Skip to main content

Larissa Latynina - Russian gymnastics and perestroika

By



Olympic legend Larissa Latynina has been reflecting on Russian gymnastics in an interview with Pravda, and I am summarising below a paraphrased version of what she has said.

Interesting that Russia is now beginning to reflect on the brain drain and loss of investment dating back to the 1990s and early 2000s and that is now affecting their competitive results.  There is also a fascinating article on the mass exodus of coaches, including interviews with Valery Belenkyi, Vladimir Vatkin, Andrei Popov and Alexander Alexandrov.   I am hoping to have it translated for you in the coming weeks.  

In the meantime, Larissa's words reflect so much of what has been covered in this blog over the last year.  Someone of her profile and significance speaking openly on this subject in the Russian press must show that her country is beginning to consider the loss, and perhaps the measures necessary for a recovery - if desired.

"You know, I want to tell you that we lost a lot during the period of re-adjustment ('perestroika').  We lost some of the coaching staff - the border opened, and people realized that that they can travel, and they do.  There were people over there who earned a lot more than we did.

So it is no wonder that now our coaches work all over the world.  Their teaching was better.   We had a great specialists, and we had a lot of children's sports schools. But when all the coaches began to disperse, there was nobody to work here, schools were closed, gymnastics sections in clubs were closed - Dynamo, CSKA Moscow, the trade unions, it all went.  Now it is not surprising that, while earlier in the championship of the Soviet Union we had about 150 people competing, now we have more like 24.  Not really enough to choose from.  That's scary. 

And I think that now, in the last few years, the Gymnastics Federation has very seriously paid attention to the development of sport, to the development of children's sports schools.  Thankfully, the head of the RGF is also President of VTB, which means there is money.  Because right now, in this life, as they say, just taking a step without money is impossible."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Melnikova plans to increase her D scores before Jakarta

By
 Translation of highlights of article from Sport Express. Angelina Melnikova spoke to Sport-Express journalist Sergey Lisin about today's competition day.  ❓Did you expect such a victorious end to the day, considering how it started on balance beam? 💬 No. Just looking at the scoreboard just now gave me goosebumps; it's a great joy. This is my first time competing for Vladimir, and I'm so happy that we won this Russian Championships, competing for the Vladimir team, and we achieved such a historic victory. It was fantastic, thanks to the whole team. ❓And still, about balance beam. 💬 I don't want to talk about that shame. I have nothing to say, I'm just ashamed; I can't find any other words. ❓How did you manage to pull myself together after that? 💬 Actually, I'm in pretty good shape, and I was generally confident on all the apparatuses today. As a professional athlete, if something isn't working out, I can't give up on the next apparatus. ❓ Yesterda...
Post a Comment
Read more

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

By
Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...
14 comments
Read more

The generations of gymnasts in Russia move on

By
Almost two years ago the IOC sanctioned Russia for invading Ukraine.  The IOC effectively banned Russia’s team from international competition in Olympic sports.   2020/1 was therefore Russia’s last Olympics, but even so they competed then not as Russia, but under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee. There has been a long history of ‘diplomatic’ conflict between Russia and the IOC.  You could think back as far as 1984 when the team boycotted the LA Olympics, but more recently we begin with the ‘state doping’ that went on in particular at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014.  Gymnastics wasn’t affected at that time as the sport of gymnastics is clean, but the sanctions on sport in Russia, in general, have gradually become stronger.  It’s now only possible for gymnasts to compete internationally as individuals, with neutral status.  Neutral status is granted by their sporting administrative bodies, in our case the FIG.   It’s not an easy job, eit...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more