Skip to main content

30 years ago ... Olga Mostepanova

Image
By

Yesterday in Moscow, gymnasts, dignitaries and athletes from all sports celebrated Physical Culture Day.  The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a great selection of pictures on their website, and I will post my favourites for you here.

The one that captured my heart though - as I realised it was 30 years ago since the summer of the Oloumoc Alternative Olympics - was this picture of the all around champion at those Games, Olga Mostepanova, who scored a perfect 40 in the all around, the only gymnast ever to do so.  She was the ultimate gymnast, in so many ways.

Videos of this competition are rare, the 'Holy Grail' of gymnastics.  But just look at this video of Olga on beam during the individual competition.  You will rarely, if ever, see an example of more ample perfection, technical, artistic and competitive.  I often wonder what would have happened in Pauley Pavilion (the venue for the Los Angeles Olympics) if only politics hadn't taken an ugly turn that summer.  Olga deserves a higher profile in the annals of gymnastics champions - she was the epitome of the Soviet artistic gymnast.  When I interviewed Alexander Alexandrov, way back in 1989, as head coach of the Soviet women he picked her out as a historical example of the ideal, alongside Natalia Kuchinskaya.  I can't really think of a much stronger recommendation.

http://youtu.be/M-dBbhMEsJs

Olga is about 45 now and as you can see looks not a day older than 30.  She works as a coach at the famous Moscow Dynamo club, has a large and happy family of five beautiful children.  She is strong minded, positive and full of smiles.  A successful person, gymnast and coach.

You can read an interview with Olga from last August here : http://rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/olga-mostepanova-from-beautiful.html


Another beautiful Moscow gymnast, from the CSKA club, Nastia Grishina.  Get well soon, Nastia.


2000 Olympic Champion, Muscovite Elena Zamolodchikova leads an exercise class

Zamolodchikova with Moscow Dynamo gymnast, Russian team captain, Emin Garibov





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aliya Mustafina - 'each medal is very special'

By
'I'm very happy that everything turned out well today  ... Each medal is very special.  The UK team made mistakes, so there was a wide margin [of victory]... But naturally, [what I did] is not enough for the Olympics.  I prepared well for beam and bars but I am not ready for floor, I stepped up to help the team. ... To be honest, I did not look at the scores [when asked how the team reacted to the 6.5 gap before the final apparatus].  Gelya (Melnikova) is a good girl, she did everything and did not falter ... Seda fell on quite a complex element.  There is more work to do, but everything else went well.' [About a protest taken by the coaches on her beam score]. 'I am used to my protests being rejected, everything is normal!' Via vk.com I n other news , the UEG has confirmed that Spiridonova will replace Melnikova in tomorrow's bars final. No reason is given, but it is generally considered that Dasha has a better chance of gold.  This decision also means tha...
63 comments
Read more

WAG Senior start lists are out - Afan does one, Mustafina three

By
Start lists are now available for tomorrow's senior team and event quals.  At present, the Russian roster  looks like this - Beam - Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Mustafina Floor - Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Mustafina  Vault - Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Afanasyeva  Bars - Melnikova, Spiridonova, Mustafina  Things can still change, dear reader, but this is the most reliable official news we have.    It will be good to see all five members of the team compete - I am relieved that Mustafina isn't doing all four but worried for her legs on floor; delighted to see Melnikova and Tutkhalyan making such a strong contribution; and pleased that Afanasyeva is having a chance to try out her training, despite what might be a small injury.  Spiridonova is also looking good for bars, in fact to me she is underused here.   Good luck!  Udachi!  To all the team.  We are very excited to see you compete and do well! The start lists can be found here - http:/...
34 comments
Read more

So this is where things stand … Russian gymnasts in Europe

By
  Croatia has denied visas to nine members of the Russian national gymnastics delegation. Croatia says the applications were refused because insufficient information was provided about the purpose of travel for those nine individuals. Russia disputes this explanation, arguing that more than 60 other gymnasts, coaches and officials received visas after submitting applications containing the same information. Significantly, three of the gymnasts denied visas — Angelina Melnikova, Anna Kalmykova and Viktoria Listunova — could reasonably have been expected to contend for medals in Zagreb. This has inevitably led to allegations that the visa refusals were intended to weaken Russia’s team. At full strength, Russia’s women’s team would have been among the strongest — and quite possibly the strongest — competing at these European Championships. However, there is currently no evidence establishing that the refusals were deliberately designed to influence the sporting outcome. The impor...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more