He’s so honest.
From a rsport.ru interview translation posted on “Fanatic“:
– Everyone is talking about the difficult nature of Aliya. When you started working with her, did you expect her to grow into a great gymnast and a champion?
– You know, I did not want to take her. I came, and they told me “Here’s this girl Mustafina who was left without a coach. She trains at CSKA (Central Sports Army Club) in the “not too promising” group”. …
…
– Would you say that she had been the most difficult student in your career?
– No, I had too difficult a time with Bilozerchev ( He is blaming himself here). I had to work with Boginskaya – another one who was a real treat (sarcastically). Do you think Komova is easy? For some reason there is a stereotype that Mustafina is the villain while Grishina is supposedly the perfect child. Absolutely not! And Komova works very hard, but all of them can get sulky. They also understand how nothing is given (how you must work for everything)!
And Aliya came over to me after the bronze medal in the all-around, and says: “Do you know what the journalists said? Valentina Rodionenko told them that I had no chance to win anything here, except on bars”. What could I say to say to that? The interview was given before the Olympics. Why? I wish/I should have gone and apologized in her (Rodionenko’s) place/ behalf….
Here’s another translation of the article.
Alexandrov is the best interview in gymnastics these days.
Has Valentina Rodionenko finally been muzzled? … I hope so.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 