Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Thanks to @Adrian McArdle who shared this Russia Today video with me.

Courtesy of Aliya Mustafina Online The Russian women's gymnastics team - Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Viktoria Komova, Maria Paseka and Anastasia Grishina - have been rewarded for their Olympic efforts in a reception including President Vladimir Putin (seen left with Olympic bars champion Aliya Mustafina).   Medallist Denis Ablyazin was also present. Olympians who received medals have received a fairly substantial cash bonus, and an Audi car ... There is a library of photographs at Aliya Mustafina Online. I do hope that all the athletes drive carefully.

There is masses of press coverage at present as the results of the Olympics are digested. At an international level, the three candidates for the FIG Presidency are making their bids. Read about this at the All Around . In Russia, much noise is being made by Valentina Rodionenko. As usual, she seems oblivious to the impression her less than measured comments make on international observers - and her gymnasts. Lupita has made a partial translation of a press conference transmitted earlier this week. I should add that Mustafina and Komova handle themselves wonderfully. I have yet to see evidence of any competition for the Rodionenko's family job at the head of Russian gymnastics and with Valentina fronting the operation, there seems little prospect of a change in PR policy. Rodionenko and Mustafina: The best gyms are CSKA and Dynamo. Komova: in London we made mistakes and we even feared we wouldn’t be medallists. When we saw the results, we cried with joy. Mustaf...

There is a great video report of the gymnasts arriving home in Moscow here (thanks Queensblade). There are brief conversations with Aliya Mustafina's mum, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Emin Garibov, judge Lidia Ivanova and Viktoria Komova. 

Andrei Rodionenko observes David Belyavski.  Picture: Sovietsky Sport Andrei Rodionenko was interviewed by Sovietski Sport journalist A Vandenko on August 9th, the same day that Alexander Alexandrov gave his interview to Rsport (translation available on this blog, dated 11th August). I have been warned that Sovietski Sport is the Russian tabloid equivalent of the UK's Daily Mail, so do read this article with due care and attention. The Russian text is quite dense and we present here the main points. Omissions are indicated by elipses ... Taken in the round, a number of interviews recently have strongly hinted that there is some uncertainty over which coaches will continue at Lake Krugloye after the end of this month. Head coach Andrei Rodionenko, women's team coach Alexander Alexandrov, and women's uneven bars coach Evgeny Grebenkin have all been mentioned by name. Things seem rather unsettled. I just hope a good solution can be found that will be the best a...

Here it is, Queensblade 's video complete with English language captions.  Thanks to Lupita for the link. 

Olympic bars champion Aliya Mustafina.  Courtesy of the RGF It’s so wonderful that it seems unbelievable! Aliya Mustafina, who came back to gymnastics after a serious injury, became Olympics bars champion yesterday in London. For 12 years we haven’t had a bars Olympics champion!  The last time, it was Svetlana Khorkina in Sydney. But it’s not the first time that Mustafina makes history. by Inessa Rasskazova, Sovietski Sport   She is very silent, introverted; sometimes you don’t get two words from her. She has a strong character; she is incredibly talented... and absolutely unpredictable. Before the Olympics, national coach Valentina Rodionenko told us: - I expect anything from Mustafina. With her you never know what to expect. This year, after her injury in Berlin, everything has been difficult for her. She cried at every training session. Aliya was doing beam. She fell. She cried. Went back to the beam. Fell and cried again. It’s difficult for her fo...