Skip to main content

Still no criteria for neutral participation at the Olympics, TASS reports

 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 has yet to compete at senior international level because of the ban on Russian participation in international competition, is also expected to do well.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mustafina on Roschina

ROTTERDAM (Netherlands), October 24. /TASS/. Russian gymnast Lyudmila Roshchina, who won silver in the individual all-around at the World Championships, succeeded precisely because she focused on challenging herself rather than competing for medals. This is the assessment of Aliya Mustafina, a coach for the Russian national team and a two-time Olympic champion, who spoke to TASS. "Of course, I wasn't certain that Lyudmila would end up on the podium in the all-around, though I certainly hoped she would," Mustafina said. "The general instruction was not to think about medals or rankings. As they headed from the warm-up area to the competition floor, I told the girls: 'Don't worry about where you place—just focus on challenging yourselves.' And Lyusya managed to do exactly that." "Her mindset played a major role, too; she was in a very positive frame of mind even back in the warm-up area. So, I wouldn't say that winning this silver was an incre...

Roschina on Mustafina

 Roshchina discusses Mustafina’s role in the Russian national gymnastics team The Olympic champion has been working with the Russian senior national team since the beginning of 2026 and specializes in the balance beam. "Aliya Fargatovna gives us all sorts of advice and handy tips, which is a huge help to us," Roshchina admitted, adding that Mustafina has been her idol since childhood. Mustafina has been working with the Russian senior national team since the beginning of 2026, specializing in the balance beam. Prior to this, she served as the head coach of the women’s junior national team. Roshchina is 18 years old, and the world championships in Rotterdam mark the second high-level competition of her career. At the 2025 World Championships, she finished 11th in the individual all-around. In August, in Zagreb, she became a European champion as part of the Russian team, which competed under the "World Gymnastics" banner.

Roschina on her success in Rotterdam

  — Let’s sum up the World Championships. How did it go for you? — First of all, it was a great learning experience for me. Overall, the competition went well, though there is still room for improvement. — If someone had told you before the World Championships that you would take second place in the individual all-around, how would you have reacted? — I probably would have been surprised. I’m not even sure what else to say to that. — How difficult was it to be the leader of the women’s team in the absence of Angelina Melnikova? — I tried to encourage the girls, and they encouraged me as well. I think that, overall, we were a good team. But Angelina is still our leader, and I will look up to her. — I spoke with coach Aliya Mustafina, and she mentioned that the competition within the national team will be even tougher next year…  — It’s great to have such strong competition; it gives you something to strive for and an incentive to keep working. — Did you start out in artistic gy...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more