Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

This September's Russia Cup, one of the qualifying events for the World Championships, will take place at the Burtasy School of Gymnastics in Penza.  This is a late change from the planned location of Ekaterinburg. Valentina Rodionenko reports that, following a visit by inspectors, the facilities at Ekaterinburg just aren't good enough for such a major competition - there is no warm up gym, and the equipment is not state of the art. In Penza, the gym has benefitted from a gift of brand new equipment from the Ministry of Sport in recognition of the achievements of World and Olympic Champion Denis Ablyazin, who trains with coach Sergei Starkin in Penza. The School has become almost a permanent fixture for national championships recently and has developed as a power base for Russian gymnastics in general.  Head coach Valeri Starkin, father of the better known Sergei Starkin, was recently elevated to a position as national coach.  This change took place almost simultaneously ...