Bruno Grandi, President of the FIG, will be speaking at an international conference on the future of Russian sports, 'Russia, Country of Sports', to be held at the Russian International Olympic University in Saransk on the 9th September. The conference will be attended by leading practitioners in the field of sports education, including Head Coach of the Russian national gymnastics team, Andrei Rodionenko.
Both Grandi and Rodionenko have given interviews in the approach to this important event which you will be able to find (in Russian) at the Sports Daily website - links provided below.
Bruno Grandi uses the opportunity to trumpet ongoing efforts to simplify the Code with a view to making the sport more attractive to spectators, and looks forward to the London Olympics.
Rodionenko echoes some of the themes he identified in so many of his interviews given at around the time of last year's World Championships - principally emphasising the need to reinforce the resource base of the sport at grass roots level. Making reference to a three-tier system of training (I am guessing here he is referring to the Junior team, the Olympic reserves team and the main national team), he is relatively optimistic about the preparation of a strong Olympic squad for the forthcoming Olympiad up to 2016, and thanks the Russian Gymnastics Federation and the Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy for their support.
Nevertheless, he says, it takes longer than a few years to overcome problems that have accrued over decades.
There is a lack of qualified gymnastics professionals. The migration of coaches overseas has weakened the gymnastics effort in Russia and standards of coach education at the lowest level often leave something to be desired. It also remains difficult to pay young coaches enough to encourage them to stay in their jobs. Given the importance of early training to gymnastics (which is also emphasised in Leonid Arkayev's interview on I-G TV) it is clear that Rodionenko considers these problems to be a major threat to the continuing development of the sport in Russia beyond 2016.
For the sport to thrive, the regions must also play their part in identifying and training new talent. Rodionenko highlights the strong development of three particular regions:
- Siberia and its gymnastics centre in Leninsk-Kuznetsk. (You can find plenty of references to development work taking place in this region on the Russian Gymnastics Federation's website - including records of state visits by Vladimir Putin - it is plain they are a powerhouse, contributing a good number of national team members eg Ignatyev.)
- the Southern Federal District and its centre in Rostov-on-Don, formerly home to such greats as Ludmilla Tourischeva and Natalia Yurchenko, today home to national team member and prospective Olympian Anastasia Sidorova
- Central Russia and its centre, the Penza School of Gymnastics.
The Urals (Chelyabinsk) and Ekaterinburg (home of this month's Russian Cup) were also mentioned (it is apparently 40 years since the last major competition took place there), but Rodionenko laments the fall of St Petersburg as a centre of gymnastics. Tatiana Nabieva is the lone representative on the national team of this once proud gymnastics centre.
Rodionenko was not especially ready to be drawn on likely rankings at the forthcoming Tokyo World Championships, explaining that there was likely to be strong competition given its importance as a qualifying competition for the London Olympics.
Both Grandi and Rodionenko have given interviews in the approach to this important event which you will be able to find (in Russian) at the Sports Daily website - links provided below.
Bruno Grandi uses the opportunity to trumpet ongoing efforts to simplify the Code with a view to making the sport more attractive to spectators, and looks forward to the London Olympics.
Rodionenko echoes some of the themes he identified in so many of his interviews given at around the time of last year's World Championships - principally emphasising the need to reinforce the resource base of the sport at grass roots level. Making reference to a three-tier system of training (I am guessing here he is referring to the Junior team, the Olympic reserves team and the main national team), he is relatively optimistic about the preparation of a strong Olympic squad for the forthcoming Olympiad up to 2016, and thanks the Russian Gymnastics Federation and the Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy for their support.
Nevertheless, he says, it takes longer than a few years to overcome problems that have accrued over decades.
There is a lack of qualified gymnastics professionals. The migration of coaches overseas has weakened the gymnastics effort in Russia and standards of coach education at the lowest level often leave something to be desired. It also remains difficult to pay young coaches enough to encourage them to stay in their jobs. Given the importance of early training to gymnastics (which is also emphasised in Leonid Arkayev's interview on I-G TV) it is clear that Rodionenko considers these problems to be a major threat to the continuing development of the sport in Russia beyond 2016.
For the sport to thrive, the regions must also play their part in identifying and training new talent. Rodionenko highlights the strong development of three particular regions:
- Siberia and its gymnastics centre in Leninsk-Kuznetsk. (You can find plenty of references to development work taking place in this region on the Russian Gymnastics Federation's website - including records of state visits by Vladimir Putin - it is plain they are a powerhouse, contributing a good number of national team members eg Ignatyev.)
- the Southern Federal District and its centre in Rostov-on-Don, formerly home to such greats as Ludmilla Tourischeva and Natalia Yurchenko, today home to national team member and prospective Olympian Anastasia Sidorova
- Central Russia and its centre, the Penza School of Gymnastics.
The Urals (Chelyabinsk) and Ekaterinburg (home of this month's Russian Cup) were also mentioned (it is apparently 40 years since the last major competition took place there), but Rodionenko laments the fall of St Petersburg as a centre of gymnastics. Tatiana Nabieva is the lone representative on the national team of this once proud gymnastics centre.
Rodionenko was not especially ready to be drawn on likely rankings at the forthcoming Tokyo World Championships, explaining that there was likely to be strong competition given its importance as a qualifying competition for the London Olympics.
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