Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

If revolutions can only be acknowledged and recognised with hindsight, we are still too early to celebrate the Russian women’s team and all around victory at the Rotterdam World Championships 2010 as such. In many ways, Russian gymnastics is only beginning to turn a corner and to build the foundations for future more solid and consistent victories. The women’s team looks strong; over this weekend we have seen an impressive number of medal winning performances all across Europe. The Russians appear to be building strong reserves as well as celebrating the achievements of their medal winners. But we are still some distance away from witnessing a force to compare with the relentless, invincible gymnastics machine that was the Soviet Union. The technical, political, funding, human resources and artistic changes that Russian gymnastics needs to undergo to reach such a position are still very much underway. Media coverage of the world championships, and in particular during and po...