Status: For Nano Wrimo, finished November 28, 2012 at 51,214 words
The New Queen
The Return to the Homeland
In March Anna finished with the year. She left Mikhail, Sam and Sarah behind to go back to Russia. To be completely honest she wasn’t completely sure if this was the right decision. Usually all her decisions made sense and she felt right with them but….she didn’t know if she could come back.
Since 2018 worlds she dropped twenty pounds, but she still had grown a lot taller and had a different muscle mass.
This time her mother wasn’t there to take her to the training center. Usually she would drive her there and help her unpack. It felt different going to Lake Krugloe. It’s been almost a year since she’s stepped foot in the building.
Anna went up to her new room, she was going to be by herself for a while since the season had already started. She unpacked all her things. She brought her all-around medal from Rio with her. She kept it hidden in a small towel in a make-up back in her draw. She needed it for inspiration. If she worked hard she could make it to the olympics again.
She stared at her medal for a long time just thinking about what she had just done. She didn’t want to quit now. She was going to train her ass off and she was going to make it. She didn’t like the word failure in the same sentence with her name.
There was a knock at her door. Anna quickly stuffed the medal in her draw and opened the door. Aliya was standing there with her things.
“Hey roommate” Anna smiled and attacked Aliya in a big bear hug, causing her to drop her things.
“I’m glad I don’t have to do this alone!”
“I cant make many promises” Aliya said. “I”ve been training since December. My body can’t really handle a lot of this stuff but Catalina Ponor did it…so can it” Anna smiled. She let go of Aliya.
Anna helped Aliya unpack her things and together they talked about all the things they did after they went into retirement.
Aliya traveled the world seeing all the great sights and then she came back and moved to Moscow where she went on with college. We already know what Anna did.
“I can’t believe I’m back here again” Aliya said. “I didn’t want to be one of those gymnasts that came back because the team needed us….a little struggle never hurt”
“Fifth place is a big drop from medal contention” Anna said.
“I know, I know we are heading. Until Alexandrov took over after Beijing we had a sudden revivial in Russian gymnastics. Without him we would be out of it” she explained. “Without Evgeny, even”
“Evgeny can only do so much” Anna said. “Why was he so good with me and just me?”
“The Rodinenko’s works with the seniors, Evgeny’s with the juniors” Aliya said. “None of his juniors can comete until the year of the olympics at the earliest” she said. “The juniors look great but the seniors need work”
“What about Alexandrov?”
“He permenately retired from coaching…I don’t know why. After I retired I would think he would want to continue”
“You’re just a diva, so he quit for good” Anna joked. Aliya giggled.
“I don’t know” Aliya said. “It’s a hard road ahead of us” Aliya put her gold medal from London on her bed. “But we can make it”
Since 2018 worlds she dropped twenty pounds, but she still had grown a lot taller and had a different muscle mass.
This time her mother wasn’t there to take her to the training center. Usually she would drive her there and help her unpack. It felt different going to Lake Krugloe. It’s been almost a year since she’s stepped foot in the building.
Anna went up to her new room, she was going to be by herself for a while since the season had already started. She unpacked all her things. She brought her all-around medal from Rio with her. She kept it hidden in a small towel in a make-up back in her draw. She needed it for inspiration. If she worked hard she could make it to the olympics again.
She stared at her medal for a long time just thinking about what she had just done. She didn’t want to quit now. She was going to train her ass off and she was going to make it. She didn’t like the word failure in the same sentence with her name.
There was a knock at her door. Anna quickly stuffed the medal in her draw and opened the door. Aliya was standing there with her things.
“Hey roommate” Anna smiled and attacked Aliya in a big bear hug, causing her to drop her things.
“I’m glad I don’t have to do this alone!”
“I cant make many promises” Aliya said. “I”ve been training since December. My body can’t really handle a lot of this stuff but Catalina Ponor did it…so can it” Anna smiled. She let go of Aliya.
Anna helped Aliya unpack her things and together they talked about all the things they did after they went into retirement.
Aliya traveled the world seeing all the great sights and then she came back and moved to Moscow where she went on with college. We already know what Anna did.
“I can’t believe I’m back here again” Aliya said. “I didn’t want to be one of those gymnasts that came back because the team needed us….a little struggle never hurt”
“Fifth place is a big drop from medal contention” Anna said.
“I know, I know we are heading. Until Alexandrov took over after Beijing we had a sudden revivial in Russian gymnastics. Without him we would be out of it” she explained. “Without Evgeny, even”
“Evgeny can only do so much” Anna said. “Why was he so good with me and just me?”
“The Rodinenko’s works with the seniors, Evgeny’s with the juniors” Aliya said. “None of his juniors can comete until the year of the olympics at the earliest” she said. “The juniors look great but the seniors need work”
“What about Alexandrov?”
“He permenately retired from coaching…I don’t know why. After I retired I would think he would want to continue”
“You’re just a diva, so he quit for good” Anna joked. Aliya giggled.
“I don’t know” Aliya said. “It’s a hard road ahead of us” Aliya put her gold medal from London on her bed. “But we can make it”