While last week Valentina Rodionenko said that Russian women’s team competed well at Euros and did everything they were supposed to, this week, after the success of the Russian men in the individual finals who won five medals there (two golds, one silver, and two bronze medals), the tune has changed and now the women’s team is deemed unsuccessful.
Rodionenko said to the media that while the men’s team from Euros will be the same for Worlds, there will certainly be changes on the women’s team:
“There will be practically no changes on the men’s team, but there will be changes on the women’s team. Iliankova is preparing, we didn’t take her here because she had back issues, we are saving her. In all likelihood, Mustafina will be ready by that time. We said right away that the team that came to Glasgow wasn’t the final team for the Worlds, there will definitely be changes. On the men’s team, there will be changes only in case of injuries, God forbid. The team that competed here is the team for the World Championships”.
“I’m completely happy with the results of the men’s team despite them “giving away” the floor gold. We didn’t expect to compete for medals on the high bar, we’ve had problems on it for a while now and still can’t solve them. The rest was fine. But I’m not happy with the women’s team, there are serious issues there because we didn’t get a single gold medal in individual finals”.
Andrei Rodionenko was more diplomatic but also commented on being more happy with the men’s team than with the women’s:
“The [men’s] team did everything they needed according to their program. There’s a selection for Worlds going on, everything’s serious, there are a lot of holes. Right now the guys will have a week, until they rest, lick their wounds, get medical procedures. The most important thing is that we went through the championships without injuries, you saw what was happening on the high bar – a fall after a fall. Overall, it’s all fine, we’re still “swimming”. The girls have more problems, there we’ll have to think and think before the Worlds”.
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