Skip to main content

Elena Shevchenko and Viktor Razumovsky

Image
By
Elena Shevchenko with 1985 World Champion all around, Oksana Omelianchik.  Picture courtesy Tom Theobald

I read somewhere recently that Moscow's Viktor Razumovsky is now coaching 2012 Olympian Anastasia Grishina ... interesting.  Razumovsky was a leading Soviet personal coach during the 1980s, bringing through such talent as 1988 Olympian Elena Shevchenko, 1987 World Championships team member Elena Gurova, and Soviet international Olga Chudina.  He also had a hand in coaching 1981 World Champion Olga Bicherova.  All renowned for the elegance and spontaneity of their floor work in particular.

It reminded me of the 1988 Olympics, when the Soviet team performed in red, won by a significant margin, and were led off by the placid yet dynamic Shevchenko. I like what Larissa Petrik has to say about her in this interview from GymnForum:

"Elena Shevchenko is my favorite gymnast ... We are similar in spirit, in style and ... in the colour of our hair.  When she goes out onto the floor, Elena very quickly gets the feel of the situation and in her performance she just slightly plays and flirts with the audience.  One senses a femininity in her that is as yet unaware of itself.
"My favorite elements of Shevchenko's program are the floor exercises and the vault.  As we say, Elena uses contrast.  She begins a combination softly, flexibly and then suddenly explodes, unexpectedly transforming the rhythmic pattern.  Elena's feel for rhythm, which very rarely lets her down, helps her achieve tremendous emotional expressiveness."
 Enjoy the video from Olegushko.



And I thought it would be worth linking to this video of Larissa Petrik, on beam at the 1968 Olympics - she is a wonderfully fluid gymnast. I so miss the rhythm and line of a truly balanced and harmonious beam routine.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Simone and the others - results and reflections

By
In the end, it was as predicted : Simone and the others, with Simone's teammate, Alexandra Raisman, providing the back up.  I do not need to point out that, by definition, the Americans are scoring significantly higher marks than the rest of the field.  Congratulations to them! Aliya Mustafina finished in third place.  The 2012 bronze medalist led the competition after vault and uneven bars, but had a very nervous outing on beam that might have taken a less experienced gymnast out of the medals.  A bravura performance on floor brought Aliya back though to confirm her third place all around.  From her senior debut in 2010 to today, Mustafina has continuously set high standards of grace.    It is the first time since 2000 that a gymnast (Amanar) has medalled in the all around at two consecutive Olympics, and  if Aliya can medal on Saturday's uneven bars final, she will once again be Russia's biggest medal winner of the women's gymnastics.  Russ...
56 comments
Read more

Paseka back in time for Rio; Komova confirmed out

By
A few sources in the Russian press have reported Russia's team news.  There is a little bit more information about Viktoria Komova's retirement, or rest break, and some good news about Maria Paseka. The news came clearly from Viktoria's own mouth - I cannot link to the video - and has now been repeated and clarified by her father.  Viktoria has stopped training because of the pain in her back.  There is no chance of her making it to Rio now but if she recovers she may come back later.   Valentina Rodionenko says unequivocally that Vika has retired, but this doesn't have to be taken as a contradiction, just a simpler version of the picture.  (I personally think that retirement is probably right - but why say never?  However, I would feel sorry for Viktoria if she were not being allowed to make her own decisions.) The good news is that Maria Paseka will be competing at Russia Cup - she has recovered from her back pain and is making her way towards qualificat...
29 comments
Read more

Who really won the WAG All Around?

By
You will find a link to the FIG's newly published book of results at the Olympic Games here .  This year, they have broken down the judge's execution scores so you can see exactly how each judge evaluated the gymnasts' performances.  It makes for interesting reading - if only I had more time to analyse each judge's marking.  A skim reading already highlights multiple inconsistencies in individual judges' marks and makes you wonder why they bother with the jury at all. I have taken the time to look at the reference judges' scores for the top four in the women's all around.  The FIG explains here what their role is, and how they are selected.  I even used my calculator, which is a risky thing in my hands.  My, how I wish we could have seen a similar document for the Tokyo World Championships. I wonder if anyone can explain how, if the FIG's Code of Points is so objective and fair, it is possible to come up with two different results using two differ...
70 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more