Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Viktoria Komova, born 30th January 1995, celebrates her birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Viktoria! Have a lovely day. Time to revisit a picture gallery posted last year ... and to hope for a good year for Viktoria and her fans. I was doing something far more important, researching an article, when these pictures of Viktoria Komova  caught my eye. They are far from the standard gymnastics pictures of gymnasts celebrating, commiserating, or caught in the midst of their most graceful pose.  Not the best, most aesthetic images to view.  When looking at pictures of gymnasts I am often conscious of selecting the ones taken from the most flattering angle, avoiding the shot with the bent legs, the out of control arms. I took a different viewpoint here, choosing Komova at the most stressed, the least stagey point of her work.  These pictures capture Komova in flight, in the height of motion and effort.  There is no contrivance to them, no trained pose or pause...

Vulnerable, feisty, celebrating, commiserating ... Mustafina is always just plain captivating. With thanks to the VK.com communities for providing links to these pictures. Aliya makes time for young fans at the Antwerp World Championships 'It's gold!'.  Setting Rodionenko right in Kazan after her AA win at the Universiade.  Grebyonkin looks on. Supporting her team mate in London 2012 Daily work in the gym is Aliya's life Champion of the future? At the Moscow Europeans with coach Grebyonkin Two gold medal medalists together ... Floor champion Ksenia Afanasyeva with Aliya in Kazan last summer With 2013 World AA Champion Simone Biles, who had corrected the hang of Aliya's bronze medal (she was wearing it back to front). A tense moment And even more tension, this time with team doctor Timonkin ... Celebrating with her dad, an Olympic bronze medallist and a World champion in Greco Roman wrestling The great team, with best friend Tanya Nabiyeva in the mix again at Kazan 2...

We began the year with a photo montage of Viktoria Komova , who was expected to shine at Worlds ... Olympic gold medallist Aliya Mustafina was in the news ...  ' When I was recovering from surgery, I watched all the competitions. I didn’t panic. Nobody was doing anything that I couldn’t handle. Of course the responsibilities of the Olympics were greater than other meets. The Olympics don’t come along everyday, and not everyone gets there. I cannot say that that responsibility came lightly. In my mind I told myself to simply do my job, and that was all. I worked for 12 years to lay it on the line on the Olympic stage. Six months before the Olympics I was still far from being in gold medal form. It was tough to force myself to work hard, and the doubt that I could make it constantly surrounded me.'   Aliya Mustafina , December 2012 The list of national team coaches was published, officially confirming Evgeny Grebyonkin in his new position as head coach of WAG.  Alex...

Her name is synonymous with the best gymnastics, the most extraordinary attitude.  Glamour and charisma were matched with an earthy ability to excel herself in the heat of competition.  A fierce personal ambition was balanced by her loyal friendship and - occasionally ferocious - support of those closest to her.  Svetlana Khorkina, the leading gymnast of her generation, turns 35 today (19 January).  Khorkina's formative years were spent working in the Soviet system of gymnastics with the only coach she ever had in her life, Boris Pilkin.  They remained inseparable throughout her career.  Pilkin's genius was in finding a completely original approach to gymnastics that suited Sveta's style, personality and physique perfectly.  He took great care of her health and never forced her to progress too quickly.  His gentle personality made him the ideal foil to Svetlana's sometimes hot-tempered reactions, and it could be intriguing to watch the interaction...

First year senior, Maria Kharenkova, competes on the uneven bars. I would like to thank the members of Gymfever who contributed to this. JANUARY 6th-25th Russian National Team Camp (all) 17th-19th Kim Zmeskal's Texas Prime meet, Irving, Texas, USA 20th-24th USA National Team Camp 31st-2nd Houston National Invitational, Houston, Texas, USA FEBRUARY 2nd-25th Russian National Team Camp (all) 8th 1st Italian Serie A Nationale- Firenze, 8th-9th WOGA Classic, Plano Texas, USA 10th-15th Russian Federal Okrug Championships 21st-25th USA National Team Camp 21st-23rd Nadia Comaneci Invitational 24th-1st Russian Junior Federal Okrug Championships 28th Nastia Liukin Cup, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA MARCH 1st American Cup, Greensboro North Carolina, USA 6th-30th Russian National Team Camp (senior and junior women) 6th-9th Gymnix, Montreal Canada 7th-9th World Challenge Cup-Ljubjana, (SLO) 7th-14th 10th South American Games, Santiago, Chile 8th 2nd Italian...

In an interview with Alexander Alexandrov in this month's (January/February) edition of International Gymnast magazine, the former head coach of Russian WAG makes it clear that his opinions of the problems of Russian gymnastics have remained the same since his August  conversation with RRG.   Alexandrov looks ahead to his job in Rio and elsewhere in Brazil, and discusses some of the prospects; I'll leave that to the excellent Brazil gym blogs to cover.   However, despite his current commitment as Head of the Brazil WAG team, he takes pains to comment on the somewhat dismal state of affairs on the Russia WAG team.  At one point he goes so far as to say 'I personally believe that there should be separate programs for the development and growth of the sport for the entire country, and these programs should be different.  This in my opinion will help to develop and raise the 'masses' and will help with the retention problem in gymnastics. One o...

Just a quick note to say that the Russian Gymnastics Federation has now published lists of the national teams.  As usual, JAS has transcribed these in full at her blog  here . Don't be confused too much.  These lists are changeable, and sometimes out of synch with reality.  In the past, retired gymnasts have appeared on these lists for up to a year after their withdrawal.  Nabieyeva's name still appears here, for example. Given the chance that people may change their minds, keeping the list flexible probably isn't a bad strategy. JAS tells me that Ekaterina Baturina has decided she does not want to compete internationally any more, and that Anastasia Sidorova is still at home recovering from that back injury, but determined to make it back into the national team.   As expected, Maria Kharenkova and Viktoria Kuzmina have joined the senior ranks.  It will be interesting to see how they both progress. Viktoria Komova is back training...

Olga Mostepanova does her daily work at the 'stanok' or barre.  Novosti Elena Kapitanova, a choreographer who worked at the Moscow Dynamo gymnastics club for over thirty years with such stars as Olga Mostepanova and Maria Filatova, recently passed away.  She was, of course, greatly loved by her family - husband Viktor (RIP) and children Yulia and Vladimir - and leaves behind her a legacy of unforgettable gymnastics, much of which represents the best of a golden era of the sport. Great choreography was at the heart of the Soviet aesthetic of women's gymnastics.  The daily attentions of a choreographer transformed gymnastics from the execution of skills to the performance of an aesthetic; a simple cartwheel could become an expression of delight, joy, a journey into the realms of expression.   Many of us dream up floor routines, but the mystical powers of the choreographer go beyond the meshing of gymnastics and music into the realm of emotional evocation....

The post-Olympic year has been interesting, and occasionally dramatic, for Russian gymnastics.  An eventful and very busy year for RRG , including a first, but hopefully not last, visit to Russia.  The Russian team participated in three major competitions - Europeans, Universiade and Worlds - two of them in their home country.   The women's team confirmed themselves as Europe's leading gymnastics force.  They were supreme and unbeatable amongst the mature competition at the Universiade, held in the Tatar capital of Kazan.  Even with only one of their leading gymnasts competing - Aliya Mustafina - they managed to finish in second place in the medal count at Worlds in Antwerp this autumn - including that brightly shining gold on beam.  The men's team looked promising, but in the generally stronger international field of play, are locked in a fierce battle for bronze with Germany, USA and Britain.   Russia lost a jewel in its crown when WAG coach, Alexand...