Minsk impressions

[Invisible Hedgehog]

Hi
yesterday we got home from Minsk. It is difficult to say whether we are satisfied or not. We did the required minimum that Irina Deriugina told us – 1 gold medal in the finals. Anna did it. But still we have a bit of sadness because of the terrible judging. But I will start from the beginning.
Ukrainian team came very early on Friday, at 6 a.m. And at 8 we had training already (kindly Belarus put us first to train), so we had no time to rest, but just jog to the Sports Palace, which was renewed not a long time ago for the hockey European championship. Impressions about the hall? Well, the ceiling was pretty low, at trainings often after the throws the apparatus touched the ceiling, but as I know, at competitions it didn’t happen. The amount of seats was not big, there was only one tribune, so a gymnast was observed from the face, not from the side or back. There were 2 training carpets – one on the left and one on the right, but they were a bit tough and it was difficult to leap on them. Near the competition carpet they didn’t put any more carpets, so we could see the ground of hockey rink. By the way, especially in the first day it was very cold in the gym because they have just melted the ice and the cold air was still in the hall. Anya and Natasha performed the training with music really great, they were so fluent, many coaches were standing and watching and they were really impressed, especially by the speedy work of Godunko. In the evening Leparskaya organized a welcoming party. Usually only coaches are present there, but in Minsk they asked gymnasts to be present too because they had to decide themselves the starting order.And so Albina Deriugina had to pick the starting order. There was a vase full of golden flowers and a gymnast came to the vase and picked the floor. And at the end of it there was a starting number. Guess what, Deriugina took out 17 and 18, the last numbers! The funniest was that number 1 was left till the end, nobody took it, and Katya Pisetsky took the last rose and everybody knew it will be number 1.
On Saturday the competition was starting pretty late and at the morning there was training. Viner with Kabaeva came in the evening on Friday. Viner was watching the training of Anya and Natasha and her face was….how to say…neglectful, it was ugly to look at her. When Kabaeva came out, she couldn’t do a routine under music, just drop after drop. Viner said that Kabaeva was tired, but Bessonova was in Greece and she was tired too! The draw of judges had to decide a lot. Tatiana Litovko took out the execution, but B doesn’t decide a lot in RG now, so it was very unfortunately. But the judging was very unfair, all the cubes were different and I’m sure that Russian judge was told which to pick because she had VT, the most important score. By the way, in Baku 5 judges got yellow cards and Laschinskaya was among them. And also judge from Israel, Fira and more, I don’t remember the names
The competition was divided into 2 rotations – Kapranova took number 2 and number 4 for Kabaeva (Alina didn’t come to the welcoming party). It was funny that BLR were competiting near – 7-8-9, only Cherkashina was with Ukraine in 2nd rotation. Kabaeva was simply horrible, especially on hoop and ribbon. In ribbon she had drop after drops, so many missed elements…And they put her 25.6! It is an impossible score. Berek judged EX and put her 9.0…excuse me, for 3 big drops 9.0? It’s a nonsence! Our judge put 8.4 and thought she was giving her a present! Kabaeva was horrible on hoop too, she missed many elements and dropped out of the carpet. As you could see by the results, her score there was up to her performance. It was very well seen that judges of TV and AV in hoop and clubs were MUCH objective than judges in ball and ribbon. Why? Because Laschinskaya was judging TV with Kazahstan. The judge from Kazahstan was a new face and she was not Russian-orientated, but Laschinskaya was dictating her which scores to put. She told to Nurgul that she will have huge problems in Kazahstan if she won’t put the score. As you could see, Kabaeva received a huge score for ball, mainly because of that judging. Zhukova did fine, but not for the 1st place, she had an awful ribbon, many mistakes and got 24.9! Comparing her score to Bessonova (going on to 2nd rotation) it was so subjective towards Anna.
Bessonova did a good and steady competition. The funniest thing is that she did ball and ribbon without mistakes and got 24 for them (6.8 in TV is really ridiculous, they put Kurilskaya and Pisetsky same scores in TV), while in hoop and clubs she had some vobles (in hoop she didn’t get her last catch, but there is an explanation – Anna had a bandaged foot and hoop is slipping of the feet, it happened for the 3rd time already, always when Anya bandages her foot). But in TV she was really perfect, many combinations were changed so that it was difficult for the judges not to count…but they don’t count anyway, it’s the worst thing. In clubs Anya dropped in AV, she didn’t catch 1 club after 2 rolls, but it’s only 0,1 and 0,1 for execution. Again, TV was very well done and she got high scores for those routines. But in ribbon and ball they killed Anna. They wanted to kill her morally. Anna was starting on ribbon and when she came and saw her score on the scoreboard, it was a real shock for her! Can you imagine how difficult it is to continue then? Anna deserved to win this competition, at least to be over Kabaeva with her mistake-full routines.
Godunko was simply superb, she had a little mistake in ribbon routine and surely Russian judge killed her and she got 23.55. What a nonsense! Her hoop, ball and clubs were simply outstanding, the audience was with her all the time. As Rudalova said, if some gymnasts are taught not to drop, Godunko should be taught how to drop.
Rudalova dropped all apparatus. As Palchevskaya said, Rudalova won’t be Rudalova if she didn’t miss something in the end. Katya Pisetsky made mistakes and Asmolov was quite strict with her.
A “brand new” gymnast from Uzbekistan – Olesia Ashaeva is a good gymnast, but nowadays she can’t get high scores. Quite interesting is the question which country will be next in import of gymnast – there are many more countries in Asia left.

In the finals Kabaeva performed much better, but Anna and Natasha were spectacular, only in ribbon Anna had a mistake and missed out 1.0 combination, so surely she got a low score and 0.5 deduction. I wonder – why Belarus is so laying under Russia that they didn’t give their gymnast an opportunity to win a Grand Prix in her country? It is simply ridiculous.
I felt very sorry for Zhukova. She did routines quite fine, but after she was leaving the carpet, in the training area she was falling on the ground and coaches from Belarus had to pick her up, to make injections for her. She had pain in hip
Azerbaijan and “usual” Kazahstan didn’t come because Viner forbid them to come (after such a triumph in Baku)

The gala was simply wonderful! We were all impressed, very beautiful. Unfortunately, we didn’t stay for the banquet and left straight from the Sport Palace, even didn’t watch the gala till the end.

All in all, the organization was really nice, but mostly thanks to the small amount of participants (only 12 countries – 18 participants). Leparskaya said that they want to organize something bigger, but I can’t imagine European or what’s more World Championship in that small hall. Even though the training facilities are very good there, there is another complex nearby, the hall is very small. Even our Sports Palace in Kiev is small for Europeans (7.000+ seats). In Belarus I think they have about 1.000

Next week is Corbeil but most likely Ukraine will not go there.

IH.

PS. Zhukova has a new ball…an awful one, the music earlier was not beautiful, Inna looked like a crystal statue in it, it was so beautiful! And this one…this music would suit Godunko, not Zhukova. They are making a clown out of Inna, she doesn’t have her style.
Kabaeva does a ball under Sertaki…well, I just can’t imagine how can a gymnast simply REPEAT all the things under another music? Another music, another character. Yes, some elements can stay, but not the whole routine without a slightest change!

PS2. I will make some videos if I find time and will send perharps.
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Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat
check - http://www.ukraine-rg.com !

[lili@]

Thanks for info I.H.!!!!!
Kabaeva changed ball routine???,she in Moscow has one routine and in few months other ???
I desire to see videos. Thanks again I.H.

[maxikasia001]

Thank you for your report!

Did you see Joanna Mitrosz from Poland perform? If yes, could you tell your opinion about her? Thanks in advance

[galya]

Thanks IHIt is a pity, that Anya and Nata will not be in Corbeil
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Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience!

[Invisible Hedgehog]

Johanna...well, I didn't like her. She had very bad feet and doesn't do the combinations. It is quite sad. Anyways, she has Shishkovska behind her. And after all-round Shishkovska came and started to shout at our judge that she put very low score for the execution of Mitrosz.
Quite funny that Mitrosz was in the finals where in all-round a judge from Poland was...
_________________
Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat
check - http://www.ukraine-rg.com !

[Invisible Hedgehog]

[flexygirl]

Thanks for the report

[maxikasia001]

Thank you for your answer. Do you know who was the judge from Poland?
If you happen to have a video of Joanna I would be very eager to see it, please. Thanks in advance

[Invisible Hedgehog]

Adriana Studinska.
_________________
Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat
check - http://www.ukraine-rg.com !

[aldami5]

Thanks, for your great report !

[maxikasia001]

thanks!

[Loolita]

why won''t anny and natalia be in corbeil????..
i was so gald to see them.....i'm so sad now
please IH answer me !!!
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Don't forget the power of your fingers !

[Dalitmarcus]

THANKS FOR THE INTERSTING REPORT

[Anna Kull]

THANK'S A LOT FOR YOUR LONG!!! AND INTRESSTING REPORT!!!

[Dorin Ron]

IH, a huge thanks for your report. Interesting as always!
How did Kapranova do? She scored pretty high as well. Was it due to her performance or due to the judging?
And what about Kurilskaya and Cherkashina? Were they normal or just at home?
Thanks!
Kisses ~*Dorin*~