Two weeks ago, the news broke that Aliya Mustafina had gotten a new personal coach, for the first time since Alexander Alexandrov’s departure, more than 20 months ago.
This was phenomenal news for the fans of the Russian gymnast, who had started to become more and more vocal about Aliya’s need for a “proper coach”: for most of the past two years, Aliya had been helped by coreographer Raisa Ganina, who managed to make a positive difference with regards to her choreo and artistic elements, but under which Mustafina’s acrobatics, tumbling and difficulty seemed to be fading by the day.
Enters Sergei Starkin, a successful coach to Denis Ablyazin, who expressed genuine enthusiasm to work with Mustafina: ” … a girl who has done so much for her country, the best gymnast in Russia, cannot be left without a coach one and a half years before the Olympic Games. You can’t leave her without support! She had begun to realise that, unfortunately, without a coach her results were beginning to fail. She wants to overcome this crisis.” [translation via Rewriting Russian Gymnastics]
Now Aliya has arrived with Penza, starting training in a new gym and with her new coach:
*Aliya’s basic info/major results*
Reporter: Aliya recently made the decision to compete for Penza Oblast (Region) and to train under Sergei Starkin, Merited Trainer of the Russian Federation [TN: this is a title].
Aliya: Because I wanted to work with Sergei Valeriyevich. Because I realized that it would be difficult for me to train alone any longer and, knowing Sergei Valeriyevich, I can trust him.
Reporter: Aliya is already training in Penza, in the Burtasy Sports Palace. According to her, the primary focus is directed toward basic elements and those exercises which don’t cause her back to hurt. Aliya says right now what is most important is for her to get into competition form in order to compete successfully next year.
Aliya: First my back has to heal. If my back gets better, then we can talk about my programme, competitions…right now there’s no point in talking about competitions when I can’t predict when my back will hurt.
*Aliya mentions the most important competitions next year* (Nationals and Russian Cup, Euros, Worlds, EYOF, Universiade)
*Bit about how Aliya has been to Burtasy before for competitions and about all the equipment. Aliya mentions it’s useful to be able to train on podium.*
Starkin: There are differences between men’s and women’s gymnastics, but when I was just starting my career I worked with girls, so women’s gymnastics isn’t “news” to me, there’s nothing scary. About the division of training; of course athletes like Denis Ablyazin and Aliya Mustafina require individual attention. Their training schedules are different even when they’re here in Penza.
The last part focuses on Denis Ablyazin, his success in 2014 (he was a floor World champion and multiple gold medalist at Euros), and his plans for next year. Starkin says they’ve got upgrades in mind for floor and vault, but rings is a little trickier.
Translation by Lauren C (thank you Sara Dorrien)
Photo cover: Nadia Boyce