Not so very long ago, the Russian national training centre was rarely seen in the public eye. Now, thanks to the investment of VTB who have helped the Russian Gymnastics Federation to create a state-of-the-art training facility complete with all the latest rehabilitation equipment, Russia invites us to learn more about the training centre. The following videos were shot in April, before the European Championships, as part of the press tour that is recorded on this blog on April 14th and 15th. There is also, of course, the virtual tour of Lake Krugloye.
Along with last week's Russia 2 documentary, this provides a fascinating insight into the daily environment of the men and women of Russian gymnastics.
VTB: A Look Inside Gymnastics
VTB Group : Gymnastics Team
Become a professional with VTB : A trip to the base of the Olympians
Croatia has denied visas to nine members of the Russian national gymnastics delegation. Croatia says the applications were refused because insufficient information was provided about the purpose of travel for those nine individuals. Russia disputes this explanation, arguing that more than 60 other gymnasts, coaches and officials received visas after submitting applications containing the same information. Significantly, three of the gymnasts denied visas — Angelina Melnikova, Anna Kalmykova and Viktoria Listunova — could reasonably have been expected to contend for medals in Zagreb. This has inevitably led to allegations that the visa refusals were intended to weaken Russia’s team. At full strength, Russia’s women’s team would have been among the strongest — and quite possibly the strongest — competing at these European Championships. However, there is currently no evidence establishing that the refusals were deliberately designed to influence the sporting outcome. The impor...
Thanks for the videos.
ReplyDeleteThe last one was especially cute.
A pity that they show gymnasts crying almost all the time! Gymnastics is hard, but they are there because they want.
Delete