Job opening for Alexander Alexandrov at World Champions Centre. 

ahhhh i can’t rewind but did i in fact see aliya, oleg, and alexandrov sitting together? 

ALEXANDROV LOL

I think that’s the biggest smile I’ve ever seen from him.

I’ve waited my whole life for this photo

whaaaaaaa??

I love that Alexandrov’s advice to the Russian coaches is literally: 

1. Get Mustafina back and healthy. 2. Convince your team to give any fuck whatsoever.

I liked Alexander from the start. He looks like a father. I felt I could trust him. He always helped me, in all situations, whatever happened. 

(via lenadeluna)

“That bronze might be worth more to her than gold. I can’t even recall an example of any gymnast having an injury like that and then coming back to the very highest level.” - Alexander Alexandrov on Aliya’s floor exercise bronze

all i’m asking for in life is for Alexandrov to smash rodionenkos’ door and say ‘i heard u were talking shit’

"Here’s the thing: she knows it and always says —even when I start to speak as her personal trainer— the important thing is the team first." -Alexander Alexandrov when asked if it was difficult to balance personally coaching Aliya Mustafina with his responsibilities as head coach of the Russian women’s team.

So I went on a scavenger hunt looking for pictures of Alexander with gymnasts who aren’t Aliya Mustafina and low and behold, look what I found. Oh, what’s that Sergei Zelikson? What’s that Maria Ulyankina? You claim Alexander favors Aliya to the point that it is detrimental to your own gymnast? Well, maybe you should take a closer look at what the real problem is there because when I was digging for pictures of Alexander with Anastasia Grishina and Maria Paseka, I couldn’t find any. However, I did stumble across these lovely photos of him with Viktoria Komova, Tatiana Nabieva, and Ksenia Afanasyeva. So, is the problem really that he isn’t devoting enough time specifically to your gymnasts? Or maybe, just maybe, is it that you aren’t letting him get close enough to them to do his job? I don’t know, you tell me. 

I can just imagine Alexandrov and Valentina passing each other in the hotel hallways in Antwerp giving each other the nastiest glares.

god help us if they have to take an elevator together.

From the Rewriting Russian Gymnastics interview, part 2.

Oh. Em. Gee. 

(via marydebenham)

Poor Demy—how unfair, especially when Grishina underperformed in London despite all of Valentina’s hype. The endemic, poisonous favoritism displayed the Rodionenkos is just saddening.

(via mustdefine)

Aliya’s dad to Alexandrov when they first spoke (x)  (via heypaseka)

things alexandrov said about aliya

"Screw Valentina, you know what you can do, so get on there and prove it!"

"I will always be there for Aliya, as a coach, as a friend or as a mentor, always."

"When I made my decision to leave, Aliya and I had a very long and good talk, where I told her exactly what I think and how I see things.  She is a bright young lady, so she understood everything I was talking about and my situation.  So we parted in a very good and friendly way, although it was extremely sad and difficult for both of us."

“Going back a bit, after working as Head Coach for some time, it became apparent that my relationship with the Rodionenkos was quickly going down.  I had several talks with Aliya, trying to explain to her that she would have a large target on her forehead and things would get very tough.  But I promised Aliya that I would stay as long as I could to help her to recover and to help to prepare her for London Olympic Games.  VR has made things for Aliya very difficult and dangerous, not listening to me or to anyone trying to reason with her about any safety precautions that needed to take place.”

"I call Aliya sometimes to see how things are.  I called her a little before the Universiade, and felt that her voice was really “off”. I told her that I wanted to wish her luck in upcoming competitions, but she told me that she wasn’t sure if she would compete and she had been in a hospital for a week.  I told her that if she was going to compete in this shape, she would only do more damage to herself; no one needs that from her.  I told her that in the scheme of things, Universiade is not Worlds or Olympic Games.  I understand the importance of these competitions, but her health should be number one priority right now, especially if she wants to compete at Worlds this year.  So I told her to make a decision that is best for her health and not to go out there and compete “on emotions”." (x)

Finding out that one of the main reasons why Alexandrov left Aliya was to protect her...