Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Only recently opened, you will find here a rich resource (still work in progress) on the members of the Russian national team. Click on the pictures of the gymnasts to drill down to their individual websites (each customised with their own personal theme and design).  I particularly like the purple of Aliya Mustafina's site, and the brief profiles which reveal Tatiana Nabieva's liking for Robert Pattison and the Twilight Series ;-) There is also a good translation of a recent Sovietsky Sport interview with Viktoria Komova's parents.

Since my somewhat disastrous attempts at forecasting the national team for the 2011 World Championships, I have decided to steer clear of predictions. But the Russians have just published details of their official squads for 2012 so we do have some information to chew over. This is the first in a series of blogs where I will present the names of the national team members : women, men, the various junior ranks, and the coaches. It's still early days, and who knows who will survive the precarious path towards fitness for the Olympics. Oh my goodness, how I would like to see them ALL in peak condition by the time of the Olympics. At the present time, it is clear that the American women's team is by far the strongest and deepest in the world. John Geddert's recent Facebook declaration (19th January) that 'the USA looks better than ever' demonstrates the confidence that makes them almost inevitable winners in London. The Russian team will challenge strongly, though...

Anna Dementieva has repeated her all around victory at this February's Russian national championships with a gold medal in the all around at the Russia Cup, held this afternoon in Ekaterinburg.  In so doing, she recorded the highest scores on vault (previously a significant weakness, she is said to have mastered a double twisting Yurchenko), beam and floor, amassing a total score of 59.8.  In second place was Viktoria Komova, whose 15.7 on bars was her highest score.  The leader after qualifications, Ksenia Afanasyeva, suffered a double fall on bars and was reduced to fourth place at this competition behind a consistent Yulia Belokobylskaya.  Tatiana Nabieva, competing only on bars and vault, redeemed herself somewhat today after a disappointing round of qualifications.  Her 15.2 on bars was second to Komova and she managed a reasonable vault score of 14.4.   National team contender Ramila Musina did not compete today because of illness. 1 ...

As I watched Aliya Mustafina prepare for her vault at that fateful competition, resplendent in her royal blue leotard and waspily striped leg warmers, I was reminded of the girl's fearsome heritage, both ethnic and sporting.  Her darkly curlicue features, the fine set of the cheekbone, the intense imperiosity of Mustafina's gaze are redolent of a proud Tatar princess. Put the cornrows back in her hair, add a tiara and a few jewels to that corsage and you are more than halfway there.   Huddled close to coach Alexandrov, her demeanour was that of a prize fighter ready for combat.   Mustafina is her father's daughter (Fargat Mustafin was an Olympic medallist in Greco Roman wrestling).   It would be easy to forget that Mustafina, not yet 17 years old, only graduated to the senior national team in January 2010.  And that she is the first Russian woman in many years to make the transition from junior to senior without succumbing to the pressures and e...

A great day for the Russians as beautiful Anna Dementieva took gold on beam, and spritely young Yulia Belokobylskaya presented a wonderfully precise floor routine for the bronze medal. This means that all four Russian girls medalled at these championships, if you count Aliya Mustafina's leading performance in qualifications - and despite Aliya's unfortunate absence from finals, the Russian girls medalled in all but one event - vault.  So a good competition all things taken into account,  Go today to the Russian Federation's website to see a lovely picture of happy Anna and Yulia. Well, we are all sad that Aliya is facing such a difficult recovery - but confident she will make the best of it in the long run.  In the meantime, the remaining team members have a chance to step up and make their contribution to Russian gymnastics, and it will be interesting to see how the various gymnasts perform under the spotlight,  I for one was highly encouraged by the strong, sta...

Ouch.  No doubt by now you all know that poor Aliya Mustafina suffered a torn meniscus on landing her first vault of the all around competition.  So now my heart hurts almost as much as my hand, and my thoughts are with Aliya, her team mates and her coaches, who must be going through an agony of pain and uncertainty, physical and otherwise, at present. I am however delighted at the victory of that most Russian of gymnasts, Anna Dementieva.  Anna is a delightful, strong gymnast; all light, airy amplitude, impressive technique and deceptively steely mentality.  The Russians deserved a little good luck after the bad luck of their prime competitor here, but I don't think this was that lucky a win - Anna was clearly the class act of the field, well ahead of the rest even if this fact is disguised by the somewhat distorted scores of Elizabeth Seitz who experienced a significant 'home advantage'. I cannot say that Dementieva reminds me of any particular gymnast from the...