last day the same way I prepared for the first day.”
Last year Mustafina’s program was more than
enough to take on—and control of—the world. She
is one of the few gymnasts capable of consistently
competing an Amanar vault ( 21⁄2-twisting
Yurchenko), and she has her own dismount on
uneven bars, a 11⁄2-twisting double back. Olga
Gurova choreographed Mustafina’s stunning floor
exercise routine to the “Hijo de la Luna” (Son of
the Moon), an enchanting melody that Mustafina
selected among several choices that Gurova offered
her.
2011 finds Mustafina and Alexandrov working
on new elements (“so far, a secret,” Mustafina
notes) so she can remain on top at this year’s big
meets, namely the European championships in
Berlin in April and worlds in Tokyo in October.
“First, we have to figure out how to make her
program more difficult,” Alexandrov says. “On
floor, we have to improve her difficulty in order not
to lose to the strongest gymnasts in the world, like
the Americans and Chinese. We also have to work
on her beam performance. We’re also going to
work on her vault. We’ll see what happens.”
Alexandrov says Mustafina’s emergence personi-
fies the dynamic rejuvenation of the Russian nation-
al program. He says gymnasts and coaches have
united to try and make gymnastics as great as it was
when Russian gymnasts helped the former Soviet
Union dominate the sport from the 1950s through
the ‘80s.
“The main reason is that the Russian team
acquired Mustafina, (2008 European junior all-around champion Tatiana) Nabiyeva and (Anna)
Dementyeva, and a new generation of gymnasts
came to the team,” Alexandrov says. “Those gymnasts show a higher level of difficulty. The level of
performance is more intense. Girls like (new senior
Viktoria) Komova and others also have very good
potential, and that’s why the Russian team has a
“Unless you’re going to
convince her, she’s not going
to trust you,” Alexandrov
says. “She has a similar
character to Bilozerchev.”
future. The other reason is because the selection of
coaches is very special. They are working very hard
and they put their hearts into their work. And final-
ly, we got tired of being third or fourth, and we
wanted to get to the higher level.”
Key sponsorships are pouring vital financial
resources into Russian gymnastics, and Alexandrov
credits Russian bank VTB and
“I am very grateful to VTB,”
Alexandrov says. “Thanks to this
bank, we have equipped a lot of
gyms. Now, because we have new
gyms, of course we have new gym-
nasts. Mutko has a very favorable
attitude towards gymnastics now.
He believed in us, so (the ministry)
started to finance us and provide us
with gyms. That means gymnastics
is starting to come back to life, like
before.”
Twenty years since the dissolu-
tion of the Soviet Union,
Alexandrov is both cautious and
optimistic in forecasting independ-
ent Russia’s prospects for global
supremacy in 2011 and beyond.
“Mainly, we have to avoid
injuries, because gymnastics is a very difficult sport
and there is the potential for injuries,” he says.
“Those injuries get people off-track. Secondly,
which will be the hardest thing, is that we have to
forget about everything, including our success in
2010. We have to train hard and prove to the
whole world that we are the nation of gymnastics,
like it used to be in the Soviet Union.”
Alexandrov is quick to add that he still views the
U.S. (second at the ’ 10 worlds), China (first at
the’08 Olympics) and perennial team medalist
Romania as admirable foes.
