Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Andrei Rodionenko today confirmed that Viktoria Komova will miss Russian nationals thanks to a leg injury which will need two to three weeks of therapy. The competition will follow exactly the same format as Europeans and the Olympics to support the gymnasts in their mental and physical preparation for the Games. Read the full article here . Good luck to all the girls, and wishing a rapid recovery to Viktoria Komova.

Years ago the Soviet team would take extended summer breaks in resorts such as Sukumi, Georgia. These holidays were known as 'active recreation', the chance to relax but also to keep up with important training targets and build teams. Times have changed, but old principles remain and at present the Russian team is holidaying in Palma, Mallorca, using the facilities of a local gym to keep up with their training. Back home in Russia, however, work continues on both the political and sporting front, building relationships with press in advance of the coming Olympics and building reputations for the young gymnasts of the future. The Russian Federation's website includes a photo report of a recent press tour of Lake Krugloye.   It's clearly a busy day, with journalists interviewing key members of the coaching staff as well as some of the gymnasts.  It is interesting to see Konstantin Pluzhnikov taking a leading role in orienting the visiting journalists - while he su...

Sports Express today carries a brief interview with Andrei Rodienenko in which the Russian Head Coach confirms that Viktoria Komova will not compete at April's European Championships.  Rodienenko emphasises the need to protect Viktoria's health in the long term at what is a difficult life stage for a gymnast.  It is no great drama; 'we have the Olympics', he concludes. A link to the English language Google translate is here . Edited 10.10.  Further news is also available via Valentina Rodienenko at the IG website. The Russian team for Europeans is confirmed here as Mustafina, Nabieva, Dementieva and Belokobylskaya.  Men will be Golotsutskov ,  Devyatovsky , Ignatyev , Balandin , Garibov and Ablyazin .  Although of course we await official confirmation of this in the nominative registrations due later this month. Rodienenko makes brief reference to the America Cup where Mustafina lost to Jordyn Wieber.  'America is America', she says.  'W...

There is a long and interesting interview with the Rodienenkos in Sovietski Sport today.  The Google translation is rather difficult to make complete sense of but the interview addresses the prospects for the Russian team at the 2012 Olympics (they are targetting six medals: two golds, two silvers, two bronzes); discusses the reasons for the Russian team's improved performance and the different rates of recovery between the men's and women's teams; and relations with Leonid Arkayev, who apparently is much more relaxed and happy now.  When discussing the performance of Aliya Mustafina, Rodienenko emphasises that her immediate future revolves around training and competing, not celebrity performances and modelling! They were keen to emphasise that they returned to Russia as they were, fundamentally, homesick.  Alexandrov's family has remained in the United States and he now has an American passport.  The coaches do not work in Russia for the money, but because they ...

If revolutions can only be acknowledged and recognised with hindsight, we are still too early to celebrate the Russian women’s team and all around victory at the Rotterdam World Championships 2010 as such. In many ways, Russian gymnastics is only beginning to turn a corner and to build the foundations for future more solid and consistent victories. The women’s team looks strong; over this weekend we have seen an impressive number of medal winning performances all across Europe. The Russians appear to be building strong reserves as well as celebrating the achievements of their medal winners. But we are still some distance away from witnessing a force to compare with the relentless, invincible gymnastics machine that was the Soviet Union. The technical, political, funding, human resources and artistic changes that Russian gymnastics needs to undergo to reach such a position are still very much underway. Media coverage of the world championships, and in particular during and po...

Andrei Rodienenko has been busy recently answering questions! Here , he considers the theme 'What are the chances of the Russian gymnasts at the Olympics 2012'. Incidentally, I am growing to love the eccentricities of Google translate which perhaps deserves a blog all of its own. Do please enjoy this piece and its literary associations as best you can :=)

A press conference was held at which Rodienenko, Mustafina and Komova discussed the recent world championships and their plans for the forthcoming year. Rodienenko also makes reference to the state of men's gymnastics and to the state of University gymnastics in Russia. Video conference (one hour long) is available here : http://www.tatar-inform.ru/video/1369/ Gennady Elfimov, Komova's personal coach, was also present. Andrei Rodienenko : http://summer.sport-express.ru/gymnastics/reviews/9195/ Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova : http://summer.sport-express.ru/gymnastics/reviews/9194/ With thanks to Nora and Albert at the All Around Forum for posting these links. I intend to post a round up of the best coverage of worlds by the middle of next week, identifying key themes and questions for the future. I will include video links.