A revised roster for the women's competition at next week's Olympic test event is now available.
Competing for Russia will be Moscow's Anastasia Grishina, who will turn 16 on the 16th January, and World Championships team member Yulia Inshina.
This is a solid selection - neither gymnast has anything to lose, indeed Grishina can only gain from this new competitive experience and exposure. Inshina's calm competitive attitude can only help her team mate along in what might be a daunting first senior competitive experience. The 02 arena is huge, and far from my favourite venue for a gymnastics competition. As a spectator I would go so far as to say it lacks intimacy and involvement; goodness knows what it is like for the gymnasts.
We had hoped to see Anastasia Sidorova at this competition, but apparently her wrist injury (sustained during a biking accident last summer) is still causing her discomfort.
Grishina has significant respect from Russian team coach Alexander Alexandrov - in this interview he credits her as a 'beautiful' gymnast, 'light, flexible and can do good difficulty'. Grishina only needs to practice her competitive skills and demonstrate grace under pressure in order to be the complete package the Russians are looking for if the team is to mount a realistic challenge to the strong, solid Americans at this summer's Olympics.
You can find Anastasia's personal website here and don't forget the lovely interview with Yulia from the Russian Federation's magazine Gymnastika, of which there is an English translation here.
Here is Anastasia's floor routine from the 2010 European Championships in Birmingham.
Or watch it on Youtube.
Anastasia has all of the grace and expression of a much older gymnast. We should remember that this video is now almost two years old. Since then, Anastasia has grown taller (late last year she seemed to tower over Viktoria Komova) and appears more powerful than before.
And let's not forget that in Birmingham Grishina came a relatively close second to Komova in the all around competition, and won gold on bars and floor. She seemed relaxed and confident there - my guess is that she enjoys competition ...
It won't be long before we can see her in person, and see how she has progressed!
Competing for Russia will be Moscow's Anastasia Grishina, who will turn 16 on the 16th January, and World Championships team member Yulia Inshina.
This is a solid selection - neither gymnast has anything to lose, indeed Grishina can only gain from this new competitive experience and exposure. Inshina's calm competitive attitude can only help her team mate along in what might be a daunting first senior competitive experience. The 02 arena is huge, and far from my favourite venue for a gymnastics competition. As a spectator I would go so far as to say it lacks intimacy and involvement; goodness knows what it is like for the gymnasts.
We had hoped to see Anastasia Sidorova at this competition, but apparently her wrist injury (sustained during a biking accident last summer) is still causing her discomfort.
Grishina has significant respect from Russian team coach Alexander Alexandrov - in this interview he credits her as a 'beautiful' gymnast, 'light, flexible and can do good difficulty'. Grishina only needs to practice her competitive skills and demonstrate grace under pressure in order to be the complete package the Russians are looking for if the team is to mount a realistic challenge to the strong, solid Americans at this summer's Olympics.
You can find Anastasia's personal website here and don't forget the lovely interview with Yulia from the Russian Federation's magazine Gymnastika, of which there is an English translation here.
Here is Anastasia's floor routine from the 2010 European Championships in Birmingham.
Or watch it on Youtube.
Anastasia has all of the grace and expression of a much older gymnast. We should remember that this video is now almost two years old. Since then, Anastasia has grown taller (late last year she seemed to tower over Viktoria Komova) and appears more powerful than before.
And let's not forget that in Birmingham Grishina came a relatively close second to Komova in the all around competition, and won gold on bars and floor. She seemed relaxed and confident there - my guess is that she enjoys competition ...
It won't be long before we can see her in person, and see how she has progressed!
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