Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Somewhat belatedly, I've been reading President Grandi's latest letter dated 2nd May 2011. It's difficult to understand why this letter has been presented at this time - what has prompted this?  Why does Grandi suddenly consider it imperative to change a Code which encompassed so many changes he himself initiated?  The letter is wordy and cloaked in flowery declarations, but makes two key points - (i) the Code needs simplification, and, (ii) crucially, he finally acknowledges that objectivity is an inappropriate principle in the judgement of an artistic sport. Many of us would agree with this, but the letter has received a somewhat muted response in the media - some links are provided below.  Problem is, the Code, competition formats and so on seem to change so regularly it's difficult to keep track, and the changes rarely lead to much, if any, improvement.  Furthermore, Grandi's letters don't really amount to much.   On a practical level, he does not set...

I was delighted to see coach Leonid Arkayev honoured at this year's International Gymnastics Hall of Fame induction. Long overdue. I found this picture of Arkayev during his days as a competitive gymnast, at the Novosti picture site . Arkayev has never been publicly recognised in the same way as his Romanian counterpart Bela Karolyi, partly because he does not possess Karolyi's talent for self-publicity and partly because he chose to remain in his home country. He presided over Soviet and Russian gymnastics in one capacity or another from 1972 to 2004. I remember Arkayev's accession to the position of chief coach of the men's team, and the emphasis he put on young talent. He gave responsibility to young gymnasts such as Nikolai Andrianov, revitalising the Soviet team in the process and making way for the supremely strong Soviet teams of the 1980s and early 1990s. I'll never forget Makuts, Korolev, Akopian, Balabanov, Bilozerchev, Liukin, Artemov, Mogilny...

It's about time someone wrote something about this talented gymnast.  Despite the common perception that she's leading the Russian team only by default, I consider this jewel of a gymnast to possess unusual strength and artistry.  My blogging colleague Kristal at Double Front has similar ideas.  Perhaps the hardest worker on the Russian team (according to Alexander Alexandrov in May's IG) will soon get the full recognition for her beautifully performed routines - I certainly hope she doesn't risk injury or compromise the balance of her presentation by over inflating the difficulty content of her routines. The Russian Gymnastics Federation website has an English language translation Moscow News interview with this enigmatic gymnast.  Anna speaks here of her mother's interest in sport and of her relationship with her coach, Yelena Zhiganova.  It adds just a little colour to a picture of a rather under-rated gymnast who I hope will continue gracefully and add...

A few days ago I posted about the Hall of Fame section of the Russian Gymnastics Federation website and mentioned it drew on materials from another useful website which I would provide a link to later ... Thanks to a prompt by AJ from the All Around, I can now provide you with that link. The website is Russian language, but in addition to competitor and coach profiles (noteable for the high quality of the passport photographs provided) you will find here results of many of the important Soviet and Russian competitions of the past. If you love the Soviets and Russians, and particularly if you want to experience the sensation of visiting a Brezhnev-era photographic archive, please do visit and wallow in the materials provided at Artistic Gymnastics: Results, Championships, Champions. I would be delighted to read your comments recording the most outlandish Google translates available on this site, or links to the best examples of passport photography.

Full results of this competition are now accessible here .

Russia Today did a round up (in English) of Russia's performance at the World Cup, including interviews with Aliya Mustafina and Konstantin Pluzhnikov. You'll find the original source here .

The letter 'K' in the Russian Gymnastics Hall of Fame seems to include many intriguing gymnasts from the past.  Take a look . Kuchinskaya, Korbut, Kim, Khorkina .... who's next? A good excuse for a video fest, anyway, to celebrate the power of the 'K'. Let's start with Natalia Kalinina's floor exercise from the event final of the 1990 Goodwill Games.  Notice Alexander Alexandrov in the background! Nelli Kim, Floor exercise, event final, 1980 Olympics. She shows us what a ROUTINE really is! Viktor Klimenko, 1970 World Championships - pommel horse Vera Kolesnikova, 1985 Worlds Team Optionals, Floor exercise Viktoria Komova, 2010 Youth Olympics qualification, floor exercise (yes, I'm cheating here; she isn't in the Hall of Fame yet but she should be included right next to her mother) Olga Korbut, beam, 1972 Olympics (the saddest thing is, I can't find a complete video of her floor routine with good sound and video qualit...

Whilst browsing the Russian Gymnastics Federation site, I came across the Hall of Fame section of their website, an archive of Russian gymnasts and coaches.  Incidentally, I recognise this as being available as part of a separate site elsewhere (I will try to find the link for you). It's worth looking at when you have the time, but try not to take any English Google translates you may resort to too seriously. For example, Astafyev's pupil B. Grave is none other than V. Mogilnyi, and I note that Vitaly Belaev coached a 'city rat' (G. Kryssin in the original) alongside Voronin. Have fun!

Alexei Nemov talks to Anna Kozina of Rossiyskaya Gazeta about the relative progress of the Russian men's team. An English language translation is available here . It is clear that despite the team's recent success at individual apparatus level, disappointing results at team and all around finals are causing significant worry. Nemov suggests the Russians need to seek the help of additional coaches, specifically mentioning Vyacheslav Boiko, who helped to prepare the national team for the 1996 Olympics along with the late Nikolai Andrianov. Hmmm ... my impression of the Russian men (and this often included Nemov apart from the odd gold medal winning performance) is that they are somewhat casual and excessively philosophical in their approach. I still haven't forgotten Devyatovski giving up the ghost after a relatively minor error on p-bars some years ago. My 51 year old memory has churned up a remark made by Ludmilla Tourischeva some time around 1972 when the Soviet...

An English language translation of a Moscow News interview with Olga Yemolina appears on the Russian Federation's website . Aliya Mustafina is fantastically positive and herself suggests she may compete bars and possibly beam at the forthcoming World Championships. This may merely be good PR designed to keep people guessing. More likely, I think, is that Mustafina wants to achieve these goals - it's certainly good psychology for such a driven character.

Full results for this competition have yet to be made available. The English language website for the competition is here , but as yet there is but an archive of past results available. Nevertheless, some ideas of the competition outcome have leaked out, and while these results aren't official they do appear to be reasonably reliable so I'll report what is known to date here, and provide links to videos. With thanks to Mrs Galina Grishina for her Youtube updates, and to Nora Schuler. Men's team competition 1 Ukraine 2 USA 3 Russia The composition of the Russian men's team as reported on the Russian language message board was : Dimitri Gogotov, Pavel Russinyak, Daniil Kazachkov. Women's team competition 1 Russia (Grishina, Sapronova, Stepanova (I believe Inishina was the reserve) 2 Ukraine 3 Belarus Head judge Oksana Omelianchik distributed the medals to the winning teams ;-) Women's all around competition 1 Anastasia Grishina, with...

Aliya speaks warmly of the many video montages presented on her website - so nice to hear that she has been encouraged! I believe that both Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova are currently in Germany. Aliya is undergoing an assessment of her rehabilitation progress, while Viktoria has undergone arthroscopic surgery to her injured ankle. (Thanks to Alan Owen for this information.) Reading between the lines, I think there is fair reason to be optimistic that Viktoria will compete at worlds this autumn. Aliya's recovery was always going to take longer, but seems to be going well. She is obviously determined to compete in 2012 and it seems to be pretty much a business-as-usual attitude from her. With Tatiana Nabieva also taking a rest to recuperate her painful back (due back in full training on the 25th May) the Russian team seems to have been beleaguered by injury recently. Well ... I suppose injuries are part of the sport; and it might actually be beneficial for the top...

Find the results of this competition at the International Gymnast website .  Interestingly, Anna Pavlova took four gold medals and one silver - the silver being on asymmetric bars.  Veteran Yulia Lozhecko also took bronze in the all around - a good competition for the veterans, then. Elsewhere, Aliya Mustafina's younger sister Nailya did well to finish in second in the junior all around.  Nailya also took gold in the beam final and came 5th in the floor final. Hope to update this site later on with some results from the Stella Zakharova Cup where Anastasia Grishina will be competing. 

Qualification results are now available at the Russian gymnastics federation website . Anna Dementyeva features in the top three on bars, beam and floor with Afanasyeva providing some good back up on beam and floor and Kurbatova featuring reasonably soundly on bars and vault.  Chusovitina leads vault, Seitz bars, Millousi beam and Dementyeva floor.  The Russian team looks reasonably assured of at least some medals at this relatively modest competition. Link here to a video report from Vesti in the run up to the competition, featuring footage of Mustafina training bars in a heavy leg brace and Afanasyeva training beam.  There are brief interviews with Mustafina and Dementyeva; Komova appears in the background, looking reasonably fit to me - could see no evidence of ankle strapping.  Golutsotskov is also featured. Find here a brief news story in which Valentina Rodionenko suggests Nabieva's absence is due to minor injury. 

As I watched Aliya Mustafina prepare for her vault at that fateful competition, resplendent in her royal blue leotard and waspily striped leg warmers, I was reminded of the girl's fearsome heritage, both ethnic and sporting.  Her darkly curlicue features, the fine set of the cheekbone, the intense imperiosity of Mustafina's gaze are redolent of a proud Tatar princess. Put the cornrows back in her hair, add a tiara and a few jewels to that corsage and you are more than halfway there.   Huddled close to coach Alexandrov, her demeanour was that of a prize fighter ready for combat.   Mustafina is her father's daughter (Fargat Mustafin was an Olympic medallist in Greco Roman wrestling).   It would be easy to forget that Mustafina, not yet 17 years old, only graduated to the senior national team in January 2010.  And that she is the first Russian woman in many years to make the transition from junior to senior without succumbing to the pressures and e...