The sad demise of artistic gymnastics

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 extreme difficulty of what she was doing vanish.   Virtuoso described her and her team mates.

Oh dear.  Perhaps I am just in a sad mood.  It is Olympic year and I should feel more optimistic than this.  After all, things on the Russian team are looking up.  In training for the Olympics are the veterans, Afanasyeva, Mustafina, Komova, Paseka.  In reserve are young leaders Spiridonova, Kharenkova, Tutkhalyan.  Scaling the walls of the Olympic team are newcomers Melnikova, Kapitonova.  And that's forgetting such talents as Dmitrieva, Sosnitskaya, Skrypnik, Shelgunova.  For once, Russia has a reserve team!

But what is the point of Russia without that unique artistic identity?  Watching the film Faster, Higher, Stronger (a Russian language drama documentary about its sports heroes) I am reminded of the magnificent character, the inimitable originality of the artist Khorkina and her coach Boris Pilkin. She was perhaps the last true artist to dominate the competition arena, though, and gymnastics has changed irreparably since her retirement after the 2004 Olympics.  The tail end of Khorkina's legacy limped on in the form of such gymnasts as Viktoria Komova, but the truth is that not even Russian artistry could possibly survive the relentless attacks of the FIG.  Precision, power and endurance are now the markers of a sport that once took such qualities for granted, but which now values them to the exclusion of all else.  A sport that has always emphasised quality of movement has now become tainted and spoiled by distorted shapes, little line and even less air.

Given the FIG's mindless adherence to its own substandard rules, anyone can now win gymnastics competitions by executing the elements as listed in the Code of Points and avoiding the errors prescribed there.  If this means bouncing up and down fifteen times in a row or throwing the most difficult tumble or vault, as long as the gymnast lands in a reasonably competent position, the gymnast will record the score, regardless of what the end result looks like or the relationship it bears to anything else in the routine.  It matters not if the vault is dangerous to life and limb, if the jumps are little more than muscled bounces, if the leaps are flat and airless.  All that matters is that the gymnast picks 'skills' that she can 'execute' 'without error' and the scores will follow.

The advantage of this is that the 'scoring' is said to be more 'transparent' and 'objective' and 'fair' (all of this is rather contentious, by the way).  Another side effect, I might add, is that it requires little thought and judgement from the judges - in fact, why not just replace them with a computer programme?  (This idea has been mooted more than once by FIG President Bruno Grandi and might not be a bad idea, considering the length and complexity of the Code and the unlikely expectation that a human can remember all the details, observe critical features such as angle, and write them down, all at the same time.)  

The tragic consequence, however, is that women's gymnastics has, by and large, lost its verve.  Artistry cannot compete with the mediocrity of a few bureaucrats determined to impose their Utopian vision of uniformity.  The only way you can fight these bureaucrats is on their own terms.  Sport, after all, requires that you play by the rules.  But let's not forget a more universal rule - argue with an idiot, and you will only descend to his level.

So, Russia, can you argue with the idiot, buck the trend, fight the uniformity, maintain your level?

I am always one to give Russia the benefit of the doubt.  I admit it, I love them.  But I think that the Rio Olympics are probably their last chance.  Not just to show that they can fight for medals, but also to demonstrate how artistry can co-exist with this Code.

We have to wait.  The Russian Championships for women begins on the 4th April - two weeks' time - and there we hope to catch a glimpse of Mustafina, Afanasyeva, Komova and Paseka.  European Championships open on the 1st June.  Mustafina is still in recovery from her knee surgery late last year.  Afanasyeva has been suffering ankle pain.  We do not know how the others are progressing.  If these gymnasts made it to Rio as the core of the Olympic team, in good shape, a team medal may well be a possibility.  Artistry?  There's something intangible about Mustafina's gymnastics, inimitable about Afanasyeva, and then there is Komova with that unrepeatable line and rhythm.  So perhaps artistry would survive, for just a little bit longer.

But the veterans' participation in the Olympics is still a moot and distant suggestion, and even if they make it they are the end of an era.  Watch the young ones in competition at Stuttgart, and see how Russian gymnastics has sacrificed its artistic identity in an attempt to keep up with the Code.  The situation has advanced beyond weak tumbling and vaults, the usual fight our dear Russians have to stay on the apparatus.   There are now the endless, awful, Wolf turns, in combination.  And, oh, horror of horrors, landing tumbles with arms down.  This looks unfinished and ugly even on the graceful Anastasia Dmitrieva.  Gorgeous Natalia Kapitonova with all that potential for line, and she does not even use it.  The Russian gymnasts are diminished by their attempts to follow these trends and to win on the basis of D - E.  They shouldn't even try.  They should stick to themselves, to their own interpretation of gymnastics, and give us what we expect, beauty.   This is what defines their system and philosophy of sport and by deserting it, they desert what makes them strong.

You can watch all of the routines from Friday's team qualification by downloading the British Gymnastics BGScore app onto your mobile phone or tablet.