Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

  Still no change on the status of Russian gymnasts wishing to compete individually at the Paris Olympics. TASS reports that the FIG have yet to release the conditions for gymnasts’ eligibility to qualify for neutral status.    These criteria have been expected since July.    Valentina Rodionenko says that she believes that the FIG are waiting for any possible    ‘changes in the political situation’ before they release the information. Russian gymnasts are competing this week in Sochi for the prestigious Russia Cup in All Around and Event Finals.    This is the top individual event in the Russian gymnastics calendar, which would normally qualify gymnasts for the World Championships.    The competition continues today with the Women’s AA.    Top contenders for the title are the veteran Angelina Melnikova, gold medallist at the 2020 (2021) Olympics and World AA Champion in 2021 and Viktoria Listunova, Olympic Gold Medallist and European AA Champion in 2021.    Newcomer Diana Kustova, who

Speaking on Match TV, the Russian men are summing up their hopes for the Russia Cup. Daniil Marinov first : he hopes to score 86.5 in the AA; 85.9 is his previous highest score.    He says if he scores 86.5 and finishes second, he will still be happy, but he isn’t expecting Artur to score above 86 and he doesn’t know how ‘pot bellied’ Nikita will do  🤣❤️ . Nagorny says he’s OK, he’s working.    He doesn’t know yet if he will compete AA.   He will let us know when he is ready to retire, and he will probably mark his retirement with some kind of event in his hometown, Rostov.   Dalaloyan says he has been training    fitness and basics and added some new work to his routines.    We should expect to see some new things in Sochi. He was asked to talk about Marinov and says the gymnast has some good results but he also has some shortcomings, eg sometimes he can be lazy in training.   The last major competition the Russian team as a whole competed in was the 2021 World Championships, where t

  If you can make your way to Viktoria Listunova’s Instagram site, you will be able to see her practising FX and BB.     I’m not sure where her D values stand - earlier this year the RGF was advertising them as the highest in the world, but then they would, wouldn’t they?     But it pleases my heart to see the quality and line of her work - the beautiful wolf turns, in particular, which Russia transformed at the Olympics.   I do pray hard for peace in Ukraine and Russia, and I understand on a political level why Russia as a team is banned from competing internationally.    But on a personal, sporting level - wherever will the women’s sport of gymnastics go without gymnasts like Listunova and Urazova and Melnikova?   It’s plain that America at least has thrown good execution to the four winds, and is putting its trust in high difficulty values to dominate the scores (and they are probably right in thinking that this will see them win gold in Antwerp).  There is such a lot of hype about

Russian gymnast Daniil Marinov has started his own YouTube channel.  It’s worth a follow!  https://youtube.com/@danielmarus?si=S6lHAhNTVcx15lbO

 The International Festival of University Sport begins today in Ekaterinburg, home town of Russian MAG team captain, 2013 European Champion in artistic gymnastics, 2020 (2021) Olympic gold medallist in the team event, David Belyavski.  David took part in the opening ceremony yesterday, carrying the Russian flag.  As he says, it’s unlikely that he will have an opportunity to do this at an Olympic Games, so he really treasured this honour.   I can’t find any evidence of a gymnastics comp, but this is a multi sports event organised by Russia - David says there are 36 countries participating, with over two thousand athletes.   Extensive live streaming here -   https://youtube.com/@TVSTARTLIVE?si=Gb5PUkvKDfzkSiZK

Russia Cup streaming (don’t yet know if these will be available globally or what the links are but will share them if and when I can find them).  Times given are Moscow (2 hours ahead of BST). Wed 30 August - Quals - 09.30 WAG 1 11.00 WAG 2 16.00 MAG  Will be streamed on the official RGF channel on VK (https://vk.com/toprusgym) ALL FINALS WILL BE ON MATCH TV Thursday 31 August - WAG AA - 15.40 Friday 1 September- MAG AA - 13.40 Saturday 2 September - EF MAG FX PH SR WAG V UB - 13.40 Sunday 3 September - EF MAG V PB HB WAG BB FX - 12.40

There is a real sadness in the retreating shadow of Russian Olympic sport and especially in the loss of our connection to individual athletes, even if it has been a somewhat distant, virtual connection.    Russia was in the process of becoming a relatively more open society, less fearful and more spontaneous than in our lifetime before. Now we hear individuals toeing the ‘Party’ line.    We know from years of familiarity that these people are natural, warm and hospitable, yet the evil shadow of war robs us of that human closeness. I’m praying for Ukrainians, Russians and all of us everywhere who are living in fear right now.    May we find peace and value love above all else.

 I am just recording here some notes on a media interview with Russia’s MAG team captain.  David uses quite a lot of rhetorical questions here in his responses, and parries as the interviewer tries to get closer to his thoughts on the wartime ban in international competition, and the idea of competing as a neutral individual.   Read this in the context of what we know about  growing repression in the Russian Federation.  This could well be considered to be a historic document on wavering freedom of speech in Russia as the country approaches the nightmare of total mobilisation to support the war in Ukraine.   I’m sharing this from my Facebook post. Quite an interesting interview with David Belyavski.  He is very skilled now at speaking in public. He says he hasn’t lost motivation because of the international ban on Russian athletes, he loves gymnastics and will continue for as long as he can be part of the national team.  He likes coaching but has no particular plans to take up work at

I never really know whether to cover news about Nikita Nagorny.    He and his wife Daria Spiridonova are internet influencers; high profile vloggers who live a particular lifestyle.    Nikita is friends with the son-in-law of Sergei Shoigu, Russian (now discredited?) Defence Minister.    It was presumably this connection that got Nikita the title of (honorary) head of Yunarmia, the Youth Army, which is the equivalent of our (UK) scouting organisations, but with some fairly strong militaristic and patriotic connections; as you would expect in an authoritarian state where repression is at an all time high.    Nikita was appointed to this position before the most recent wave of attacks on Ukraine, although it is worth remembering that the attacks have been ongoing since 2014.  Nikita comes from Rostov, in the south of Russia, not far from the border with Ukraine.    It’s not unlikely that he has friends and family in Ukraine.    Many Russians share Ukrainian ethnicity in their families; R