Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

During that same homeland he was so fond of his character? And it was for that! Fact №1. Born Vincent D. Dmitriev in the Leningrad region, and before the war the family moved to Leningrad. As Victor Plysov writes in "Sportpanorame" darkest memories "super coach" of the years of the blockade: Terrible it was the time of devastation, the constant bombing, famine carried off hundreds of thousands of lives. Food was never enough. Bread issued on cards - 150 grams per person. My mother with two small children had to be very hard. Everyone was exhausted to the limit. Bread us to his mouth lowered on a string. Fact №2. Vincent D. - Leningrad champion in gymnastics, but a knee injury put an end to his sports career of the talented and dedicated guy. Therefore, since 1956, Vincent D. worked as a coach. The number of awards is impressive Vincent Dmitrievich! Photos from the archives of honorary citizen of Vitebsk Awards Vincent Dmitrievich is now of great rarity. Collage Vlad...

Will she, won't she?  Valentina Rodionenko today ramped up speculation about Aliya Mustafina's competition plans by announcing that the 2012 Champion may perform on bars and beam next week in Penza. My advice to readers - seeing is believing.  Watch closely and, whatever happens, wish good things for all the competitors, including Aliya if she is there. Source - http://m.rsport.ru/artist_gym/20160330/908949636.html Komova will be discharged from hospital tomorrow, where she has been undergoing investigations for back pain.  As expected she will not compete in Penza. http://m.rsport.ru/artist_gym/20160330/908966651.html

Russia's leading male all around gymnast, David Belyavski, with head coach Andrei Rodionenko As the first big competition of the year approaches for Russia's male gymnasts - the national championships in Penza, which begin in just three days' time - Irina Stepantseva of MK.ru has focussed on the team's preparation, with a visit to Round Lake.  There she interviewed many of the gymnasts, and head coach Andrei Rodionenko.  You can view the full piece in Russian here .   The context : As I have said before, Russian sport has been hit hard by all the doping bans, particularly in track and field athletics.  RUSADA, the national anti-doping agency, has been accused of falsifying documentation.  Tennis has taken a hit, with Maria Sharapova testing positive for the controversial drug Meledonium, and now swimming appears to be being targeted.  I think we can probably expect that all Russian sport will be under the microscope for months to come.  It'...

Viktoria has informed fans via her VK.com group that she will miss nationals because she is taking treatment for back pain. This obviously isn't great news for the returning champion, but pain is a way of life for gymnasts and it is right that Viktoria now rests and tries to get better before the 'business' end of the year. With Russia's veteran all arounders out of the picture, it will be an interesting competition in Penza.  Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Kapitonova and Kharenkova are now Russia's main all around prospects.

More than forty Russian athletes across ten different sports have tested positive for the recently banned drug meledonium, but Valentina Rodionenko has firmly pointed out that Russian gymnasts do not have a problem. Doctors closely monitor the gymnasts' diet and intake and in the sport of gymnastics they have to be especially careful as even a small change in what the gymnasts consume can affect balance, eg on the beam.  Valentina says that the doctors were aware of the change to the list of banned substances, and no problems are anticipated. Source -  http://m.rsport.ru/artist_gym/20160317/905190441.html

Valentina Rodionenko has told TASS news agency that it is unlikely that Aliya will compete at Russian nationals in April.  The Championships had been planned as the Olympic Champion's return to competition following knee surgery, but she is not yet fully ready, and it seems that more recovery time is necessary.  Her last competition was the European Games in Baku, last June. If this turns out to be true, it isn't the end of the world.  Aliya herself would most probably say that she herself just doesn't know as yet whether she will compete.   Besides, there are plenty more competitions for Aliya in the coming months!   By the way, congratulations are due to the Russian team, who won today's DTB Team Challenge with some very convincing performances, and to Nikolai Kuksenkov who won a bronze medal in the DTB Cup!

This picture, of 1985 Soviet World Championships team member Irina Baraksanova, is a symbol of what is now lost to gymnastics as a whole, and Russia in particular.  Black and white, the picture was taken at another time when imagery came at a premium, technology was simple and memory and emotion played an important part in documenting sports history.  A similar picture taken today might be more colourful and have a sharper focus, but lack the nostalgic significance, the scope to challenge the imagination.  For all its lack of precision and technical sophistication, this box brownie snap captures the feeling of a unique moment.  Baraksanova, in common with many of her team mates, used floor exercise to tell an enigmatic and gentle story built on line, air and just a little bit of acrobatic magic.  The position of the head, the asymmetry of the position, the downcast eyes, all speak to me.  She combined grace and power, innovation and tradition to make the ...

As per the original published plans, Seda Tutkhalyan and Nikolai Kuksenkov will compete at next week's World Cup. This is a great opportunity for the gymnasts to test their early year preparations, with both gymnasts in contention for an Olympic spot.  After Maria Kharenkova missed an appearance in Glasgow this week, thanks to what Valentina Rodionenko described - quite grumpily- as administrative problems in the processing of her visa, this will be Russia's female debut of 2016.  On the men's side, David Belyavski competed in the AA yesterday in Glasgow but had an inconsistent competition to finish well out of the medals, while British hero Max Whitlock stormed the gold. Albert Starodubtsev's TASS report makes much of Aliya Mustafina's 'absence' from the World Cup thanks to her continuing rehab, but Russian Championships have always been planned as the gymnast's first competition this year.  It was indeed rather surprising when Valentina ...