Aliya Mustafinaad to withdraw from the European Championships, European Games, and Russian Cup last year due to injuries. In October, she announced she was taking a break from gymnastics to recharge and find motivation again. Later, she reiterated she was waiting for motivation to come back. It seems that the motivation has not come back yet and Valentina Rodionenko is not happy. Rodionenko told TASS that Mustafina was supposed to start training again in January but has not done it yet:
“She’s not training but there are five months till the Olympics. She used to have motivation, she said to us back in December that from the 1st of January [she would start training], but the 1st of March is around the corner and she hasn’t showed up and we can’t force her. She has weight issues, so, it’s obvious she can’t lose the excessive [weight]. I, our specialists, and the coaching staff have not seen such precedents yet that a person would have so much extra weight and would get back to normal in those months and compete at the Olympics. Our team would not be worth a dime if an unprepared person who has not competed anywhere, if we put them on the team. What would we say to the others, the ones that are preparing and competing? There’s also the competitive selection, it’s not for nothing, and there will only be four people on the team at the Games. The [Russian] Championships will put everything in its place, then the Euros and we’ll go from that.”
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