Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Much of this blog recently has involved discussing the Code of Points, aesthetics and the impact changes to the Code have had on the sport. In respect of artistry, these changes appear to be almost universally considered as negative amongst both observers and participants of the sport, but it remains to be seen whether the FIG will bring about the necessary changes to the Code.  So much of their business is conducted in camera - even though they publish minutes on their website, they are not properly open or accountable for their decisions.   As the new year approaches, I wanted to offer my readers a positive suggestion for improvement.  I make no apology that this is taken verbatim from the work of Dr Clive Palmer, whose work I consider to embrace many fundamental truths (see my three previous posts, and you can also download Dr Palmer's thesis from the British Library EThOS database if you want a nice chunky read). "The whole evaluation system should be reth...

There is a very interesting viewpoint on judging men's floor at the Gymnastics Coaching blog. I think that what the guest writer (Gerard Atzeni) has to say is so to the point that I've commented there. So much of what the Code ignores is what we as informed observers of the sport find important.

The most important thing at this time of year is to wish you all a very Happy Christmas! And I have to record some more thoughts further to Thursday's post on Clive Palmer's thesis.  My work on this prophetic piece is ongoing, but there is a considerable volume of thought to digest.  To provide the necessary emphasis to each of the author's points, and add currency to his thoughts, will take more than a few days. Palmer's work had me thinking about the degree of authority the FIG wields over the sport, yet seemingly without any consciousness of the gravity of the decisions it takes competition by competition and year by year.  The FIG constantly reminds us of the 'accuracy' of judges' decisions, yet recent events and media coverage only serve to stress how wrong this simple assertion is.  One example is the ease with which the E or execution judges can award inconsistent and unfair marks without risk of reproach. This is in stark contrast to the closel...

Browsing through the British Library databases I came across a 2003 PhD thesis entitled 'A qualitative investigation of aesthetic evaluation in men's artistic gymnastics', written by Dr Clive Palmer.  The thesis is based on documentary analysis, an analysis of interviews and judging observations involving men's coaches (eg Great Britain's Paul Hall), gymnasts (eg British international Kanukai Jackson), international judges and MTC President Hardy Fink, and the author's own observations of gymnastics practice.  The thesis provides insights into the evolving aesthetic denudation of gymnastics, cultural differences in understanding the aesthetic, the work of the judges, and makes proposals for improvements in the system. It seems to me that much of what Dr Palmer has written is even more relevant today and has resonance across both men's and women's gymnastics.  The author has published articles based on the thesis in peer reviewed journals such as the In...

Tatiana Nabieva and Russian team choreographer Olga Burova. Here they are with a friend, practising for a caption competition for the RGF website. Advance entries at welcome at this website. The Russian Gymnastics Federation has now published full results of the Voronin Cup, including the senior and junior competitions (team, all around and individual apparatus) and all the judges' assignments.  Interesting to see Anastasia Sidorova take the highest floor score in the women's all around (14.75) and second on vault (14.6).  None of the Russian seniors barring Komova competed in apparatus finals, and all of them steered clear of vault final.  Vault appears to be a relative weakness for the Russian women, and I guess this apparatus may lose them the Olympic team title when considering the overwhelming reliability and power of the US women. Sidorova was the standout of the new generation (NB, in the absence of her close rival Anastasia Grishina who was home with fl...

First year senior Viktoria Komova dominated last week's Voronin Cup, taking gold in the all around, bars, beam and floor.  The competition was also noteable for the return of 2010 World All Around Champion Aliya Mustafina who performed convincingly on all four pieces of apparatus in the all around competition, and also secured a silver medal on asymmetric bars.  Mustafina, who suffered a torn ACL at this spring's European Championships, looked relatively fit and confident and gave notice here of her intention to return to full competitive fitness in time for next spring's Russian Championships.  Welcome back, Queen Aliya! A highly touted Olympic prospect, Anastasia Sidorova, who only becomes eligible for senior competition in January, took the silver medal on floor. In the men's competition, Andrei Cherkasov took gold in the all around, with Moscow's Denis Ablyazin showing strongly in the apparatus finals to take gold on floor (fantastic third tumble of 1.5 twis...

Dear readers, I haven't been able to update my blog much recently, but I want you to know about the Voronin Cup which begins tomorrow!  This is looking to be a very exciting competition.  Kristal at Double Front has posted much of the essential information, and I'll hope to comment on the results once they become available. Much work is underway for this blog and beyond ... oh and I managed to secure tickets for two sessions at the Test Event, at which Russians Igor Pakhomenko, Nikita Ignatyev, Anastasia Sidorova and Anastasia Grishina are listed as competing ... It's a new year soon. PS I really love that on this link here  which I copied from Double Front, there is a row of pretty badges which represent each of the republics of the Russian Federation, and when you link on them you go to the websites of the respective national governments.  I love that kind of thing, but wish I had stuck at my Russian classes.

World Floor Champion Ksenia Afanasyeva and her coach Maria Nazarova attended the opening on the 1st December of a new gymnastics hall for the Junior Sports School of the Olympic Reserves in her hometown, Tula . Yet more evidence (see yesterday's post on Denis Ablyazin) of the investment Russia is making currently in its sports effort. If you are in the UK, you will be able to see on BBC IPlayer a twenty minute programme ('Olympic dreams - the Russians are coming') on the development of contemporary, post Soviet Russian sports, presented by Matthew Pinsent. There is no direct reference to artistic gymnastics, but he visits Ekaterinburg, Moscow and Sochi and speaks to a variety of sporting coaches, athletes and commentators. 'The chaos of the last twenty years is beginning to disappear', he says, and there is reason to expect outstanding results in the near future. But competition from China is a worry; this country adopted the old Soviet mantra of early speci...

A few of you have commented how much you love the compulsory floor from the 1985 cycle.  I've done my best to find videos of as many performances as possible.  Please do feel free to comment on their merits below.  This post is for the sheer hell of enjoying beautiful gymnastics. Some of the gymnasts may be repeated from one competition to the next, but take time to watch closely and see how their work varied and improved. This is the very essence of gymnastics. Please also post links to videos missing from these sequences if you can - this posting is far from complete. It is sad to see how the quality of the video has deteriorated, some without sound even. In ten years' time, will there still be a record of this remarkable cultural heritage? 1985 World Championships Natalia Yurchenko View it on Youtube . As Ludmilla has mentioned, it's impossible at the moment to find the routines of Baraksanova, Mostepanova, Shushunova, Omelianchik and Kolesnikova. ...

2012 Olympic prospect Anastasia Sidorova made a successful return to competition this weekend at Hungary's Eva Kanyo Memorial event. Anastasia will turn 16 next 28th September and is coached in Rostov on Don by Olga Sagina, at the same club as former Russian Olympian Elena Produnova. You can find a summary of a 2008 interview with Anastasia here . This was Anastasia's return to international competition following a wrist injury incurred whilst riding her bike in the spring.  It is fairly clear that she is returning to full strength, with a high beam score of 15.166 and an overall total of 56.748, not bad for a gymnast who still struggles relatively on uneven bars (13.366).  The competition was broken down into senior, junior and adolescent (to me, baby), with World Championships reserve team member Alyona Polyan taking the senior competition and youngster (born 28th November 1999) Maria Bondareva winning the youngest division.  Bondareva is a member of the nationa...

Sadly, the video I posted a link to a few days ago - of 1986 training in Moscow - has been deleted. In searching for an alternative, I found this August news piece from Russia 2 which may interest those of you who are concerned about Russia's preparation for next year's Olympics.  The video features Aliya Mustafina and Anastasia Grishina. Thanks to Queensblade 2011 on whose channel this appears. ScarletStilleto has kindly posted a translation in the comments section, which reads as follows : Anastasiya: It was not my plan to join a gymnastics team, because I was after figure skating school. But I met a gymnastics coach who invited me to the school of gymnastics. So my mom enrolled me in to the gymnastics school. Reporter: So it was your mum who brought here. But why this particular club (CSKA)? Anastasiya: It was the closest to our house. Reporter: But what differs this school from others? Anastasiya: I have no idea, because I have never been to t...

I really like the new generation of young Russian men gymnasts, particularly Nikita Ignatiev, Emin Garibov and Denis Ablyazin. There is something particularly captivating about Ablyazin's character - he is still a boy but on the brink of manhood - ambitious, honest and disarmingly charming. Read this translation of an article by Alina Volnova from the latest edition of Gymnastika , on the Russian Gymnastics Federation's website. He speaks here of his early days in sport (BMX didn't give him enough opportunity to fly, and he stuck at gymnastics in order to avoid having to study ;-)) and of the way competition within the team spurs him on to greater achievement (Golutsotskov seems to be particularly inspirational.)) Ablyazin was born on the 3rd August 1992, meaning he will turn 20 during next year's summer Olympics. He is the first gymnast from the town of Penza to make an impact on the Russian national team, and his developing success is a clear outcome of signi...

Today, we embark on a series of insightful and, occasionally, gruesome articles looking at the achievements of our FIG President, Professor Bruno Grandi. Grandi took up office in 1996, having been Vice President of the Italian Gymnastics Federation since 1987. I suppose he will modestly claim only partial credit for the abolition of compulsories following the 1996 Olympics. The wheels of this particular change were set in motion before he came to power. But our President Bruno surely embraced it, wholeheartedly. Brett Davis, my former editor at The Mogilnyi , posted this morning a wonderful montage on his Facebook site, comparing the highest scoring floor compulsory (Lilia Podkopayeva) with the lowest scoring (Eileen Diaz). For me the distance between the marks (9.85/8.4) in no way expresses the glaring differences in their work. View it on Youtube . Brett's post was a timely reminder of how vital the compulsory exercises once were, and how they emphasised the importan...

Following her successes at this year's Spartakiade and Youth Olympics, Russian junior star Evgeniya Shelgunova recorded a good result at the Top Gym tournament in Belgium. Results can be found on IG . Shelgunova will be eligible to compete at senior level in 2013. You could read a brief biography and summary of an interview with her here . She is a very dynamic gymnast who seems pretty fearless. View it on Youtube . Evgeniya's team mate in Charleroi was Yulia Chemaryova, who scored best on bars. Chemaryova is coached by Maria Nazarova, alongside World Floor Champion Ksenia Afanasyeva and 2010 world team member Ksenia Semenova. View it on Youtube . A.Sidorova Fan has commented on Shelgunova's loud voice - she can be heard here supporting her friend! Here is Evgeniya's floor routine View it on Youtube Apparently she has a D value of 5.5. I have to say, though, I do not like the trend towards broken music mixes which is becoming common amongst...

Gymnastike has a great video of the Russian team in training for the team competition in Tokyo. Thanks to Alan at Viktoria Komova Online for alerting me to this.

It's not a great quality video, but compelling viewing all the same.  It makes me shiver to think that this took place more than 25 years ago. Watch it on Youtube . 1986/87 marked a curiously quiet period for USSR women's gymnastics, culminating in the loss of the world title to the Romanians at the 1987 World Championships in Rotterdam. The 'top names' we see performing here include Olga Bicherova (1981 World Champion; 1981 and 1983 European Champion), Elena Shevchenko (1988 Olympic team champion), Elena Gurova (1987 World team silver medallist) and Alevtina Priakhina (1987 European silver medallist and reserve to the USSR team at the 1987 World Championships). Moscow was a real force in Soviet gymnastics in those days, and our current World Champions would be hard pressed to match some of the difficulty you see the girls training here. I am curious to know the name of the dark haired girl training double doubles with Priakhina. Besides the obvious big nam...

Lupita has provided another good translation of the recent interview in Gymnastika magazine with Russian senior team member, Yulia Inshina.  One of the key improvements that the Russian team has made over the past two years has been the development of greater maturity, reliability and strength amongst those gymnasts who might be considered 'reserves' or the starting members of the team.  This year at the Tokyo World Championships, the two Yulias, Belokobylskaya and Inshina, proved this point strongly.  While expected to do very little, both gymnasts performed to the optimum of their abilities, contributing soundly to the team's overall silver medal by providing a solid beginning to each apparatus.  Inshina, who also qualified to the beam final, finishing in 6th place, hopes for better in the future, and says she is planning to add difficulty to her work in a bid to make the Russian team for the Olympics. Yulia Inshina, born on the 15th April 1995, trains alongsid...

ria novosti 28 June : Komova will train at full force after two weeks - Alexandrov discusses Komova's injury http://translate.google.ca/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsport.rian.ru%2Fother_sport%2F20110628%2F394804295.html&act=url qualification more important than medals - alexandrov - 29th June 2011 http://translate.google.ca/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsport.rian.ru%2Fother_sport%2F20110628%2F394804295.html&act=url

Liubov Burda competed for the Soviet Union at the Olympics in both 1968 (age 15) and 1972.  Born on the 4th November 1953 in Voronezh, Burda was coached by Yuri Shtukmann and obtained gold medals (in the team event) at both these Olympics, as well as at the 1970 World Championships.  She was USSR national champion in 1969 and 1970 and won multiple event medals at the USSR national championships and the USSR cup between 1968 and 1971.  A unique element - the Burda underspin (1.5 twists) on bars, was named after Liubov, who remains in the sport till today as a senior member of the FIG women's technical committee. The latest edition of the Russian Gymnastics Federation's magazine Gymnastika includes an interview with Liubov which Lupita has translated, below.   It is a wonderful read, touching on many important subjects, and most moving in her affectionate discussion of her late husband, 1976 Olympic champion Nikolai Andrianov.  Liubov Burda : 'I don't k...