Gymnastics has lost some of its appeal over the past few years, whilst Russian athletes have been out of competition. This might be an unpopular opinion, but it reflects the reality of international gymnastics without around a quarter of its leading protagonists. The international competitive field has not raised its performance in the absence of Russia's leadership; gymnasts from the top ten or fifteen have floated upwards in the ranks to fill gaps in the medal placements, and we see mediocre performances gaining gold, silver and bronze medals. Gymnastics has lost some of its imagination and vision without Russian athletes. This doesn't detract from the efforts of the world's best gymnasts. Gymnastics quite simply needs the special abilities of Russian athletes to provide competition for our international contenders and drive the sport to ever greater things. In particular, artistry has been almost entirely lost without Russian athletes to provide a good e...
Reporting and analysing Russian gymnastics since 2010. Includes original and exclusive interviews with leading coaches and gymnasts, and historical issues dating back to the Soviet Union. The first blog to report extensively on the sport using Russian language sources.
This reminds me I miss Ana Porgras. She really was the most artistic during the last few quads and her beam and floor were so stunning. I wonder how beam finals at the Olympics would have turned out if she had just continued those last few months.
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