Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

There is a fantastic gallery of pictures of the Russian team trying out their Olympic kit, designed by Russian company Bosco, at the RGF website . I have also created a gallery of highlights, with captions, at my Facebook page .  Enjoy. Tanya Nabieva and the team had a good time showing off for the cameras. I so wish them all the very best of luck as they prepare for the Games.  And I hope to see them all smiling and happy in London.

'If you want to be like me, just train!'  1951 poster promoting the basic physical training system in the Soviet Union.  The man in the picture has the coat of arms of the Soviet Union on his top, indicating he competes at international level.  Picture courtesy of A Soviet Poster A Day Jim Riordan published his article, 'The Rise and Fall of Soviet Olympic Champions', in 1993.   In 1992 the Soviet Union, under the aegis of the Commonwealth of Independent States, had made its last hoorah at the Olympic Games.  The Barcelona Olympics had also marked the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Union's participation in their first Games, at Helsinki in 1952.  Soviet men and women had dominated the artistic gymnastics competitions at both. In the following timeline I extract from Riordan's article key points leading to the accession of the Soviet Union to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1951.  It makes for fascinating reading, addressing such...

I love this montage by SuperGymmie . The first in a short series of videos to warm you up for the Olympic Games. Unconfirmed reports from the Russian language gymnastics board suggest that Anastasia Sidorova is out with a back injury and has been replaced by Anna Dementieva. I stress that this is not yet official. Sad news for Nastia if so, and an opportunity for Anna.

Kenzo Shirai at one of many medal ceremonies yesterday Young Kenzo Shirai of Japan, winner of Friday's all around competition, confirmed his individual superiority at yesterday's Olympic Hopes competition by taking a further three gold medals in event finals : high bar (13.05; shared with Serbia's Ilic Gavrilo), floor (15.1) and vault (15.55).  He also took a silver medal on parallel bars (13.15), behind Russia's Kirill Potapov (14.1).  Elsewhere, Uzbekistan's Abdylla Azimov won pommel horse (14.1) and Russia's Igor Lemeshenko took Russia's second gold of the day on rings (13.6). Russia's Artur Dalaloyan enjoys his medals All four members of the Russian A team managed to medal, with Potapov performing most strongly (silver all around, gold on parallel bars and bronze on vault).  16 year old Artur Dalaloyan from Moscow gained a bronze on high bar and silver on floor, while Victor Britan achieved silver on vault and pommel horse in addi...

Maria Kharenkova in Penza yesterday Russia's Maria Kharenkova continued collecting gold at yesterday's Olympic Hopes international in Penza, winning first place in all three of her elected event finals: vault, beam and floor.  On floor, Maria eliminated her errors from the previous day, nailing her Arabian double and connecting the 1.5 twist to stag leap she had missed in the all around.  She thus upgraded her mark here to 14.575.  On beam, she fell to her knees on a double pike dismount but her positive execution elsewhere earned her 14.375, almost a point ahead of the nearest competition, her compatriot Anastasia Dmitrieva (13.425) Russia took gold and silver on every piece except floor, where the silver medal went to Ekaterina Chuykina from Kazakhstan (13.425). Maria intrigues me - a strong and acrobatic gymnast who is also clearly a fierce competitor and really enjoys her work, yet it's difficult to find a picture of her smiling fulsomely about her many gold...

Maria Kharenkova, May 2012 13 year old Maria Kharenkova from Rostov on Don won the all around competition yesterday at the international Olympic Hopes competition.  Maria's overall score of 57.15 included a high of 15.375 on beam, her very best piece.  On floor she missed an acro-leap combination and stepped out of the area, but her presentation to music from Cirque du Soleil still scored 14.3.  She leads qualification in all four pieces of apparatus. Kharenkova's compatriot Anastasia Dmitrieva came second with 55.225 while Uzbekistan's Elena Rega came third (50.975). Russia won the team competition but I have yet to find full results.  Go to the Russian Gymnastics Federation's site to find the results , and a photo gallery . Event finals are currently underway.

Kirill Potapov Results for the boy's all around competition at Olympic Hopes are now available at the RGF website.  In first place in the all around competition was Japan's Kenzo Shirai (15 years old) (82.65/vault 16.05; floor 15.3); second was Russia's Kirill Potapov (81.8) and third Artur Dalaloyan (81.05). Russia won the team event with 165.35 ahead of Ukraine with 158.6 and Kazakhstan with 155.15.  Japan did not field a full team here.

The RGF has a working live stream for this competition!  The girls' championships begin at 2.30 pm Moscow time according to the schedule . There is a start list available.  The competition features gymnasts from Kazakhstan, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Japan, Poland, Serbia, Latvia, Ukraine, Brazil and Russia. The Russian boys competing are : Kirill Potapov          dob       10.10.98 Victor Britan                         24.4.96 Artur Dalaloyan                    26.4.96 Nikolai Shadurkin                 13.8.96 Igor Lemeshko         ...

This annual national competition for Russian junior boys and girls will take place in the Burtasy School of Gymnastics, Penza , with the main competitions on the 22nd and 23rd June.  As soon as I find any startlists, results or pictures, I will post links. Glad to see that my favourite Russian junior, Maria Kharenkova, gold medalist in the team, beam and floor competitions at the recent Junior European Championships, features on the poster! Courtesy of the RGF

FIG Secretary General Andrei Gueisbuhler has commented on new revisions to the Code of Points planned by the FIG to restore artistry to both the men's and women's sport, reports Reuters . He implies that the new Code will be revised to increase the importance of execution relative to difficulty : 'Artistic gymnastics should be about art, about beauty, and in the case of the women it also has to do with music, with expression .  But increasingly, we are finding that gymnastics has developed into acrobatics. We have more and more difficult acrobatic movements and we are missing out on the beauty of gymnastics.  There is certainly a correction which has to be made ... This is not the fault of the gymnasts or the coaches, it is a matter of the code of points (scoring system) and how much value you give to difficulty versus execution.' The FIG has made verbal commitment to the notion of artistry in the past, but they have not made much happen to back it up.  So ho...

Lupita provides a great translation of an interview with Anastasia Grishina, from the VTB 's sports page. Anastasia Grishina on beam at the recent European Championships.   Anastasia Grishina (16) In spite of her young age, Anastasia is not shy when she talks to journalists: “I’m often surrounded by people older than me. I have three older brothers. The oldest is a Master of Sport in boxing, the second one used to practice football and the youngest played chess. I also played chess. Our parents took us to gymnastics for our development. My brothers don’t do gymnastics any more and they even tried to convince my mum not to take me to the club. Yet, I liked it very much. I wanted to prove that I was able to do something”. Anastasia Grishina’s route in sport was not a bed of roses from the start: “First, my parents took me to skating, but the coach said I was too old. I didn’t know if they would take me in any sporting discipline at all. I was lucky. Olga Sikkoro, my first...

I know that many of you are drowning in sadness that 2011 European Champion Anna Dementieva has not made the team for the 2012 London Olympics.  This is terribly sad news for this elegant 17 year old, who has contributed so much to Russian gymnastics over the past couple of years.  Anna Dementieva prepares to compete beam for her local team at last week's Russia Cup.  Photograph courtesy of RGF Anna's precise style and amplitude, and her sweet trademark smile, distinguish her as extraordinary.  She never sacrificed beauty for difficulty. Anna was injured at the recent Russia Cup and could perform bars and beam only, but she helped her Central Federal District team mates (Komova, Afanasyeva and Inshina) to a silver medal in the team event, and achieved a bronze medal in the beam event final. Ksenia Chepur tracked down this January 2012 video (I'm afraid I can't embed it) shot by Alyona Shapalova in Anna's home gymnasium in Samara, and has provided us with ...

Komova, Nabieva, Mustafina, Inshina, Afanasyeva - all included in the team selection for the London Olympics Head National Coach Andrei Rodionenko on Sunday announced the names of those gymnasts who will be preparing for the forthcoming Olympic Games in London (reports Eurosport ).  The gymnasts were selected according to three criteria : Results at the Russian Championship, European Championship and Russia Cup.  How the gymnasts had implemented their routines, and their compliance with 'model characteristics', complexity and quality of execution.   Moral, strong-willed and feisty qualities at the highest levels of competition WAG : Ksenia Afanasyeva, Victoria Komova, Aliya Mustafina, Anastasia Grishina, Tatiana Nabieva, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Sidorova and Yulia Inshina MAG : Denis Ablyazin, Alexander Balandin, David Belyavsky, Emin Garibov, Konstantin Pluzhnikov, Nikita Ignatyev, Sergey Khorokhordin, Igor Pakhomenko   Of the eight gymnasts sel...

Sunday's event finals concluded with five golds awarded to five different gymnasts: Viktoria Komova (beam), Aliya Mustafina (floor), Denis Ablyazin (vault), Konstantin Pluzhnikov (rings) and David Belyavski (parallel bars). Komova and Mustafina were the most decorated female gymnasts in Penza, finishing with two golds each, while the strongest performance in the men's competition came from David Belyavski, who took three.  Also emerging during event finals, after a shakey start, is this spring's Russian Champion, Nikita Ignatyev, who takes home two golds and a bronze. Click on the linked names to find videos of the relevant exercises.  More videos from the various stages of the competition can be found at Semenova 15650's and Larasidl 's Youtube channels. Aliya Mustafina Floor EF 1.     Aliya Mustafina                    14.750/5.9 2.   ...