Maria Kharenkova in Penza yesterday Russia's Maria Kharenkova continued collecting gold at yesterday's Olympic Hopes international in Penza, winning first place in all three of her elected event finals: vault, beam and floor. On floor, Maria eliminated her errors from the previous day, nailing her Arabian double and connecting the 1.5 twist to stag leap she had missed in the all around. She thus upgraded her mark here to 14.575. On beam, she fell to her knees on a double pike dismount but her positive execution elsewhere earned her 14.375, almost a point ahead of the nearest competition, her compatriot Anastasia Dmitrieva (13.425) Russia took gold and silver on every piece except floor, where the silver medal went to Ekaterina Chuykina from Kazakhstan (13.425). Maria intrigues me - a strong and acrobatic gymnast who is also clearly a fierce competitor and really enjoys her work, yet it's difficult to find a picture of her smiling fulsomely about her many gold...
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.