Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Russia's regions are of great importance to their sports development, as they represent a vast potential source of talent, both coaching and athletic.  Sadly, having been a vital contributor to the success of Russia in the Soviet era, the gymnastics regions went into decline around the 1990s and early noughties, following the political restructuring of the Eastern bloc countries. Coach salaries were not paid, so coaches left to earn a living overseas. Facilities were neglected. The sport became unfashionable and young people no longer sought to follow gymnastics seriously, as a career. Gymnastics has never recovered fully, and the problems have extended root and branch into the Russian system.  In 2011 head coach Andrei Rodionenko said that there was only one specialist gymnastics coach training programme in the whole of the Russian Federation, meaning that there are fewer and fewer highly qualified young coaches up and coming.  This is reflected in the compositi...