Skip to main content

The power of the letter 'K' - beautiful and mysterious gymnasts of the past

Image
By
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 quality)



Igor Korobchinski, Floor final, 1989 World Championships



Yuri Korolev, 1983 University Games, floor exercise



Dina Kochetkova, 1994 World Championships, Floor event final - this was the first gold that the Russian women won at world level.



Nikolai Kryukov, Pommel Horse event final, 2003 world championships



Yevgenia Kuznetsova - 1998 Europeans, team final - beam (the same year she won the beam EF (in her home town, St Petersburg))



Yulia Kut, 1987 Chunichi Cup, floor exercise (so cute!)



Well, I think Yulia Kut's 1990 floor exercise (Olympic Cup) also merits inclusion here, just to show how she performed with more 'mature' choreography:



Natalia Kuchinskaya, 1968 Olympic Floor routine



I'm cheating here, as her name doesn't begin with a 'K' in Russian, but ...

Svetlana Khorkina, Floor, Team Finals, 2000 Olympics



Let's leave it there with the power of the mysterious letter 'K' -

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Denial of visas - some background

By
Can I remind everyone interested in Russian gymnastics that the restrictions imposed on Russia following its state-sponsored doping scandal were quite separate from the restrictions introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? The Russian doping scandal came to prominence in 2016, while WADA imposed further sanctions in 2019. Although these sanctions restricted Russia’s participation under its national flag, they did not impose a blanket ban on Russian gymnasts. Athletes who met the relevant eligibility requirements were still permitted to compete. Artistic gymnastics has historically recorded relatively few positive doping tests, and Russian gymnasts were not collectively excluded from international competition as a consequence of the doping scandal. Russian gymnasts therefore continued to compete at the Olympic Games and major international championships, including the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The situation changed in February 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukra...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who really won the WAG All Around?

By
You will find a link to the FIG's newly published book of results at the Olympic Games here .  This year, they have broken down the judge's execution scores so you can see exactly how each judge evaluated the gymnasts' performances.  It makes for interesting reading - if only I had more time to analyse each judge's marking.  A skim reading already highlights multiple inconsistencies in individual judges' marks and makes you wonder why they bother with the jury at all. I have taken the time to look at the reference judges' scores for the top four in the women's all around.  The FIG explains here what their role is, and how they are selected.  I even used my calculator, which is a risky thing in my hands.  My, how I wish we could have seen a similar document for the Tokyo World Championships. I wonder if anyone can explain how, if the FIG's Code of Points is so objective and fair, it is possible to come up with two different results using two differ...
70 comments
Read more

Viktoria Komova - back pain has forced me to step down

By
I awoke this morning to a very simple statement from Viktoria Komova, on her vk.com site, which Papa Liukin has translated (via the IG forum): 'Dear friends, fans, and gymnastics lovers. Unfortunately back pain isn't allowing me to train to my full potential and get ready for competitions. I've made the very difficult decision to stop training and take care of my health. I want to thank everyone for their support! Without your love and warmth it would've been more difficult to go all the way. Thanks everyone and see you soon! Love and kisses.' Well, first of all, good wishes and best of luck to Viktoria, who has struggled since 2012 to re-establish herself fully as a competitive gymnast, whose talent was so great that she secured gold on bars at two different World Championships, four years apart, whose career was littered with controversy, who must be allowed to live her life as she wishes.   I know that the 'gymternet' will now be overflowing...
43 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more