The national team had an outing yesterday to Moscow's famous Dynamo Club. This was more of a training competition than anything, but it is nice to see the girls and be able to chew over how they are doing. Lauren has done a good report on the competition at the
Couch Gymnast and there are links to videos on
Triplefull's Youtube Channel.
Brigid from the Couch Gymnast also has a picture of the results on her Facebook page, which I will transcribe here.
Y Belokobylskaya 13.6 13.6 14.7 13.75 55.65
A Dementyeva 13.7 14.1 13.2 14.6 55.6
K Goryunova* 13.5 13.4 15.0 13.6 55.5
Y Inshina 13.7 13.45 13.8 14.05 55.0
A Sidorova 14.4 12.5 12.85 13.5 53.25
A Rodionova 14.0 12.3 12.85 13.6 52.75
K Afanasyeva 14.4 12.4 - 14.2 41.00
T Nabieva 13.9 14.4 11.25 - 39.55
V Komova - 15.6 15.1 - 30.7
A Grishina 12.9 14.00 - - 26.9
A Mustafina - 14.55 - - 14.55
The board also shows the top two gymnasts in the junior division :
M Kharenkova 12.9 14.00 12.2 13.7 53.1
K Levshina 12.5 12.1 13.6 13.35 51.55
* K Goryunova is ineligible for the Olympics under RGF regulations because of an earlier doping offence.
The Russian Gymnastics Federation also has a great
photograph gallery, including pictures of the team in competition as well as a ceremony involving Elena Zamolodchikova's coach Nadezhda Masslenikova.
With thanks to to RGF for permission to post some of my favourite pictures here :
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| Friends ... Nabieva powers through bars as Mustafina looks on |
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| The trademark grace of World Floor Champion, Ksenia Afanasyeva |
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| Maria Paseka begins to make her case for a place on the team |
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| The Russians ... Inshina, Belokobylskaya, Grishina, Komova, Dementieva, Mustafina, Nabieva .. and Nailya Mustafina |
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| Determination and composure ... Dementyeva |
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| Grishina is assisted on bars by coach Zelikson |
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| Fresh as a daisy ... Anna Rodionova is a newcomer to the Russian national team |
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| Elegant and majestic ... Belokobylskaya |
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| Back to work : 2010 World Champion, Aliya Mustafina |
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| Nabieva has always had fantastic natural ability on beam |
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| World uneven bars champion, all around vice champion, Viktoria Komova |
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| Nailya Mustafina has all the grace of her older sister, 2010 World Champion Aliya |
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| Nabieva flies ... under the watchful eye of national coach Evgeny Grebenkin |
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| Balance, power, perfection - the beauty of Viktoria Komova |
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| Tatiana Nabiyeva ... all concentration, daredevil moves and Bobbi Brown eyeliner |
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| A champion who will not be denied |
I'm wondering what your predictions for the Russian Olympic squad are shaping up to look like! I know it's early days, but it's still fun to speculate :)
ReplyDeleteI do tend to avoid predictions as my previous attempts have been wildly inaccurate :-) But if you scroll down the blog you will find a post on senior WAG prospects.
ReplyDeleteWho would you like to see on the team?
I'm worried about Demy's chances, she is just so inconsistent though she is a beautiful gymnast. I really want to see Afanasyeva on the squad and I'm intrigued by Yulia B's prospects as well! There's a good mix of seniors, the trick will be getting the right combination of talents together.
DeleteI like Afanasyeva too and think of Belokobylskaya as a dark horse!
DeleteI can never though remember a time when selections seemed so likely to be disrupted by injury risk. I really only hope all the girls remain healthy do that the selection can be made on sporting merit.
The Russians have so much talent now. It seems crazy that the team title is likely to be so dominated by the difficulty of the vaulting. On that basis despite their clear strengths on bars, beam and floor they will struggle to beat the USA, whatever the selection.
Good to see Nabieva back on beam. Looks like she's making her bid for a place on the team as an all-rounder.
ReplyDeleteAliya Mostafina, your amazingly beautiful, , you ay have lost the gold, but you won the all around beauty contest.
ReplyDeleteYour #1 fan from Texas, United States.