'Together with the team' - Russia's MAG prepare for Rio

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's not as if Russians are the only athletes ever to have tested positive, but it might look as though there is an institutionalised, state-endorsed culture of cheating.  

So Russia is looking for clean sports to step up and shine at the Rio Olympics.  This article is part of a series entitled 'Together with the team' that looks to raise the profile and morale of Russian sports.  

Head WAG coach Valentina Rodionenko has already gone on record to say that Russian gymnasts do not have a doping problem, and so artistic gymnastics appears to be one sport that the Government will be looking to to fill the gold medal gap in Rio.  Not much pressure, then!

So it is not surprising that a fair chunk of Irina's article focusses on the rigourous doping tests that the gymnasts are regularly subjected to, and I think it's a good thing to emphasise that this process does take place.  Gymnastics is a skill sport and there aren't many drugs that can give a performance benefit without affecting balance and so on.  Internationally, over past years there are around ten doping cases listed for international gymnastics, compared to hundreds in the sport of athletics, and scores in swimming and tennis.  Regardless of the high profile 'seven' who tested positive for meledonium in Baku 2015, when the drug was still legal, gymnastics is generally a very clean sport - and that isn't just about Russia.

Nikolai Kuksenkov

The sportsmen can't allow themselves to be distracted by the controversy though, and senior team member Nikolai Kuksenkov asserts that it's the job of team members to train, and to ignore the politics that accompanies big-time sport.  He became acquainted with this in London 2012, he says (Nikolai was a member of the Ukraine team who were controversially awarded a team medal, then denied it after an appeal by the Japanese team).  Indeed, the whole team seems to be working assiduously - Stepantseva makes the point that the training hall is quiet, but a hive of activity - no one is still at any time.  Coaches Andrei Rodionenko and Valery Alfosov observe the training silently.

'Kolya' makes the point that the five top teams - Russia, Britain, America, China and Japan - are all working pretty much equally, with only Japan with a slight advantage.  He goes on to say that they can't pay attention to criticisms made by 'armchair' specialists - they must simply work hard and keep their nerve.

Denis Ablyazin with masseur Andrei Blyushke, and coach Sergei Starkin

Denis Ablyazin talks about team relations - living and working in such close proximity, don't the gymnasts sometimes get on each other's nerves?  He explains how they all want to win and they are all just working to perform their best.  Yes, sometimes people are careless or do annoying things - like, for example, leaving plastic cups hanging around in the bathroom - for this they 'get it in the neck' from their team mates!  But, by and large, the team gets on.  They all want the same things and they all have a similar discipline, to work quietly and not make a fuss.  His coach, Sergei Starkin, repeats the same theme - it's just not acceptable, he says, for gymnasts to vent anger in the gym - if this happens, it's time for the coach to have a word, and advise his gymnast about how to behave better.

Emin Garibov, who is still the team captain, is back in training and says that the wider background of crisis in Russian sport is motivating for the team.  He is just happy to be back in training after all of his injury problems.  It is very difficult for him to train as he still has pain in his shoulders, and is sore all over his body, but the team spirit keeps him working.

At 6 am the previous morning, he had been awoken by a knock on the door - doping control for David Belyavski, who had undergone testing only the previous day at the Glasgow World Cup.  It takes a lot of time, and since the recent controversies the process seems to have become more strict.

Andrei Rodionenko speaks of the gymnasts' performance at Glasgow, in particular Denis Ablyazin, who was disappointed to miss out on apparatus medals.  He explains that it's 'not a reproach' to speak of this - Denis's performance has been analysed, and he will learn from it.  The level of this gymnast's routines is ultra-high - there are only two or three other gymnasts who can perform at this level - and perhaps he wasn't ready psychologically to compete to the peak of his abilities.  He is a highly responsible, well motivated and ambitious gymnast.

The competitions scheduled ahead are all stages of preparation for the Olympics - with Rio the final goal, where all the learning and training will, hopefully, come together.  The team has been working together for a year now and there is a hard-working, goal-oriented atmosphere.


Photographs courtesy of Elena Mikhailova/RGF