Skip to main content

Media link - Sovietski Sport interview with Alexei Bondarenko - back in training

Today's Sovietski Sport has an interview with former Russian and twice European champion, 32 year old Alexei Bondarenko.

Bondarenko visited the recent World Championships and reports here that he is working on his gymnastics again, despite an injured hand.  He speaks of his devastation at his two disastrous falls on vault in Athens, and of the increased level of difficulty performed today by such champions as Japan's Uchimura.  He also comments on the motivations of the current generation of Russian male gymnasts (he seems to think they are more concerned with winning money than medals), and the lack of financial support he received following his injury which saw him spending four weeks under the care of a Moscow specialist hospital.

He shares his Moscow lodgings with a cat, Bond, which makes him a good person as far as I am concerned ;-)

Good luck Alexei!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva, Kuksenkov on roster for Voronin Cup, 15-17 December

2012 Olympians Viktoria Komova, Anastasia Grishina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, and Nikolai Kuksenkov will compete in the Voronin Cup, Moscow, 15-17 December.   Aliya Mustafina, Emin Garibov, Denis Ablyazin and Alexander Balandin are out with injury or in recovery - expect them back next spring. http://itar-tass.com/sport/1629215

Russia Cup - the road to Nanning!

The Russian MAG and WAG teams take their preparation for World Championships in Nanning one step further this week, as key players compete in the annual Russia Cup in Penza.  There will be team, all around and event finals. The WAG team Last year the gymnasts were rather depleted and suffering the effects of injury; this year the national squad is still short of some of its top members, but has greater diversity and experience up and coming into the ranks, so it will be an interesting time.  Last year saw St Petersburg gymnast and fan favourite Tatiana Nabiyeva lead the all around, ahead of Alla Sosnitskaya, Anna Pavlova, Anna Rodionova, Ekaterina Kramarenko and Polina Fyodorova.  With the individual-only World Championships up coming in Antwerp, I remember writing that Russia might well decide to send a team of only three gymnasts, such was the paucity of available talent.  The final reckoning saw Russia fare a little better than this, although performance lacked depth and re

2013 European Championships move to Moscow!

Russia is hosting the forthcoming men's and women's European Gymnastics Championships, scheduled to appear in Moscow (not Kazan, as originally announced) between 17th and 21st April 2013.  You can find more information at the UEG website.  It is a bumper year for Russian international gymnastics competitions, with the Universiade taking place in the ancient city of Kazan (part of which is a UNESCO World Heritage site) in July.  St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, by night

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more