Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Once upon a time, there were six little girls ... The little girls became gymnasts, and the gymnasts became Champions - but never Olympic Champions. Politics got in the way. 'Their' Olympics, the 1984 Los Angeles Games, disappeared as their country boycotted the Games for political reasons. History vanished. They became a lost Olympic generation. Irina Baraksanova Tatiana Frolova Natalia Ilienko Olga Mostepanova Natalia Yurchenko There was one exception. Elena Shushunova went on to compete at a second Olympics, becoming All Around champion at the Seoul Games in 1988 The 'little gymnasts' (in fact they were extraordinary athletes) competed at the Oloumoc Friendship Games instead of the Olympics. At these Friendship Games, Olga Mostepanova became Champion in the AA, Floor, Vault and Beam, scoring an unequalled total of 40 in the All Around; a level of perfection never seen before or since. There is very little video of this competition...

It's worth watching these timeless videos.  Check out the routines of Alla Shishova, especially on beam.  She was ahead of her time.  Also observe the magnificent artistry of Olga Mostepanova and Natalia Yurchenko.  Neither gymnast had intricate choreography, but they were both captivating.  Their work conveyed emotional as well as technical impact.  Yurchenko moves slowly, floating through the air.  Who would think that such a light, slender gymnast as Mostepanova could find all that air time in her tumbles?  Technique, not muscle, gave these gymnasts their power.  Their artistry came from the consummate grasp of technique, something that cannot be expressed as execution or entertainment.  Ilienko, Bicherova, Frolova are other classical members of this team.  They will all be remembered for a very long time. The Soviet team managed to fall off beam even in those days, but their superior difficulty and technique lifted them above ...

Yesterday in Moscow, gymnasts, dignitaries and athletes from all sports celebrated Physical Culture Day.  The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a great selection of pictures on their website, and I will post my favourites for you here. The one that captured my heart though - as I realised it was 30 years ago since the summer of the Oloumoc Alternative Olympics - was this picture of the all around champion at those Games, Olga Mostepanova, who scored a perfect 40 in the all around, the only gymnast ever to do so.  She was the ultimate gymnast, in so many ways. Videos of this competition are rare, the 'Holy Grail' of gymnastics.  But just look at this video of Olga on beam during the individual competition.  You will rarely, if ever, see an example of more ample perfection, technical, artistic and competitive.  I often wonder what would have happened in Pauley Pavilion (the venue for the Los Angeles Olympics) if only politics hadn't taken an ugly turn that summer....

Olga Mostepanova coaches a youngster a few days ago, at Moscow's historic Dynamo club Russian bank VTB, important sponsors of Russian gymnastics, features a photo opportunity on its website today about Moscow Dynamo, highlighting the skill of its coaches, the accomplishments of its great gymnasts, and the sport's secure future as part of its massive redevelopment of the Dynamo stadium. You will remember that back in July last year, RRG featured a story on Dynamo's great history, highlighting the Club's uncertain future as it made a move out of its traditional home to make way for the massive VTB Park development which will house multiple sporting facilities as part of efforts to build social and economic infrastructure.  The VTB Arena is expected to be the focus venue for the 2018 Football World Cup, so you will become familiar with this facility then, if not before!  Dynamo Gymnastics' future was in some doubt at that time as no promises could be made as to the reh...

Olga Mostepanova does her daily work at the 'stanok' or barre.  Novosti Elena Kapitanova, a choreographer who worked at the Moscow Dynamo gymnastics club for over thirty years with such stars as Olga Mostepanova and Maria Filatova, recently passed away.  She was, of course, greatly loved by her family - husband Viktor (RIP) and children Yulia and Vladimir - and leaves behind her a legacy of unforgettable gymnastics, much of which represents the best of a golden era of the sport. Great choreography was at the heart of the Soviet aesthetic of women's gymnastics.  The daily attentions of a choreographer transformed gymnastics from the execution of skills to the performance of an aesthetic; a simple cartwheel could become an expression of delight, joy, a journey into the realms of expression.   Many of us dream up floor routines, but the mystical powers of the choreographer go beyond the meshing of gymnastics and music into the realm of emotional evocation....

Young Olga in her white leotard and orange hair bows, at her first international competition in Wembley, 1980 I had only been in the Olympiski Stadium, Moscow, for a few moments when it happened: I found myself surrounded by a little army of tiny children, excitedly chattering away in Russian, a language I don't speak.   I strained my ears and heard the names : Aliya, Nastia, Ksenia; I was swept along by this blizzard of pigtails, giggles and pretty eyes; and suddenly I lost myself, and started looking for Olga Mostepanova amongst them.  She might have been there, but (now in her forties) it is more likely that she was hard at work in her own gym, helping a young gymnast learn how to do a walkover on beam. Mostepanova was always like that, even as a child: her gymnastics appeared like a beautiful daydream, but the reality was infinitely more prosaic.  The exquisite plasticity that made her a Champion, the beautiful line for which she is famous, were the product ...

Routines from the 1982 Soviet Championships. Enjoy a tiny, 12 year old Elena Shushunova, Olga Mostepanova, Alla Misnik; and Natalia Ilienko is accorded the dignity of her own music to perform on floor ...