Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

I was delighted to see coach Leonid Arkayev honoured at this year's International Gymnastics Hall of Fame induction. Long overdue. I found this picture of Arkayev during his days as a competitive gymnast, at the Novosti picture site . Arkayev has never been publicly recognised in the same way as his Romanian counterpart Bela Karolyi, partly because he does not possess Karolyi's talent for self-publicity and partly because he chose to remain in his home country. He presided over Soviet and Russian gymnastics in one capacity or another from 1972 to 2004. I remember Arkayev's accession to the position of chief coach of the men's team, and the emphasis he put on young talent. He gave responsibility to young gymnasts such as Nikolai Andrianov, revitalising the Soviet team in the process and making way for the supremely strong Soviet teams of the 1980s and early 1990s. I'll never forget Makuts, Korolev, Akopian, Balabanov, Bilozerchev, Liukin, Artemov, Mogilny...