Skip to main content

Congratulations, Russia!



Russia won today's team final at the European Gymnastics Championships with an impressively consistent performance - not one fall!  Led by the charismatic David Belyavski, the team showed leadership over the entire field, finishing first in every apparatus except rings and high bar.  It was a very close competition against Britain, who last won Europeans just before the Olympics in 2012.  Russia's victory at the equivalent time in Olympic preparations leaves open the possibility that they could perform even better in Rio.  Their team score of 271.378 was roughly half a point higher than Japan's winning score at the Glasgow World Championships last winter.

Russia's 'shock' events were pommels and vault; pommels showing a huge turn round in form as Russia has so very often faltered there.  Not only did Britain feel the absence of their leader Max Whitlock on these pieces, it is true to say that Russia have also improved considerably.  Their strategy of developing specialists with extraordinary levels of difficulty has so far paid off this year.  They have also worked hard on team spirit and execution.  The flowering of 19 year old Nikita Nagorny as a regular member of the senior team has added depth, and perhaps the youngster has also injected some energy and confidence into the team's blood vessels.  As we progress to Rio, let's hope that all the gymnasts can stay healthy - and that, perhaps, Emin Garibov can return to full strength to reinforce the team's efforts on what is still a relative weakness, high bar.  Russia left Ivan Stretovich at home this time, but who else is in reserve?; this is a magnificent team, but they do need more strength in depth.

No single member of the team competed all six apparatus, underlining the impression that this was a very cohesive and happy team effort.  In the unofficial AA (noting that only three gymnasts competed six apparatus in the entire competition) Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev came out on top, closely followed by Britain's Nile Wilson and Daniel Purvis.   Allowing for the fact that they each missed their weakest pieces in today's competition, both Nagorny and Belyavski could, hypothetically speaking, have competed to the level of the top AA gymnasts here.

CONGRATULATIONS to the entire team - it was wonderful to see you defend your title in such style.  It was a tense, tight competition and you all performed incredibly well under pressure.

I just wanted to add - 36 out of 36 clean routines in the top two teams - that has to be good for European gymnastics.

Full results here, including D scores - http://gym.longinestiming.com/File/00000F0200000002FFFFFFFFFFFFFF04





Comments

  1. I really think this is a big confidence booster going into the Olympics for them. They finally proved to themselves and the World that they can compete at the top level. Let's hope they can ride this momentum to the podium in Rio!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm really impressed by Nagorny's progress. well done and congrats to the Russian team.
    John

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...

Rodionenko responds

Rodionenko about Melnikova’s words about the level of gymnastics in Russia: “Such comments are not from a great mind. I don’t think Angelina has the right to judge.” The coach criticized Angelina Melnikova for her words about the level of Russian gymnastics. Earlier, Olympic champion Melnikova said: “In Russia there are two or three gymnasts who can qualify for the level of the European and World Championships, the rest cannot. The level of competition in Russia is also low.” “I am skeptical about her comment. I don’t think that Angelina has the right to judge the state of gymnastics in Russia and talk about who can qualify for prizes. We have enough competition, it is no coincidence that Angelina was only third at the Russian Cup. Such comments are not from a great mind. We are Olympic champions in team competitions. Not individually, but as a team! This is a special victory and it says a lot. That’s all,” said senior coach of the Russian artistic gymnastics team Valentina Rodionenko....

Mustafina Interview 2 of 2 : 'I will only perform under the Russian flag'

Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more