back on my bullshit (figure skating & gymnastics)

-Aly Raisman was cited as just “an American girl” twice in the interview, sorry to the 2015 raistafina girlies, ferrari is mentioned though

-she doesn’t find bars difficult

-can’t tell from the translation at 26:30 but she either didn’t like the routine or the bars equipment on 2012 EF day

-she brought back her old 5/2 dismount while training IN Rio, which was exciting for her (she felt her d score was too low…and that was the only skill she warmed up before the EF)

-she trained a 1/1 + double double off bars in 2016, but said landing that dismount without the speed was too difficult

-she’s not big on the being stopped on the street type of fame. she’s aware of her foreign fans

-translation could be off, but does not acknowledge the memmel’s existance(??) I’ll take my historian’s word, so true the mustafina turn was first

-she took a break in 2014 to just study and not do gym becuase she was so mentally tired (and immediately got ankle surgery after deciding to come back)

-she has had chronic back pain since she was 12

-Aliya was sick at worlds in 2014, which makes the floor EF result even funnier

-took her captain role very seriously in Rio with the young girls. Made sure to set their expectations on what they were capable of, rather than fight tooth and nail with the U.S.

-isn’t a believer of more reps in elite = more consistent, believes every athlete is different

-Aliya was worried for the girls in Rio, because apparently Russians thought they might be turned away entering the Olympic village (with the whole ‘olympic athletes from Russia’ thing?? I did not hear reports of this myself…no idea if this was a justified concern?)

-the girls are what kept her in the sport a lot longer than she would’ve been without them

-her post-pregnancy recovery was really driven by curiosity in seeing what she was capable of day by day

-David tries to start shit by saying Irina Alexeeva went to Russia in 2018 because she couldn’t make the U.S. team, but Aliya shuts that down saying “I don’t know that story and I wasn’t a coach in 2018 idk idc”

-tore a calf muscle in 2019, after being basically in her self proclaimed best competition shape

-she has no regrets about her career or retiring

-translation is wonky, but it sounds like she trained a 3/2 shap? Like a shap with one and a half twist? there’s no video evidence for this >:(

-London bars final is her favorite gym memory, because of how happy her coaches were for her

-doesn’t care about Alisa’s results, just wants her to still enjoy and be interested in the sport :)