Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Putting aside worries about injuries, we have seen this year how the deselection of certain gymnasts from competition rosters can influence competition outcomes and delay the often simplistic conclusions we gym fans want to draw.  Komova's lack of appearance on the senior front leaves us completely befuddled and Mustafina's sudden withdrawal from the European Championships beheaded Russian, European and, arguably, World gymnastics.  We are unsure whether these two gymnasts can possibly make it back to their former level and Dementyeva now appears as the poster girl of the forthcoming Russian Cup competition.  However, she might as well have a giant question mark over her head for all the credit she is given for her achievements. Similarly, the recent EYOF was without its top contender (Anastasia Grishina) and her closest domestic rival (Anastasia Sidorova), leaving us wondering how the results would have been affected if the Russian team had included those we consider t...

Three Russian men emerged at these games - Grigori Zyrianov, Andrei Lagutov (referred to elsewhere as 'Logutov') and Sergei Stepanov.  Here are their biographical details as listed on the Russian Federation's website. Grigori Zyrianov - born 22nd January 1996 (15 years old) trains at the Dynamo club in Kemerova with coaches N A Kotyakhov, L G Kotyakhova and A V Bekov Andrei Lagutov - born 14th October 1995 (15 years old), trains in Leninsk-Kuznetsk with coaches D D Chunasov and T V Popova Sergei Stepanov - born 26th May 1994 (17 years old), trains in Cheboksary with coaches I A Rudyanu, G F Stepanov and A S Vasilyev.

Larissa Iordache dominated the EYOF women's competition this week, taking the all around title at the European Youth Olympic Festival, followed by two golds and two silvers in the apparatus finals. Italians Fasana and Meneghini finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively in the all around competition, with Fasana establishing herself as the second gymnast of this competition, with a silver medal on floor, and bronze medals on both vault and bars.  Germany's Janine Berger took vault gold, with Hungary's Noemi Makra making gold on bars with 13.525, the lowest winning mark of the apparatus finals.  Iordache's score of 15 on beam is somewhat below par for her, but underlines her clear superiority as she achieved the top three scores across all the competitions at these Games The Russians performed better in the all around finals than their team showing would have suggested, with Shelgunova finishing a close 4th (only .05 behind Meneghini) and Rodionova 5th. Their sole medal in...

The 2011 Universiade takes place in Shenzhen, China, from the 12th to the 23rd August this year, with gymnastics opening on the 13th August.  A full schedule of events, and details of working order, can be found at the event website. 13th August      14.30-20.20       WAG team 14th August      10.00-18.20        MAG team 15th August       15.00-16.20       WAG all around                           19.00-20.20       MAG all around 16th August        16.00-20.00       Apparatus finals, MAG and WAG The Russian Gymnastics Federation has just released details of its teams here . MAG : ...

International Gymnast carries as full a set of results from this competition as I can find anywhere, here .  The Couch Gymnast also has some links to videos. The Italians apparently performed excellently to beat out the Romanians, leaving the Russian team in 4th place.  The gap between Italy and Romania was but .4, driven principally by superior scores on vault and bars, and a true team challenge based on a very even performance by all gymnasts.  While the Italians managed to finish in 2nd, 3rd and 5th places overall, the Romanians had to rely on their top performer, Iordache, to carry them through - Gheorghe finished 11th and Badea a distant 18th.  I very much hope that both the Romanians and the Russians can raise themselves from this somewhat disappointing outcome to perform their best in the all around and apparatus finals.  The all around competition takes place today. This result changes the all around prospects quite significantly, with 2 Italians (F...

Since the girls are so very young and new to the international scene, I thought it worth providing some details (available from the Russian Federation website). Anna Rodionova - born 21st November 1996 (age 14), trains at the Dynamo club in Yoshkar-Ola, capital of the Mari El republic with coaches G A Fomenko and L G Tiulkina. Kristina Sidorova - born 22nd June 1996 (age 14) - trains with Rodionova under the same coaches at the same gym! Evgeniya Shelgunova - born 8th August 1997 (age 13) - trains with coaches Liudmilla Marinova and Nadezhda Tikhonova in Alatir, Chuvasia Republic. You will be able to read outline details of an interview with Shelgunova here .

NOTE : FOR AN UPDATE OF THE FULL, FINAL RESULTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE . So far, the full results are not available, but Italy came first with a score of 110.95, narrowly ahead of the Romanians who had 110.55.  Germany took the bronze, with Russia in 4th place.  I didn't see the final subdivision, but did manage to catch the online coverage of subdivision 3.  The Romanian team (Iordache, Badea, Gheorghe) was excellent overall and in particular on beam, where they recorded the top three scores of the competition.  The Russians were a very young team hand-picked from the 1996/1997 generation.  Anna Rodionova, Evgeniya Shelgunova and Kristina Sidorova - all of whom have featured in recent domestic competitions in Russia - suffered a few disasters, not least a very nasty, head first fall on beam from Shelgunova, who admittedly has mentioned it as her bogey piece.  The team had started on beam, so this must have been a nervey experience for her.  Kristi...

This young gymnast, born 8th August 1997, comes from the town of Alatir in the Chuvash Republic (capital: Cheboksary) and is coached by Ludmilla Marinova and Nadezhda Tikhonova.  She turns 15 in the Olympic year, and is a member of the Russian junior national squad (see this link for a full list and details) so all being well will be eligible to compete at world senior level from 2013. Shelgunova has been doing rather well recently, taking five golds at the recent Spartakiade competitions, and will be appearing at the Youth Olympics. The Russian Gymnastics Federation has provided a link to a 22nd July article from the Moscow special edition of Sovietski Sport with an interview with this young gymnast.  Even if you don't speak Russian, it's worth a look for the beautiful photograph!  There is also now an English language translation here . Evgeniya says her favourite gymnast is Aliya Mustafina, and she would like to win the world championships one day.  Her work...

An important news item over the past few weeks has been the release of proposed Code revisions by the FIG, to which International Gymnast included a link . I plan to consider this in more depth as soon as I can, but it seems to me that the FIG has generated yet more detail here ... don't we need some big ideas?

Don't forget to keep checking back to I-G TV to see the latest developments.  I know there have been a few technical issues with the site, but there is a rather intriguing section, ' IG competitions ' which gives a chance to see some of the Russian juniors in action, in particular from the team of Novosibirsk, including the very promising Polina Spirina.  I've yet to work out fully how the voting on these videos works, but I like a bit of mystery.  And it's great to see some of the new up and coming names at work. 

I know there has been an hiatus in coverage on this blog, thanks to a holiday in Crete followed by some fairly heavy work schedules.  During this time the senior team has also taken a holiday in Mallorca, and the juniors are due to enjoy the pleasures of Palma also from the 8th to the 21st August (thanks to Alan Owen for this information).  But Russian gymnastics never seems to stop.  Olympic Hopes competitions have taken place in Russia, and there have also been interviews with Alexandrov and some other fairly useful media coverage.  I'm working on a directory to this at the moment, but it will take some time to catch up.  It's an intriguing time as new juniors for 2013 and beyond begin to establish themselves. On the senior front, I'm beginning to wonder now who will make the team for Fukushima.  Alexandrov has been doing a lot of talking. I'm intrigued that Semenova is back, concerned that Nabieva may not be doing well, and delighted to see Afanasyeva ...

You will be aware that this competition is underway at present in Trabzon, Turkey. Today is the women's team final - and yesterday we saw the Russian men successfully defend their gold!  Britain came a very close second.  Let's see how the all around final turns out. The official website has live updates of the results but as yet the start lists are a little confused so I won't speculate as to who is on the team.  You will be able to find TV coverage of the women's team final from 14.30 to 16.00 Istanbul time at this link .  I've been able to view programmes here on my little laptop so I would recommend you check the time in your own time zone and let's keep our fingers crossed for some good coverage.

Remember all those gymnastics competitions you wanted to see live, but could never find online - and had to rely on friends to provide video coverage of select routines?  Well that time is all but over, folks - the world of I-G TV has been launched today under the patronage of the Russian Federation Sports Ministry.  The first events to receive coverage will be the gymnastics and diving competitions at the Russia-China Games, taking place over the next few days - so worth visiting this brand new project! This is what I-G TV has to say : " The whole range of opportunities offered by the world of gymnastics and diving presented on the I-G.TV portal will be useful both for beginners and professionals. The web-cameras installed in gyms and swimming pools will enable I-G.TV visitors to watch on-line competitions in different parts of the world. Parents will see their children in the process of training. Russian gymnastic and diving stars will share their valuable experienc...

A photo report on the recent Spartakiada (held in Penza, 27 June-4 July) can be found on the Russian Federation's site .  This is an opportunity for young gymnasts to make a name for themselves and test their skills ahead of the important international competitions in particular, a competition between Russia and China which is due to take place between 4th and 8th July. Full results of the competition can be found here .  Muscovite Evgeniya Shegulnova emerged as the strongest at this competition, winning both the all around qualifications and finals as well as the finals in vault, floor and balance beam, a speciality of hers (15.075).  Shegulnov was born on the 8th August 1997 and trains in Moscow with coaches Marinova and Tikhonova. In the boy's competition, Andrei Logutov came first all around. Competitions took place in two age categories, with the younger girls' competition being won by Maria Bondareva (strongest on beam, 14.5) and the boys by Ivan Tikhonov. ...

Years ago the Soviet team would take extended summer breaks in resorts such as Sukumi, Georgia. These holidays were known as 'active recreation', the chance to relax but also to keep up with important training targets and build teams. Times have changed, but old principles remain and at present the Russian team is holidaying in Palma, Mallorca, using the facilities of a local gym to keep up with their training. Back home in Russia, however, work continues on both the political and sporting front, building relationships with press in advance of the coming Olympics and building reputations for the young gymnasts of the future. The Russian Federation's website includes a photo report of a recent press tour of Lake Krugloye.   It's clearly a busy day, with journalists interviewing key members of the coaching staff as well as some of the gymnasts.  It is interesting to see Konstantin Pluzhnikov taking a leading role in orienting the visiting journalists - while he su...