Angelina Melnikova ... Top scorer in the Russia Cup AA competition today. Daria Spiridonova in second place was the leading senior in the field, followed by Maria Kharenkova. Seda Tutkhakyan in 4th had a fall on floor but would otherwise have finished top. As Melnikova is junior, this probably means that Spiridonova is Russia Cup AA champion! An unexpected but well deserved title for this distinctive and well prepared gymnast. Well done Dasha! congratulations to all the girls - will publish results as soon as they are available.
'If you want to be like me, just train!' 1951 poster promoting the basic physical training system in the Soviet Union. The man in the picture has the coat of arms of the Soviet Union on his top, indicating he competes at international level. Picture courtesy of A Soviet Poster A Day Jim Riordan published his article, 'The Rise and Fall of Soviet Olympic Champions', in 1993. In 1992 the Soviet Union, under the aegis of the Commonwealth of Independent States, had made its last hoorah at the Olympic Games. The Barcelona Olympics had also marked the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Union's participation in their first Games, at Helsinki in 1952. Soviet men and women had dominated the artistic gymnastics competitions at both. In the following timeline I extract from Riordan's article key points leading to the accession of the Soviet Union to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1951. It makes for fascinating reading, addressing such...

I do believe that Melnikova, Skrypnik will diminish the chances of some of these seniors in the next Olympics year ...
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I do believe that Melnikova and Skrypinik should go to Rio.
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