Skip to main content

Russia's new all around champion - Seda Tutkhalyan!

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

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

Olga Mostepanova - from beautiful daydream to World Champion

By
Young Olga in her white leotard and orange hair bows, at her first international competition in Wembley, 1980 I had only been in the Olympiski Stadium, Moscow, for a few moments when it happened: I found myself surrounded by a little army of tiny children, excitedly chattering away in Russian, a language I don't speak.   I strained my ears and heard the names : Aliya, Nastia, Ksenia; I was swept along by this blizzard of pigtails, giggles and pretty eyes; and suddenly I lost myself, and started looking for Olga Mostepanova amongst them.  She might have been there, but (now in her forties) it is more likely that she was hard at work in her own gym, helping a young gymnast learn how to do a walkover on beam. Mostepanova was always like that, even as a child: her gymnastics appeared like a beautiful daydream, but the reality was infinitely more prosaic.  The exquisite plasticity that made her a Champion, the beautiful line for which she is famous, were the product ...
5 comments
Read more

30 years in elite sport: Oksana Chusovitina

By
You've been competing internationally for over 30 years. How has gymnastics changed over that time? Is there anything about your sport that has remained the same for decades? First of all, the age has changed. More mature athletes are competing now, which makes me happy. Secondly, the apparatuses. They've become more comfortable and sophisticated. Gymnastics in general has become more challenging, but in my youth, people performed mostly the same elements as they do now. Back then, this was par for the course, but now it surprises many. It's a bit amusing. Has the nature of the training itself changed? For me personally, absolutely. Now, my life isn't just about my athletic career. I'm involved with the Oksana Chusovitina Academy, which was personally opened by the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. It has 155 students, both girls and boys. I used to train three times a day, but now I train once. The entire afternoon is taken up with the academy and organi...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more