Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Local press agency reports (google translate in italics) : Penza from 4 to 8 March will carry Russian Championship in gymnastics, which will bring together about 120 athletes from Central, North-West, Siberian, Southern, Ural, Far Eastern federal districts, as well as from Moscow and St. Petersburg. The strongest will identify both the individual and team competition. The tournament will be one of the stages of the formation of the national team at the European Championship, which will be held in Montpellier (France) from 13 to 19 April . Will perform at the national championships and Penza athletes Denis Ablyazin, Pavel Pavlov, Daniil Kazatchkov, Sergey Stepanov, Dmitri Kharkov, Dmitry Turaev, Vitaly Vanifatov, Nikolai Covino, Ivan Tikhon, Nikita Simonov and Anastasia Kadysheva. "We also take part in competitions athletes: Nikita Ignatiev, David Belyavski, Nikolai Kuksenkov, the winners of the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 in Nanjing  Nikita Nagornyi and Seda Tuthalyan, winners of ...

Source : http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20150226/810435065.html I am sick in bed with a nasty chest infection and temperature at the moment.  But I wanted you to see the good news about Aliya, Google translate below in italics. In other news, Vika and Afan are preparing respectively UB and BB and VT and FX for next week's Russian Champs. Good luck to all the team! MOSCOW, February 26 - R-Sport, Maria Vorobyov. Olympic gymnastics champion Aliya Mustafina, who is recovering from an injury, will be targeted to prepare for the European Games in Baku, said the agency "F-Sport" head coach of the women's national team of Russia Yevgeny Grebyonkin. Mustafina because of a back injury missed the championship of Russia, which will be held March 4-8 in Penza, while remaining open to question its participation in the European Championships. In late December, the gymnast was treated in Germany and on his return to Russia continued medication. "According to the plan, which was set...

Thin blini with jam - a favourite of Ksenia Afanasyeva, especially when made by her grandma VTB has been doing some great PR for Russia recently, covering some traditions that will be familiar to us in the West as shared rituals.  'Maslennitsa' - Shrove Tuesday - is celebrated in Russia in much the same way as it is in the rest of Europe, by the eating of pancakes ('blini').  Then afterwards there is Lent, 40 days of fasting. Ksenia Afanasyeva says : 'Maslennitsa certainly isn't the 'right' holiday for gymnasts, but it is delicious! Don't think that we only look at the pancakes or pinch a small piece off the corner.  Since childhood we have celebrated the feast, and made pancakes with mother, but my grandma's are the best, simply delicious.  Since we lived in different houses, it meant we got to celebrate more than once.   I like thin pancakes with jam.  With caviar or salt fish is still good, but sweet is best. It is always nice; the chefs at Ro...

While the Russian men prepare to fight for gold at Europeans, the Russian women - and in particular the Olympians who form the core of the team - have been enjoying some party games arranged for them by sponsor VTB.  As you can see, 2013 European floor champion Ksenia Afanasyeva ended up with the 'Oscar'. You can watch a film of the revelry here - Maria Paseka has a particularly infectious giggle. http://vtbrussia.ru/sport/gymnastic/gimnasticheskiy-trofey/ The gymnasts were :  Denis: Adam Sandler,  David: Jennifer Lawrence,  Aliya: Angelina Jolie,  Viktoria: Dukalis,  Maria: Sylvester Stallone, Ksenia : Brad Pitt Speaking of infectious, Rodionenko has just explained that following surgery Aliya Mustafina is unable to train fully at present.  Rodionenko describes the surgery as 'removal of cysts'; we don't quite know what this means but as Aliya posted pictures of herself after dental surgery earlier this week, I think it is most likely the removal of a...

At a recent control competition - Belyavski, and Nagorny.  Picture courtesy of the RGF Preparations for the pre-Olympic year are now well underway at Lake Krugloye. The men are going from strength to strength recently, developing greater depth with the addition of some talented, hard working young gymnasts to the fold.   Last week, there was a control competition for them, ahead of Russian nationals which will take place between 4th and 8th March. Youth Olympics Champion Nikita Nagorny now stands shoulder to shoulder with the former Olympians on the team and has surprised the team coaches with his rapid adjustment to conditions on the senior team: 'he looks absolutely stunning' says head coach Valentina Rodionenko.  He is not the only one to have pleased the coaches: 2013 European high bar champion Emin Garibov, who has been missing from competition for about a year with shoulder injury, has been looking good enough to be promising selection for the European Championships...

Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, is currently visiting Russia, where he met President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.   He was also lucky enough to meet Queen Aliya Mustafina!   With thanks to Aliya's Instagram account for the picture.  You can read more about Mr Bach's visit to Russia here : http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/23603

http://www.sport-express.ru/velena/reviews/46131/

Via Sports Express, TASS has confirmed the following :  TASS conducted a telephone interview with national team coach Valentina Rodionenko.  A chronic back injury has prevented Mustafina from showing her best for a long time. At the end of 2014 the athlete started receiving treatments from a clinic in Germ any. Now Mustafina is back training at Round Lake while continuing her follow-up treatments in Germany.  Valentina Rodionenko: “Aliya last went to Germany at the end of January. So far the doctors are pleased with her recovery and pace. As long as Aliya follows their orders, then most likely they won’t need to do any more with her. Right now Aliya is training but not at full strength. This was the physicians’ orders. As such, Aliya will not compete at the Russian Championships in March or European Championships in April in France.” TASS wants to note that the biggest competition of the season is the World Championships, which will be held in October in the UK.  Val...

Russia's WAG team at the 2006 European Championships. Clockwise from back left: Evgeny Grebyonkin, Olga Lozhecko, Viktor Gavrichenkov, Vladimir Timonkin, Andrei Rodionenko, Polina Miller, Anna Grudko, Yulia Lozhecko, Irina Isaeva, Nadezhda Ivanova Picture by Bernard Schwall The piece you are reading is the very first article in a series entitled 'Flashback to ...'.  As explanation,  I am working my way through some archival documents, trying to understand the history of the Russian gymnastics system since 1992.  In this instance I will first provide a commentary to give the context and some background, then a summary of the archival document.  This time, the document is one of the first interviews Rodionenko gave after his appointment as Head Coach.   The interview dates back to 2005.   According to Alexander Alexandrov, (Alexandrov et al, 2013)  Rodionenko was selected for the role of Head Coach at least partly thanks to the influence...