Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

I’m no football freak, but I am enjoying this year’s World Cup.  If you have Instagram, you will have seen how the Norway team and its upcoming match with England has caught the imagination of content creators, not just for fun but also for the sake of the tourism industry.  Airline SAS and the national tourist organisation have both created some really imaginative material, and I bet lots of people will feel inspired to go on holiday there in the wake of this. This got me thinking about Russia and the Soviet Union and how invisible Russian people would be if it weren’t for sport.  There are other fields of cultural endeavour, but it seems to me that sport is the most approachable, accessible cultural form for all people, something that is international, crosses all boundaries.  Countries build a face through sport, and that can be about more than tourism.  Diplomacy is one thing, soft diplomacy for whole populations more than for statesmen, and in the case of c...

T his, my second graphic, needs quite a bit of tweaking that I don’t have time to do at present. For example, the sport as a whole should sit centre top. There needs to be a depiction of grass roots of the sport, including the privately run, participatory sector, as well as the local, regional and national teams as seniors and juniors. I have a question : do CSKA, Dynamo etc even exist under these names today? The gyms have been refurbished and, in line with the World Gymnastics rules for the past years, show no evidence of government or army support. This is a touch of airbrushing, I think, as Russia couldn’t simply close those enormous organisations down, and still have a functioning gymnastics machine … could they? The Premiere League, Titans, social media income and other TV shows generate income for the gymnasts and must provide a return on state ànd or corporate investment , in some way. The streaming platforms for gymnastics are run directly by the regions; Match TV is by far th...

I've been playing with Copilot for some of my blog content, with varying degrees of success.  I like infographics but still haven't got the knack of them.  But I thought, in view of the unprecedented nature of the various lockdowns, bans and sanctions going on - effectively the isolation of Russia from world gymnastics - that it would be worth recording some of what I have observed happening in terms of the sport's management and survival.  There are lots of things that need to be altered.  Please do comment.  Here is the first infographic, along with a short commentary by me.  There are two infographics, I'll put them in separate posts. I asked Copilot to produce a graphic mapping Russia’s development of gymnastics since the IOC/World Gymnastics ‘lockdown’, using data I provided to them. Sports is an ever-growing sector of the world economy, and during the ban Russia has exploited - and, hopefully, improved its popularity by developing television and live ...

When a new head coach takes on one of the most influential roles in artistic gymnastics, it is natural to ask what values and principles guide their leadership. In Dmitri Andreev’s case, most of what we know comes not from personal essays or political statements, but from interviews, press conferences, and official announcements related to his work in the sport.   Understanding his values means paying attention to how he talks about athletes, coaching, leadership, and the future of Russian gymnastics. Several consistent themes emerge from his public comments. Collective Effort Over Individual Glory Andreev regularly presents gymnastics as a collective endeavour rather than a platform for individual achievement. When discussing his appointment as head coach, he emphasised the importance of bringing together athletes, coaches, and support staff to work towards shared goals. He also described leadership in terms of responsibility rather than authority. This suggests a value system cen...

The Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation has issued an open letter to the UEG, challenging the process by which sanctions against Russian and Belarusian gymnasts were lifted. Their criticism is not without foundation. The UEG moved with striking speed to align itself with the FIG’s decision, and the FIG itself was largely following the lead of World Aquatics and other federations that had already stepped back from their bans. Those bodies, in turn, were responding to the broad direction of an IOC announcement encouraging the return of junior athletes to international competition. What is clear is that the UEG had little or no time to conduct the kind of stakeholder analysis that the Council of Europe recommends before major governance decisions. The Ukrainians argue that this omission matters: the voices of affected athletes, federations, and national bodies were not meaningfully considered. They are now calling on the UEG Congress, scheduled for 29 June, to reverse the decision and reinsta...

An interview by Sergei Lisin for Sports Express Google translate. "The young    gymnasts have more experience now." Listunova on preparing for the European Championships qualifiers. Gymnast Listunova spoke about her preparations for the European Championships qualifiers. Sergei Lisin  The Olympic champion is ready to return to the international arena after World Gymnastics lifted sanctions. On May 18, World Gymnastics reinstated Russia's flag at international competitions. This immediately opened the door for Viktoria Listunova to compete at the World Challenge Cup and World Championships, which will be held in the Netherlands this fall. However, eligibility for the continental championship remained in question, with European Gymnastics expected to make a decision. She didn't have to wait long—on the morning of May 24, news broke that the European federation had also accepted Russian athletes under the flag. For Viktoria, this means that she, the last Russian European...