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A Golden Gallery from Kazan

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The RGF has posted a gallery of pictures from the Universiade, a few of which I'll share with you here, along with some videos of the competition.

Did you realise that every member of this Russian team has a chance of winning medals at this Championships?  Possibly even, gold?  There is hardly the competition here that there will be in Antwerp later this year, but I hope the team takes encouragement and motivation from this rare opportunity to shine. With the exception of Afanasyeva's fall from bars (apparently she has ripped hands - 'not many people would even have the courage to compete', says Rodionenko) the team performed without major errors.  Even in Rotterdam 2010, where they took the team gold medal, there were two falls, so this is an important improvement, even if they were not performing full difficulty.

The team will take a short holiday soon, from the 12th July, before heading back to Krugloye to begin preparations for Worlds.  That is a mere twelve weeks away - precious little time when you consider what their rivals from the USA and China will be bringing to Europe.  There will also be the Russian Championships upcoming from the 15th August, when we will see how the preparations of Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina are going. 

With only four team places up for grabs in this individual World Championships, competition will be fierce.  A Mustafina, Afanasyeva, Komova, Grishina formation is likely, but that depends on all gymnasts remaining healthy and doing the necessary work.  Valentina Rodionenko says that Komova has grown almost beyond recognition in the lapse since last year's Olympics - and has injected a lot of novelty to her routines.  Everything is ready but vault.

Also in contention for the Worlds team - alongside Paseka - is Nabiyeva, who has transformed herself since her disappointments of the last year, successfully battling to regain her shape and stay on the national team (in the process losing close to eleven pounds in weight, according to Valentina).   Dementyeva's strong performance on beam has given rise to gymternet speculation that she may qualify for an Antwerp spot on merit.

But I am getting a little bit ahead of events.  Let's enjoy some pictures and videos of yesterday's competition.  There is the men's team final to consider this afternoon, the all around finals tomorrow, and event finals on Wednesday.

L to R : Dementyeva, Afanasyeva, Mustafina, Paseka, Nabiyeva - the happy team

L to R, front row : Andrei Rodionenko, Aliya Mustafina, Valentina Rodionenko,Tatiana Nabiyeva, Ekaterina Kramarenko, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Maria Paseka, Anna Dementyeva, Marina Nazarova.  L to R, back row: Vladimir Timonkin, Evgeny Grebyonkin, ?, Vasily Ivanov, Anton Stolyar, Raisa Ganina

Ksenia and Aliya

Tatiana and Maria

Anna

Aliya Mustafina takes the athletes' oath at the Opening Ceremony, the night before the team final.  'I would really rather have been asleep', she says.



Tatiana Nabiyeva, uneven bars



Ksenia Afanasyeva, floor



Many have commented that this doesn't have the same choreography of old. But with the FIG all but writing artistry out of the Code, why not concentrate on the tumbling and spins. Oh my, how I love those two whips to triple twist - such power and height!

Aliya Mustafina, uneven bars



How amazing to think she was in hospital only three days ago.

Anna Dementyeva, balance beam



For me, this was the routine of the final

Aliya Mustafina, floor



Ksenia Afanasyeva - vault



A recording of the majority of the competition is also available to view here.
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