Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Interview with Andrei Rodionenko Translation by Liubov Baladzhaeva The interview was recorded after CAS decision, but before IOC decision, when the team was still in Russia. Rodionenko is not happy with how much power WADA currently has and he thinks that it should be reformed and limited in its power over athletes. He thinks that the current doping scandal is a misunderstanding. There were some doping issues with Russia, but the reaction of the international sport community to these issues was exaggerated. Russia is not the only country that had issues with doping, there were athletes caught in USA, Kenya and many other countries. He thinks only the athletes who were caught doping should be punished, he opposes a blanket ban. Russian athletes were denied the presumption of innocence and that is not OK. He says that the Russian lawyers and representatives who went to the CAS hearing weren’t really heard, no one cared what they had to say, everything was already decided before ...

. Video interview with Valentina Rodionenko and Nikolai Kuksenkov Translation by Liubov Baladzhaeva Interview took place before the IOC decision to allow clean Russian athletes to participate in the Games, but after the publication of the McLaren report and WADA's recommendation of a blanket ban. Valentina Rodionenko: right now the gymnasts are training with even more motivation, despite the doping scandal, and they really want to go to Rio. If they’re banned, four years of training would be for nothing. Four years of their life were spent on preparation and they didn’t do anything else.  But we’re going to fight, because Russian people only get stronger facing hardship.   Meldonium isn’t a performance enhancing drug, it’s used for recovery only, it shouldn’t even be considered doping and banned. No one really tested if it enhances performance, but it got banned nevertheless. There are changes on the doping list all the time, you blink and another substance gets banned...

Exclusive interview with the first Russian athletes to arrive in Rio Translation by Liubov Baladzhaeva Athletes are escorted throughout the airport so that they can get to the Olympic village without delays. There are a lot of soldiers with assault rifles for security reasons. The first training for the gymnasts starts  at 9:00 , they usually take a bus to the gym although it’s walking distance from their accommodation. Journalists are not allowed into the Olympic village. Aliya talks about their rooms and the village: they didn’t really have time to walk around, because they train twice a day and have to rest in between. The rooms are on the smaller side, but cozy. She’s happy with the living conditions, no complaints. Denis Ablyazin will turn 24 in Rio. He’s one of the Russian MAG hopes for a gold medal, which they didn’t have since 2000.   Asked about who are his main competitors, he says that he sees every single gymnast in Rio as a competitor. Other than that they j...

http://sportgymrus.ru/trener-rossijskie-gimnasty-zhaluyutsya-na-usloviya-prozhivaniya-v-olimpijskoj-derevne/ Coach :  Russian gymnasts complain on the living conditions in the Olympic Village July 25, 10:02 “They are complaining the accom m odations in the Olympic village are not ready for normal and comfortable stay” ,  Valentina   Rodionenko  reported to TASS   Валентина   Родионенко , Photo by  Artem   Korotayev ©  Artem   Korotayevm  Archives/TASS On Sunday, the TV channel ‘MATCH-TV” reported that  the  Russian  gymnasts were not allowed to stay in the Olympic village. “Everything is OK, settled down right away, wi thout problems, they are  still sleeping now. The only  thing is they are of course  complaining that the accom m odations are not ready for  normal and comfortable stay . Perhaps they  did not expect us to come in so early ” , said  Rodionenko . The portal  BuzzFeed ...

It is interesting, in my opinion, to read this article (link below) and to understand how the Russian doping scandal is understood by Russian citizens and athletes.  It shows that 'another' perspective on President Putin and on the blanket ban of track and field is shared by a lot of people.   It is also true that Russia's whole strategy of sports development and of using mega events to develop the visitor economy has been cast into doubt by the IOC response to the cheating that has evidently been going on.  The brouhaha surrounding the blanket ban, its pros and cons in different sports and all the rights and wrongs have masked the fact that for the first time the IOC has imposed the equivalent of economic sanctions on Russia by removing so many sporting events due to be staged there.  Sport has imposed itself right in the middle of world politics.  I hope that the end result is greater peace in the world.   I hope that the Russian Govt's pledge to renew th...

Aliya Mustafina, "I will act only under the flag of Russia" Article from the newspaper: The weekly "Arguments and Facts" number 30, 27/07/2016  All materials of the plot situation surrounding the admission of Russian athletes at the Olympics-2016 One of the best gymnasts of the world in an interview with "AIF" tells the story of those who chose the Olympics, on the limit of moral strength and the price of any coin.  "Fear me not!", - Says Aliya Mustafina. "Fear me not!", - Says Aliya Mustafina. © / Maxim Blinov / RIA Novosti 2 1 - In section I, 6-year-old, I brought Dad (father Alija - Farhat Mustafin - Greco-Roman style, bronze medalist of the Olympic Games 1976 - Ed.).. He believed that children should be in the sport, and chose as a general developmental gymnastics discipline. Any special purposes nobody put: "Well, just work out." Just - it did not work. She's only 16 years old, and she was the absolute world champion ...

https://youtu.be/Y_dhZb9MwzY