Skip to main content

Afanasyeva congratulated by regional Governor Vladimir Gruzdev

By

Politician Vladimir Gruzdev, Governor of Tula Oblast, Afanasyeva's home region, has officially congratulated the senior national team member for her outstanding performance, winning a gold medal on floor and a bronze on vault, at this weekend's European Championships.

"The gold medal in the floor exercise was the result of hard work, perseverance and determination. Your countrymen are proud of your achievements!

I am confident that a strong character and skill will continue to serve as collateral for your athletic success."

Vladimir Gruzdev wished Ksenia health, luck and new bright victories!

Tula and local coach Marina Nazarova have long been important to Russian gymnastics.  As well as Afanasyeva, Tula is also home to 2009 world bars champion and 2010 team world champion, Ksenia Semenova.  Maria Zasypkina, 2001 world team silver medallist, also trained in Tula with Nazarova.  This is an impressive track record.  

The high profile victories of the Russian gymnasts in Montpellier will no doubt be important as the various Olympic sports struggle to secure the best possible funding for their training for Rio.  Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has already suggested that warm weather training might not be made available to all Olympic sports - so government support for gymnastics will be of material importance as resources are allocated over the coming months.  Head coach Andrei Rodionenko stated his wish last year - that facilities built in Sochi for the Winter Olympics be made available to the gymnasts as acclimatisation for the weather conditions the gymnasts will experience in Brazil.



Labels:

Comments

  1. Unknown21 April 2015 at 03:39

    Good article, thank you for this great news. Also, Semenova actually was 2007 worlds uneven bars champion- not 2009!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russian gymnasts to apply for neutral status

By
Gymnastics has lost some of its appeal over the past few years, whilst Russian athletes have been out of competition.  This might be an unpopular opinion, but it reflects the reality of international gymnastics without around a quarter of its leading protagonists.  The international competitive field has not raised its performance in the absence of Russia's leadership; gymnasts from the top ten or fifteen have floated upwards in the ranks to fill gaps in the medal placements, and we see mediocre performances gaining gold, silver and bronze medals.  Gymnastics has lost some of its imagination and vision without Russian athletes. This doesn't detract from the efforts of the world's best gymnasts.  Gymnastics quite simply needs the special abilities of Russian athletes to provide competition for our international contenders and drive the sport to ever greater things.  In particular, artistry has been almost entirely lost without Russian athletes to provide a good e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

By
Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...
12 comments
Read more

UPDATE 23/9 - Russian WAG team for Nanning confirmed

By
Daria Spiridonova will compete at her first World Championships this autumn.  Picture : RGF Natalia Kalugina has confirmed the Russian team for Nanning : Aliya Mustafina, Maria Kharenkova, Tatiana Nabieva,Ekaterina Kramarenko, Alla Sosnitskaya, Daria Spiridonova.  Reserve : Polina Fyodorova Here is a paraphrased translation of a comment by Natalia Kalugina on her Facebook page : 'Aliya has confidence in competition and she is, kind of, a coach to this team.  In Europe she succeeded in this role and she has told the coaches that she even liked it. The main fighting force will be Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya and Spiridonova.  Accordingly, the strongest apparatus will be beam (Marina Bulashenko With God!).  The Chinese women, of course, have been known to win that apparatus, but if one falls, they all fall.   Alla Sosnitskaya could compete in the vault final, and - in theory - on the floor. On bars, of course, Russia will probably lose to the Chinese women, but the...
57 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more