Eremina in 2016 St Petersburg has a tradition of great gymnastics - from 1980 and 1988 Olympic Champions Alexander Detiatin and Elena Shushunova, to this year's Junior European Champion, Elena Eremina via World Champion Tatiana Nabiyeva and European beam champion Evgenia Kuznetsova. And we shouldn't forget St Petersburg as a home of great innovation. Elena Shushunova's half blind change to Markelov was astonishing in its time. And then, we come to possibly my favourite single gymnastics element - the straight Tkachev, which Nabiyeva performed at the 2010 World Championships. The legacy and heritage continues, and now 14 year old Elena Eremina is practicing the same skill in training. You can see a video of this at her coach, Vera Kiryashova's Instagram account ( https://instagram.com/p/BGsMgtNnqSk/ ). Vera and her husband Alexander also coached Tatiana Nabiyeva. Coach Vladimir Zaglada, who has held senior coaching roles in the USA, Russia and ...
Reporting and analysing Russian gymnastics since 2010. Includes original and exclusive interviews with leading coaches and gymnasts, and historical issues dating back to the Soviet Union. The first blog to report extensively on the sport using Russian language sources. I read, I argue, and I have opinions. Be warned.