Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Aliya Mustafina has said that she will begin training again in December, says Andrei Rodionenko, and he believes that she is strong-willed enough to make the transition back into competitive gymnastics.  Adding that it would be a first for the Russian team, Rodionenko clearly believes that Aliya could still bring a certain something to the sport with her unique determination. http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170305/1117267865.html

National head coach Andrei Rodionenko says he feels optimistic about the next four years, based on the number of gymnasts who are showing promise.  He says that the team strategy for both men and women is to prepare two teams each who can compete for places at the Olympics.  It is likely that the excellent competition facilities in Kazan will host another gymnastics competition for the Russians in 2018, adding that they had all enjoyed their time there. Rodionenko went on to say that obviously Dalolyan and Kapitonova had done well here but he isn't ready to name the teams for Euros (!).  A decision will be made based on performance in training over the next four weeks. http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170305/1117268356.html

Looking well ahead (there are another six weeks to go before the European Championships) Valentina Rodionenko has outlined a few assumptions for the final team selection. Injury apart, those who are guaranteed a place on the teams are Artur Dalolyan and Natalia Kapitonova. Also selected are Nikita Nagorny, David Belyavski, Seda Tutkhalyan and Angelina Melnikova, as well as Elena Eremina.  Vladislav Polyashov has a good chance, and the coaches will also be watching Viktoria Trykina closely. European Championships - 19 to 23 April.  This time in Romania, the 2017 Champs will be individual AA and EF only.  I am surprised not to see Lankin mentioned here. http://tass.ru/sport/4071960

  Doctors have given 2012 Olympian Viktoria Komova the all clear to begin light training and make a gradual recovery this year, reports her father, Alexander Komov. Viktoria missed last year's Olympics with severe back pain caused by a stress fracture in her vertebrae.  Komov emphasised that it is still early days, and they don't know if the pain levels will return as the workload increases - only time will tell.  But Viktoria has a clear intention to make her way back into training. Good luck to Vika!  Let's hope to see her competing in good health once more. Source -  http://tass.ru/sport/4028089

  Baby face ... Born 30 December 1972, Elena Gurova was one of the Soviet Union's gymnastics prodigies who blossomed early, but never quite showed her full flowering.   At the age of 14, Elena took multiple medals at the Soviet Cup and Soviet Championships to qualify as a member of her country's team at the World Championships in Rotterdam.   Despite a stunning floor routine, including a double layout opener and a final tumble of full twisting double back, Elena received just one medal there, a silver for her team contribution.  She failed to qualify to any individual final, thanks to the incredible depth of a Soviet team that included eventual World - and Olympic - Champions Shushunova, Omelianchik, Boguinskaia and Baitova. The following year she competed at the World Sports Fair, taking the AA gold with, by her standards, watered down routines.  Sadly she was not named to the Soviet Olympics team and her competitive record then runs dry - does anyone know any ...

Dmitri Bilozerchev rose to prominence at the age of 16 in 1983, as the youngest World All Around Champion ever.  He was an astonishing talent. Quickly, legend built up around this extraordinary young man.  Stories circulated of how his coach, Alexander Alexandrov, would reward him with cake for good performance in training.  Bilozerchev's prodigious talent earned him the title the 'Mozart of Gymnastics'.  'He has 'perfect pitch'', said Alexandrov. The only events on which Bilozerchev did not win medals at his first World Championships were the vault and the parallel bars.  Two years later, at the European Championships in Oslo, he collected a full set, a silver medal on the vault his only vaguely modest outcome.  No one could compete with the brilliant Russian.  As we looked forward to the World Championships in Montreal, there was only one gymnast : Dmitri Bilozerchev. Then tragedy stuck as Bilozerchev suffered a catastrophic car accident, his l...

Liubov Baladzhaeva has provided a good translation of the article from the Saransk and Mordovan Times .  Text in square brackets are Liubov's personal comments.   Leonid Arkayev was fired from the gymnastics center in Saransk that was named after him. It is not clear what was the real reason (or the host of reasons), but the authors speculate that the main issues were conflict over the state-owned apartment given to Arkayev and the lack of results from the athletes he trained. However, when the journalist went to investigate the situation she encountered rumors that Arkayev had a special interest in the female gymnasts. The author claims she was able to talk to some of the victims whose names she can’t reveal. First, the article talks about two issues with Arkayev as a coach that weren’t related to sexual harassment allegations. His former colleague, a gymnastics coach called Irina in this article (not sure if it’s her real name) talked about working with him. Accordin...