Maria Filatova – the first ever picture taken of her doing gymnastics! By kind permission of Maria Filatova Kourbatova My first memory of Maria Filatova is a little girl with huge, white ribbons in her hair, so tiny she seemed to have to stand on tiptoe to be able to see over the balance beam. At 4’ 6” tall, she was the smallest competitor at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, yet she was already part of the Soviet senior team, competing alongside such established stars as Ludmilla Tourischeva, Nelli Kim, Elvira Saadi and Olga Korbut. The ‘Siberian Sparrow’, trained in Leninsk-Kuznetsk by Innokenty Mametyev since a very early age, celebrated her 15 th birthday on the 19 th July 1976, the day of the team final. That night, she slept with her first – not her last - Olympic gold medal beneath her pillow. For all her cuteness, Maria Filatova was a fearsome gymnast and competitor. If the crowd were awed by the pyrotechnics of Romanian technician Nadia Comaneci, they we...
Reporting and analysing Russian gymnastics since 2010. Includes original and exclusive interviews with leading coaches and gymnasts, and historical issues dating back to the Soviet Union. The first blog to report extensively on the sport using Russian language sources. I read, I argue, and I have opinions. Be warned.

Alya!!!! I am so happy for you!!!! My dreams came true. Medeyets.
ReplyDeleteOMG, she just shut everybody up with her tremendous routines today, especially on floor!
ReplyDeleteAfter she finished, I thought: "If the judges don't give her the bronze over Skinner, they will be decreeing the ultimate decadence of the sport!" So glad she improved her difficulty and proved everyone wrong! Her emotional showing after the score was up was possibly the greatest she has ever shown in all her competitions.
And now she has an 11th!
ReplyDeleteThen 11th!
ReplyDelete