Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Vasily Titov is First Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board of Russia's VTB Bank Sports Minister Mutko has confirmed the election of Vasily Titov to the position of President of the RGF. Titov is replacing Andrei Kostin. Titov has been Vice President of the FIG for the last four years and, like Kostin, is senior in Russian gymnastics' sponsors VTB Bank. 'He faces huge challenges in the  run up to the Olympics', says Mutko, 'in general, it is OK, and I take it positively ... It was just a logical decision'.  According to Titov, there are no problems with the funding of the RGF and this change merely reflects a new management structure being introduced in the RGF as it moves forward to try to develop the sport in Russia.  'Kostin wanted his successor to use his experience of the sport and to move forward with its development', said Titov. He emphasised that the team will continue to develop for the Olympics as planned under the leadership o...

Olympic legend Larissa Latynina has been reflecting on Russian gymnastics in an interview with Pravda, and I am summarising below a paraphrased version of what she has said. Interesting that Russia is now beginning to reflect on the brain drain and loss of investment dating back to the 1990s and early 2000s and that is now affecting their competitive results.  There is also a fascinating article  on the mass exodus of coaches, including interviews with Valery Belenkyi, Vladimir Vatkin, Andrei Popov and Alexander Alexandrov.   I am hoping to have it translated for you in the coming weeks.   In the meantime, Larissa's words reflect so much of what has been covered in this blog over the last year.  Someone of her profile and significance speaking openly on this subject in the Russian press must show that her country is beginning to consider the loss, and perhaps the measures necessary for a recovery - if desired. "You know, I want to tell you that we ...

World Floor Champion Ksenia Afanasyeva and her coach Maria Nazarova attended the opening on the 1st December of a new gymnastics hall for the Junior Sports School of the Olympic Reserves in her hometown, Tula . Yet more evidence (see yesterday's post on Denis Ablyazin) of the investment Russia is making currently in its sports effort. If you are in the UK, you will be able to see on BBC IPlayer a twenty minute programme ('Olympic dreams - the Russians are coming') on the development of contemporary, post Soviet Russian sports, presented by Matthew Pinsent. There is no direct reference to artistic gymnastics, but he visits Ekaterinburg, Moscow and Sochi and speaks to a variety of sporting coaches, athletes and commentators. 'The chaos of the last twenty years is beginning to disappear', he says, and there is reason to expect outstanding results in the near future. But competition from China is a worry; this country adopted the old Soviet mantra of early speci...

The All Around news site carries some more context and background to the re-election of Andrei Kostin. Kostin is the man Andrei Rodienenko credits as of critical importance to the resurgence of Russian gymnastics (see a brief media directory ). I hadn't taken on board that he is also very senior at the VTB Bank, thus cementing the crucial sponsorship arrangement between the Bank and the Federation. Let's hope this means continuing support for all the success the gymnasts are experiencing currently. A link to pictures of the Conference can be found at the Russian Federation's website .

Einselka at the all around forum provides this link to details of the all around and team results at the Voronin Cup. In the meantime, the Russian Federation has found time to revamp its website which is now far more colourful than before.  I am particularly excited to see a page of pictures of a recent conference at which the Federation President, Andrei Kostin was re-elected.  Everyone looks very worried in these pictures, and I am tempted to invite a caption competition for pictures number 4 and 8. Have they cut Rodienenko's head off?  There are second and third pages of these pictures, including some which are temptingly labelled with officials' names.  However, for some reason the site refuses to play with my computer tonight and I have been unable to refer to them a second time to enable any form of comment.  I blame the weather, but then surely Russian websites should be able to cope with a little snow? It is clear that Russian sports are very male-...