Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Tutkhalyan and Melnikova - gymnastics dynamite and Russia's not so secret weapon for the Rio Olympics Just as I was about to go to bed last night one of our readers posted a link to a Tass article in which Valentina Rodionenko repeats the team membership for Europeans, but with a significant change, replacing Seda Tutkhalyan with Natalia Kapitanova as a reserve.  This Allsport article , linked on the RGF website this morning, still includes Seda as reserve.  I give up; there is never a final word.  Team selections are a difficult thing and especially so with injury rates in the sport as high as they are.  Media reports are unreliable.  Or Valentina changes her mind as often as she changes her fur coats.  Only one thing is for sure.  We will know who will compete when the teams walk out into the arena on Wednesday 1st June.  Maybe. Aside from the obvious observation - how must it affect the girls to be so unsure? - I'm going to repeat again ...

15 year old Angelina Melnikova will make her major senior international debut in a few weeks' time According to an interview by Alexey Zubakov with Valentina Rodionenko, the final line-ups of both the men's and women's teams for the Berne Championships have now been determined. MAG has been previously announced - Denis Ablyazin, Nikita Nagorny, David Belyavski, Nikita Ignatyev and Nikolai Kuksenkov.  Emin Garibov will be the reserve. WAG - Aliya Mustafina, Angelina Melnikova, Maria Paseka, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Daria Spiridonova. Seda Tutkhakyan, who is competing on beam and floor today at the Osijek Challenge Cup, will be the travelling reserve. Viktoria Komova is continuing her rehab after a period in hospital in her home town of Voronezh with back pain.  She returns to Round Lake on the 3rd May where she will continue to prepare for the Olympic Games under the watchful eyes of her coaches. Although I will be excited to see how young Angelika fares,  I'm overall a little...

In an interview with Tass correspondent Albert Starodubtsev, Valentina Rodionenko has refreshed ideas of those in contention for the upcoming European Championships.  MAG - 25 to 29 May - registrations will be sent to the UEG tomorrow.  The team will include Nikolai Kuksenkov, David Belyavski, Nikita Nagorny, Nikita Ignatyev and Denis Ablyazin.  Reserve is Emin Garibov.  Ablyazin is suffering from some health problems but it is hoped that he will recover in time, otherwise the team is in 'good shape'.  The RGF received notification from RUSADA on 15th April that Kuksenkov's temporary suspension had been lifted. As previously announced, the women's team (comp begins 1 June and registrations will be made formally next week) will include Ksenia Afanasyeva, Angelina Melnikova, Aliya Mustafina and Maria Paseka.  The final place will be contested by the Viktoria Komova, Daria Spiridonova and Seda Tutkhalyan.  (Ed's note - Seda is competing this weekend at th...

http://m.sport-express.ru/se-velena/reviews/964375/ DMITRY Bilozerchev: "IN RUSSIA MY HELP nobody needs" Interlocutor Elena Vaytsehovsky The famous Soviet gymnast would like to share your experiences with the Russian athletes, but so far does not find understanding in our heads This year he is almost 50 and half of his life he lived in the United States, which left in January 1994, more out of desperation. From the inability to create its own international gymnastic center, which wanted to collect all the greatest gymnasts of the Soviet Union disintegrated. Donkey Bilozerchev then in Portland, near Seattle, opened his own club, went to work. Then, as something altogether disappeared from sight. Since our last conversation with him took almost 19 years ... Dmitry Bilozerchev and his family. Photos of Dmitry Bilozercheva archive Coaching REPUTATION I have a very HIGH In a phone call Dmitri said, while in Ireland. Immediately he said: - I am here at the invitation of one of Dubl...

In an interview with sports analyst Alexei Zubakov, Russia's head coach Valentina Rodionenko has commented on the state of WAG Gymnastics at the Rio Olympics, following on from yesterday's qualifying event.   'We are very sorry ... for four decades one of Russia's main opponents was the Romanian national team.  Brazil will miss the Romanian style of gymnastics.  Undoubtedly, the absence of their leader, Larissa Iordache, affected the team's performance. ... In the team competition USA and Russia will compete for first place, and for third - China and the UK.  The remaining teams at the moment are a long way behind the strongest four. ...There is a clear favourite in the men's competition, Japan.  Also competing for medals will be China, UK, USA, Brazil and Germany.  Russia will also be competing for a team medal. http://vpsfund.org/115-6/

I certainly wasn't the only one who observed events in Rio yesterday.  And what a sad day, to see Romania fall out of contention for a team place in the Rio Olympics, so suddenly and so brutally after months of anticipation.  Although the team's performance was consistent with their result at the Glasgow World Championships, it was especially hard to hear how they fell at the very first hurdle, to read of the failures on bars, for so long a bugbear of the Romanian system.  After that, the team spirit was set and it was always going to be hard to lift them to more winning ways.   Romania's fate really echoes so much that has happened to Russia in recent years: an over reliance on a handful of star performers, many of them now injured and veteran; juniors difficult to transition to senior level responsibility; distinct technical weaknesses on one or two apparatus; and, for the Romanians especially, a volatile internal political situation resulting in frequent staffing ...

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency RUSADA has now lifted the temporary suspension of Nikolai Kuksenkov, reports R Sport. This follows on from an announcement by the World agency, WADA, detailing the terms of a possible 'amnesty' for athletes with very low levels of the drug Meldonium in their bloodstream, who had not taken the drug since January. In related news, Russian team doctor Vladimir Timonkin has explained that the Russian women have not taken Meldonium for some years.  Timonkin says that the benefits of the drug were insufficient to justify its use.  He is a well known and trusted face on the Russian national team, and has been team doctor for fifteen years. R-Sport's report on the official lifting of Kuksenkov's suspension -  http://m.rsport.ru/artist_gym/20160415/913522428.html WADA ruling on Meldonium excretion rates - implications for Russia - http://rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/wada-ruling-about-meldonium-excretion.html Interview with V...

An interview with the new Russian leader Angelina Melnikova.  She sounds like such a nice, level-headed, serious girl.  I can't wait to see her compete at Europeans.   Angelina Melnikova from Voronezh has won three top awards in the Russian Championships - in the all-around, exercise, balance beam and floor exercise. After a successful debut at the senior level the 15-year-old gymnast has been included in the national team for the European Championships, which will take place from 26 May to 5 June in Switzerland. In conversation with 'Stadion' correspondent, Alexander Barmina, the athlete shared her impressions from the competition: - Of course, I am very happy that the competition went so well for me.  I was worried - in fact this is my first "adult" Championship. On Sunday, when the event medals were contested on the balance beam and floor, I was drawn to go first. For me, this is always easier, because when there is a wait, it is very scary, and the excitement ...

A key document has been published - link here - https://wada-mailing-list.s3.amazonaws.com/2016-04-12-Meldonium_Notice_Final.pdf.   It is worth reading. Key section is this - ' When a prohibited substance is detected, it is up to the athlete to establish the circumstances surrounding the entry of the substance into his or her body (including the timing of such entry), in order for the hearing panel to be in a position to assess the question of intent, fault and negligence, and to determine the appropriate consequences. In the case of meldonium, there is currently a lack of clear scientific information on excretion times. For this reason, a hearing panel might justifiably find (unless there is specific evidence to the contrary) that an athlete who has established on the balance of probabilities that he or she ingested meldonium before 1 January 2016 could not reasonably have known or suspected that the meldonium would still be present in his or her body on or after 1 January 2016. I...

A brief history of those who have fallen in Soviet and Russsian gymnastics history Gymnastics genius rarely goes hand in hand with consistency.  When I say 'rarely', you need to take that in context; there are myriad gymnasts who had the difficulty, originality and virtuosity to become legendary, but who never won the Olympic or World all around title.  Then there are the few whose names appeared at the top of the roster.  They are generally the ones whose consistent light shone all too briefly, like a firefly on the horizon, at precisely the right single moment that mattered.   They all make mistakes.  Mistakes are human.  Mistakes are also life blood to learning.  There is not one gymnast ever in the history of gymnastics who did not fall.  Not only do gymnasts need to fall to be able to continue to develop and learn, falls also often define competitions and memories.   In 1989 the new life rule came to stay in all around competition, ...

Head coach Valery Alfosov has unreservedly supported Russian AA champion Nikolai Kuksenkov, naming him to a group of ten gymnasts eligible for participation in Rio even though the gymnast's selection for international competition is currently impossible due to a positive drugs test. The RGF is employing Swiss lawyers to defend Kuksenkov's 'honour and innocence'.  Russian gymnasts stopped taking meldonium last August 2015 although the drug is known for remaining in the system for long periods of time.  Other gymnasts have shown traces of the drug in their samples, but Kuksenkov's was 'scanty' but minimally over the limit.  No Russian gymnast should have this problem, says Alfosov. (Rodionenko earlier pointed out that gymnasts only take those supplements and medications given to them by the team doctor; they are not even permitted to buy over the counter cold medications or to self medicate at all). Alfosov said that five gymnasts would travel to Rio, and two ...

Initial reports coming out of Russia suggest that Kuksenkov's absence from today's event finals at Russian nationals were the result of his withdrawal on the basis of a positive drugs test taken on 15th March. Valentina Rodionenko says the test showed a 'minimal' measure and stresses that gymnasts stopped taking Mildronate last August.  Investigations are taking place to understand how long the substance can remain the bloodstream after withdrawal. This is obviously disappointing for the gymnast, coaches and the wider team.  We wait to hear more and to consider the implications. Source -  http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=102904 Update 3/4 - WADA conducting research into the rate of excretion of meldonium.  Decisions about athletes' guilt are pending.  http://www.sports.ru/biathlon/1038710792.html