Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

This is a time when sport and politics are inextricably interwoven.  It's a sad day when I have to say that I can't support Russia's participation in the Olympic Games , but Russian gymnasts are paid by the State, and sport is used as a mouthpiece for the Russian state.   It's not a personal matter, and I don't want to get into personal condemnations or accusations.  The gymnasts are Russian.  They aren't bad or horrible people, but they do live in a different and rather difficult environment that shapes their opinions.  The BBC's Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, spoke recently in The Observer  about Russia's support for the war, and concluded that while a minority of the population were fiercely in favour of the war, and a similar minority strongly against it, the majority were probably just very confused about what was happening and didn't know what to think.  The gymnasts likely DO support the war, at least partly because they have to for their...

They are literally bereft - torn apart and desperately sad.  Russia and Ukraine, in gymnastics at least, were always the best of friends.  Despite the horrors of the Holodomor, the famine forced on Ukraine by the USSR which claimed the lives of an estimated 3.9 million people, relations between our gymnasts were always observably warm.  If you ever saw a victory podium shared by the two, you would know this to be the truth.  Fierce competition, respect and friendship.  Everything was as it should be. Russia and Ukraine shared their gymnastics bounty.  Nikolai (Mykola)  Kuksenkov, Ukraine-born but with Russian family roots, competed for both countries and now coaches the Russian women.  His father, Yuliy, coaches the men.  Doubtless there are many gymnasts and coaches whose family lines cross the borders of Russia and Ukraine.  So much of Russia is this way.  Perhaps it is what gives Ukraine so much of its ferocity in defend...

My Olympic Hero   How will I name my hero in a sport full of heroes, in a Games full of heroes – in a world full of heroes?   The whole pretext of the 2020 Olympic Games is unique.   Globally, the Covid pandemic made the Olympics a fearful, questionable, celebration of global survival, a memorial of so many lost.       The Tokyo Games asked as many questions as it provided answers.   Could we afford the luxury of an in person gathering to celebrate athletic achievement and to act out world harmony?     At our first ever digital Olympics, how would the sport, the competition in the field, act out?       Our sport – artistic gymnastics – began the Games with an enormous dark cloud overhanging.   Sport in general has become too big for its boots.   Political, social and commercial issues far outweigh the wellbeing of athletes.   The IOC, FIG, national federations, coaching and medical consortia have fo...

I’ve questioned myself time and again about gymnastics, ever since the ‘Me Too’ messages began appearing on my Twitter feed.   Are we, fans, culpable of supporting a sport which is inherently brutal?   Have we elevated our sport because of the brutality involved in making it to the top?   What is it about gymnastics that has somehow led to the tacit acceptance of abuse as a way of life? Only a few years ago Dominique Moceanu published her book, calling out her parents and her coaches, the Karolyis, as abusive.   Did we stop and listen?   No.   We labelled Dominique an ‘attention seeker’.   And what about ‘Little Girls in Pretty Boxes’?   Did we rush to support the injured parties?   Insist on a sports-wide review of coaching practice?   No.   There was a media storm and lots of huffs and puffs, but we never got round to blowing the house down.   At the end of the day, weren’t we mesmerised by the promise of gold? Ab...

I’m reading a post on Twitter that relates Komova’s second place in the AA to her botched Amanar landing.  History often rewrites such stories, forgetting the whole picture - an AA comp is the best of four apparatus, not a vault control duel.  We often see the same arguments about other close finals - was Shushu’s vault in 1988 really a ten?  People forget, or choose to ignore, or never knew in the first place, that the AA comp in those days was a composite score of Compulsory and Optional TF + the AA score.  Silivas had errors on floor in team final and on beam in AA final.  Without those errors she would have beaten Shushu by a country mile in the AA, but Shushu was on fire and didn’t give a mm.  The vault scores don’t say it all. The 2012 quad was a curious point in gymnastics history.  Russia had made their rush for world lead in 2010, but wouldn’t have got the gold in Rotterdam without the help of mistakes from the USA team.  Mustafina was ...

It has been a long time since I reflected on Russia and its gymnasts, but there have been some significant events recently so here is an update. 1    The continuing depletion of the national team reserve. MAG head coach Valery Alfosov has stressed that although the men's team appears to be thriving at present, this does not reflect a complete turn round in Russia's fortunes.  There are concerns that the longer term development of the team will be erratic. Conditions in WAG seem highly uncertain.  The national team relies on maintaining its veterans to ensure the appearance of being in contention for individual medals.   Without Paseka and Mustafina the team would have only Ilyankova and Melnikova as gymnasts of medal potential.  Furthermore, the measure of Mustafina is purely reputational.  There is little evidence that she will return to competition at her previous level, and promising her appearance at the European Games could end up ...