Skip to main content

Noven'kaya - The New Girl

By
I hadn't seen before this Soviet produced drama. It is in the Russian language which sadly I don't speak! But do take the time to have a look, if only to appreciate the well sculpted bone structure of so many of the actors, and the incredible black and white photography which is so redolent of this particular period of Soviet gymnastics. There are some of the most incredible look alike performances including one from the lead role as Latynina.

Fast forward to parts 15 to see Petrik, Druzhinina (Voronina) and Askakhova in podium training and competition, and to 16 for amazing coverage of the Soviet team in action (around 1967/8), including bars work from Petrik and a young Tourischeva, all doe-eyed, beribboned and intense, in her leotard with an embroidered Dynamo symbol.

The purity of movement in these routines is outstanding, and I don't think Komova or Afanasyeva are so very far behind them in this respect. There is certainly a heritage of movement that informs their work, something which I think is missing in too many gymnasts these days.

You can see Part 1 here, and a link to a listing all 16 parts here.

I am unable to update my blog as much as I would like to at present as we are having a particularly busy time at work. However, please bear with me as I will be posting on the Tokyo World Championships at some point in the not too distant future.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30 years in elite sport: Oksana Chusovitina

By
You've been competing internationally for over 30 years. How has gymnastics changed over that time? Is there anything about your sport that has remained the same for decades? First of all, the age has changed. More mature athletes are competing now, which makes me happy. Secondly, the apparatuses. They've become more comfortable and sophisticated. Gymnastics in general has become more challenging, but in my youth, people performed mostly the same elements as they do now. Back then, this was par for the course, but now it surprises many. It's a bit amusing. Has the nature of the training itself changed? For me personally, absolutely. Now, my life isn't just about my athletic career. I'm involved with the Oksana Chusovitina Academy, which was personally opened by the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. It has 155 students, both girls and boys. I used to train three times a day, but now I train once. The entire afternoon is taken up with the academy and organi...
Post a Comment
Read more

‘My daughter likes gymnastics. For us, this is the big success’. Aliya Mustafina talks to Match TV

By
Via VK.com.  Google translate A big interview with Aliya Mustafina was published on MATCH!. We provide a small excerpt below, and the full version is available on the website at the link below  ❓ Aliya, you are now the head coach of the junior artistic gymnastics team. What does your typical day look like? 💜 My current life is similar to what it was when I was competing. In the morning, I have breakfast and go to work by 9:00, we train for four hours, have lunch, rest and train for another three hours. During the training camp, the athletes live at the base. They live and train on the same territory. ❓ Do you manage the gymnasts' personal trainers or do you evenly distribute the responsibilities? 💜 We work in contact with the personal trainers, I listen to their opinions. For example, if the trainer believes that their athlete needs to be given a little rest or do fewer repetitions of a particular exercise, we do so. ❓ Describe the current generation of children. Do they nee...
2 comments
Read more

Tribute to Russian gymnast and gold medallist Angelina Melnikova

By
Angelina Melnikova, now 23, is 2021 World AA champion in artistic gymnastics.    She holds a gold medal with her team from the 2020 (2021) Olympics, her second Games.    Visit her home, and no doubt there would be a secure cabinet full of all the various honours, awards and medals she has earned through her career. Angelina Romanovna Melnikova has her primary home in Voronezh, the place of her birth.    The club where she trains is the same one where champions Viktoria Komova, Vera Kolesnikova and Liubov Burda made their names.    1980 Olympic Champion Elena Davydova began her gymnastics life there, too. Melnikova is untypical of most Russian gymnasts.    Her first Olympics, in 2016, were characterised by uncharacteristic mistakes that came in the wake of a nasty hamstring injury.    As the youngest gymnast she seemed unsure and tearful - but still helped her team to a silver medal.   A Russian gymnast beginning so in...
1 comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more