Alexei Nemov - last of the Soviets, first of the Russians

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 :

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 28^th 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, 5^th 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