Ksenia Afanasyeva - still carrying the team Soviet Olympic gold medallist from 1956 and 1969 and senior Russian judge Lidia Ivanova yesterday confirmed in an interview with Sportbox that Anastasia Grishina was unable to compete at Worlds. 'By refusing to compete in Penza, Nastia has deprived herself of a chance to compete at the World Championships' said Ivanova, who also regularly commentates on artistic gymnastics events on Russian TV. 'The fact that we were unable to take the gold in the team event at the London Olympics is at least partly her fault', she added, stressing that Grishina had been given the opportunity to rehabilitate herself after the Olympics, working with new coaches, but had failed to engage in enough serious competition so far this year to make her eligible for Worlds consideration. Ivanova acknowledges the problems of selection that this presents to the Russian team. While Maria Paseka has participated fully in qualification, she has stil...
Reporting and analysing Russian gymnastics since 2010. Includes original and exclusive interviews with leading coaches and gymnasts, and historical issues dating back to the Soviet Union. The first blog to report extensively on the sport using Russian language sources. I read, I argue, and I have opinions. Be warned.