I-g.tv has recently been updated with some stories from the diving world as well as gymnastics, including a commentary from Vladimir Zaglada on the gymnastics contribution of 2000 Olympic Champion Alexei Nemov. This is soon to be supplemented by a video montage of Alexei's amazing work on the high bar.
There is also a dual (Russian/English) language version of a profile of Alexei :
There is also a dual (Russian/English) language version of a profile of Alexei :
Alexei Nemov –
last of the Soviets, first of the Russians
Writing a profile of 2000 Olympic Champion Alexei Nemov has
not been easy. There is something so
completely intangible about Nemov’s gymnastics, something that defies simple
description. The beauty of his work goes
beyond line, technique or acrobatics.
There is a softness that transcends the mere physical.
At first, I wanted to write about Alexei’s heroic qualities,
of how he reminds me of Detiatin, Tkachev and Mogilnyi. Mentioning Nemov’s place in the role of
honour of Soviet gymnastics seemed to be the only right way to contextualise
his contribution to the sport and to pay tribute to his achievements. A senior international competitive career
that spanned thirteen years. Competed at
three Olympics. Twelve Olympic medals,
four of them gold. Five gold medals at
world championships. One of the most
decorated gymnasts ever.
So much gold, so many titles. Yet it still all seemed to lack a dimension
of something essential to Nemov. Why on
earth is it so difficult to write about him?
I had to go back to basics and re-examine Alexei’s career; make the article
more factual, less superlative. Remember
that he is a person, just like all the rest of us, with strengths and
weaknesses.
And I remembered.
There had been two different Alexei Nemovs: first, there was the serious
Alexei, the sportsman with the highest sense of fair play, the one who won;
then, there was the less serious Alexei, the one who used to play to the crowd,
who seemed more interested in popularity than medals. How on earth could these two different faces
be reconciled?
I read, then re-read the following:
‘Nemov’s salute is an open palm deliberate gesture of respect and
friendship directed towards the spectators and judges by using his hands, head
and eyes to give this conspicuous signal.
The arm and head positions by other gymnasts indicate that they strike a
smart gymnastic pose in splits position but they may not be called salutes in
the way which Nemov uses this gesture … His salute is often made to generate a
crowd-pleasing effect, as it is perceived that he signals directly to them …’
(Palmer, 2003: 195)
The more I thought about this, the clearer it became to
me. Somehow, in all of his work, Nemov
always kept something special for his public.
That sense of expression, subtly embedded in all his work, was part of
his personality, the same Alexei who would pose and smile for the cameras. The technically intangible part of Alexei
that came across as a softness in the best of his gymnastics, was a deeper
expression of the grinning man on the television screen.
It was not really surprising that Palmer focussed on Nemov’s
performance of the simplest gymnastic skill.
For all that the public is fascinated with high level acrobatics and
innovation, the most moving moments of a competition can often be the
consummate performance of a simple skill.
Watch Nemov as he performs here
his floor exercise. Sense how the pauses
in the routine and the simplest movement of a hand, or turn of his head, can
create an impact.
Nemov the champion appears all calm contemplation and
graceful expression on the competition floor.
The public remembers how at the Olympics in 1996 Nemov comforted Vitalyi
Scherbo when the 1992 champion realised he had achieved ‘only’ a bronze medal
in Atlanta. Leading the Russian team to its first team
gold medal earlier that week had been Nemov’s greatest competitive performance
to date, but in that moment he had also shown maturity beyond his years.
Born on the 28th May 1976, the year that Nikolai
Andrianov won the all around gold at the Montreal Olympics, Nemov won his first
Olympic gold, for the Russian team, twenty years later in Atlanta.
He competed once for the USSR,
in 1991. His competitive career closed
in 2004, after the Athens Olympics at which he failed to win a single
medal.
Constantly by his side was personal coach, Evgeny Nikolko,
who casts some light on Nemov’s character :
‘Everybody sees that Nemov's
performances are complex and confident. I have special feelings about him. I feel that he can become a star. In
life Lyosha is one person - he is fun, jokes around, but in gym he is the
opposite - stubborn, sometimes angry. But this is the indicator of talent.’
(Golubev and Panchenko, 1998)
Nemov’s gold medal overall at the 2000 Olympics was the
realisation of this talent, and a celebration of the fine heritage of classical
gymnastics into which he had been born.
He had carried the golden thread of Soviet gymnastics into the modern
era. By 2001, however, the Russian team
had fallen to seventh in the world.
Nemov was universally loved, yet no new leader had emerged.
So in Athens,
in 2004, Nemov’s finest gymnastic hour was an eulogy to gymnastics’ glorious
past, a statement about the passing of a beautiful era of sport. A thrilling, explosive marathon of flight
elements on high bar. Nemov, soaring
into space while his audience held their breath. A routine apparently outmoded by staid,
solid, close to the bar work. Six judges
considered Nemov’s routine to be worth a mere fifth place, 9.762. Nemov’s
public, thousands of them, considered it to be worth far more, heckling,
complaining, and roaring their disapproval for a full nine minutes. In the end, Nemov had to plead with them to
stop, or they would probably still be there.
We still remember Nemov for that routine, perhaps even more than for his
gold medals.
Alexei Nemov: last of the Soviets: first, and best, of the
Russians. Russia, and the world, has still to
find the next great star, the one capable of - carrying that golden thread ..
of following Alexei.
Bibliography
Golubev, P and Panchenko, I (1998) ‘Alexei Nemov: I like
when everyone is having fun!’ Sovietski
Sport, 5th April 1998.
English language translation http://www.oocities.org/colosseum/track/7635/nemov-int.html
(accessed 8th March 2012)
Palmer, C (2003) A
Qualitative Investigation of Aesthetic Evaluation in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics
Doctoral thesis submitted to Liverpool
John Moores
University, August
2003
A list of Alexei Nemov’s results can be found at http://www.gymn-forum.net/bios/men/nemov.html
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