Skip to main content

Dmitri Bilozerchev and Alexander Alexandrov

By
A friend said to me that some of the pictures of Ivan Stretovich posted earlier on this blog reminded her a little of the young Dmitri Bilozerchev, who became a world champion at the age of 16. This sent me off to the excellent RIA Novosti media library in search of some pictures.

Bilozerchev competes in Moscow in July 1983, just prior to winning his first World Championships in Budapest that same autumn.

One thing leads to another, and I was then reminded of the amazing Alexander Alexandrov, who coached Bilozerchev from boyhood, and mentored him to a second World Championships all around title in 1987.  Bilozerchev almost lost his left leg in a 1985 car accident (broken in over 40 places, surgeons were considering amputation).  His recovery is legendary.


Alexandrov used to wax lyrical about Bilozerchev, calling him the 'Mozart of gymnastics', and telling stories of how as a youngster Bilo would be motivated to practice harder by the promise of cakes :-)

But in London, it won't be the first time that Alexandrov has nursed a phenomenal champion from the edge of disaster, back to the top of their sport.

Russian gymnastics possesses, and continues, an amazing sporting heritage.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Vladimir Zaglada1 June 2012 at 22:18

    How possible to be so nice to the former Soviet Super Stars! I agree that "Bill" really standing in front of me when I am watching the Yong Russian prodigy. I called "Bill" in my book The Genius of Gymnastics with phenomenal ability to learn new skis. Thanks one more time for the memory! Thanks one more time for the reminder that Russia was strong and will be strong ... Because Russia's past in gymnastics are such a great people as Sasha and "Bill"!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MustyFan5 June 2012 at 20:08

    When is the Russian Cup?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fact or fiction? The press, gymnastics and pregnancy doping

By
It was a Sunday morning.  I was drinking my coffee and contemplating the day ahead - a workout at the gym, shopping for groceries, an evening reading a book, or catching up on last night's episodes of crime thriller The Bridge .  How nice it was not to have to think about work for a day. Then I saw it - a story about the history of doping in The Observer .  Interesting reading. Of course, cheating is as old as the hills.  It is, unfortunately, human nature for some people to try to gain easy advantage in any kind of competition.  That is why we have laws, rules, ethical guidelines.  People who cheat should face justice and shouldn't complain when they are found out. But the story about pregnancy doping bothered me.  Hadn't that been found to be fictional?  The author began with Olga Kovalenko's allegations made in 1994 - but the rumours had started way back in 1991 with the documentary series More Than A Game .  The practice...
3 comments
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

Aliya Mustafina - 'I'm just trying to stay healthy'

By
A brief interview with the World and Olympic Champion from All Sport is summarised below. Russian national gymnastics continues to prepare for the World Championships, which will be held October 3-12 in Nanning (China). Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina told Mary Staroverova about her health and about preparations for the competition. - In June, I went to Germany to solve the problem with my ankle.  I had a small operation to clean the joints of a build-up of bone particles.  Nothing serious was evident, and the operation went well.  Now I have to tumble.  But there is still some discomfort, a slight pain at full load, and I can not tumble at full force.  For the time being, I try to go easy on my legs.  After the Russia Cup I will have to fully prepare for Worlds. That is just one month.   Even if I'm not tumbling, I will keep myself in good shape, and that should suffice (smiles). - I can't say if it is a different pain to before Europeans, because at...
48 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more