Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Russian nationals has closed with impressive shows of strength and skill from now established national team members.  A new star also shone for the first time this weekend.  Tatiana Nabieva and Anna Dementieva  strengthened their positions on the Russian team by becoming dual gold medallists, Nabieva taking gold on vault and bars, Dementieva a further gold on beam to complement her all around win.  And with silvers on bars and floor, Dementieva must surely be considered Russia's top female gymnast of these championships.  First time senior Yulia Belokobylskaya took floor gold and silver on beam. Full results are available at the Federation website .  It's unclear what implications these championships have for European team selections as the results ask so many questions, in particular regarding the form of Viktoria Komova, who has clearly faltered somewhat here.  The gymnasts' competitive schedules are busy over  coming weeks, with Mustafina ki...

The Russian Gymnastics Federation website again gives us English language access to a brief summary of some media coverage of the women's all around final, this time from Penza State TV.  Worth a read for the brief comments from Aliya Mustafina, Anna Dementieva and Anna Pavlova!

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has kindly provided an English translation of a brief interview with Alexander Alexandrov, taken from the latest issue of Gymnastika.  He discusses the character of Aliya Mustafina in particular. I'll copy what he says here : 'All six of our winners are very individual athletes. They are still children really and have their own difficult personalities. Aliya is a bit sly, she already knows everything about herself…she is a difficult girl. She is very talented in some thing, but she has her problems. And that's normal – champions are never accommodating. The path hasn't been smooth. Yes, she was the leader among the juniors, but then things started getting complicated. When we met, we had to do a lot of talking. Not convincing, but real talking. Openly talking and laying it all out. I had to explain: you had results and you have good routines, but you are being easy on yourself – and you've put so much work in… And bit by bit s...

Full results can be found here . Once again, I have uncovered a mysterious Russian practice, with Viktoria Komova double agenting for both the victorious Central and second placed Moscow team AND Anna Dementieva also doubling up for the winning Central team and the 3rd placed PFO (Volga Federal District??) team. The results are as follows : 1   Central  (Komova, Pavlova, Inishina, Dementieva, Kruglikova, Stepanova)  174.95 2   Moscow  (Mustafina, Komova, Myzdrikova, Novikova, Syrinkova, Chibiskova) 171.132 3   PFO (Volga Federal District?)  (Dementieva, Telitsina, Skorodumova, Polyan, Lavrushina, Smirnova)  164.4 4  St Petersburg  (Sazonova, Nabieva, Sapronova, Terenteva, Krylova, Zemskova (did not compete)) 162.6 Aliya Mustafina apparently won the battle of those competing on all four pieces of apparatus, except for that she didn't perform at all - please see below for an explanation.  In her absence, Deme...

Full results are available here . In summary, 1    Moscow    (Olennikov, Garibov, Gogotov, Bondar, Stolyarov, Ablyazin)    261.55 2    Siberia       (Devyatovski, Pakhomenko, Ignatiev, Cherkasov, Golutsotskov  259.85 3   Central       (Barkalov, Nyudakin, Markelov, Perevoznikov, Bondar, Ignatenkov   255.00 Interesting - Mikhail Bondar appears to have competed for two teams simultaneously here - Moscow and Central - not sure how this works but quite pleased with myself for noticing it ;-)  Only his high bar score counted for the Central team.  One of the wonderful mysteries of Russian gymnastics.  Hopefully we'll have the women's team results later.  And perhaps I'll discover something even more wondrously mysterious there.  Who knows. 

Alexandrov comments on the Russian Federation website on the results of the all around competition : 'Aleksandr Aleksandrov said: "These results cannot be called surprising. Anna Dementyeva competed well and earned her spot. Aliya Mustafina will compete in the World Cup qualifier in Jacksonville in the USA in a few days. It would have been physically difficult for her to compete in two meets essentially one right after the other and so the Federation made the decision to allow her to not compete in Russian Championships. Tatyana Nabiyeva only competed on two events and Viktoria Komova is recovering from an injury, and we hope that she will be in good shape in a month for European Championships. Anna Pavlova is an experienced gymnast, but she is competing after a long break. In light of the situation, she had a good chance to win a medal and she made excellent use of that. Alyona Polyan showed an excellent result, and we are now considering her for the University Games in Ch...

The Russian Federation has updated its photo report of the women's all around competition.  For those of you with an interest in looking to the past as well as future, there are some good pictures of the judging team, including a radiant Elena Zamolodchikova accompanied by Leysira Gabdrakhmanova. The men's competition is covered here .

Maxim Devyatovski won gold yesterday in Penza, ahead of Pavel Rusinyak and Nikita Ignatieva and Alexander Demin (tie for third place).  Full results can be found here and there is also a full transliteration of the results at the International Gymnast news site . Maxim Devyatovski        87.9 Pavel Rusinyak               87.0 Nikita Ignatiev                86.1 (this is according to IG Ignatiev's first important medal; he scored highest on P-Bars - 15.1 Alexander Demin            86.1 Dmitri Gogotov               85.6 Andrei Cherkasov           85.5

Alan Owen has provided a video link on his gymnast websites to a news story relating to Dementieva's victory at the Russian Championships.  You can link to it here . There are brief Q and As with Mustafina, Dementieva and Pavlova and a short shot of Komova's bars (including a shot of the score board which rather confusingly shows 16.00, not the 16.7 reported in the results ...

Link to the Russian Gymnastics Federation website to view some photos of the all around competition!  Enjoy!

Anna Dementieva has been crowned national all around champion of Russia!  Full results are available here . Anna won by dint of being the most consistent gymnast around, performing strongly on bars, beam and floor, and pretty much predictably on vault, her weakest apparatus.  Anna took the highest score on the floor exercise (15.1) the third highest on bars (14.65) and the second highest on beam (14.35).  The highest bars score - 16.7 - was registered by Viktoria Komova, who had an otherwise difficult competition, finishing in 35th place after disappointing outings on beam and floor, and a final withdrawal from vault.  I hope she isn't injured.  Tanya Nabieva came second on bars with 15.05, and is second on vault with 14.85, behind none other than Anna Pavlova (14.9).  Leading the stakes on beam is Yulia Belokobylskaya (14.55). The top six placings are as follows: Anna Dementieva 58.05 Anna Pavlova       56.2 Alena Poly...

Link  here to the Federation's official pictures of podium training, featuring Tanya Nabieva in typically powerful flight on bars and floor, Anna Dementieva looking longer and even more delicately elegant on beam, and a radiant Ekaterina Kurbatova practicing floor.  You will also be pleased to hear that we see Anna Pavlova working on beam and vault.  I couldn't work out if Viktoria Komova features in any of these shots, but her mother, Vera Kolesnikova, is seen so I guess her daughter was somewhere around ;-)

Albert at the All Around Forum has provided a link to photos of the opening ceremony of this competition here .  They are pretty bog standard ceremonial photographs at this stage, I recognise some of the dignitaries including Rodionenko but can't see any of the main gymnasts I know.  This is a link to the Burtasy school of gymnastics in Penza where the competition is taking place, so it may prove to be a good spot to pick up quick results if the Russian Gymnastics Federation's site updates take a while to come through.  I'll keep an eye on how things are developing and let you know results as soon as I can.  It's the women's all around competition today and from all accounts Komova and Dementieva are likely to be the main competitors - Nabieva has opted to compete individual apparatus only, Mustafina, Semenova and Afanasyeva are not planning to compete (though this may change on the day for all I know), and Grishina is competing at the Jesolo Cup.  Anyway, l...

I don't often highlight gymnastics from other countries here, but I do respect the Chinese gymnasts for their skill and courage, and Chinese Gymnastics is one of my favourite specialist blogs.  Visit this post for a video of some of the incredible combinations and skills the Chinese perform.  Forget the controversy re their respective ages.  The gymnasts can't help this, and most people seem to agree that the age limit rules are rather silly, anyway. If they are the best, why shouldn't they win? Rules are rules, I suppose. Such a pity though that the Chinese authorities have saddled their team with a bad reputation on the basis of contravention of a rule that almost everyone seems to think is wrong.  Why not just lobby for fairer rules? Russian national championships are shortly upcoming.  I will post results here as soon as they become available.  Not forgetting those regional championships results which I'll do as soon as I get a free day.  I p...

A selection of lovely pictures appears on the Russian Federation's website , recording an awards ceremony during which head coaches of the women's and men's teams, Alexander Alexandrov and Valeryi Alfosov, handed out medals to their gymnasts and coaches, including juniors.  A commentary notes that coaches are often better at evaluating the success of their gymnasts than judges.  The medals were given out in recognition of the success of the Russian teams in the last year.  Apparently missing from the gymnasts honoured were Ekaterina Kurbatova and Anna Myzdrikova - although this may just be an unintended slip of the camera. Or perhaps the girls were staying warm, tucked up in bed somewhere.  This must be a welcome distraction for the teams during what is a very cold snap indeed, even by Moscow standards - it must be hard to keep your spirits up when it's below -20 outside.  Tanya Nabieva looks taller than ever in these pictures, and Mustafina, bundled up in a b...

Have just contributed briefly to a thread on Stoi during which the importance of teeth to artistic expression was raised as a point of conversation. I would like to share with you here an example of a gymnast before and after the fall of the Soviet Union/availability of dental work. The gymnast who forms the subject of this case study is the unrepeatably brilliant Goddess of gymnastics, Svetlana Boguinskaia. First of all, see Svetlana perform her most divine, expressive routine at the Chunichi Cup in 1990. Sadly, I couldn't find the BBC coverage of her routine in the event final of the Brussels World Cup, when the commentators maintained air silence throughout the routine, the only time I have ever known them do so. But then that was in the days of Barry Davies, who appreciated the value of silence. This routine is utter magic. (I was in the arena at Brussels and she oozed pure, poignant emotion. Definitely a meaningful routine for her.) Now, let us compare that perf...

Just so you know I haven't disappeared, herewith a link to a Soviet news programme, ' News of the day ' in which you'll find a brief news summary on the all around Moscow News competitions, 1979.  You'll see, all too briefly, Natalia Shaposhnikova, a very young Olga Bicherova, and the magnificent Stella Zakharova, who won the competition. Zakharova is seen in the middle of a particularly expressive dance sequence; remember that orchestrated music was only introduced to the sport in 1979 and this routine was probably performed to piano.  Interesting point: did the introduction of orchestrated music downgrade the level of expression in floor routines?  I have a sense that it was a time when floor became more 'showy' and less heartfelt.  Hmm.  Wasn't especially attuned to this consideration at the time so if anyone has any views, please do post.  Bogdan Makuts won the men's competition.  Coverage starts at 8.04. I am still buried under a pile of m...

Lovely post on the Couch Gymnast - collation of videos of 10 of the relatively unsung heroes of Soviet gymnastics.  Enjoy!

Nora Schuler has kindly translated part of Bruno Grandi's interview in the most recent issue of Gymnastika.  She reports as follows : 'The most interesting bit is the answer to the last question: "Q: You thanked our coaches for the return of Soviet gymnastics to the top after the European championships. Why is this so important to you? A:For a very simple reason: Russia is the founder of today's technical progress [of the sport]. And the FIG cannot afford to lose these traditions – the technical, didactic and pedagogical principles, which are characteristic of your gymnastics. The Russian gymnastics that we saw at World and European championships in 2010, in particular, from the women, is very beautiful. This is indeed a renaissance. A search for harmony in the unity of the composition (content) of the routine and music. In this sense, Aliya Mustafina (and not only she) showed a return to the values that always belonged to your school. It is mandatory that...

Albert at the All Around Forum has posted a Google translate of an interview with Russian national and World Championships team member, Igor Pakhomenko.  This comes from the Russian Federation's website under their repository of press coverage. The interview is credited to Alexander Sklyarenko Igor, an 18 year old, comes from Siberia, and is one of a significant group of Siberian gymnasts who formed part of the Russian team in Rotterdam.  In this interview he also mentions 14 year old Andrei Logutov, who only last week performed well at the Siberian leg of the Russian Federal Championships (detailed results to follow). Google translate: Igor Pakhomenko: "After the World Cup I felt like an adult" Last year, Igor Pakhomenko of Leninsk-Kuznetsk was one of those young gymnasts who have declared themselves in full voice. After success at the Cup of Russia, where he finished second in the all-around and the competition on the bar, and also won a bronze medal on floor...

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has published a new issue of its magazine . Every time I look at these, I wish I had stuck at my Russian classes ... as things stand, they are a wonderful visual recorder of Russian successes and histories, but I would love to be able to engage more with the deeper things presented here.  This issue has a stunning picture of Mustafina on the cover, and inside it a gem ... a piece on Bruno Grandi entitled 'Bruno Grandi : Russian gymnastics is very beautiful!'.   It's an interview, so the man speaks for himself.  I'd love to know what it says and if I do manage to get into a Google translation or find a translation anywhere that the author doesn't mind me using, I promise to post the findings here.   You will also find an amazing, Facebook-page-worthy picture of the Russian team, all fitted out in best fashion wear, and serving as the topping for a 2011 calendar. The magazine also includes a feature on Mustafina along w...