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Russian gymnastics teams for London 2012 are announced

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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 :

  1. Results at the Russian Championship, European Championship and Russia Cup. 
  2. How the gymnasts had implemented their routines, and their compliance with 'model characteristics', complexity and quality of execution.  
  3. 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 selected for each discipline, only five will appear at the Olympic Games, with four competing on each apparatus in the qualifications stage.  

The WAG selection controversially omits 2011 European Champion Anna Dementieva, a strong beam worker and all around competitor, who has suffered a rocky competitive programme since last spring.  Dementieva has suffered injury and illness since, and it seems likely that her consistently poor performance in criteria 1 and 3 has, sadly, led her to lose out on this occasion.  

The MAG selection is noteable for the exclusion of vault and floor specialist Anton Golotsutskov, who unfortunately is suffering from a back injury and in hospital, and was unable to compete at the Russia Cup.  It is expected that Golotsutkov will retire imminently.  Former Russian Olympian and European Champion Maxim Devyatovski has also retired following a year of training independently at his home gym in Siberia.  This was presaged by his non-appearance at the Russia Cup.  

Thus Russia goes forward to London with only three experienced Olympians on their training squads - for the women, Ksenia Afanasyeva, for the men, Konstantin Pluzhnikov and Sergei Khorokhodin.   This is not unusual for gymnastics, a sport where youth appears to have a distinct advantage.


Good luck to all the gymnasts - I wish them the very best on their way to the Olympic podium!


Picture courtesy of the RGF.
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  1. M20 June 2012 at 20:36

    Yeah disappointed for Dementyeva but if she suffers from injury and illness, then makes no sense to take her. Still would have preferred her to be on the training squad at least.

    As for criteria number 3, the only one who fits all of that is Mustafina and Ksenia. The others crumble at times.

    However, I have faith that all will be well at Olympics.

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