Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

I was looking through my bookcases last night and thinking that I must, pretty soon, get round to re-organising my library as my work on this blog progresses. Over the past couple of days some new references have come to light, not least an article in the Science of Gymnastics journal by Abie Grossfeld that chronicles the history of American gymnastics. This is timely, especially in view of my recent resurrection of such Soviet classics as Brodsky’s (1987) Soviet Sport: The Success and Ramsey and Khromov’s (1990) Ten Soviet Sports Stars. Grossfeld’s work is surely not the only one on the subject of American gymnastics, but I took the opportunity to skim read them and to compare the styles and content of what are arguably, in addition to historic data, works of self-publicity, self-disclosure and even propaganda. What struck me first of all were the similarities between Grossfeld’s and Grodsky’s work. Statistical evidence of the various sporting bodies, numbers of participants and...

The competition took place this weekend in Penza. The Russian women's team for Rotterdam did not compete here, but the men's team did, partly as a pre-competition test. I am delighted to see that my favourite gymnast Barkalov won, and would like to announce that henceforth, he will be known as Barkalot on these pages. http://www.burtasy.ru/school/activities/event_64.html The Russian men's team announced so far includes Anton Golutsutskov, Maxim Devyatovskiy, Sergei Khorokhordin, Igor Pakhomenko, Andrei Cherkasov, Dmitri Barkalot, David Belyavskiy. The inimitable Pavlova, who could at this stage be considered the non-travelling reserve for the women's team for Rotterdam, won the women's competition.

Who said, some time in the late 1980s, ‘those who do not risk, cannot win’? I think it was twice World Champion Yuri Korolev, but do correct me if I'm wrong and you have the reference to hand. The sport has virtually been turned on its head. Just look at team competitions – all scores counting – teams can’t possibly afford to take a risk if they want to win gold. The sport has been turned into something akin to diving or trampolining – technical and interesting to watch, but almost totally devoid of artistic depth. Which brings me back to ROV. A reader has queried the validity of my use of Groshkova as an example of ROV, given that (s/he states) ROV disappeared from the Code of Points in the late 1980s. I suppose this is fair comment given my assumption that the form of the sport reflects the state of the judging codes. But it does also introduce an interesting idea, that of the legacy of past sporting codes. Gymnastics is constantly in evolution, not total re-invention, a...

I was reading International Gymnast Online yesterday and came across a story about the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships: http://www.intlgymnast.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1921:russia-wins-three-more-golds-in-moscow&catid=5:competition-reports&Itemid=164 What caught my eye was Tanya's comment at the bottom of the page, to the effect that the Russian team had won too many golds at this championships, and that the FIG shouldn't 'allow' it. Now, granted, I don't know much about rhythmic. The 15 point winning margin of the Russian team suggests that there wasn't much doubt about their win, though, and there seem to be enough people in the world gasping about Kanayeva's grace and artistry to make these wins seem reasonably legitimate; if anything can be legitimate in this sport given the amount of controversy surrounding figures such as Irina Viner. What really got me thinking, though, was the poster's emphas...

Having followed gymnastics (women’s gymnastics in particular) for almost 40 years, I have seen many changes and would like to try to understand how the sport has developed over that time, and the direction it may take next. I am particularly interested in linking this thinking to overall cultural, societal and political changes in the world, the way that they have influenced the power structure and the judging of the sport, and the influence it has had on the form of the sport itself and the routines that gymnastics practice and present at national and international competitions. This is a fairly deep area of study that I am not at all familiar with. So I decided to begin a blog as a sort of research diary, to try to develop my thinking and also to get feedback and research references from anyone else out there who may be interested, or who has anything to say on the subject. There will also be a fair deal of cheer leading for my favourite gymnasts. The Russians. Yes, I’m partis...