Mustafina appointed acting junior coach

[ArnoldRimmer]

Last month’s news, but we’ve been back a couple of weeks and not had an Aliya thread so clearly that needs addressing. She is now the acting coach for the Russian juniors.

Gymnastics: Aliya Mustafina will serve as Russia’s acting junior women’s coach (olympicchannel.com)

I learned from the catshit and custard episode, amongst others, never to underestimate her, but it seems a big promotion for someone without much coaching experience. It also surely answers the question about another comeback, once and for all?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I keep forgetting this place bleeps out. Cat poo and custard episode. Bronners!

 

[allaround]

I think this is an interesting decision. It seems like a big coaching job for someone without a lot of coaching experience (but maybe she has more than we think). Then again, look at what Jordyn Wieber is doing at Arkansas…

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

I’d imagine she’d make for a very loving coach

Assuming Melnikova, Listunova, and Urazova are healthy and “locked” for the team in Tokyo, it’ll be interesting to see who gets the last team spot and the +1. I think Gerasimova and Minaeva would be the two most likely candidates for those, but Akhaimova could definitely have a shot.

Should we start a team predictions thread?

 

[jorge29]

is great Aliya be coach ,i think she has a lot for share with the new gymnast generations and i hope that the results be great.

i think is soon for start a team predictions thread ,maybe next month can be proper i think

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I should think we’ll need one soon enough.

 

[Dex]

She made a decision when she got pregnant. I hope this position allowes her to raise HER child, not to have her parents raise their granddaughter because that would be f… selfish…

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I wonder, do you feel the same about, say, Epke Zonderland’s decision to have a child whilst working as a surgeon and training elite? That can’t have left him with a great deal of time to spend with his child either, but didn’t seem to prompt even 5% of the discussion Mustafina’s arragements have.

 

[rlayt]

Im going to go ahead and flat-out say it: The neglected child comments always seem directed at women.

 

[megansothername]

Not to mention this is so different from culture to culture. In lots of countries it is extremely normal, in some cases even preferable, for grandparents to, at a minimum, play a huge role in raising children, and in some cases to practically raise them themselves. Multigenerational homes are much more common in some countries than others.

One of my closest friends is Russian, and when he and his wife wanted to move out of his in-laws house into an apartment closer to work with their two children there was substantial conflict with his in-laws, because even though they still see the children multiple days a week and help care for them, they would prefer to have them all in one house and to take primary responsibility for the children. From what he said it seemed they were almost offended that they wouldn’t want the grandparents to be full-time caregivers to the children.

That dynamic is completely foreign to me as an American who moved out of my parent’s house as early as possible, but that doesn’t make it wrong. We have no idea what Mustafina’s family dynamic is, and lots of family dynamics which would be signs of dysfunction in one place may be preferred or normal other places. My European friends find it horrifying that I live so far away from my family. It’s a central topic of conversation every time I go back and visit. For an American in my social circle, it’s completely normal.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

They do, don’t they? I understand the argument that parents who have choices shouldn’t opt to spend below a certain amount of time with children they’ve chosen to bring into the world. But if that’s a parenting standard, it’s a parenting standard for all parents regardless of their chromosomes. Yet it evidently isn’t. We know this because the criticism of Mustafina doesn’t mention her child’s other parent; I cannot remember seeing this even once. And because Epke doesn’t get the same critical lens applied despite choosing to combine work and training in a way that can’t possibly leave him much time to spend with his child.

Useful point about cultural considerations too. Let’s not be all WASP-centric about this.

 

[JaJa]

It’s a cultural thing for sure. It is also a class thing. Poor people are usually too busy working sometimes multiple jobs so they can keep a roof over their families’ head and food on the table. And rich people always had nannies to deal with much of the childcare. The notion of having to be home all the time to take care of your children is a strictly middle class thing. Anyway, people need to refrain from imposing their values on the rest of the world. Obviously people who excel in their work, and that includes elite gymnasts, don’t have the free time other people do. They can still be great parents. It’s the quality of time you spend not the quantity that counts I think.

 

[Dex]

No not perse, it does when the husband becomes a no show…

Epke is a totally different ballgame, my apologies but first of all he is a man and does not have to bare the child… he does not have to put his body through pregnancy.
Second he is in a stable and happy marriage where his wife is willing and able to care for their son. Mustafina is not if she is training full time.
Not blaming her, just stating a fact.
Who am I to judge her for it.
My opinion is just such that if you choose to have a child you, if able should care for it and not your parents.

 

[rlayt]

@Dex Families help each other. What difference does it make if a woman has her parents help as opposed to her husband. Or a widower man whose parents help him with childcare as opposed to a wife.

 

[makam]

Yeah, it isn’t like she signed up for single parenthood and (apparently) no child support. If she is lucky enough to have family willing and able to help, it certainly doesn’t hurt the child to have a close relationship with her grandparents.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

The child is now coming up for 4, so the pregnancy ended years ago. Can you explain how that’s relevant to the question of who cares for the child now? If we were talking about the difficulty of combining being a parent with high level competition then obviously the physical experience of pregnancy, birth and recovery would be very significant. But we’re not.

As for the rest, your argument seems to be that it’s ok for an athlete to benefit from childcare from the person who also did the reproductive labour, but not otherwise. Basically, you’re ok if you have a wife but ■■■■ out of luck otherwise. As well as being horribly sexist, because many more men have this option than women, it also amounts to deciding that the WASP cultural model is the best thing for everyone on the planet.

And ultimately, your opinion evidently isn’t that if you have a child you should care for it. It’s fine if some parents don’t. The XY ones. Nah.

 

[Dex]

Arnold, can you tone it down a bit and don’t bite my head of because my opinion differs from yours? Discussion is fine, degrading others opinions is not. Thank you.

I think parents should raise their children, not grandparents. When Mustafina was training FT she lived at round lake and did not see her daughter daily. Others can think differently, and I cannot judge her I can only have a different opinion. i feel she should have given the priority to raising her daughter and not be away from her for days on end.

The father was gone, grandparents helped out whitch is great but when the mother is gone 5 out of 7 days it is the grandparent raising the child, not the mother. Why did she have the child if it is raised by the grandparents?

 

[irichluck21]

The 4th athlete on your team is really just a throw away as Melnikova, Listunova, and Urazova could all do AA in team finals. I think the 4th athlete should be an OK AAer like Akhaimova who could do VT in team finals. Or perhaps Ilyankova to boost the UB scores and has a chance at a medal, however she would be risky in a 4-4-3 situation as she isn’t an AAer I don’t think. Agafonova would probably be a better risk as she can potentially make UB finals and was fairly impressive in the TQ AA. I would also add Yana Vorona to that list too.

 

[RedBirdie]

You’re being rather narrow-minded here, Dex. People have explained that different cultures have different ideas about the best way and family structure to raise children in. You’re also putting the vast vast vast majority of the responsibility on women and absolving men.

You’re judging Mustafina by a rigid set of standards, ones that don’t even necessarily apply to her community.

 

[irichluck21]

Your mindset and opinion is rather narrow though.

You are overly critical of Mustafina here. She might have been away from her daughter to train but competing was her job and she got paid for it.

Millions of children are raised by other people than parents.

What about fathers or mothers that are away from their children for a year or more due to being in the military and deployed in another country? What about parents that are constantly traveling for work? Or kids that get sent away to boarding school by rich parents?

In multiple cultures children are not the responsibility of just the parents. It is the extended family and in some cases in other countries, the entire village is responsible for raising the children.

Additionally, the greatest gymnast of all time was raised by her grandparents who adopted her and legally became her parents. Are you against this as well?