Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Sergei Khorokhodin, David Belyavski and Alexander Balandin receive their awards on the parallel bars.  By kind permission of the RGF The Russian Championships 2012 closed on Saturday as Denis Ablyazin confirmed his status as the outstanding individual apparatus gymnast of the competition with his second gold, this time on vault.  David Belyavski, who according to an interview in IG  is struggling at present with a neck injury, asserted his class with gold on parallel bars.  Konstantin Pluzhnikov, took the gold on his specialist piece, rings. In the immediate aftermath of the competition Andrei Rodionenko confirmed the twelve strong membership of the training squad who will continue to the Europeans and beyond to the Olympics.  The names of the gymnasts are : Emin Garibov Nikita Ignatyev Sergey Khorokhordin Andrei Cherkasov Igor Pakhomenko Denis Ablyazin Maxim Devyatovsky David Belyavsky Alexander Balandin Konstantin Pluzhnikov Anton Golotsutskov...

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a translation of a short Allsport interview with national team coach Andrei Rodionenko, all about Russian Championships so far, the condition of Mustafina and other team members : The Russian Senior and Junior Championships in Artistic Gymnastics are under way in Penza. 2010 World All-Around Champion Aliya Mustafina became the 2012 Russia All-Around Champion with a score of 59.533 across the discipline's four events (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise). Kseniya Afanasyeva won the silver medal (58.387) and Anastasia Grishina won the bronze (57.699). Combined men's and women's national gymnastics teams Andrey Rodionenko shared comments on the results with AllSport. "All the main results are on the score board", Rodionenko said smiling, "Mustafina is first, Afanasyeva is second and Grishina is third. It's all very clear and easy to understand." — Has Aliya Mustafina completely recovered fro...

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...

edited 25/9 - there is some uncertainty as to whether this is the official announcement - let's wait and see who travels to Tokyo. Andrei Rodionenko ( via RIA Novosti ) has announced the 'final' teams for the Tokyo World Championships. Changes can still be made. Men: Garibov, Khorokhodin, Ignatyev, Belyavski, Ablyazin, Cherkasov, Golutsotskov, Pluzhnikov Women: Afanasyeva, Komova, Dementieva, Belokobylskaya, Nabieva, Polyan, Paseka Surprising to see Polyan still listed on the main team instead of Inshina but perhaps there is something we don't know. Or things may change right up until the last moment. Rodionenko is apparently worried about the conditions out in Tokyo in the wake of Typhoon Roke which killed 12 people and is causing landslides. There is some discussion of the consequences of cancelling this event. PS Google translate of the day: Alyona Polyan = Alan Field. Is there something we should know?