Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Viktoria is in the news in Russia at the moment.  There is this TV interview in which she discusses her injury, the future, and her team mates.  Can anyone translate?   https://youtu.be/kgKnkP-HY0g Our kind Anonymous contributor tells me that Vika says she has " Грыжa и протрузия позвоночника"  which I think means she has a herniated, or bulging, disc in her spine.  Ouch. In an interview with Albert Starodubtsev, Valentina Rodionenko says that Viktoria is travelling to Munich on 20th July.  Viktoria says that if the doctors say they cannot help her, she will retire.   Source -  http://tass.ru/sport/3445591 Other news Maria Kharenkova is back training in Lake Krugloye, again thanks to Anonymous.  The 2014 European beam champion has been suffering leg pain. I am also told by a private (unofficial) source that Tatiana Nabiyeva is back training on the national team again.  After her improved performances at Russia Cup, this is well deserved....

The final Russian team selections will not be absolutely clear for another few weeks.  Men's national coach Valery Alfosov needs another week to make some difficult decisions after some rather unpredictable performances in the Russia Cup - most noteably, a strong showing by Vladislav Polyashov as compared to patchy showings by Ignatyev and Kuksenkov.   The women's team selection, meanwhile, seems to hinge upon the availability of Ksenia Afanasyeva, who only recently underwent a cleaning up procedure to her right ankle.  The doctor who performed the surgery will fly to Moscow from his Munich clinic next week to provide his advice.  If given the medical all clear, Ksenia would be asked to compete floor only, says Valentina Rodionenko.  This might favour a team composed of Melnikova, Mustafina, Tutkhalyan (three AA) with Kapitonova filling the fourth qualifications place on vault, bars and beam.  Without Afanasyeva the team will be severely weakened on floor, ...

Daria Spiridinova - impossible to forget.  Picture courtesy of RGF As Russia's young gymnasts prove their mettle at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi this week - see RRG's Facebook page and Twitter account for results and updates - Valentina Rodionenko reports on an upcoming international competition that will be a testing ground for the Russian team in preparation for the World Championships. I would suggest we might expect more news over the coming days - the usual pattern of Valentina's press activity is for news to be released piecemeal to several different sources, often providing conflicting information - so don't expect anything conclusive here. So now, read on as Valentina has her say : All the leaders of the Russian national team in gymnastics will perform at a tournament in Georgia MOSCOW, July 31 - R-Sport, Maria Vorobyov.  All the leaders of the Russian national team in gymnastics will take part in the Rusudan Sikharulidze...

It was almost a symbol of the contemporary struggle for the identity of gymnastics.  First, we saw Britain's Claudia Fragapane, completing with verve and energy the powerful tricks and tumbling that gained the diminutive gymnast the title 'Pocket Rocket'.  Next, we saw the elegant line and gravity defying artistry of the regal Ksenia Afanasyeva, graceful in both her gymnastics and her manner.   They were both compelling, but only one gymnast showed the purity and harmony that was once de rigeur in the sport, and that has frequently elevated artistic gymnastics above a form of energetic, cheerleading contortionism.  Thankfully, at least, the judges recognised the differences in what they were seeing.  Just.  Finally, as the last performer of the day, the 23 year old Afanasyeva was crowned Europe's Floor Queen once more, repeating the award she won two years ago in Moscow.  She was delighted, danced a little jig, and threw herself into the fatherly embra...

Lauren Cammenga translates Maria's words in this interview -  http://m.rsport.ru/artist_gym/20150415/823416826.html  "Today I wasn't too nervous, and basically all the events went well with decent results. But on beam I could have performed better. At the beginning on that event I have no nerves at all, but then when everything starts going well, close to the end I always get more nervous on combinations. Everything else was good. I'm competing in the all-around for the first time. I won't say that's it's been difficult, but then I worked on all events constantly during my preparations, so I had time to become accustomed. I understand that I have a chance to fight for medals, but all the same I just tune into doing what I need to – no better, no worse. Tomorrow we'll train a little less, because I should rest a little before the all-around final. But I'm sure I'll have enough strength." Lauren has done translations of interviews with Ksenia...

Picture of Ksenia Afanasyeva courtesy of Daria Skrypnik on Tumblr WAG qualifications, European #Gymnastics, begin in just over an hour at 10.30 Montpellier time.  Follow live scoring at http://www.longinestiming.com/Sport?sport=GG Alla Sosnitskaya has an ankle injury and has returned to Moscow for a check up.  Maria Paseka will replace her on vault and uneven bars while Daria Spiridinova has been scheduled to do all around. Paseka and Afanasyeva will go in the first subdivision.  Spiridinova, and Maria Kharenkova, appear in sub 3, which starts at 4.30 local (Montpelier) time (1 hr ahead of BST).  Link to the start lists is here - http://www.longinestiming.com/File/Download?id=00000E0000000100FFFFFFFFFFFFFF00 Good luck to all the gymnasts!  We will be supporting you! Alla, get well soon!

Championat Rostov has a short interview with the new Russian Champion, Maria Kharenkova.  Read a Google translate in italics below.  Maria, 17, is Rostov born and bred, but also trains at the large modern facility in Khimki where Afanasyeva works out.  Maria began gymnastics at a tender age when her mother, Olga, a coach, brought her to the same gym where Olympic Champion Elena Produnova worked out.  Maria will now be working at camp at Lake Krugloye, preparing for European Championships.  We wish Maria and all the team the very best of luck as they work towards their destiny. Maria Harenkova: I dream of becoming an Olympic champion Maria Harenkova Victor of the Russian Championship in gymnastics all-around champion the country's 16-year-old Maria Rostovite Harenkova answered questions "CR". IA "Championship-growth." March 10   - The championship of Russia you have achieved phenomenal success, winning three gold medals. How hard was the competition, whethe...

A rich and diverse Russian Championships has seen the crowing of a new national champion, European beam champion Maria Kharenkova.  Alongside her on the podium, Alla Sosnitskaya and first year senior, Youth Olympics champion Seda Tutkhalyan.  CONGRATULATIONS to all the girls - and good luck as you progress towards qualification for the European Championships! AA : 1 Maria Kharenkova 58.033 2 Alla Sosnitskaya 56.6 3 Seda Tutkhalyan 56.334 4 Daria Spiridinova 55.867 5 Evgeniya Shelgunova 55.833 6 Ekaterina Kramarenko 55.201 Full results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-conte…/uploads/2015/…/c1_mogo_f.pdf Leading VT - Paseka, Sosnitskaya, Tutkhalyan, Afanasyeva UB - Spiridinova, Paseka, Komova, Bondareva BB - Kharenkova, Komova, Sosnitskaya, Tutkhalyan FX - Afanasyeva, Paseka, Dmitrieva, Kramarenko, Kharenkova Full event results : http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/c1_pers_f.pdf Team results are available at :  http://sportgymrus.ru/wp...

Speaking in an interview with Allsport today, European beam champion Maria Kharenkova, who contributed Russia's highest beam score today of 15.033, revealed that a leg injury hampered her preparations for the Nanning World Championships.   "I have a sore leg and trained through the pain" admitted Kharenkova. "But now the pain has gone, I am slowly recovering. I started tumbling just two weeks before the World Championships, and managed to get everything back. Today, almost everything turned out!" "The first day I was a little nervous, and because of this, I fell off beam. I was shaking from the realization that for the first time I was competing at the World Championships. And today I felt much calmer and more confident.gymnast.  It is true that for some of the time we were a little concerned that we might end up without a medal, but we were able to pull ourselves together. I myself am a little sad that I did not get to the finals on my favourite beam. But ...

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has opened a YouTube channel - such a positive development.  One of the videos you will find is an interview with rising star Maria Kharenkova; she is a lovely, light hearted girl in person, energetic and smiling, different to the serious face she puts on in competition :-).    There is also a news piece on the Russia Cup which I think is quite important as it makes clear that the team selection will not take place until late before the World Championships (I believe they are travelling 27th September), thus giving Viktoria Komova time to work up a contributing beam routine, and, f what team captain Aliya Mustafina says is right, possibly a vault!  Many of you will have seen that Vika took gold on uneven bars at this morning's Russia Cup event finals, ahead of all around champion Aliya Mustafina and European medallist Daria Spiridonova and it will be great to see her take encouragement from this success. You will find the original vi...

The event finals will take place on Saturday and Sunday.  Thank you to the Gymnastics group on VK.com, where I obtained these screen captures. Vault : Paseka, Sosnitskaya, Akhaimova, Nabiyeva, Cheong, Kruglikova, Bikmurzina, Vanyushkina, Scherbakova, Elizarova Uneven bars : Mustafina, Spiridonova, Komova, Kramarenko, Nabieva, Rodionova, Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya, Elizarova, Sidorenko Beam : Kharenkova, Mustafina, Fyodorova, Spiridonova, Sosnitskaya, Bikmurzina, Cheong, Elizarova, Kramarenko, Rodionova   Floor : Elizarova, Mustafina, Paseka, Fydorova, Sosnitskaya, Akhaimova, Spiridonova, Bikmurzina, Kharenkova, Cheong  

I am still waiting for the publication of full results (for some reason the RGF files are missing names, at least when viewed on my IPad) but some of us were awake very early this morning to see Aliya Mustafina confound predictions of her future specialist status, overcome her recent recovery, and win the all around at Russia Cup.  Highlights were her uneven bars routine and a beam where she presented her best combinations with vigour, recording a good mark despite a fall, but she also leads the vault, floor and bars scoring amongst the all arounders eligible for inclusion on the team for Nanning.  (Elizarova scored higher on floor, but is unlikely to be selected as she does not train with the team at Lake Krugloye and has only one strong piece.) Second placed Kharenkova was absolutely outstanding on beam. 1 Aliya Mustafina 14.833/15.4/14.6/14.3 = 59.133 2. Maria Kharenkova  14.1/13.867/16.2/13.667 = 57.834 3  Daria Spiridonova 13.833/15.033/14.233/13.7 = 56.799 4. A...

Senior team members Daria Spirodonova, Tatiana Nabiyeva, Ekaterina Kramarenko, Viktoria Komova and Maria Paseka enjoy some Sunday fun in Moscow.  Picture courtesy of Viktoria Komova on Instagram The women are at training camp at present, preparing for the upcoming, late August, Russia Cup.  The outcome of this competition will determine who is selected for October's World Championships.  There will be six team members competing in qualifications (6-5-4 format) and the usual 6-3-3 in team finals. The faces that I can spot missing from these photographs (see below for a fuller group shot)  are Aliya Mustafina (the only lock to this autumn's team, assuming she recovers well from her surgery, and remains in good health) and Anastasia Grishina, about whom there has been an ominous silence since this spring.  As a reminder, Nastia has had an operation to her knee, as a consequence of an injury sustained on the floor in the Russian Championships.  The Munich clini...

Maria enjoys a quiet moment at the Banquet following last week's European Championships.  Courtesy RGF European Beam Champion Maria Kharenkova has been congratulated on her gold medal by officials from the Rostov region of the Russian Ministry of Sport. 'I must say that the victory of our athletes confirmed the validity of the creation of the Rostov regional gymnastic training centre', said  Yuri Balakhnin,  head of the regional Ministry of Sports.  'We've got a strong tradition and a wonderful coaching school. I remember that at the Olympic Games of 2012 in London our rhythmic gymnast Ulyana Donskova won gold.  Now Maria Kharenkova has made a serious step to get onto the Olympic team.' (Source:  http://championat-rostov.ru/news/view/1657/). Rostov's pedigree is indeed rich : Maria is the latest in a long tradition of fine gymnasts and coaches from the region.  Her coach, Olga Sagina, also counts 2012 European team silver medallist Anastasia Sidorova a...

From Aliya Mustafina on Instagram: 'thanks for the invitation' she says to Alexei Nemov A brief interview with Sovietski Sport is summarised here.  Original interview is at  http://www.sovsport.ru/news/text-item/712772 Olympic gymnastics champion Aliya Mustafina today went to a party organised by famous gymnast Alexei Nemov, entitled "Sochi-Moscow-Rio".  Alexei handed out some awards, sponsored by the magazine 'Grand Sport'.  It took place in the Veshny Arts Centre. - Aliya, soon you are going to Germany for a check up on your ankle. How do you feel now? - Walking does not hurt, it only hurts when I tumble.  I really would like the doctors to figure out what is going on with my foot, and why I cannot load it. And how to treat it  ... - As I understand it the European Championships did not disappoint you in any way, despite the fact that you lost to Downie on the bars? - No, no disappointment.  I did not show a routine of the highest difficulty, and jus...

Happy smiling face of Maria Kharenkova, courtesy RGF Maria talks to Allsport I am very pleased.  However, I had expected silver, because I thought that I would not beat the Romanian Larisa Iordache. But I was able to do a good routine and surpass her.  Beam is my best apparatus (smiles). ... I enjoyed it. This was the first time I had performed at a major competition, so it was not very easy.  The rivals are very strong and have lots of difficulty.  For this reason we were nervous, and didn't perform very confidently  in the team championship.  [She suggests that she made too many errors] The first priority, I think, will be to improve my start value on bars.  On beam my SV is good, I  just need to work on cleanliness and correct errors that occur to be more confident.   On the floor, too, must be added more acrobatics, I will learn new elements and improve my start value. http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=83118

The medal winners : Maria Kharenkova, Daria Spiridonova and Aliya Mustafina with team doctor Timonkin and head coach Grebyonkin (yes, it rhymes) http://wag.sofiagymnastics2014.com/en/news/item/111-quotes-of-the-day-seniors-18-05.html Aliya Mustafina (RUS), silver medallist beam: "I am extremely happy that Maria Kharenkova took the gold on beam. The competition was not easy for me because of my leg injury, but I tried to pull myself together because I know my younger teammates are watching me and I shouldn`t show any weakness”.   Maria Kharenkova  ( RUS), gold medallist on beam: "To tell you the truth I am too excited to tell you what is happening right now. As for Aliya she is our sister, our world star, our coach and even our mother, she is all for us. We are all very happy”.   Andrei Rodionenko (RUS), Head of delegation: "As I already stated this European Championships gave us the best possibility to test our new team. Right now we have many problems with injuries ...

15 year old Maria Kharenkova saved the day for Russia with a well deserved gold medal on the beam this afternoon in Sofia.  To the visible delight of team mate and captain Aliya Mustafina, who has supported Kharenkova right through this competition, Kharenkova went through her difficulty packed routine with very little error, converting her junior gold from two years ago into her first major senior title. Kharenkova is the latest generation of a long tradition of great gymnasts from the town of Rostov on Don in the south of Russia.  Her coach, Olga Sagina, formerly counted Anastasia Sidorova and Elena Produnova amongst her gymnasts.  Sagina's philosophy is pretty simple - champions must have discipline, and work hard. 'Head and intellect are very important', she said during a coaching clinic in Glasgow in 2008.  Kharenkova's earnest attitude and fighting performances speak much of this approach.  In team finals her positive attitude and determination kept her on...

Unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere, you can't have failed to notice that Romania are now European Team Champions, with Britain in second place and Russia in third.  Congratulations to everyone!  These were well deserved medals. I personally think that winning the bronze was a great achievement for this inexperienced team.  Aliya Mustafina proved that, even at 50%, she is 100% boss.  Kharenkova established herself as a real little scrapper who is now a leader in the team and even in world gymnastics.  Even with the unpredictable Komova I doubt Russia would have done much better today; it comes down not so much to the errors that were made, as to the low difficulty rating of those floor exercises.  The team needs its Olympians for good floor scores, but they just aren't available at present, nor perhaps in the future if I am reading Afanasyeva's rather damning account of the handling of her injury correctly. I wonder if there will be any fall-...

Russia's young guns held their ground and performed mostly well today to secure a third place spot in Saturday's team final, and gymnasts in every event final on Sunday.  Ahead of them were an inspired British team who had their best competition today, and a strong but occasionally faltering Romanian team, led by the impressive Larissa Iordache who won the 'unofficial all around' with a near faultless display.  Switzerland's Giulia Steingrueber repeated her good performance at last year's Euros to come in second.  As this is a team and event Championships, Russia did not field an all around gymnast. Highlights for the Russian team were bars and beam, with scores in the 15s from Mustafina (bars) and Kharenkova (beam).  Kharenkova's almost faultless beam set was delivered under pressure in the anchor spot, and came after a brave exercise from World Champion Mustafina, who completed her first double back dismount off the apparatus for the first time in weeks.  ...