For Nikita Nagornyy, today’s final was a redemption for both the team final in which Russia lost to China by 0.05 and the last year’s AA final in which Nagornyy finished 10th despite having the highest difficulty.
Nagornyy told R-Sport that he wanted to win the gold but he is happy with Artur Dalaloyan taking it:
“My most important goal for today was gold in the all-around. It was won by Artur and not by me but we have the gold! I’m really happy that he [Artur] is in the first place and not the Chinese gymnast because we lost to them as a team by a really small margin. Of course, I wanted to prove that we can win. Artur has proved it, I got the third place. Two Russians on the all-around medal podium – I think this hasn’t yet happened before. And I am really proud of what we’ve done today”.
Finishing on high bar used to be a problem for Nagornyy but he tried to fix it and a hit routine today helped him to secure the bronze. He said:
“After falling from high bar for five years, I, thank God, got friendly with it. I went out and knew that I would do it. Sam Mikulak made a mistake and I took advantage of it. If I were fourth, I don’t know what I would do I guess, I would run to Russia on feet. David texted me before the final and told me not to downgrade and to do all my difficulty. And I did it and, perhaps, thanks to it, I’m third. In that sense, he helped me”.
David Belyavskiy who gave this advice heartbreakingly did not make the all-around final this year after his two teammates, Dalaloyan and Nagornyy, posted higher scores in the qualification.
Andrei Rodionenko said to the media that the Russian MAG team is finally restoring the winners mentality that they used to have during the Soviet times:
“In order to expect results, you have to work. We never plan the results in terms of medals, but we plan it in terms of the work we’ve done. As a team, we aimed at medals and the guys had a task – to qualify to the Olympics. Not being able to perform most successfully – well, this is what it is. There’s such a concept as winners mentality and it was lost by Russia for a long time and now it’s starting to get restored to what it used to be in the USSR”.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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