Skip to main content

Midsummer madness - high season gymnastics 2013

Image
By
Anastasia Grishina at this spring's European Championships.  Courtesy: RIA Novosti
It seems to be a long time since the Russian team has had such a prolonged quiet time in training.  All I know is that currently, the teams are taking a short break before returning to Lake Krugloye.  There was a control competition at the end of the last training camp, around the 25th May, but no results.  This is quite normal and I hope the silence continues, if it means that everyone is just getting on with their work.  Evgenyi Grebyonkin's recent interview was the epitome of controlled information release, apparently telling a lot whilst revealing very little.  We have a few names to put against the competition roster, but a team's early competitive plans are always open to change.

Valentina Rodionenko is taking a well earned break from her media responsibilities, judging by her recent absence from the Russian gymnastics PR scene.  So we don't know which girls are being the most annoying at present, or which of the gymnasts is having an argument with her coach.  There has been an official announcement from Andrei Rodionenko saying that there will be no announcement about the composition of the team for the University Games yet.  We do know that Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina are not in the mix, but considering neither is a University student at the present time this news isn't going to challenge our understanding.  So far, this information is all on a par with news reports of a small earthquake in China.

But this is pretty much the calm before the storm.  This summer is one of the busiest competitive schedules for the senior and junior teams in a long time.  For the sake of organising your summer break, here are a few dates:

June 17th to June 21st      Olympic Hopefuls Cup, Penza
June 21st to June 23rd      Portugal Cup, Anadia
July 6th to.July 17th       Universiade, Kazan (gymnastics 7th to 10th July)
July 14th to July 19th        European Youth Olympics, Utrecht (gymnastics starts 16th July)
August 15th to August 21st   Russian Cup, Penza
September 30th to October 6th  World Gymnastics Championships, Antwerp

I was surprised to see how relatively early the World Championships are this year.  I wonder what competitions the Russians will use to test the team's preparations for Worlds - and if senior team members competing in Kazan will be excused from competing at the Russian Cup.

Good luck to all the Russian team, MAG and WAG, preparing for these competitions!

(If, like me, you follow tennis, Wimbledon conveniently sits in the middle of this summer madness, from 24th June to the 7th July.)




Labels:

Comments

  1. lilianamichelena28 May 2013 at 16:31

    I do follow tennis! And Roland Garros has already started, so madness has already begun :-)
    Back on topic, I wonder if they would put Mustafina to rest for Worlds (if they want, if she wants). It looks like she hasn't stopped since she came back after the ACL tear. I'm not exactly familiar with how much rest gymnasts need compared to other sports, but Mustafina was limping at Euros, is injured with a bad back, and she's got quite a heavy load. And then Universiade. Resting may be the best choice for the long run (but, of course, one can't expect Aliya to just quit). Just wondering...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rie28 May 2013 at 18:06

    I agree. However I think they will make her do universaide. Universaide is their biggest home competition and it is important for the federation to do well. A lot of funding is based on if they impress at Universaide, and noone impresses more than Musty (I don't remember where I read this but someone please correct me if I'm wrong!). Hopefully she can skip the Russian Cup. Or just do bars.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Christian14 June 2013 at 00:32

    Slightly confused about the Universiade dates - so the gymnastics is over before the rest of the competition begins?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Queen Elizabeth14 June 2013 at 07:40

      Thanks for spotting the deliberate mistake :-) I have amended the dates of the Universiade - the gymnastics comp dates were correct but the other dates did not make sense at all ...

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aliya Mustafina - I competed as best I could

By
Picture credit RGF Aliya speaks in Sports Express http://news.sport-express.ru/2014-05-18/699607 I am very pleased with my performance today, I don't know what the judges didn't like about my bars, but I didn't ask them ... I did my routine fairly well without serious error. On beam I didn't have the start value but I received the highest execution score.  We will try to fix that before the World Championships. Considering the problems I had with my ankle, I think I performed to the optimum at the moment.  I did everything I could. I'm not  the least bit sorry that I performed here -  Very glad that I could help the team. I think my presence made things easier for the girls.   It is very difficult to compete at such serious senior competitions for the first time.  Of course they were very worried.   But I'm sure that with time they will learn to cope easily with their nerves (smiles). 
38 comments
Read more

Judging Komova and Douglas - like comparing the Mariinsky Theatre ... and a Disco

By
  Lupita translates an article about the women's all around from today's Sovietski Sport. OLYMPICS OR LAS VEGAS CASINO? Aliya and Vika waited for Viktoria’s score for her floor, which closed the AA competition. Gabriella Douglas was completely alone, biting her lips. Douglas was not sure of anything, except that Aliya Mustafina, who stayed in gymnastics like a heroine, had won bronze and Komova…  In this instant it was decided to be, or not to be.  To be Olympic Champion, or not to be Olympic Champion. It’s over.  Vika drops her head on Aliya’s shoulder.  The judges have decided: Douglas! I choose the sentence "Douglas has been named Olympic AA champion".  I can explain when this happened.  It was not when Komova didn’t land her Amanar vault well. Her mistake on vault was not fatal.  It was still possible to make it up. They just didn’t allow her to do so. Douglas performed with pleasure and with luck.  She was overscored f...
35 comments
Read more

Aliya Mustafina - new interview

By
Aliya in her new Olympic Games outfit.  The teams were kitted out at the Bosco Olympic centre in Moscow last week 'Europeans went quite well, for me personally and for the team.  There were no big blunders or falls and we were able to show a good result.  If we continue to work in the same way as we approach the Olympics, everything will be fine ... Although of course we will need to do a little more in Rio.  For the Olympic Games, everything will be right. 'My knee [Aliya suffered a torn meniscus for which she had surgery last November] is all right, there are no problems with it, I am not worried. 'We will try to fight for first place. But we will be happy with any medals . As usual, our main rivals will be the teams of America, China and the UK. 'It will now be very, very difficult to fight Simone Biles [in the AA] because she has a very large D score. In general, in the individual competition, my goal is just to perform well. The most important thing in the Olymp...
37 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more