Skip to main content

Mustafina, Paseka take medals on bars

Vault bronze medallist Maria Paseka is congratulated by 1956 and 1960 Olympic Champion, Larissa Latynina  Courtesy RGF
Today's event finals saw mixed fortunes for the Russians as Aliya Mustafina won the gold medal expected on bars, while Paseka erred twice on vault but delivered beyond promise on bars with a surprise bronze.  

It was an emotion filled afternoon as Russia celebrated its emerging legend, Mustafina, and coped with the relative disappointment of somewhat below-par presentations in the men's competition.  We will have to wait till tomorrow to see whether Denis Ablyazin can finally win a long expected gold medal on vault at this championships  - and whether the brilliant but unpredictable Ksenia Afanasyeva can assert herself on the floor at European level, to match the Worlds gold medal she won two years ago in Japan.  Anastasia Grishina may be in with a chance of a medal on beam if she can perform her routine without error, and Emin Garibov will defend his high bar title won a year ago in 2012.

Full results and start lists for the competitions are available at this link.  Switzerland's Guilia Steingrueber won vault brilliantly, performing the handspring double twisting front somersault (6.2) to perfection.  In the men's events, British gymnasts Max Whitlock and Daniel Keatings won two gold medals, on floor and on pommels, and earned compliments from the knowledgeable audience here in Russia for their great technique - not surprising, since they are coached by Russian Andrei Popov.    Rings was won by France's Ait Said, and a first gold medal was won by Igor Radivilov for Ukraine.  Floor also was shared between Max Whitlock and Israel's Alexander Shatilov. 

There are too many draws in the men's competition in particular - it is the judges' job to decide who has won.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Komova should have won!

It was a very tight battle in the North Greenwich arena today, with American Gabby Douglas beating out Viktoria Komova by a mere 0.259 points (see results below) and the legendary Aliya Mustafina sealing her comeback from that career-threatening injury with a well deserved bronze medal. Yes, she suffered a fall from beam after her Arabian somersault but elsewhere she was at her best, a real endorsement of the work of the Russian coaches in nursing her back to almost-top form since that fateful day in 2011. Komova had a faultless competition apart from a step on landing her Amanar vault. Frankly, she must feel utterly shattered after coming second once again by a very small margin to an American who was treated very generously by the judges. Komova soared and took every beam move to the max, rounding off with her rare double Arabian dismount in fine style; Douglas literally sidled along the beam, seeming frightened to take her feet off the apparatus for all but her somersaults. Kom...

'Mustafina is no longer in pain' - Valentina Rodionenko

Picture of Aliya Mustafina, courtesy of RGF Valentina Rodionenko has provided some updates on the Russian teams and how their preparation for Worlds (Nanning, China, 3 to 12 October) is progressing, via Allsports (http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=84328) - The teams are now at camp in Italy, in two small towns close to Milan, by the sea, where the girls travelled on 29th June and the men on 1 July.  The athletes aren't only training, they can also relax. - Komova is working out at Round Lake, she didn't go to Italy.  We will see how she does at the Russia Cup, which will be held late August in Penza. Tatiana Nabiyeva is looking good in training and the other girls are also working.  Ksenia Afanasyeva won't have time to prepare for Worlds, and Anastasia Grishina's participation is also in doubt, we just don't know if she will qualify for the team.   We have hopes for Aliya Mustafina.  As always, she is our number one.  It would be great if there were t...

The State of the Art - Gymnastics in 2013

Just picked up Peter Aykroyd's 1987 book  International Gymnastics: Sport Art or Science?.  Seeing it reminded me that gymnastics is in a constant state of flux and change; its identity has been subject to debate and conflict since the earliest days of competitive gymnastics, well before it existed in the form we recognise today.  I want to try to talk about the state of the sport today, how it compares to past models, how it arrived at this point, and what are the questions arising. I make no apologies for publishing the picture comparisons on this page, which were created by Lifje.  Some have seemed to find them rather challenging in the past, but they are not airbrushed or altered in any way.  Yes, the pictures are purpose selected for the sake of comparison, but they express a truth about the direction the sport has taken over the past few years.  They are not so much about Russia versus America as artistry versus athletics.  I do not pretend...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more