Skip to main content

European Championships 2013 - updates


Greetings from sunny Moscow - it really is a beautiful day here.  I arrived last night in one piece, slept well, had a hearty breakfast, and made my way to the stadium this morning with only one slight hiatus that involved a conversation with a Russian road sweeper, who pointed out to me that I had got off the Metro at the wrong stop.  This isn't covered in the phrase books and since I do not speak Russian, it took some understanding.  He was a very nice road sweeper and I am grateful for his kindness. Hey ho I finally overcame the odds and arrived just in time to see both Belyavski and Ignatyev land their vaults on their tight little bottoms.  I'm now wondering if David Belyavski will hang onto his first place all around in the face of an outstanding showing from Britain's Max Whitlock (but which would be less threatening to Belyavski had the Russian actually managed to go six for six).

It's sunny outside, the birdies are tweeting ... and, of course, I am sitting inside a harshly lit arena with my laptop on my knee, watching the gymnastics competition ... this probably confirms what most people who know me already think (yes, I have only one knee). 

If you want comprehensive quick hits of all the excitement, you should follow the UEG Facebook page.

I will be updating Russian highlights on my Facebook page as much as possible during qualifications, assuming the battery life of my computer holds out long enough to get me to the end.  Each day I am also aiming to upload the key results and links as well as present my own completely biassed account of events and happenings - for you to comment on. 

One subdivision to come, starting at 6 pm Moscow time, so let's see how things pan out.  I'm hoping we will see the Russian men qualify strongly across the board.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fact or fiction? The press, gymnastics and pregnancy doping

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...

National team coaches 2024, the Russian Federation - a full list

In January each year the Russian Gymnastics Federation publishes its list of coaches and gymnasts who have made the training teams for their country.  You will find below a transliteration of the list of national team coaches, 70 of them in total.  The oldest member of the team is Valentina Rodionenko, 88, the youngest Ivan Galonenko, 24 - he is a bars coach, to the junior women's team.   The senior coaches to the senior teams would all have qualified as coaches during the Soviet era.  Many of them work out of Moscow, Vladimir and Rostov, former Soviet strongholds of gymnastics.  The doctors are all attached to Yaroslavl.  St Petersburg has two coaches listed, but there are no St Petersburg gymnasts on the senior national teams at present.  There are no coaches from Russia's Far East.  This region has been highlighted as a geographical area President Putin is targetting for sports development and investment over the coming years.   ...

Nelli Kim - 'Russian gymnastics has closed in on itself' - Lupita translates

Lupita has translated this ITAR-TASS interview with Nelli Kim.  It's controversial, to say the least. Ed's note : much of the initial response to this interview - both here and in the wider gymternet -  has focussed on the detail of Kim's words and especially her comments about Viktoria Komova, and smiling.  But I think these have to be taken in context, and not too literally. Don't forget that just a day ago Andrei Rodionenko complained bitterly about the judging in Antwerp, calling Kim's behaviour 'aggressive'. Kim is responding to this here, and to the wider current context of Russian gymnastics.  What she is essentially saying to the Russian coach is 'get your own house in order, produce confident, disciplined, well trained gymnasts - stop complaining, do your job, and I will do mine.'   She goes about saying this in a somewhat long winded way and says some things along the way that seem contradictory, unfair, inappropriate even for th...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more