Best and Worst of This Quadrennium

Someone asked me to pick my "superficial favorites" and "podiums of shame" on tumblr and I originally meant to add those posts to the series about my favorite routines from this quadrennium, but forgot. But good thing this a blog, not a newspaper so I can just forget stuff and then post it whenever I like. So here we go. The categories were a part of the request, not picked by me.

SUPERFICIAL FAVORITES

BEST LEOTARD

1. Aliya's "lucky blue leo". This leo had some great moments (its Worlds medals include 2013 BB gold, 2014 BB & FX bronze), and it' pretty too. It was definitely one of the favorites among the team too, worn by many.

2. Euros 2016 Team QF. I first wasn’t quite sure about this leo because the rhinestones that go right across the chest looked a bit awkward, but now I actually love the design. Very simple, but still something different. And the color is amazing. The "antlers" on the neck line also good because of the coloring, I'm not a fan of the design when they stick out too much.

3. Baku TF day 2. I just love simple, sporty leos and this one is great. A+.  The patriotic colors are nice and don't seem "forced", and the leo looked good on anyone who wore it, a rarity. I guess this is technically from last quad (they wore it in Jesolo 2012), but I’m just going to ignore that.

A special mention for these two throwback leos:

Vika’s leo gives me those good 2010 vibes, but with a new color. And it must be even luckier than Aliya’s lucky blue one, because Glasgow was the only major competition Vika competed in all quad and this leo got her through alive with a gold medal to top it off. And it looks beautiful on her.

Seda’s vintage leo has survived 3 quads (baby Aliya included), and it actually looks great on her. I love it. 

My Khaleesi

Someone asked me to make an edit of Queen Aliya on the Iron Throne, so naturally I made one. It is only right, that she should have her own throne. It would probably be more appropriate if the throne was made of the destroyed uneven bars and glittered tears of her enemies, but I'm sure she'll be fine with this one.

The reason that I posted this here however is, that it reminded me of THIS:

That's right, Aliya, the Dark Khaleesi, doing floor to the theme of Game of Thrones. The choreography actually fits the music really well, I was half expecting a dragon to fly in and carry her to the podium to get her medal.

I didn't unfortunately make that floor edit, and the person who did has deleted their tumblr so I can't link you to them either. But all the credit to them, may Khaleesi Aliya bless their lives.

My Favorite Routines from This Quadrennium (IV)

So this one should be probably named "My Favorite(ish) Routines", because Russia and floor was kind of a disaster this quad. It was a real shame too considering that they were AMAZING last quad, Aliya, Vika, Grishy, Afan, Belo, Myzdrikova, Semy, Demy...how I miss Russia's 2009-2012 floor. Oh well, since I have to stick with this quad, we might suffer from a bit of an Aliya-overdose. If that's even possible.

It actually took me days to assemble nice routines, and after spending more days looking at them and grinding my teeth over naming this mediocre mess "my favorite", I ended up dividing them into two groups. The first group is dedicated to my actual favorite routines, and the second group are the routines that were highlights in the middle of everything terrible, but not really that memorable. Enjoy. Or not. I don't blame you if you fall asleep after the first group.

FLOOR EXERCISE

My actual favorite routines:

Aliya Mustafina immediately brought on her A-game starting in 2013 with TWO new floor routines. I absolutely love her routine from 2013 European Championships. It's very different from her later routines, it almost reminds me of 2010 Aliya. There's just something understated but captivating about it, and that beautiful pose during her "down to the floor" choreography gave us some great pictures. And look at her execution too, the first tumbling line is pretty much perfect, the other tumbles are very well landed too, and powerful. The spins have control, even the almost "Mustafina". We just haven't often seen the perfectionist side of Aliya on floor this quad, but this performance definitely stands out to me. And the extensive amount of time she spends in the corner breathing and uhm... "dancing" before her last tumbling line, it just makes me nostalgic, such classic Aliya.

Round Lake Update with some old friends

The Munich Munchkins. That's my nickname for the half-German Russians, who spend more time in Munich than in Round Lake. Queen Aliya, the leader of the Munchkins, seems to have stayed in one piece since the Olympics and doesn't have any broken parts that need either replacements or regular maintenance at the moment, but Viktoria Komova and Maria Paseka are in Germany.

Vika was diagnosed with some fractured vertebrae before the Olympics and is probably just getting a routine follow-up. I don't think she can return to full training before 2017, but we'll see. Masha has been suffering from back pain for months and was in and out of training because of it all year, but I think this is her first time visiting the German Miracle Doctors, hopefully they'll figure out what's wrong. Vika spent a long time in Russia with a wrong diagnosis and treatment, so Masha should be better off in Munich too. It's October and they're in Bavaria, so my mind immediately went to Oktoberfest, but unfortunately (or fortunately) for the girls, it ended a week ago. No beer and lederhosen treatment for back pain then.

Aliya Mustafina: Master of Sports -Interview

Queen Aliya graced a Russian radio show with her presence yesterday, they also videotaped the interview so you can watch it here, it's a long one.

She's really shy and it makes her a bit awkward in a quiet and pensive way. It's adorable. And I'm really jealous of that, because I too am extremely shy, but instead of being awkward in a quiet and pensive way I'm "Chandler". I talk nervously to fill the silence, I say anything and everything that pops into my head and then immediately regret it and start cracking bad jokes to break the ice. It's terrible. When I say something really stupid, people just stare at me like I'm crazy (probably because I am crazy), and that happened twice today. It's the worst thing ever.

But I ventured completely off topic, as usual.

They discuss Aliya's career, what growing up in gymnastics is like, what daily life in Round Lake is and how she supports her younger teammates. Aliya's "bad temper" also comes up, naturally... She says she wishes to continue in gymnastics and the poor unworthy interviewer asks/suggests about becoming uneven bars specialist. The Queen is an all arounder, end of story.

The hacking comes up briefly, I don't think Aliya really even commented on it, but they discuss the success of USA. Aliya says they have a lot of kids doing gymnastics, they are very strong and have difficult programmes, but lack beauty, the training is different. They then mention Valeri Liukin's promotion and consider it, because Nastia was a very beautiful gymnast. They also discuss gymnasts/coaches leaving Russia.

They then talk about the Olympic infrastructure in Rio, Olympic Village, food and living conditions. Aliya didn't think were any notable problems, at least for the gymnasts.

They obviously discuss injuries and relationships with coaches,  a lot about Aliya's relationship with Aleksandrov.

I don't understand much about the rest, I'll post a translation of the interview if I find one.

My Favorite Routines from This Quadrennium (III)

BALANCE BEAM

The day of the 2013 World Championships balance beam final I was visiting my grandmother with my mother and missed it live, but when I came back, I immediately went to my computer (I wanted to watch the actual competition before looking at the results), but before it was even on, my mother had turned on the TV and yelled at me that they were showing highlights. I ran to the living room and looked at Aliya with her gold and my mother was like "isn't she your favorite gymnast, she won, how nice" and I was like "NO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND this is BALANCE BEAM, it's her worst apparatus, SHE'S A WORLD CHAMPION on BALANCE BEAM!!!!". And that was Antwerp summed up for me. Of all the great beam workers in that final, it was Aliya who somehow took the gold. This routine is fucking legendary and it kills me that people who didn't follow gymnastics back then are like my mother and will never understand those feelings. Those two years when Aliya's beam was a complete disaster and she scored 11 at an international major competition are lost from memory and there's nothing shocking about her being a World Champion on beam anymore.