Skip to main content

Should the FIG 'allow' wins? Comments on the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships

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 emphasis on the idea of the FIG exercising power over who can or can't win.

There is an important point of principle here.
Surely sport is about the best winning - not administrators 'allowing' countries to win as a sop to national pride. But what is 'best?', and who decides? Who exercises control over the form that gymnastics takes - the performers and coaches, spectators, or the administrators, and for what reasons? Is fairness about an equal spread of medals amongst diverse countries, or about awarding wins to those who perform the 'best' under the current set of rules? Who should decide what those rules are? Is who wins more important than the sport itself? Is it right to let the sport's administrators try to 'level the field' artificially?

I'm not a rhythmic expert and I may have missed the point - perhaps the Russians aren't clearly the best and should have come second, third, or even last. But if they are the best, what is the problem?

Comments

  1. I think the FIG is already trying to prevent any one country from dominating. Bruno Grandi enjoys enormous support from the smaller countries because he is always promising them a share of the medal wealth. His promise to break the Eastern Bloc dominance is what got him elected in the first place. In a way, he has succeeded, at least on the men's side, due to the deemphasis of the AA.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nelli Kim - 'Russian gymnastics has closed in on itself' - Lupita translates

Lupita has translated this ITAR-TASS interview with Nelli Kim.  It's controversial, to say the least. Ed's note : much of the initial response to this interview - both here and in the wider gymternet -  has focussed on the detail of Kim's words and especially her comments about Viktoria Komova, and smiling.  But I think these have to be taken in context, and not too literally. Don't forget that just a day ago Andrei Rodionenko complained bitterly about the judging in Antwerp, calling Kim's behaviour 'aggressive'. Kim is responding to this here, and to the wider current context of Russian gymnastics.  What she is essentially saying to the Russian coach is 'get your own house in order, produce confident, disciplined, well trained gymnasts - stop complaining, do your job, and I will do mine.'   She goes about saying this in a somewhat long winded way and says some things along the way that seem contradictory, unfair, inappropriate even for th...

Aliya Mustafina - 'I'm just trying to stay healthy'

A brief interview with the World and Olympic Champion from All Sport is summarised below. Russian national gymnastics continues to prepare for the World Championships, which will be held October 3-12 in Nanning (China). Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina told Mary Staroverova about her health and about preparations for the competition. - In June, I went to Germany to solve the problem with my ankle.  I had a small operation to clean the joints of a build-up of bone particles.  Nothing serious was evident, and the operation went well.  Now I have to tumble.  But there is still some discomfort, a slight pain at full load, and I can not tumble at full force.  For the time being, I try to go easy on my legs.  After the Russia Cup I will have to fully prepare for Worlds. That is just one month.   Even if I'm not tumbling, I will keep myself in good shape, and that should suffice (smiles). - I can't say if it is a different pain to before Europeans, because at...

‘My daughter likes gymnastics. For us, this is the big success’. Aliya Mustafina talks to Match TV

Via VK.com.  Google translate A big interview with Aliya Mustafina was published on MATCH!. We provide a small excerpt below, and the full version is available on the website at the link below  ❓ Aliya, you are now the head coach of the junior artistic gymnastics team. What does your typical day look like? 💜 My current life is similar to what it was when I was competing. In the morning, I have breakfast and go to work by 9:00, we train for four hours, have lunch, rest and train for another three hours. During the training camp, the athletes live at the base. They live and train on the same territory. ❓ Do you manage the gymnasts' personal trainers or do you evenly distribute the responsibilities? 💜 We work in contact with the personal trainers, I listen to their opinions. For example, if the trainer believes that their athlete needs to be given a little rest or do fewer repetitions of a particular exercise, we do so. ❓ Describe the current generation of children. Do they nee...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more