Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Andrei Rodionenko and David Belyavski anxiously await the final score. Courtesy RGF Britain and Russia had another tussle in MAG qualifying yesterday, with Britain coming out on top this time.  Both teams had their weak moments.  Russia performed poorly on the high bar, where they missed Emin Garibov in particular.  The versatile Nikita Ignatyev, perhaps hampered somewhat by a painful back, had a rough day with a very poor floor exercise (12.933/6.833 E score) and a fall on high bar.  David Belyavski had a worse day on pommels, with a score of 12.5.  The downside is that Russia has once again trumpeted a reputation for inconsistency.  The good thing is that with a less erratic performance they have a real chance of bridging the gap of 2.772 that separates them from first placed Britain at this stage of the competition.   But it will be perilously close, and if Russia fail to deliver on Saturday there is a real chance that the ambitious Ukrainian team, ...

State of the art gymnastics facilities at the Europa Gym Centre, Crayford I  thought it timely to reprint this article, originally published last September 25th, to remember the friendship that exists between Russian and British gymnastics. It is 10.30 on a Saturday night, and Len Arnold OBE is shifting mats with the lads.  The 58 year old gymnastics coach and social entrepreneur is Head Coach and manager of the Europa Gym Centre in Crayford, an impressive state of the art training facility that opened in 2012 and which today (7th September) hosted the  London Open,  a major event in the British gymnastics calendar.  This year, the competition acted as a final trial for the British senior men who will travel to Antwerp for the World Championships later this month, and amongst the competition were two youngsters from the historic Nikolai Tolkachev Gymnastics School of the Olympic Reserve, Vladimir, Russia.  The Russian boys' presence was more than a mere opp...

Sergei Eltcov, Kirill Potapov, Artur Dalolyan, Nikita Nagorny, Valentin Starikov It was a close-ish competition, but Britain came out on top everywhere as a team, except for pommel horse where the British had a bad day, and rings, a strong piece for a Russia.  In truth, they are two brilliant teams.  Many of these gymnasts will turn senior next year, swelling the ranks of their respective teams.  I can't wait to see them fight for medals at the a Rio Olympics.  Coached by two Russians (Andrei Popov and Sergei Sizhanov from the historic gymnastics city of a Vladimir), the British team carries the classical mark of the Russian school. CORRECTION - The British Junior team head coach is now Barry Collie.  

Simone Alexander drew my attention to this video.    http://youtu.be/DIE0tfdYgos This is the best video of this outstanding floor routine that exists to my knowledge. Groshkova has never competed at World Championships; her light shone all too briefly when she won a silver medal at 1990 Europeans. Has anyone else ever performed that unique double full in in the straight/piked position? Tatiana trained at Moscow Dynamo where her personal coach was Elvira Saadi, who now coaches top internationals in Canada.  Her bars and beam exercises were also packed with innovation and difficulty.  But reliability curtailed her career prospects in the frighteningly competitive field of early 1990s Soviet gymnastics.   She was the focus of a 1987 Soviet TV documentary 'Will You Come To The Ball'. The tumbling in this floor routine - by a very light, spritely gymnast - belies the idea that you have to be muscled to be powerful.  And my, how does she manage to perform with su...

From Aliya Mustafina on Instagram: 'thanks for the invitation' she says to Alexei Nemov A brief interview with Sovietski Sport is summarised here.  Original interview is at  http://www.sovsport.ru/news/text-item/712772 Olympic gymnastics champion Aliya Mustafina today went to a party organised by famous gymnast Alexei Nemov, entitled "Sochi-Moscow-Rio".  Alexei handed out some awards, sponsored by the magazine 'Grand Sport'.  It took place in the Veshny Arts Centre. - Aliya, soon you are going to Germany for a check up on your ankle. How do you feel now? - Walking does not hurt, it only hurts when I tumble.  I really would like the doctors to figure out what is going on with my foot, and why I cannot load it. And how to treat it  ... - As I understand it the European Championships did not disappoint you in any way, despite the fact that you lost to Downie on the bars? - No, no disappointment.  I did not show a routine of the highest difficulty, and jus...

The Russian Junior team enjoy some fresh air in Sofia after a hard competition.  Clockwise, from top left : Olga Bulgakova (head coach), Aleksandra Buzdalina (masseuse), Artem Voinov (team coach), Seda Tutkhalyan, Daria Skrypnik, Anastasia Dmitrieva, Maria Bondareva, Angelina Melnikova.  Courtesy : RGF I like comments and discussions, and most of them on this blog are well informed, polite and interesting.  Please do keep posting! However, in past days, some of the comments on this blog have been downright rude, to the extent of attacking the person, rather than arguing the point.   Passionate debate and strong opinions are encouraged, but not name calling, bullying or aimless contradiction of the last post.  I have deleted the worst ones, using a 'light touch' for now.  I  will, however, have to consider further action if individuals persist in behaving so immaturely.  It is time to establish some rules of participation; The best ones I have fou...

Olga Bulgakova, courtesy of RGF Key points of a short interview with Olga Bulgakova, Head Coach of the national junior team http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=83100 They had expected a little better result on floor and vault.  They need to review and change their tactics, work on the mistakes.  Bars and beam were the most successful pieces. The girls reached their minimum targets.  They use the results of competition for analysis, to understand where things aren't working, and correct any weaknesses. Seda Tutkhalyan and Maria Bondareva will be considered for the Youth Olympics in Nanjing.  Seda's programme is more complex.  But this was a major competition for both girls and both had errors.  There is still some work to do. Seda has complex routines, dealing with them is very hard.  If her routines had been less difficult of course that would have been easier to handle and she would be more stable.  But that wouldn't offer much promise. ...