells - a log and bars. Worked them out great. No mistake! It is clear that Mustafina simplified the programs and did not give out everything that she is going to show at the main start. But you still need to give her credit, because the last time she stepped on the platform in June last year at the European Games in Baku. Then a leg injury forced Aliya to miss the autumn World Championships in Glasgow. She had an operation for the meniscus, after which she has not yet fully recovered. But this is what character means: if you already stepped onto the platform, then you gathered all of yourself into a fist and did not flinch!

- The same fighter can be called another veteran - Ksenia Afanasiev. Is she being considered as a candidate for a trip to Rio?

- Yes, Ksenia also went through a very difficult period last season. But, despite a lot of problems, she nevertheless performed at the world championship, won a medal. Unfortunately, we cannot carry a gymnast as part of the team, who is able to pass only one apparatus well. Therefore, everything depends only on Afanasyeva herself. She has excellent floor exercises. But for the successful performance of the national team, it is necessary to show a good vault. If she copes with this task, of course, her chances of getting into the squad will be high.

- What tasks do you set for the women's team at the European Championships?

- We always set only one task - to win!

Alexey Shevchenko on the eve of the Olympics spoke with the main person in Russian gymnastics Valentina Rodionenko and found out which stars have replaced the charismatic Khorkina and Nemov.

In recent days, we have at least learned the names of our gymnasts. An unenviable situation for the sport. Interest awakens every four years.

- Yes, to my deep regret, oh gymnastics little is written and spoken in our country. Do you know how it is in America? In the first three are Athletics, swimming and gymnastics.

I thought NBA, NHL, baseball.

– Thousands sports clubs where they do only gymnastics. Thousands! Sending a child there is prestigious. Gymnastics is the foundation of all sports. You may not become professional athlete, but you can go to another section, where with such preparation you will achieve results.

Examples?

- Elena Isinbayeva, Svetlana Feofanova. I just quickly remembered this. They all started in gymnastics. Elena, by the way, is an international master of sports in artistic gymnastics.

“Gymnastics is little written and spoken about in our country”

Why didn't they stay?

– Not everything depended specifically on them. There were changes in weight and height indicators - it is already difficult to stay on high level.

And why don't gymnastics clubs open in Russia, as in America? Unprofitable?

- Still, the standard of living overseas is higher, and you have to pay for everything there. In the US, parents can afford to pay for classes. And they take it seriously there. I can’t forget how mothers with babies came to such clubs. And they jumped on the trampoline. There is an understanding that the child must grow properly. Here is our Olympic champion Natasha Shaposhnikova now lives in a relatively small town in New Jersey. So there are up to a thousand children in her club. And I must say that she has not the only club in the city. All this leads to what?

For what?

- Yes, the US team has a huge choice. We are deprived of such an opportunity.

Sometimes you don’t understand where you find athletes?

- Difficult, very difficult. You see, now gymnastics is at such a level that specialized gyms are needed. Now there will no longer be options when you can put shells and remove them. Gymnastics has changed. Pits are needed in the hall to work out complex elements. But this is still not a problem.

And what is the main one?

- Competent teachers are needed, but the departments of gymnastics are being closed at the institutes of physical education. What can you even talk about? A lot of people have left, now all of America is flooded with our coaches, but few people are left here. And now we in the national team have to correct the technical flaws that have been going on since childhood.

I remember very well how, after an unsuccessful performance in Beijing, sports officials formulated a task for the next two years - to return our coaches who work abroad. How many returned?

- No one.

“The departments of artistic gymnastics are being closed at the institutes of physical education. What can you even talk about?"

Marvelous.

- So, for them to return, it is necessary to create conditions. Maybe in America they earn a little for their standard of living, but Russia cannot pull them off. Here, for example, some specialists earn 1000-1500 in the USA. This is almost 50 thousand rubles. And here they are not given.

They said that now the coaches make good money.

What coaches are we talking about? At the team level, yes. It's a sin to complain. But we need those who will work with young children. They should kneel before the child and teach him every element. This is painstaking work, but the salary of such specialists in Russia is extremely low. Kopek.

And officials spoke about children's coaches.

- Nothing changed. Specialists at the level of national teams were raised salaries only two years ago. There is one more trouble. In the regions, the authorities do not want to mess with gymnastics. Why do we need gyms, coaches, athletes? This is a headache. And then there were parallel offsets. And this is the real evil. You seem to have sent an athlete, but you don’t need to spend money on anything. And even Moscow uses it. For some reason, Victoria Komova also represents this region, although she is from Voronezh.

But Vika is also beneficial. Will earn more.

- Rather, it’s not even about the athlete, but about the coach. Komova herself has a very decent scholarship, so it is unlikely that she would go for it because of the money.

Since we are talking about money, I would like to know how Aliya Mustafina endured last year. After all, she was deprived of a presidential scholarship.

“She wasn’t left without everything. Aliya receives a scholarship of about 100 thousand rubles. Plus, she spent the whole year at the training camp, and there was state food, state equipment. You do not think girls are provided. To be honest, now the athletes in the national team earn in a way that no one earned in Soviet times. So do not think that Mustafina has remained a beggar.

But she lost about 3.5 million rubles.

- As soon as it became known that she could not count on this money, she was immediately raised a scholarship. But what to do if such rules are a presidential grant? No one will rule me for the sake of one athlete, and Aliya missed the season.

“Aliya is very closed. She can perform today in such a way that everyone will gasp and show nothing the next day. ”

Once I read an interview with Mustafina. Terrible impression. Is she very reserved in everyday life?

- Yes, there's nothing you can do about it. It is very difficult to work with such an athlete. Aliya is very closed and won't say much. She can perform today in such a way that everyone will gasp and show nothing the next day.

And this situation is not predictable?

- Of course not. At the same time, Mustafina has a golden quality - in right moment she can get together. This is not given to everyone.

Have you ever had a harder time than Mustafina?

- What are you. It was harder than with Svetlana Boginskaya to work. The character is just terrible, everyone got it. But during important starts, she was ideal in a sporting sense.

- A question that haunts all those who follow gymnastics from time to time. You have listed the problems, but where do we get extra-class people. We thought that after Khorkina no one would appear, but there is Mustafina ...

What is Khorkina?

- Well, how what? This is Khorkina.

Khorkina is very strong and beautiful gymnast last generation. But the stars were before her. I could list for a long time.

- Svetlana is a megastar.

- It's all of you with your stamps. Megastar, think of it too. And besides, have you seen Komova? God forbid that she does not make mistakes at the Games, but this is a gymnast of a completely different level. She is extraordinary. Light, high, with good lines and the most difficult program. She's going to be a megastar.

Will she become an MP?

Let's think differently. And what did the deputyship give Khorkina? A person should take place in his profession, but what did Sveta do? She spent four years in the Duma, but where is she now? Do you know?

“We offered Alexei Nemov to lead the youth team. Refused"

“And I don't know. If you have already gone the other way, then you have to take place there. Sveta has nothing to do with gymnastics. As a deputy, she tried to do something, but that's not all. The trouble is, very few great athletes come into the coaching position. And because this is a hell of a job, no one wants to repeat their life anew, in a different capacity. We offered Alexei Nemov to lead the youth team.

And he?

- Refused. He doesn't even want to talk about it.

So who will Vika Komova be?

– And now you will not understand this generation. After training, they stick to their laptops and who knows what interests them there. However, Vyacheslav Zaitsev came to our training camp, so Vika came to life. She is interested in all this, maybe she will become a fashion designer.

Aliya Mustafina

The state coach of the Russian national gymnastics team, Valentina Rodionenko, explained why Russian gymnasts would not come to the World Cup stage in Baku, which begins on March 16, and shared an incredible promise with Moscow-Baku: the famous gymnast, two-time Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina will resume her sports career this year.

- Valentina Alexandrovna, why don't the gymnasts of the Russian national team come to Baku?

- We thought about the upcoming tournaments for a long time and as a result we chose international tournament in Stuttgart, after which we will immediately leave for Italy, where only four countries have been invited: the USA, Russia, Japan and Italy. Both adult girls and young ones will perform there. It will be very interesting and important to look at the American team, our eternal rivals. Valery Liukin, a former Soviet gymnast who now heads the US team, collects completely new team, and we would like to see with our own eyes what these gymnasts are.

These two tournaments that I have named will become for us final stage preparation for the European Championship. Only Angelina Melnikova is going to be sent to London in April. She is still dismantled after the Olympics, and in this state she needs to perform, perform and perform, perform as much as possible. In fact, all our youth have now relaxed a little: we gave them a rest, to recover after the Olympic Games in Rio, but it’s usually difficult to get together after the rest, especially for young girls.

In fact, in Baku and other tournaments, it is unlikely that any outstanding results will be shown: due to the change in the rules, and due to the start of a new Olympic cycle, all teams are now experimenting, trying out young people, helping them gain experience, they try new programs and elements… But these experiments are certainly interesting, so gymnastics is now worth watching and perceiving in this perspective.

We thought about a possible participation in Baku, but, unfortunately, we have practically no one from the main team of our team at the moment: Maria Paseka and Ksenia Afanasyeva are being treated, Aliya Mustafina got married and is expecting a baby…

- And, most likely, he will not return to gymnastics?

Who won't come back? Mustafina will not return?!

- There are such conversations.

No matter how it is, Aliya is due to give birth in June, and she has already decided everything for herself, and warned us: immediately after the World Championships, her son, - according to the ultrasound, Aliya should have a boy, - my mother takes me to her, and you wait for me in the hall. The World Championship will be held in October, so around November we assume that Aliya Mustafina will begin to fully train. Will it be difficult for her after the baby is born? No I do not think so. Look at Oksana Chusovitina, who, by the way, will come to Baku: she is already over forty years old, she became an Olympic champion back in 1992, in Barcelona, ​​and is still performing. Of course, Oksana no longer claims prizes, she has not changed her program for a long time, but she is a living legend, gymnastics, proving to all of us that everything is possible! What can we say about Aliya Mustafina, who is only 22 years old. I have almost no doubt that she will return and again become one of the leaders in world gymnastics. Because I always said and never tire of repeating: Mustafina is a character!

The World Cup stage in Baku will be held from 16 to 19 March at the National Gymnastics Arena. All the teams that are planning to participate have already arrived in the capital of Azerbaijan and the local press publishes enthusiastic reviews of Japanese coaches about how amazed they are by the excellent conditions created in Baku for training and performances. Artistic gymnasts will have to experience Baku's innovation, unusual lighting, which was much talked about after the Trampoline World Cup "flying gymnasts". Lighting systems will be installed on each apparatus, and the rest of the hall will be plunged into darkness, which will allow the audience to fully concentrate on the performance, and the gymnasts to focus on themselves without being distracted by the hall. This lighting has already been called "theatrical", because something similar happens in the theater.

The Azerbaijani men's team at the World Cup will be represented by two very young gymnasts, Bense Talas and Murad Agarzayev, who have just moved from juniors to seniors. According to the coaches of the men's team, the guys are very worried, and, given their young age, one should not associate any supernatural expectations with them, but the coaches of the national team still hope to reach the final, and possibly for a prize.

Head coach of the women's team of Azerbaijan, Nina Pravdina assesses the readiness of her girls as “good”. Team leader Marina Nekrasova, as well as Yulia Inshina, plan to compete in three apparatuses, Ekaterina Tishkova and Maria Smirnova are announced for one apparatus. There will be no all-around in Baku.

In general, teams from 23 countries will take part in the World Cup in Baku. Of the famous gymnasts declared Olympic champions Christian Berki (Hungary) and Eleftherios Petrunias (Greece), silver medalist Olympic Games Croatian Filip Ude and European champion Israeli Alexander Shatilov. The most titled gymnasts of the women's tournament are the three-time Olympic champion Romanian Catalina Ponor and the "eternal" Oksana Chusovitina, who now represents Uzbekistan.

Valentina Alexandrovna, what has changed in women's team with the arrival of a new head coach Evgeny Grebyonkin?
- In the new Olympic cycle, all countries reviewed some positions. We did the same. Now the team has a normal environment: everyone is friendly, working, there are no shouts: “stay, be afraid!”. Good human relations. Perhaps because we worked abroad for a long time, we never had the desire to humiliate or insult anyone. We do not use such methods.

As for Evgeny Grebenkin, first of all, he gave personal trainers the opportunity to work and create. The end result is a completely different result. The personal trainers who raised their girls know them better than anyone. They can give them more. Previously, they were on the sidelines.

- But after all, they were at the training camp together with the pupils.
- They were only present: they were sitting on a bench. If someone showed initiative, he was told that he would not come to the next gathering. These are very subtle moments, but not all journalists wanted to understand that nothing just happens. When we arrived from the Olympics, there were only four adult girls in the ranks. Where is Nabieva? There was a great girl, she is now recovering and, perhaps, will perform at the Universiade. She won Europe with Mustafina. Where is Kurbatov? She is also European and World Champion. I can now name so many more names and surnames that have disappeared. It's wrong.

We cannot spend so much money so that we have girls for only one start. And more than that is not enough. And they themselves do not understand why this happens. It should not be. Therefore, now we are trying to keep those who are, and return those who were removed. There was an excellent gymnast Kramarenko in the team in 2008, now she has recovered from an Achilles injury and is preparing for the Universiade. Gorgeous, beautiful gymnast. It was necessary to keep and work with everyone, and not just with six who go to the Olympics. If there is no competition, there will be no result. This is the law.

- Did this rearrangement somehow affect Aliya Mustafina?
- On each projectile we have a specialist who dictates the methodology and combinations. The task of the head coach is to organize training process. Alia has not changed in this sense. Now, just like at the Olympics, she will be taken to the uneven bars - Grebyonkin, beam - Ganina, with whom she has been working for a very long time.

- How far has she managed to move away from the Olympics?
- Aliya went to the training camp with the team in Spain. We offered her to rest, but she said that if she rested, she would not return. When you get out of shape, then it is very difficult to recover. Alia has a great one jump, she can jump it to 9.5. You need to add a second one from another group. But she is afraid to learn something new, so let's not remind her once again of that trauma. She has no equal on the bars. Plus, she restored the log perfectly. Compared to the Olympics - heaven and earth.

- Anastasia Grishina also improved her program?
- No. She only restored what was. While we wait with estimates and conclusions. We are very worried about her upcoming performance at the European Championships. Now she is not in the condition in which we would like.

- Last year you talked about her as a very promising gymnast ...
- I still think so. But she changed her coach at the insistence of her mother. Now Irina and Viktor Razumovsky, who have returned from Japan, are working with her. Let's see what happens.

- Evgenia Shelgunova will be a substitute at the European Championship, why exactly is she?
- Our line-up is determined by the sports principle. At the Russian Championship, Evgenia Shelgunova was third in the all-around and was included in the squad as the first substitute. Plus, she's very well prepared. We are looking at who can perform now.

For example, in Penza, Nastya Grishina was second, but at the moment she is worse than Shelgunova. But we cannot replace her with Shelgunova, because there is a sports principle.

- Are there any other new girls in the team?
- We held five gatherings at the Krugloye Lake base for 10 days and looked at all children born before 2000, who had not previously been in the field of view. Eight girls were selected, who are now working with the youth team. The guys are doing well in this regard - a large reserve, but there was a problem in the women's team. We arrived from the Olympics, and one Shelgunova came to the main team. Sosnitskaya has now been added. In June, she will perform at the World Cup in Portugal.

The most experienced among the girls is Ksenia Afanasyeva. There was an impression that now she has added in comparison with the Olympics. Xenia is growing
- Yes. We came to this conclusion: the older the girls, the more consciously they train. They have a completely different attitude: they do not need to be forced or persuaded. Xenia herself comes and works. An example - Isbasa performed at the Olympics. She's 27. Also Poner, Chusovitina. And we used to bet on small ones, and then we lost them. Even Aliya is now approaching work in an adult way. She can already tell the coaches: “Today I can’t withstand such a load.” And they have to take it into account. And before we had this moment: “No, you will.” And all this ended either in trauma, or she lay and cried. Now senior coach Grebyonkin builds work differently. And we hope that this will not give immediate results, but long-term ones.

- Perhaps the biggest surprise from Xenia was a jump of 2.5 screws.
- When she said that she wanted to perform this jump, it was a surprise for us too. At first, to be honest, we did not believe. But she has such good technical 2.5 screws that it became clear: she can. But Xenia is a coward. I don’t know if she will dare to jump them at the European Championships, but she has a good mood.

It is important for us to keep Ksenia Afanasyeva until the next Olympics. She will be 24 in Rio. What is this age? Or Aliya - she will turn 22 in September 2016. We believe that when little talented girls appear, it is important to keep them and bring them to the level so that they begin to show conscious gymnastics, and not be one-day butterflies.

Sports news. Behind the scenes of sports

Valentina Rodionenko: "The revival of gymnastics in Russia"

Valentina Rodionenko: "The revival of gymnastics in Russia"

State coach of the Russian national gymnastics team Valentina Rodionenko spoke about the newly created infrastructure in the country for the development of her sport and congratulated the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation on its 90th anniversary.

- Valentina Alexandrov Well, more than 15 years ago, you and your husband Andrei Rodionenko left to work abroad. When you returned to Russia, did what you saw surprised, disappointed, delighted you?

Honestly, we did not think that everything would be so bad. A number of sports societies - trade unions, Burevestnik, Trud - disappeared, and the bases disappeared with them. Round Lake was in a terrible state. The roof of the women's hall was leaking, the foam landing pits were in the water. Of course, we did not expect to see palaces at home, but we were simply shocked by such horror ...

- How did the situation change in the future?

The situation improved step by step. "Ozero Krugloye" was reconstructed under the Federal Target Program amme "Development physical culture and sports in Russian Federation for 2006-2015".The base was repaired, modernizedwhether equipped with modern training equipment and recovery tools. Specialists who had settled around the world since the 1990s began to return. Of course, the process was not easy. It took time to reconstruct the base. People who spent many years away from their homeland and often already received other citizenships, also did not always readily respond to the offer to return. It was very easy and quick to destroy everything and so difficult to restore it later. But as a result, now we have a modern base at Krugly, absolutely all conditions are created for athletes and coaches to achieve results. This, perhaps, was not even in Soviet times!

- Where else are gymnastics centers based?

The Burtasy Penza Center, also built under the Federal Target Program, is our second base. It is also equipped with the latest technology. Traditions are being restored in Vladimir - it was in this city that the great Nikolai Andrianov and Vladimir Artemov started. Gymnastics is rising in historical centers like Rostov, Voronezh, where the winner of the 2012 Games, Victoria Komova, comes from. I hope that in 2014 we will have our own base at the Yug-Sport center in Sochi, which has a powerful recovery complex. Until now, we have traveled overseas and warm to Italy or Spain, but our own center, of course, is preferable. We were promised by the Ministry of Sports that in a year the base in Sochi would be at our disposal. And over the past years, I have become convinced that this promise can be trusted - people in Vitaly Mutko's department keep their word. Taking this opportunity, I congratulate the Ministry of Sports on its 90th anniversary, wish you success, prosperity and, most importantly, victories.

- Finally, tell us how things are with our women's team, which after the 2012 Olympic season was hit by an epidemic of injuries?

Everything is fine, the girls have long returned to training: Vika Komova has recovered from a protracted illness, Ksyusha Afanasyeva - surgery, Aliya Mustafina - another difficult season. On November 22, we finished the next training camp at the Round Lake. The next major start is the May European Championship in Sofia. I knock on wood so as not to jinx it, but, God forbid, our athletes will fully recover and fit in optimal shape.

Photo by RIA Novosti