Skip to main content

Leaps of faith

Image
By
I love to see a leap performed boldly and with finesse.  The flying type of leap that defies gravity.  Toe point and line come into it, but amplitude is what a leap is really all about; every muscle stretched to its optimum, grace balanced with energy and power, an invisible process of weightlessness propelled not only by the legs but also by the abdomen and, it sometimes seems, the sheer spirit of the gymnast. Ballet understands the forces of gravity and how strength is converted to elegance; a leap is not a bounce, something we all too often see in today's power gymnastics.  A leap hovers mid air.  Landing seems implausible. The gymnast is flighty, airborne.

A leap seems simple but is actually incredibly complex, drawing on countless hours of practice and body preparation.  Its execution is a matter of huge skill and courage.   Only the best can make such leaps of faith with artistry.  Coming down to land on the narrow beam, the gymnast often launches herself once more into inconceivable flight.  

Compare the pictures below to those of some legends of the sport : Mostepanova, Ilienko.  You won't be disappointed.  Bondareva, and especially Melnikova, are true to the Russian classical tradition.  Mustafina and Tutkhalyan embrace a more athletic genre; Tutkhalyan is a new style of gymnast for the Russians, at once strong and balletic; I see echoes of Mukhamedov as she explodes off the beam; in Mustafina's dynamic, supple and almighty work are shadows of the great Tourischeva.  In more ways than one.

Maria Bondareva, classic lines, but she was beam spotting at the moment this shot was taken 


Angelina Melnikova's trajectory in this leap gives an impression of flight, power and speed


Daria Skrypnik



The powerful Seda Tutkhalyan

Maria Kharenkova

My favourite leap from Mustafina - power, agility, classical line and amplitude.  A photographers dream.


Ludmilla Tourischeva - amplitude, in the Russian tradition













Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous15 May 2014 at 12:52

    Oh ... Melnikova is just gorgeous

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gláucia Sousa15 May 2014 at 21:53

      All team is gorgeous. Angelina, Maria Bondareva, Seda Tutkhllyan, Maria Kharenkova, Alla,.... I think you will have a big surprise in Olympic Games.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tatyana Nabiyeva on work and love in China

By
Some highlights from a long interview with 2010 World champion Tatyana Nabiyeva.  Source: Russian team page on VK.com.  Translation - Google translate A big interview with Tatyana Nabieva about the peculiarities of work and life in China, the bright years of her sports career, a little about modern gymnastics and about love. On the Nabiyeva flight — At the same championship, you presented a new element on the bars, which was later added to the rules with your last name (flying over the top bar with a straight body, difficulty group F. — Sport24). How did you come up with the idea to try something new? — Actually, it happened spontaneously, I think. We worked with Vera Iosifovna [Kiryashova] on the purity of the elements on the bars, sometimes I didn’t fly all the way to the Shaposhnikova element. Once I didn’t fly all the way to the bars either and stood on my feet between the bars, bending my legs in flight for safety. Then Vera Iosifovna said that this was a different eleme...
Post a Comment
Read more

Men's team results : Russian national championships

By
Full results are available here . In summary, 1    Moscow    (Olennikov, Garibov, Gogotov, Bondar, Stolyarov, Ablyazin)    261.55 2    Siberia       (Devyatovski, Pakhomenko, Ignatiev, Cherkasov, Golutsotskov  259.85 3   Central       (Barkalov, Nyudakin, Markelov, Perevoznikov, Bondar, Ignatenkov   255.00 Interesting - Mikhail Bondar appears to have competed for two teams simultaneously here - Moscow and Central - not sure how this works but quite pleased with myself for noticing it ;-)  Only his high bar score counted for the Central team.  One of the wonderful mysteries of Russian gymnastics.  Hopefully we'll have the women's team results later.  And perhaps I'll discover something even more wondrously mysterious there.  Who knows. 
Post a Comment
Read more

The State of Gymnastics - 'Soviet' or 'American' style?

By
Lioudmilla Tourischeva, 1972 Olympic All Around champion in artistic gymnastics, was held up as an example of the ideal Soviet citizen.  Here she coaches one of the Soviet Union's leading gymnasts from the 1980 Olympics, Natalia Shaposhnikova The Soviet Union had a genius for lifting sport beyond the textbook, injecting the aesthetic where previously only goals had been in plain view.   This was not only manifest in gymnastics.  Do you remember the ‘Russian Five’, the players who elevated ice hockey to a creative sporting display, mesmerising their opponents and spectators with intricate patterns of play, so rhythmic and entertaining that they could have been set to music?   In gymnastics, a sport where the aesthetic counted as much as the outcome, it was this ability to create spectacle out of competition that resulted in the most extraordinary athletic performances.  The ‘Golden Era’, most commonly understood to cover the years from 1952-1...
15 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more