Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

At 4 o'clock this morning BST, the IOC Executive Board made an announcement to the effect that three individuals appointed by them will have a final say on which Russian athletes can compete at the Rio Olympic Games. 'Participation of Russian athletes in Rio The EB decided to delegate the final decision on the acceptance of entries of Russian athletes to a Review Panel composed of three IOC Executive Board Members: Uğur Erdener, Claudia Bokel and Juan Antonio Samaranch.  The Review Panel is due to make a final decision in the coming days.' RRG's take on this This latest, very last minute twist in the controversy surrounding Russia's participation in the Games, suggests that the IOC has a degree of concern over the likely consistency of decisions taken by the sports' governing bodies to whom they delegated decision making only a few days ago.   It is difficult to see how an appointed panel of three individuals will have time to consider the data pres...

Natalia, seen left here in this personal picture with team mates Angelina Melnikova and Maria Paseka, is a relative newcomer to the senior national team, but not its youngest member - having turned 16 in May (Angelina only celebrated her 16th birthday a few days ago).  She is Russian Cup champion on the uneven bars - and strong enough in the all around to provide a good back up, as first reserve, if back up is needed. The famous gym club in Penza - home to 2014 World floor champion Denis Ablyazin - is where Natalia has trained since childhood under the direction of the Starkin family - who also direct the training of Russian team captain, Aliya Mustafina.   Despite her relative lack of experience internationally, Natalia has shown herself to be a steady and optimistic team mate.   The flight to Brazil - over 12 hours - was the longest of her life.  At first she slept, but she also read, watched movies and listened to music.  She says that the team weren't too wo...

Aliya Mustafina and team candidate Seda Tutkhalyan - both from Moscow Five days left before the MAG European Championships open in Switzerland, and Russian gymnast Nikita Nagorny is posting videos of himself practicing a full twisting Roche vault - I wonder if he will compete it in Berne?  The men's team seems fairly well prepared and ready to travel as announced some weeks ago - Kuksenkov, Belyavski, Ignatyev, Nagorny, Ablyazin.  But the composition of the women's team, who will travel to their first major competition of 2016 next week, seems somewhat undecided.  Will Natalia Kapitonova make her major senior debut in June, or will Seda Tutkhalyan, her dynamic yet unpredictable rival, grace Russia's team?  Or will other gymnasts be brought into play; will further, unexpected, changes be made? If head coach Valentina Rodionenko's recent announcement is to be believed, it is a simple case of replacing the injured Maria Paseka (a vault specialist) with Natalia ...

Barely two weeks will elapse before the WAG European Championships begin in Berne, Switzerland, and the news we had been fearing has been confirmed : world vault gold medallist Maria Paseka is  off the Russian team while she nurses a back injury.  This leaves Russia significantly weakened for the coming competition, with co-star Viktoria Komova also missing from the line-up.  It is a little disappointing, but it seems the right decision to rest the gymnasts so that they can be at their best when and where it really matters. Who will replace Paseka?  Valentina Rodionenko says that the youngster Natalia Kapitonova, who trains in Penza, has been chosen on the basis of her solid performances at national championships.  Well, we will have to wait and see - these announcements often turn out to be unreliable.   I personally would prefer to see the dynamic Seda Tutkhalyan be given a chance at this level, but Kapitonova has certainly shown herself to be more reliab...