Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

    On Friday we will have a chance to see how the Russian women's team is progressing, when they compete in Switzerland (Sporthalle Lindenhof in Wil) against the British and Swiss. Relatively little is confirmed yet; all the information on the website other than the time and place of the competition is subject to change.  But the Russian women's team is planned to include : Aliya Mustafina Viktoria Komova Anastasia Grishina Anna Dementyeva Maria Paseka Anastasia Sidorova Details of the other teams can be found here .   The competition begins at 5.00 pm local time and finishes with the awards ceremony at 9.15. Good luck to all the girls competing!

Viktoria Komova at last week's press day.  Note the background banner advertising sponsors VTB.  Photo by Elena Mikhailova, by kind permission of the RGF The Russian gymnasts and coaches are busy preparing for the London Olympics, and barely interrupted their regular training to make time to speak to journalists at the Russian National Training Centre in Round Lake ( Krugloye in Russian). Photographer Elena Mikhailova was on hand to record proceedings.  As ever, the reticent Russians do not reveal over much about themselves - what is said could probably have been intelligently guessed anyway, on the basis of results and other reports.  Nevertheless, it's helpful to hear how the girls themselves are feeling about their preparations and to see how happy and healthy they look in the pictures.  Alexandrov gives some details of their travel plans to London and Valentina Rodionenko reveals a framework for the national team composition, suggesting it revolves aro...

 Aliya Mustafina, World All Around Champion, 2010  Valentina Rodionenko today announced that 2011 European Champion and defending Russian national champion Anna Dementieva will miss this week's Russian National Championships with tonsilitis.  Anna is not alone in missing the Championships as (confirmed yesterday by Andrei Rodionenko) 2011 World Vice-Champion Viktoria Komova is also out with a leg injury which will need a couple more weeks' therapy. 2010 World Champion Aliya Mustafina, recovering from a serious injury incurred at last year's European Championships, will participate in the championships, although Rodionenko said she will not compete all around.  The Russian Championships, coming early in the season, have traditionally seen an incomplete field as gymnasts prepare at different paces.  With Russia's three leading all around gymnasts - Dementieva, Mustafina and Komova - out of the picture, it will be interesting to see who emerges as a leade...

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...

The Gymnastics Coaching blog tips Wieber for gold all around here, ahead of Komova. I prefer not to make predictions - who can say what might happen on the day - but in principle I tend to agree - at full strength Komova is the better gymnast, but I am guessing that she will be below strength on floor, bars and vault in Tokyo. I wonder what would happen though if Dementieva could hold her routines together in an all around final? As for the team competition, who knows?  These days so much depends on the gymnasts remaining healthy.  Which has become almost as much of a lottery as the 3-3 competition format which can see team rankings plummet thanks to a single bad luck event. At the end of the day, all that really matters is that the Russians qualify for the Olympics, but I know I won't feel this truth when we hit the thick of it.  I'm keeping my nails carefully filed over the coming weeks.

Tess at the Russian Gymnastics Board has posted the top three in today's women's all around competition: 1      Anna Dementieva     59.8 2      Viktoria Komova     58.85 3      Yulia Belokobylskaya   - not sure of score but in the 57s. Someone has reported that Afanasyeva had a bad day, including two falls on bars :-(  Congratulations to Anna Dementieva and all the medallists!  I will post full results as soon as they become available.

A brief video in the Olympic Hopes series can be seen here , with Anna Dementieva reflecting on her sport - can anyone tell us what she is saying?

Ouch.  No doubt by now you all know that poor Aliya Mustafina suffered a torn meniscus on landing her first vault of the all around competition.  So now my heart hurts almost as much as my hand, and my thoughts are with Aliya, her team mates and her coaches, who must be going through an agony of pain and uncertainty, physical and otherwise, at present. I am however delighted at the victory of that most Russian of gymnasts, Anna Dementieva.  Anna is a delightful, strong gymnast; all light, airy amplitude, impressive technique and deceptively steely mentality.  The Russians deserved a little good luck after the bad luck of their prime competitor here, but I don't think this was that lucky a win - Anna was clearly the class act of the field, well ahead of the rest even if this fact is disguised by the somewhat distorted scores of Elizabeth Seitz who experienced a significant 'home advantage'. I cannot say that Dementieva reminds me of any particular gymnast from the...

See the Gymnastics Examiner for a transcript of the finals, and Stoi ! for a technical discussion of the Russian girls' routines here and at the Jesolo Cup.  Full results are also now available at the French Federation website . Russia have taken two medals in each of all but one of the finals, with Mustafina taking gold on vault, bars and beam.  Iszbasa took the remaining gold (floor) for Romania.  Nabieva managed a silver on vault, but came 4th on bars, while Dementieva took bronze on beam behind her compatriot and Romania's Ana Porgras. The silver and bronze medalists on floor are Chelaru and Dementieva respectively. The men performed rather disappointingly I feel, with Balandin and Pluzhnikov taking silver and bronze on the rings, but otherwise other team members failed to qualify to finals.

Anna Dementieva has been crowned national all around champion of Russia!  Full results are available here . Anna won by dint of being the most consistent gymnast around, performing strongly on bars, beam and floor, and pretty much predictably on vault, her weakest apparatus.  Anna took the highest score on the floor exercise (15.1) the third highest on bars (14.65) and the second highest on beam (14.35).  The highest bars score - 16.7 - was registered by Viktoria Komova, who had an otherwise difficult competition, finishing in 35th place after disappointing outings on beam and floor, and a final withdrawal from vault.  I hope she isn't injured.  Tanya Nabieva came second on bars with 15.05, and is second on vault with 14.85, behind none other than Anna Pavlova (14.9).  Leading the stakes on beam is Yulia Belokobylskaya (14.55). The top six placings are as follows: Anna Dementieva 58.05 Anna Pavlova       56.2 Alena Poly...

Link  here to the Federation's official pictures of podium training, featuring Tanya Nabieva in typically powerful flight on bars and floor, Anna Dementieva looking longer and even more delicately elegant on beam, and a radiant Ekaterina Kurbatova practicing floor.  You will also be pleased to hear that we see Anna Pavlova working on beam and vault.  I couldn't work out if Viktoria Komova features in any of these shots, but her mother, Vera Kolesnikova, is seen so I guess her daughter was somewhere around ;-)

Albert at the All Around Forum has provided a link to photos of the opening ceremony of this competition here .  They are pretty bog standard ceremonial photographs at this stage, I recognise some of the dignitaries including Rodionenko but can't see any of the main gymnasts I know.  This is a link to the Burtasy school of gymnastics in Penza where the competition is taking place, so it may prove to be a good spot to pick up quick results if the Russian Gymnastics Federation's site updates take a while to come through.  I'll keep an eye on how things are developing and let you know results as soon as I can.  It's the women's all around competition today and from all accounts Komova and Dementieva are likely to be the main competitors - Nabieva has opted to compete individual apparatus only, Mustafina, Semenova and Afanasyeva are not planning to compete (though this may change on the day for all I know), and Grishina is competing at the Jesolo Cup.  Anyway, l...

A selection of lovely pictures appears on the Russian Federation's website , recording an awards ceremony during which head coaches of the women's and men's teams, Alexander Alexandrov and Valeryi Alfosov, handed out medals to their gymnasts and coaches, including juniors.  A commentary notes that coaches are often better at evaluating the success of their gymnasts than judges.  The medals were given out in recognition of the success of the Russian teams in the last year.  Apparently missing from the gymnasts honoured were Ekaterina Kurbatova and Anna Myzdrikova - although this may just be an unintended slip of the camera. Or perhaps the girls were staying warm, tucked up in bed somewhere.  This must be a welcome distraction for the teams during what is a very cold snap indeed, even by Moscow standards - it must be hard to keep your spirits up when it's below -20 outside.  Tanya Nabieva looks taller than ever in these pictures, and Mustafina, bundled up in a b...

2010 may well be looked back on as a revolutionary year for Russian women’s gymnastics, although the turn round is not yet complete. Only outstanding results in 2011 will cement the good beginning of 2010 and provide a basis for the key year of 2012. New and even newer talent will need to establish itself in what is becoming a fearsomely competitive national and international scene. All gymnasts will have to perform at their best if the team is to show its strongest face. The Russian coaches will have to make some difficult selection decisions if they are to strengthen and deepen the team as they approach the Olympic year. Their ultimate goal will of course be to present the best possible team in 2012, in addition to making a strong showing at this year’s major competitions. They have a very young squad, many of whom will need battle hardening before the London outing, and they also need to solidify their team identity and roles, and enhance reputations. I suppose there is o...

The All Around Gymnastics News site reports the final results of the second day of competition in Japan. Beam : 1 Mitchell, 15.2   2  Mustafina 15.15   3 Sui Lu 14.975  Dementieva came 7th with 12.775 following two falls and two large balance checks.   Such a pity - competing to full potential, Dementieva should have been able to beat this field on beam. Floor: Equal first = Sui Lu and Aliya Mustafina, 14.625  3 - Jiang Yuyuan, 14.175.  Dementieva came 5th with 14 points.  Albert reports that she had problems landing her final triple twist. This was a fairly good competition for the Russians that underlines their growing strength in depth.  Thanks to Mustafina's efforts, they took half the gold on offer, in addition to two silvers and a bronze medal.  All three Russian girls medalled, and Russians collected medals on every piece of apparatus.  Out of 12 possible medals, they took five. The Chinese didn't do ba...

A running commentary on the Toyota Cup can be found at the Japan Gymnastics official blog .  A whole new experience for me, reading Google translates of Japanese gymnastics reports! Edited 12 December - The All Around Gymnastics news site as ever has an excelent comprehensive report on this competition, men and women.  So far, the women's competition has resulted in three medals for the Russian ladies present, with beam and floor to come tomorrow. Vault - 1 Mustafina, 14.287; 2 Rie Tanaka, 14.05, 3 Ekaterina Kurbatova, 14.037 Bars - 1  Jiang Yuyuan 15.475 2 Anna Dementieva 14.375 3 Minobe Yu, 14.325 Mustafina competed bars but took 2 falls - hope she is OK. Men's results can also be found at the above link

Albert and Nora at the All Around Forum have kindly provided a link to the roster for the above competition. For Russia, Anna Dementieva, Aliya Mustafina and Ekaterina Kurbatova are so far posted to compete. This weekend, Ekaterina Kurbatova and Rotterdam reserve Anna Myzdrikova compete in Glasgow at the Grand Prix (World Cup competition). I will provide links to results for all these competitions once they are complete.

The Russian girls have been busy - and very successful - this weekend! All seven gymnasts from the national team (including reserve Anna Myzdrikova) are scheduled to compete by the end of this month. Massilia Cup The wonderful TATIANA NABIEVA competed alongside her team mates KSENIA SEMENOVA and KSENIA AFANASYEVA in Marseille this weekend at the Massilia Cup, and achieved gold medals in the team, all around, bars and vault events. Tanya also took the bronze on balance beam. KSENIA AFANASYEVA took gold medal on floor and silver on beam behind France's Aurelie Malaussena. A fuller report can be found at The Gymnastics Examiner . The Italian Grand Prix World Champion ALIYA MUSTAFINA competed here alongside Youth Olympic Champion VIKTORIA KOMOVA. Aliya won beam and came fourth on bars, while Viktoria took the gold on bars and silver on beam. Full results, and a video of Aliya's performance on beam can be found at Aliya's official website . DTB Cup Promising young ANNA DEME...

And finally, the anthem of gymnastics has been played in honour of the Russian team at a World Championships. Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anna Dementieva, Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Semenova and Ekaterina Kurbatova fought like titans to win Russia's first ever world team gold medals, at the 2010 World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam today. Detailed results are available at http://www.longinestiming.com/sports/gym/ag_wc2k10w/C73D_ResultsTeam_GA%20Women%20Senior_Concours%20IV.pdf And there is the most gorgeous short video highlights on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7ZfaGLIcJQ Have the soundtrack turned up, and handkerchief at the ready. I wanted this significant victory to be recorded on my blog as quickly as possible. The least I can say is that I am very, very pleased. And Happy 18th Birthday to Ksenia Semenova!!! More to follow.

This weekend my friend Tracey said to me that she felt that Nabieva’s stoop Tkachev-Pak combination, performed on Saturday at the World Championships for the first time, was quite possibly the most revolutionary moment in gymnastics history since Korbut stood on the top rail of the asymmetric bars in Munich and premiered her unique loop. Those of us of a certain age will remember Korbut’s impact on the sport and the tidal wave of admiration and affection she evoked. Most speak of her amazing ability to communicate and perform, of the unique charm and charisma she projected through her floor routine, of the astounding back somersault on beam. But it was perhaps on bars where her genius shone most brightly. Here she was an amazing innovator and risk taker. The trajectory of that loop is still imprinted in my brain and I have a visual image of it as I speak to you now. Few have had the courage to attempt it since; Mukhina, of course, added a twist, but that was more than thirty yea...