Skip to main content

Midsummer madness - high season gymnastics 2013

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

Remembering last summer - Nelli Kim, her judges and Viktoria Komova

By
In view of Nelli Kim's recent interview , Lupita and I thought it timely to revisit the performance of some of the WTC President's judges over past competitions ... this article from 27th August 2012 is reposted here, as a reminder. 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.  M...
42 comments
Read more

Anna Pavlova interview - YOU ask the questions

By
Anna with her team mate Maria Nekrasova today.   Maria competed in this spring's Russia Cup and will join Anna on the Azerbaijan national gymnastics team.  Picture courtesy of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation on Facebook. As Anna prepares to compete at this week's Voronin Cup, representing Azerbaijan for the first time, RRG, in collaboration with Anna's authorised website Anna Pavlova Online, would like to invite readers to submit their questions for an interview with Anna.  What have you always wanted to ask one of Russia's best gymnasts of the last decade? Each reader may submit up to three questions.  We will collate and if necessary edit the questions and Anna will answer the ones she finds most interesting.  Please add your questions as comments to this blog, or you may email them to me at rewriterussiagym@btinternet.com.  We hope to publish the final interview on both websites by Christmas. Many of you must dream of having a conversation with Anna...
24 comments
Read more

'Mustafina is no longer in pain' - Valentina Rodionenko

By
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...
30 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more