Skip to main content

Russia's new all around champion - Seda Tutkhalyan!

Image
By
Daughter of a former Soviet wrestling world champion (Guergan Tutkhalyan), Seda put on her game face and fought for every point, taking a gold medal in today's Youth Olympics all around, just ahead of Brazil's charming Flavia Lopes Saraiva, and Britain's Ellie Downie.

I will post more detail in due course, but big congratulations are in order.  Seda is coached in Moscow by Marina Ulyankina who also takes care of national team members Maria Paseka and Alla Sosnitskaya.  This morning fellow Muscovite, national team captain Aliya Mustafina posted encouragement on her Instagram account : 'Show them who is boss ... I believe in you ...'.  The support showed as Seda was clearly well in control of her competition, nailing all but her final tumble during an ebullient floor exercise.  But this misfortune could not rob her of the gold she deserved.

Seda hasn't just won a competition, she is an Olympic champion all around at a time when Russia has painfully few all arounders.  She overcame significant mental pressure to take the gold.  Let's hope she can convert her junior achievements to senior gold when she progresses to the big team next year - Russia needs her power and competitive attitude!  






Labels:

Comments

  1. M20 August 2014 at 20:54

    Congrats to her, still has things to work on but it is a good step.

    I really liked Flavia Lopes Saraiva and although she didn't compete Rebecca Andrade.

    It will be interesting to see how these 3 and other juniors do in their first year as seniors next year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. K821 August 2014 at 15:59

    Tutkhalyan reminds me of a young Mustafina -- the same combination of guts and grace. Good luck to her. I also like Saraiva. Mustafina's old coach is proving his mettle once again, this time in Brazil. The next Olympics should be interesting.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who needs difficulty? Portraits of a young gymnast - Ivan Stretovich

By
These pictures of young Ivan Stretovich, taken by Elena Mikhailova at last week's European Gymnastics Championships, are available in a gallery at the Russian Gymnastics Federation website.  I wanted to share a sequence of them with you. Stretovich turns 16 in October, and comes from Novosibirsk in Siberia, where he is coached at the Dynamo club by B Konvissar.  This young gymnast emerged at April's Russian Championships, where he took gold or silver medals in every event final except for vault.  In Montpelier, he contributed to the Russian team's silver medal. But pictures speak louder than words, and medals aren't all that matters.  Stretovich's start values (in qualifying 5 (F), 5.1 (PH), 4.8 (SR), 5.4 (V), 5.1 (PB) and 4.9 (HB) leave some room for development, but the special quality of his work is even rarer than a double twisting double back somersault.  That quality is the ability to elevate the simple to a pitch of perfection, and to make the diff...
5 comments
Read more

Nelli Kim - 'Russian gymnastics has closed in on itself' - Lupita translates

By
Lupita has translated this ITAR-TASS interview with Nelli Kim.  It's controversial, to say the least. Ed's note : much of the initial response to this interview - both here and in the wider gymternet -  has focussed on the detail of Kim's words and especially her comments about Viktoria Komova, and smiling.  But I think these have to be taken in context, and not too literally. Don't forget that just a day ago Andrei Rodionenko complained bitterly about the judging in Antwerp, calling Kim's behaviour 'aggressive'. Kim is responding to this here, and to the wider current context of Russian gymnastics.  What she is essentially saying to the Russian coach is 'get your own house in order, produce confident, disciplined, well trained gymnasts - stop complaining, do your job, and I will do mine.'   She goes about saying this in a somewhat long winded way and says some things along the way that seem contradictory, unfair, inappropriate even for th...
30 comments
Read more

Decoding Dmitri Andreev’s Coaching Values.

By
When a new head coach takes on one of the most influential roles in artistic gymnastics, it is natural to ask what values and principles guide their leadership. In Dmitri Andreev’s case, most of what we know comes not from personal essays or political statements, but from interviews, press conferences, and official announcements related to his work in the sport.   Understanding his values means paying attention to how he talks about athletes, coaching, leadership, and the future of Russian gymnastics. Several consistent themes emerge from his public comments. Collective Effort Over Individual Glory Andreev regularly presents gymnastics as a collective endeavour rather than a platform for individual achievement. When discussing his appointment as head coach, he emphasised the importance of bringing together athletes, coaches, and support staff to work towards shared goals. He also described leadership in terms of responsibility rather than authority. This suggests a value system cen...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more