Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Olympic team champion Vladislava Urazova is having surgery for a serious knee injury tomorrow and won’t compete at the Russian Championships, Valentina Rodionenko has reported to TASS.  Vladislava was training acro on floor when she was injured; Russian Champs begin on 11 March.   RRG wishes Vladislava all best wishes for a full recovery.   Update, 3/3/2024 :  Olympic champion gymnast Urazova underwent knee surgery “On Friday, Vlada was operated on, doctors say that the operation went well,” Rodionenko said. “Recovery of the damaged knee joint can last up to six months, but these are only preliminary forecasts of surgeons. Unfortunately, Urazova will be forced to miss this season.” The gymnast injured her knee last week during floor exercise training while performing an acrobatic routine. 📝https://tass.ru/sport/20135459

 A retired Russian elite gymnast, trying to find her way in life, reports the agony of current pain caused by past injuries.  Love to you, if you read this.  Google translate.   I did Pilates today using the equipment😍 I really liked it I gained a knowledge base in the field of exercise therapy and Pilates. But I’ve never worked on equipment. And it’s so interesting to feel your body and consciously control your movements. BUT, during exercises there should be complete comfort. And unfortunately, I feel discomfort and pain in many exercises. And I was so surprised, I often forget about my pain in the body. I look for the positive and say that everything is fine 🤌🏼✊🏻 But that's not true. I felt so sad that there was almost no healthy space in my body. During training, I said “I have this here...” “but here it’s like this” “here I can’t” “and here it hurts”, and I just paid attention to it. I never shared about my injuries and pain. But today I was so surprised mys...

  This story of a 'new girl' on the talented Soviet women's gymnastics team, just prior to the 1968 Olympics, hardly needs to be presented as a fictional drama.  The coach, as in all these films, is tall, dark and handsome, with a brooding sense of being in control of all he surveys, but that's where the fiction ends.  Whoever did the casting for this film had an incredible talent for finding Soviet gymnast lookalikes, and I won't need to tell you who was who in the plot, as it's perfectly obvious.  The only one I'm unsure of is Novenkaya, the new girl, herself.  I think it's Natalia Kuchinskaya, but I'm not completely sure, because the Director of this film has cut the timeframe about a little bit. The members of the squad depicted here are a young Tamara Lazakovitch (no sign of the whisky yet, but very spirited), Ludmilla Tourischeva, who is sweetly played as a smiling but very serious young woman, Larissa Petrik, Olga Karasova, Polina Astakhova (...

  I have a large red poster on my wall at home - I love it.  For you to get an idea, it measures about 3 feet high by 2 feet across.  It's bright red with a striking graphic image, a poster for a film.  The film's title and details are written in Spanish, and the graphic is of a girl with pigtails performing a one-armed handstand on a balance beam. The poster is a historical record of the Soviet Union's policy to use sport as a political influence, and in this case in particular to forge diplomatic relations with a part of the world that was very important to them from a strategic defence position - Cuba.  This film, 'Maravilla Con Trenzas Largas' or 'Miracle with Pigtails' was a Russian language, Soviet produced film based on the competitive career of Olga Korbut.  The poster records the 1977 release of the film in Cuba.  This was within 15 years of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the USSR and USA locked horns and the world was within a red button or t...

In January each year the Russian Gymnastics Federation publishes its list of coaches and gymnasts who have made the training teams for their country.  You will find below a transliteration of the list of national team coaches, 70 of them in total.  The oldest member of the team is Valentina Rodionenko, 88, the youngest Ivan Galonenko, 24 - he is a bars coach, to the junior women's team.   The senior coaches to the senior teams would all have qualified as coaches during the Soviet era.  Many of them work out of Moscow, Vladimir and Rostov, former Soviet strongholds of gymnastics.  The doctors are all attached to Yaroslavl.  St Petersburg has two coaches listed, but there are no St Petersburg gymnasts on the senior national teams at present.  There are no coaches from Russia's Far East.  This region has been highlighted as a geographical area President Putin is targetting for sports development and investment over the coming years.   ...