Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Liubov Andrianova in 2016 Liubov Andrianova and Dmitri Andreev, members of the FIG Technical Committees for men’s and women’s gymnastics, travel today to Paris to participate in the Olympic Games. Liubov Andrianova competed under her maiden name of Burda in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and has been one of the leading FIG judges for decades.  Her son with 1976 Olympic Champion, Nikolai Andrianov (RIP), Sergei, is a senior coach on the Russian senior team, specialising in bars. 1980 Olympic champion for the USSR, Elena Davydova, will also be judging for Canada at these Olympics.   Russians still sit on various committees of the FIG across the various sports that make up gymnastics.  President of the RGF, Vasily Titov, sits on the Executive Board as a senior member of the FIG.  Andrianova and Andreev will contribute their huge technical knowledge to the  gymnastics at these Games, and will scrutinise the progress of the sport. Lists of the full membership of the vari...

I’m the one individual who has run this blog since 2009.     Since 1972 I have followed the Soviet and Russian gymnasts through thick and thin.   This has included times when virtually no information reached our ears to times when there has been so much information that my brain has felt like it’s exploding.     There have been times when I have had to step back and slow down, others when I have felt I am arguing a vicarious debate for the gymnasts, for example in 2016 when they were threatened with an unfair Olympic ban for doping.     Sometimes I feel as though I don’t have the right to stop. These days I’m constantly questioning the rights and wrongs and trying to find a fair way forward that gives readers what they want, me and others a chance to speak our truths, reflects the reality of the sport in Russia, and is respectful towards Ukraine and its suffering.    My blog is about gymnastics, not war, but in order to be critical I need to ...

TASS reports that promising junior Diana Kustova (Moscow) has retired, and taken up work as a fitness trainer.  Yana Vorona (Voronezh), a great beam worker who looked likely to achieve as a full member of the senior team, has also retired. Both gymnasts have been unable to get back to elite level after injury. No further news on Vlada Urazova (Rostov).  The only Olympians who will be present at Novosibirsk for the Russian Cup will be Angelina Melnikova and Viktoria Listunova.  Russia is almost entirely reliant now on the new generation of  2007/8 born gymnasts to carry forward their gymnastics legacy.   Here is what head coach Valentina Rodionenko has to say: Members of the Russian national artistic gymnastics team Diana Kustova and Yana Vorona have ended their careers. This was reported to TASS by the senior coach of the national team Valentina Rodionenko. 💛"Kustova ended her career in artistic gymnastics and went into fitness, according to my information, she...

War is only acceptable because it is anonymous and invisible to all but a few people: those who are mad enough to think it is acceptable, those who are cruel enough to see a solution in its midst, and those who are trapped in it, and have no choice.  War’s victims spread beyond destruction, the dead, the injured.  Its symptoms are emotional, economic, social and physical.  The invisible, and the visible.  Those who help the victims can be as damaged as the victims themselves.  Reading of a battle can change your view on life.  Remembrance attempts to give us order out of the chaos of war and loss.  We try to heal the bereaved.  Remembrance attempts to show brutality as heroism because heroism is the only thing left.  War is dirty.   War is loss.   War is imposed on innocent populations by the bullies who run our countries.   War is wrong. War is only acceptable because it is anonymous and invisible.   States go to war....

Google translate of a Match TV interview with Olympic Champion Viktoria Listunova.  With thanks to the gymnastics group on VK.com Victoria Listunova told Match TV about her recovery from injury on the air of the program “Above Olympus”. “The year didn’t start off very well. I had a back injury. Now I have to work hard on it [recovery], devote time to it. That’s why even now my main activities are training, then a trip to the medical center, where I undergo various procedures, exercise therapy, and see a doctor. He gives various recommendations on what to do next.” What is your goal? “To leave my mark on gymnastics, to create my own history.” Will you watch the Olympics? “I don’t know. Maybe! (laughs) I don’t know for sure yet. I would watch.” How should I think now? “I haven’t had a situation where I was very upset or anything. I just always live with this thought: “We’ll get through it!” I always hold on to this thought everywhere.” Aren’t you sad? “No! (smiles).” We’re looking fo...

David Belyavski was just 19 at his first World Championships in 2011.  Over the past 13 years he has become the leading gymnast of the Russian team, its captain.  He has led Russia to a series of amazing team victories at World, European and Olympic level, always there with his own brand of aesthetic, technically well performed gymnastics.  He moves like a dancer.  His gymnastics is about finesse, lightness and line, yet he still has the power to win medals even in his 32nd year, against a generation of gymnasts who have rewritten the sport’s code of points for themselves, to favour strength and spectacular acrobatics.   His leadership skills motivated fiery, independent-minded athletes like Nagorny and Dalaloyan to come together for the team.  At the last Olympics the sometimes volatile gymnasts grabbed the gold with some remarkable last minute quick thinking, made possible by Belyavski’s calm and encouraging team talks.  His mental strength transform...

The Olympics and the Russian Cup are running on the same dates this year ... there is the potential for what is known as gymdigestion, but I still won't miss a second of the action in Paris and Novosibirsk.  So I have pulled together the attached schedule.  Because the FIG hasn't yet learned how to do this without forcing fans to look in about three different places simultaneously, and the RGF is cruel to schedule their gymnastics competitions at the same time as the Olympics. The information comes from the Olympics and FIG websites, and an Instagram post by Angelina Melnikova, as there is still no official stuff from the Russian Gymnastics Federation.  I have converted all the times to BST.  Paris is one hour ahead of London, Novosibirsk six hours ahead.  This scrambles my brain somewhat.  I have checked and double checked.  But if you see any obvious errors, please comment.   All times subject to change, especially the Russian ones.  T...