Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Maria Paseka in flight  Courtesy of the RGF It has been a curious European Championships so far, for the Russian women.  A team somewhat depleted of new talent is looking to its veterans to carry Russia into the future.  It is a tricky year : with the Universiade coming up in the summer, and Worlds in the autumn, last summer's Olympians face a hectic and pressured time.  You get the feeling that the girls are almost reluctant participants in this, the earliest major competition of the year.  There has just been so much extra curricular activity going on; instead of focussing on the gymnastics, the girls have been at the centre of what at times has resembled the plot of a soap opera. Regardless of the reality of their everyday training, the picture presented of their lives in sport is far from ordered.  For Mustafina, there has been an unsettling circumstance surrounding the status of her personal coach, Alexander Alexandrov, a man she last year cal...

Aliya Mustafina projects that mystical charisma, while Europeans team mate Ksenia Afanasyeva looks on at last year's Russian Championships.  Courtesy RGF The Couch Gymnast has put up some extensive reports on women's podium training from yesterday as a preparation for tomorrow's competition - read them.  It is the age old story of Russia looking tired and off form with Romania soldiering on.   No, better than that, shining at the first major competition of the year.  Russia normally shake themselves down in time for the actual competition, but can they pull off another revival again this time?  It must take so much energy overcoming all the emotion of a poor warm up performance ... the pre-competition publicity, spun by Valentina Rodionenko, does not make them sound a happy ship.  Has Russia lost its passion for artistic gymnastics?  I hope not.  Let's see how qualis go first, then finals. Here is the start list for tomorrow's competiti...