Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Head MAG coach Valery Alfosov has confirmed that the Russian team will be missing two of its key players in Glasgow this winter - Emin Garibov and Alexander Balandin.  As reported on this blog two days ago, Emin will compete at the Russia Cup but will work on three apparatus only.  Alfosov has added that Emin doesn't yet have enough difficulty for Worlds.   Alexander has suffered complications following surgery for a shoulder injury and is only now getting back to training after an absence of more than a year.  Both gymnasts are expected to be ready to contend for the Russian Olympic team for Rio. Source -  http://tass.ru/sport/2244743

A short news video released today by the Penza Press agency shows Viktoria Komova training beam, but in an interview the Olympic medallist confirms that her ankle is still painful, and she will compete only bars this week in order to avoid injury.   Only time will tell whether Viktoria will remain eligible for selection to the Russian team for Worlds, considering the team requirement that gymnasts must be prepared to compete on two pieces of apparatus at least.  Worlds begin on the 3rd October so assuming Komova can present a good bars routine in Penza she faces a race against time to prove herself competitive on beam.   http://www.penza-press.ru/lenta-novostey/63588/v-penze-startoval-kubok-rossii-po-sportivnoj-gimnastike Aliya Mustafina, who is not obliged to compete here, has been seen in training on both bars and beam, occasionally icing the ankle which was operated on a few weeks ago.  Blog the Couch Gymnast has a correspondent in Penza and reported yesterday tha...

Alexander Balandin in today's rings final Russia's senior team concluded a strong week of competition today with three more gold medals to its name.  For the first time in many years Russia came away with the lion's share of medals in a major supra-national Championships.   Russia has adopted a pragmatic strategy in its battle to seize back the initiative in European gymnastics, and only time will tell if its success is sustainable.  Recognising that today's gymnastics rewards specialist performance more than all around gifts, Russia has opted to exploit certain uniquely gifted individuals to provide the 'shock' events which former head coach Leonid Arkayev identifies as vital to championships winning performances.  At the Olympics two years ago head coach Rodionenko was anxious to make it clear that gymnasts would need to compete on more then one apparatus to make it into the team.  Here, all of the team's individual gold medals came from event specialists....

Andrei Rodionenko and David Belyavski anxiously await the final score. Courtesy RGF Britain and Russia had another tussle in MAG qualifying yesterday, with Britain coming out on top this time.  Both teams had their weak moments.  Russia performed poorly on the high bar, where they missed Emin Garibov in particular.  The versatile Nikita Ignatyev, perhaps hampered somewhat by a painful back, had a rough day with a very poor floor exercise (12.933/6.833 E score) and a fall on high bar.  David Belyavski had a worse day on pommels, with a score of 12.5.  The downside is that Russia has once again trumpeted a reputation for inconsistency.  The good thing is that with a less erratic performance they have a real chance of bridging the gap of 2.772 that separates them from first placed Britain at this stage of the competition.   But it will be perilously close, and if Russia fail to deliver on Saturday there is a real chance that the ambitious Ukrainian team, ...

Denis Ablyazin on rings at the 2012 Olympics Ablyazin today staked his claim as Russia's leading event specialist with a strong showing on both floor and rings.  His explosive abilities on floor saw him tumble almost non-stop from start to finish, including some top level difficulty (7.1 D score) that with better execution must make him a contender for a medal at World Championships.   He has now also overtaken his compatriot Alexander Balandin on rings (3rd here today behind Ablyazin and Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias) who despite his high D score (6.9 to Ablyazin's 6.8) had small errors.   On pommel horse, won by favourite Kristian Berki, Nikolai Kuksenkov finished in 7th place after difficulties with the dismount marred his performance. A video of Ablyazin's floor is available here  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOn2WdyHQs&feature=youtu.be Denis on rings  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MHCG8kZO8e8&feature=youtu.be No doubt you will find further videos ...

Photo of Anna Rodionova and Maria Kharenkova, from Anna's official group on VK.com Valentina Rodionenko has given further details of the MAG and WAG participants at Cottbus:  Denis Ablyazin - rings, vault and floor Alexander Balandin - rings and parallel bars Dmitry Stolyarov - floor and vault Matvey Petrov - pommels Nikolai Kuksenkov - pommels and high bar Nikita Ignatyev - high bar and parallel bars Anna Rodionova - bars and beam, though she may miss beam as she has ankle pain Maria Kharenkova - beam and floor Polina Fyodorova - floor and vault Daria Spridinova - beam http://itar-tass.com/sport/1032766

Thanks to the RGF who have now published competitor lists for the Russia Cup, which begins tomorrow.  My best attempt at transliterating the names, some of which are unfamiliar, is given below.  Women Anna Pavlova Yuna Nefedova Yulia Chemaryeva Marina Nekrasova Yulia Inshina Kristina Kruglikova Yulia Tipaeva Daria Elizarova Yana Popova Kristina Sidorova Anna Rodionova Polina Fyodorova Olga Bikmurzina Irina Andreeva Yelena Shcherbakova Anastasia Grishina Maria Paseka Alla Sosnitskaya Anastasia Marchuk Tatiana Nabiyeva Diana Ravdina Anastasia Cheong Ekaterina Kramarenko Lilia Akhaimova Alla Sidorenko Men Maxim Khodkin Andrei Perevoznikov Kirill Prokopyev Anton Neyudakin Mikhail Simakov Alexei Bogdanov Maxim Semagin Andrei Matucheshkin Alexander Balandin Matvei Petrov Nikita Ignatyev Grigori Zyrianov Daniil Kazachkov Andrei Lagutov Alexei Byikov Andrei Sovenko Pavel Russinyak Pavel Pavlov Sergei Stepanov Villyam Katyn Mikha...

David Belyavski's hard working and rather elegant hand.  Courtesy of the RGF It has been a fascinating day at the Olympiski stadium, watching the new order of world gymnastics battle it out for places in this weekend's all around and event finals.  I am not sure that things went quite the way the Russians would have wanted today.  As ever, large errors found them missing out on final places to which their gymnasts, on capability, should easily qualify.  They lead in three out of the six finals, but surely with fewer errors could have topped the qualification stakes, and seen a greater proportion of their team represented in finals. In Europe, at this present time, it seems to be a fight between three countries - the ambitious and competitive Ukraine, determined to vindicate the disappointment of a fourth place finish in London; relative newcomers Great Britain, whose steadiness and strength in depth point to a bright future; and Russia, the team who will perhap...

A happy Russian team launch their team kit : L to R Tatiana Nabieva, Alexander Balandin, Aliya Mustafina, Yulia Inshina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Viktoria Komova, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Grishina.  Back centre: Nikita Ignatyev Media coverage of interviews with Viktoria Komova, Alexei Nemov and Valentina Rodionenko provides a slightly varying account of the Russian team's medal expectations in London which I will attempt to moderate here.   Rodionenko announces clearly that the original training plan written in 2009 targetted two golds, two silver and two bronze medals, focussing mainly on the hopes of the women's team.  The various individuals considered as medal contenders are : Viktoria Komova - bars and beam Aliya Mustafina - bars Anastasia Grishina - bars Ksenia Afanasyeva - floor. The Russian girls will fight gymnasts from China, Romania and USA for a place on the team medal podium, and everything will depend on their physical and mental condition in Lond...

David Belyavski has today won the all around competition at the Russia Cup, Penza, ahead of Sergei Khorokhodin and Igor Pakhomenko. Belyavski, who turns 20 in October, hails from Ekaterinburg where he is trained by V Lomaev and P Kitaiski.  He came to Penza after a disappointing European Championships, where his performance was compromised by a pinched nerve in his neck. In a close competition for second place, veteran  Khorokhodin narrowly pipped Pakhomenko, by only .065.  Russia's other strong all arounder, Emin Garibov, did not compete here at the decision of the coaches. With Anton Golotsutskov sadly reported to be doubtful for the Games (in hospital for three weeks at least),and no evidence of veteran Maxim Devyatovski in the competition, it seems likely that the Russian team in London will be dominated by the new wave of driving, ambitious gymnasts such as Belyavski, Garibov, Denis Ablyazin and Alexander Balandin.  Rings specialist Konstantin Pluzhn...

National men's team coach Valery Alfosov , and Head Coach Andrei Rodionenko have both given recent interviews about selection of the men's team for the forthcoming Olympics.  I'm providing below a summary of the key points: National team coach Valery Alfosov confers with Anton Golotsutskov at this year's European Championships in Montpellier.  Picture courtesy of the RGF .  Rodionenko emphasised that Europeans and the Olympics are two different competitions - some of the gymnasts seen in Montpelier will make the journey to London, but not all. Results of the European Championships and Russian Cup will form only part of the decision making process which will also include subsequent control competitions.    Alfosov said that there is only a very short space of time between Europeans and Russian Cup for the men.  It is difficult to recover and prepare properly for so many consecutive competitions, and it’s to be expected that maybe not all of the gym...

Albert from the All Around writes here about the recently announced 2012 training squad and prospects for this summer's London Olympics: Russian Gymnastics Federation published the list of men's national team members earlier this year. There are 14 gymnasts fighting for 5 Olympic spots. In the reserve group, there are some gymnasts that might join the national team if they improve throughout the year. Denis Mikhailovich Ablyazin 3rd August 1992 Trains at - Penza, Moscow Dynamo Coach - S Starkin Alexander Sergeivich Balandin 10th June 1989 Dynamo Petrozavodsk, Karelian Republic V N Bubnovski, S G Zagorski David Sagitovitch Belyavskiy 23rd February 1992 Ekaterinburg V N Lomayev, P A Kitaiski Emin Nadirovich Garibov 8th September 1992 Moscow Dynamo A I Sabyelin Dmitri Alexandrovich Gogotov 12th September 1987 Moscow Dynamo V F Kalinov Anton Sergeivich Golutsotskov 28th July 1985 Tomsk L Y Abramov, V V Skyryukha, A V Yanets Maxim Igorevich Devy...

Results of the Glasgow Grand Prix can be accessed here . Australia's Lauren Mitchell dominated this competition, taking golds on beam and floor. Russia's Ekaterina Kurbatova, the only gymnast to qualify to all four event finals, took gold on vault but finished outside the medals elsewhere. Well done, Katya! Anna Myzdrikova unfortunately finished outside the medals on her specialist piece, floor. In the men's competition, Alexander Balandin took gold on the rings.