This and That: Part Two

Alexander Alexandrov explained why girls like Komova and Mustafina reach the top of the rostrum, while girls like Alissa Czisny do not:

“They have to be a bitch”…


Re:Mustafina...

No, she’s made of steel. Every fiber -Once she’s well prepared! And her breakdowns/ failures – those you just don’t see. She falls off the beam, sits down and sobs, gets up, tries again, falls again, and then once again dissolves into tears. She’s repeated this cycle countless times at each workout for many months in a row. She’s difficult! With all these girls it’s very difficult. But they are all atypical. Leaders are never easy.

Is Komova easier in this sense?

No, she is also very difficult. But this is just naturally how it works! Can an easygoing, complacent, docile kid who says, “oh well, it’s alright, I suppose…..” win the Olympic games? Never in my life!

Alexandrov bluntly stated “They have to be a bitch”…

Exactly, exclusively a bitch! It’s the law of sport!

Read all about the status of Mother Russia in the latest translated interview.  Komova will not do all events at Europeans...it sounds like she will do bars and beam.  Mustafina may or may not do floor.  Alexandrov himself claimed she was gifted at Russian Nationals.  Ksenia Afansyeva will miss the European Championships due to tonsillitis.  This is somewhat suspicious as she recently missed the tri-meet due to a minor injury.  It sounds like they will save the aging floor specialist until she needs to pound some landings this summer.  Whether Dementyeva or Paseka will replace her at the upcoming European Championships is a burning question.  Both could use the big meet tune-up.

Beth Tweddle will miss the European Championships due to minor 'keyhole surgery' on her knee.  This is certainly a hindrance to her Olympic preparation on floor, but it could mean even more hell for the girls who wish to challenge her on bars this summer.  There is certainly a change for the Russian girls to dominate bars in two weeks.  

Patrick Chan vowed to work on a new quad.  Good luck without his technical maestro.

I've really enjoyed watching Dare Maxwell regain her old skills and form on her youtube channel.  Dare is back at Dynamo Gymnastics, just managed to earn a spot to JO Nationals and looks to be regaining skills in earnest.  Tracking her journey has been most interesting.  It is also wonderful that Dynamo doesn't look to have changed an iota since Shannon and her scrunchies worked their wrists choreography until the tendons gave out.

Jade Barbosa does a Cheng:

A filmmaker is working on a documentary about Adult Skating and our particular brand of crazy.