Skip to main content

Listunova and the rest

By

 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 them since the Classic - and I understand that they are dynamic, have high levels of difficulty etc.  But with the exception of a few passes in even fewer routines, the quality of the gymnastics is terrible.  It’s a slapdash, sloppy approach to the sport that pays very little respect to its roots of virtuosity and accuracy - and it’s not even particularly safe - Biles feels the need to be spotted during her vault.  


We all have our opinions - this is mine.  Let’s hope that other countries can keep the ‘artistic’ in artistic gymnastics alive.

Comments

  1. Anonymous24 August 2023 at 12:03

    I totally agree! It used to be like watching an artistic performance to watch the Olympic gymnastics competition. Nowadays the Americans put on sloppy looking tumbling exercises with supposedly high degree of difficulty that the lay person can’t distinguish anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous28 August 2023 at 05:32

    You know what's sad? I can't even enjoy Simone's gymnastics anymore. Once the novelty of whatever crazy upgrade she's pulling wears off it's hard not to notice how she's gotten worse too. Like you said, she represented the pinnacle of what is worthwhile about American power style gymnastics. So if even her gymnastics can't hide the ugliness, I think it's time to revamp the sport.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dave31 August 2023 at 01:31

    Ban them. Ban England too. The same rules need to apply to everybody

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘We all love her very much’ - Roschina speaks of Mustafina and the need to perfect an Amanar vault

By
From sport.ru via vk.com.  Google translate  A big interview with Anastasia Loginova from Sport24 with Lyudmila Roshchina following the Strongest Cup, where the gymnast won four out of five gold medals. We quote several fragments, the full version is available on the publication's website, link at the end. ❓ The Strongest Athletes Cup has recently ended. Did you have time to analyze your performances? 💬 I just rewatched the broadcast, looked at my shortcomings. ❓ Did you set a medal plan for this start? 💬 I didn't think about it. Only that I needed to do my program - and then what will happen. ❓ Did you have time to discuss the competition with your coach? 💬 She praised me, said that I was great. She didn't scold me for mistakes on the beam - on the contrary, she supported me. ❓ Can we say that the beam is your weak spot? This is the only final you didn't get to. 💬 Probably yes. I have this apparatus that is a bit unpolished, so to speak. Treacherous. I need to work...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tatyana Nabiyeva on work and love in China

By
Some highlights from a long interview with 2010 World champion Tatyana Nabiyeva.  Source: Russian team page on VK.com.  Translation - Google translate A big interview with Tatyana Nabieva about the peculiarities of work and life in China, the bright years of her sports career, a little about modern gymnastics and about love. On the Nabiyeva flight — At the same championship, you presented a new element on the bars, which was later added to the rules with your last name (flying over the top bar with a straight body, difficulty group F. — Sport24). How did you come up with the idea to try something new? — Actually, it happened spontaneously, I think. We worked with Vera Iosifovna [Kiryashova] on the purity of the elements on the bars, sometimes I didn’t fly all the way to the Shaposhnikova element. Once I didn’t fly all the way to the bars either and stood on my feet between the bars, bending my legs in flight for safety. Then Vera Iosifovna said that this was a different eleme...
Post a Comment
Read more

Angelina Melnikova photo session

By
Daria Isaeva has done a photo session with Angelina Melnikova at Dynamo Moscow.  Here are Angelina’s words about it.   "  The first time I was on a balance beam I was six years old. I was scared because of the height, so at first I walked hand in hand with my trainer." "The hardest thing on this apparatus is to keep your balance. Usually, when I'm on the beam, I imagine that I'm in a corridor 10 centimeters wide." "You can't be afraid of the beam! Coaches say that if you have fear, you will perform poorly." "The first difficult element I did at the age of eight was a backflip. In adult gymnastics, this element is considered one of the easiest." “I still can’t do a cartwheel on a log; I can easily fall off it, although children can do this element at the age of six.” "It's better to perform on the balance beam barefoot - you feel the apparatus better that way. But to avoid injuries, we sometimes tape our ankles." "It...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more