Post by JustMyTwoCents on Nov 14, 2006 7:56:37 GMT -5
Artamanova's playing time at the 04 Olympics, injuries aside, seemed to follow Karpol's pattern of easing newer bombers in and veteran bombers out. Ex: Tatiana Sidorenko (80s, replaced by Elena Batuktina/Tiourna but brought to Barcelona) and Irina Smironva (late 80s/90s, replaced by Artamanova but brought to Atlanta). Whatever the combination - Sidorenko/Smirnova, Smirnova/Batuktina-Tiourina, Batuktina-Tiourina/Artamanova, Artamanova/Godina/Shashkova-Kilic-Sokolva, Sh-Ki-So/Gamova - no one in the world was able to stop them.
Rumor was that Godina was blacklisted by Karpol for a number of reasons, but wasn't forced to return to the national team like Sokolova. I agree with BryBry that it wouldn't have made that big of a difference. With Artamanova, Sokolova and Gamova, there was a lot of firepower but not the ball control. Gamova didn't pass at all so they would only have had 2 true passers in Tiourina and Sokolova. They wouldn't have been nearly as successful without the passing that led to Tischenko and Tebenikhina being the offensive threats they were.
The U.S. needs to send its outside hitters to whatever bootcamp training Artamanova went through from 1992 to now. In '92 she couldn't pass a ball and benefited from Karpol's woman-up digging where the digger stands in the right spot around the block and hopes to get hit. In 2000, she was pretty impressive passing a ball and she's even been a passer in the Japanese pro league.
The player the U.S. needs to clone is Sokolova. She's a stud all-around player with the smarts and athleticism to both make big plays and avoid bonehead errors. Someone who can go dig for dig with the Japanese and Koreans, block like an old-school Soviet, serve a team off the court and hit against the Luis/Torres/Carvajal-era Cuban block. I can think of a handfull of players in the U.S. like her: Kerri Walsh, Logan Tom (in '00), Lauren Cacciamani (without the serving) and maybe even Erin Hartley, Christina Houghtelling and Casse Busse.