Anna Pavlova talked to RG.ru about the Russian team’s chances at the World Championships and reflected on her own experience as a gymnast.
She said that Aliya Mustafina has a strong character which should help her to come back to the highest level.
A: Aliya has proven more than once that she’s a really serious gymnast with a true athletic character. She had recovered from a serious knee injury in the past and she had many issues with her back. She, she knows perfectly well how to get herself together and get back in shape after a long break. Especially, since the older we are, the more experienced we are. Although there are more injuries as well. But she should be able to do everything because of her strong character. I don’t think that the break in the training and giving birth will give her any problems physically. Regarding the psychology, this situation can be assessed either by a specialist or Aliya herself, because having a baby changes you a lot. I know this from experience, my daughter is Alisa’s age, she was also born in June of 2017. But since Aliya made the team, it means she’s fine.
Q: And what can you say about the team in general? Are the girls ready to fight for a team medal?
A: The team is relatively experienced and serious. Angelina Melnikova won silver with the team in Rio. Irina Alexeeva, Angelina Simakova, and Lilia Akhaimova won the gold with the team at the European Championships in Glasgow. They know what responsibility is. The girls proved that they can win even without such leaders as Mustafina. The team has potential. Now everything depends on the physical preparedness for the specific competition. And mentally, they’re definitely ready, they’ll fight. Although the level of European Championships is different from the World Championships. China and USA will be in Doha as well. Japan is also much stronger now, even though before, only their boys had a strong team. Lots of countries will compete in Qatar and everyone wants to go to the Olympics.
Q: Were the victories of both WAG and MAG teams important for their confidence?
A: The gold was important for the gymnasts but, first of all, for the judges. Gymnastics is a subjective sport and you can’t do anything about it. When a team takes a leading position at one championship, they come to the next one as a favorite, no matter the level of the competition. And when you fail and make mistakes, it’s really hard to restore your reputation. By the way, this is what happened with our men’s and women’s team in 2003-2004. At Worlds, we, the girls, made lots of mistakes and the buys got injured. We didn’t win medals as a team and it was hard later to compete at the Olympics. I hope that everything will go well for our gymnasts now.
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