Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Mustafina’s generation is the final one I saw compete live.  The last comp I attended in person was the 2013 European Championships in Moscow.   Before that I had seen Mustafina in 2010 at the Europeans, in 2012 in Brussels for Euros and in London for the Olympics (thrilling).   My first World Championships I had travelled to was in 1987, Rotterdam.  Before that, I had been attending the competitions and displays at Wembley, from 1976.  I went to most of the Europe based major competitions through to 1992 (but not the Barcelona Olympics).  Then on and off until 2013.  (Unless she was in the audience, or working as a flower girl or runner, I have never seen Melnikova perform live.) Gymnastics became less compelling to me after that, the competitions became louder and the costs higher.  A gymnastics competition in Moscow in 2013 had more in common with gymnastics at Wembley in 1980 than it did with the 2009 World Championships, when world gymnastics...

42 individual Russians have been added to the sanctions list on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, including gymnast Nikita Nagorny.    Nikita led a parade of young soldiers from the Russian Youth Army in Victory Square. These are economic sanctions and not directly related to the Olympics, but Nikita’s ability to travel will be affected, as well as any income stemming from Canadian territory.    Head coach Valentina Rodionenko emphasised that Nagorny is still training with the national team.    ‘This is not unexpected’ she added, speaking to TASS.   Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations

More thoughts from Titov on neutral participation and the Olympics.  Pozdnyakov is President of the Russian Olympic Committee. As ever with these situations, opinion seems to wax and wane from time to time and person to person.  This might be aberrations in the press reports or it could be attempts to clean up what was said before: who knows.  I just wish that the FIG would issue their criteria now, and would make it clear.   Google translation via RIA SPORT.  ‘Vasily Titov  “I fully support the words of Stanislav Pozdnyakov that the Olympic Games should not be boycotted. This is an honest and completely accurate look at the situation. The issue with signing consent documents with a neutral status is that there is always an element of personal choice. And in this case, each athlete will have to decide whether he is ready to do this or not. Therefore, I do not see any contradiction between Pozdnyakov’s words and the statement of the Russian President. I beli...

 There are some very unequivocal expressions coming out of Russia right now - from both gymnasts and coaches - to the effect that no athlete can agree to the criteria for neutral participation in world competition.   Read these in the context of intense pressure on freedom of speech in Russia.  Say the wrong thing and one can end up with a prison sentence, or worse. The language Andrei Rodionenko uses here (see below) is uncharacteristically strong - he describes the IOC and FIG criteria as ‘offensive’.  I have toned the translation down a bit to ‘injurious’, but it’s still strong for a normally very diplomatic leader, who spent more than a decade living and working in Australia and Canada, and has experienced life in totalitarianism (Soviet Russia), and now the unpredictability of 21st century Russia.   Mustafina trod a fine line yesterday by supporting the gymnasts’ needs to top class competition.  What we are reading now - perhaps from Dalaloyan, perhaps...

 In other news - Artur Dalaloyan, Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics from Russia, has made it clear he will only compete internationally if it is under the Russian flag, with the Russian anthem playing … head coach Valentina Rodionenko fears that the criteria for Russian gymnasts to compete in the Olympics will be even tougher than those for World competition.  If gymnasts from CSKA or Dynamo clubs are banned, this rules out Listunova in particular.   Finally, sad news that Russian junior Maria Kravchenko (Moscow - coached by Marina Ulyankina) lost her father in the conflict with Ukraine.  She is 14 years old.

This Google translate of an announcement by the RGF isn’t entirely clear.  It says unambiguously that next week the FIG will release its criteria for individual Russian athletes to compete on a neutral basis in international competitions.  Whether any athletes will fulfill these criteria is less clear; as Titov says, no Russian athlete can claim to have had no association with the state of Russia and the Russian flag since last February; they cannot fulfill such criteria.  At least I think that’s what he is saying.  Wait and see, as ever.   Here is the article in full:  ‘The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) will announce the criteria for neutral status for Russian athletes this week, President of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation (FSGR) Vasily Titov told RIA Novosti. In March, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that federations allow Russian athletes to participate in international competitions...

TASS reports :  Senior coach of the Russian men's team Valery Alfosov summed up the all-around competition at the Russian Cup 💬 “We stated earlier that we have a young gymnast Marinov growing up, who can become the leader of the national team,” said Alfosov. “And this happened, this year we have had a certain change of generations. Today young gymnasts are very serious competitors to their elders and to more experienced comrades on all apparatuses and even in the all-around. And the fact that at the Russian Cup all-around medals were won by young gymnasts cannot be called an accident, and I am very pleased with the progress of our youth." “Of course, they still make a lot of mistakes, they still need to work on a lot. But the guys show modern combinations of the international level in order to be competitive in the world,” the coach added. 💬 “After the final in the men’s individual all-around, the audience, I think, is disappointed with Dalaloyan’s performance,” said Alfosov...