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
music and artisty haven't been major (or even significant) elements in exercise composition or judging for the last several Codes.....expect the usual FIG blather resulting from these workshops but do NOT expect any perceptible change....
ReplyDeleteI am all for it, but to me tha FIG is playing with a double edge sword. for example the women are unfairly being push to try 4 hard difficult passes, insert all the requirements in the COP, come up with a good choreagraphy, and they have to stick their landing like the men and now with no pauses in the corners, that is a recipe to bring more injuries. but the men floor exercise is nothing but tumbling passes from one corner to the next. the men no longer have to do scales, or 2 different kinds of planches and handstand, and absolutely no flairs or show flexibility. something is got to give.
ReplyDeleteto me they should allow the women to return to lunges, only penalize them if they stand more than 3 seconds in the corners, and increase the time to a minute and forty five or fifty seconds per exercise in order to have them to work on choreagrophy while incorporating all the requirements in the COP and the 4 tumbling passes.
Gymnasts are not initially selected for their artistic abilities, but rather their athletic , and they might or might not have an artistic bone in their body. The code is not conducive to artistic endeavour and has not been for quite awhile. You cannot quantify artistry.
ReplyDeletePossibly the choreographers have adapted to the scoring reality and have a few dynamic poses on the way to a multitude of counting skills.
I still think the Russians are the best in the world artistically