You Worry Me, My Tsaritsa

My last post was about Vika's struggle after London and now I'm going to write about my tsaritsa, Aliya. She's been worrying me all year long and it looks like she's going to keep worrying me next year too. The Russian team administration treats her as a lock for Rio (at least from the outside). She's constantly doing publicity and interviews talking about the event and her plans for training, but Rio is 8 months away and she isn't actually training, and hasn't been for awhile now. I feel like the Russian team is either refusing to acknowledge this fact, or they have acknowledged it but are keeping it firmly under wraps. For publicity, financial or moral support for the team, I don't know. But the situation bothers me.

This year was such a roller coaster with her. Pulling out of competitions late last year because of her back. Getting a new coach and starting training again. Not being ready for Nationals or Euros. Coming back spectacularly for European Games, things looking great for Worlds. Stopping training again during Worlds preparation, no one knowing what was going on. Her saying that her back was too much again, the Rodionenkos insisting that she was ready for Worlds, but just excused from Russian Cup. Then not going to Worlds preparation camp, but still named to the team. The new knee injury and surgery. We could get a Russian telenovela out of that.

But on with my thoughts about Aliya and 2016.


Next year is going to mark a decade of elite gymnastics for Aliya Mustafina. 7 years of World class routines, 6 years on senior level. The last 3 years have been filled with injuries and quick comebacks followed with exhaustion and more injuries and more quick comebacks. That's a lot for both body and mind. Her back has been a constant problem since her last Olympic push in 2012. Her ankle has been a recurring issue since 2010. She tore her knee badly in 2011 and now a bit less badly before Worlds. The injury might be less severe, but she also has less time to come back. In 2011 she was much younger (at least in gymnastics years) and back to full training by now, this time she can't train fully until February.

She is only going to have 6 months to prepare, and no time to gain competition experience for her new routines. The Russian team prefers to rest her whenever possible, so I think she'll miss nationals, and probably even Europeans. That leaves friendly meets if she feels like she's ready and Russian Cup, again something she's going to do only if she's 100% ready. She's an experienced gymnast and handles pressure well, but that's still little in preparation for a competition as big as the Olympics.

I'm not saying she can't do it, it's Aliya after all. She was the most decorated gymnast in London, even with her injuries and still looking defeated at the European Championships same year. She didn't have much time to prepare for European Games this year, but showed up in Baku with difficult routines and only seemed to get better and more confident as the competition progressed. She also has the ability to adapt to her physical limitations. She changes her routines according to what she can do at that moment but manages to keep her difficulty scores high with clever routine construction. But we'll see if it will be enough for the Olympics.

So making Rio is going to be a huge effort for her body, but there'a also the question of motivation. That was never an issue before, Aliya is known for her fighting spirit, determination and ambition, she wants to be the best and works hard for it, giving up isn't an option. Even with injuries and illnesses she always found a way to do everything she could the best she could and she got results. For 2 years she seemed to be the only one of the Russians winning medals and carrying the team, no matter what was going on with her.

She's surely motivated to help the team do well, but I think that a huge part of her motivation also comes from ambition and pride in being one of the best. This quote particularly comes to mind:

If I can’t surprise people with my performances again and fight for the win, why continue? I’m not the type of person who travels to competitions just to tread water.

Based on her interviews after Nanning, I think she was disappointed with the results. That bronze on floor exercise was a huge surprise and her reaction it will make anyone smile, but not medaling on AA and UB must have been hard for her. Especially uneven bars, where she hit her routine but still didn't medal. It could mess with anyone's motivation, finding out that you can do your best but it still won't be enough.
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But yeah.... Now I'm just making my poor little fangirl heart depressed thinking about whether we'll get Queen Musty back. She'll do what she wants, what makes her happy and what's best for her. But I really hope we do. And I hope she'll prove all my doubts wrong because that's what she does best. And if Rio is going to be her swan song, I want it to be amazing.
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Sorry about this terribly constructed post, it's really late (or early) and I'm tired... I'll maybe write a new more coherent post about this subject some day if I have time.

How about we end this with a video montage? One of the countless ones with Aliya rising from the ashes in 2012. Maybe we'll have more of these after Rio, Aliya rising from the ashes, fighting through the hard times and finding her way to victory again.