Skip to main content

Rostov claims Kharenkova as its own

By
Maria enjoys a quiet moment at the Banquet following last week's European Championships.  Courtesy RGF

European Beam Champion Maria Kharenkova has been congratulated on her gold medal by officials from the Rostov region of the Russian Ministry of Sport.

'I must say that the victory of our athletes confirmed the validity of the creation of the Rostov regional gymnastic training centre', said Yuri Balakhnin, head of the regional Ministry of Sports.  'We've got a strong tradition and a wonderful coaching school. I remember that at the Olympic Games of 2012 in London our rhythmic gymnast Ulyana Donskova won gold.  Now Maria Kharenkova has made a serious step to get onto the Olympic team.' (Source: http://championat-rostov.ru/news/view/1657/).

Rostov's pedigree is indeed rich : Maria is the latest in a long tradition of fine gymnasts and coaches from the region.  Her coach, Olga Sagina, also counts 2012 European team silver medallist Anastasia Sidorova and 2000 Olympian Elena Produnova amongst her charges, and the Rostov school is also famous for 2011 national team member Yulia Belokobylskaya, 1983 World Champion Natalia Yurchenko, 1980 Olympic Champion Natalia Shaposhnikova, 1972 Olympic Champion Ludmilla Tourisheva and 1976 Olympic Champion Svetlana Grozdova.

I remember that not too long ago - before Rodionenko returned to take over management of the Russian team (2006) and at a time when the national training centre kept a goat to maintain the grass forecourt, and when wallpaper was hanging from the walls - then Head Coach Leonid Arkayev visited the new facilities and praised them, with a fair degree of jealousy.  With characteristic dryness he suggested that the national team was considering moving there, such was the perfection of these facilities compared to the run down state of their main centre.  

It is good to see that the investment in Rostov is paying off.

And while we are discussing Rostov genius, may I suggest you take the time to explore Natalia Yurchenko's personal website?  It is full of gems, including an essay on how she and her coach created the now universal, but once revolutionary, Yurchenko vault.  http://www.nataliayurchenko.com

I am personally very proud that Natalia chose a quote from my blog, as the opening page of her website :-)
Labels:

Comments

  1. Unknown24 May 2014 at 14:36

    Natalia coaches at the gym where I take adult gymnastics classes, I love watching her coaching, she has so much passion!!! I wish I could be coached by her haha.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous24 May 2014 at 16:35

    where is Anastasia Sidorova now?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gláucia Sousa24 May 2014 at 17:28

    Natalia was very lovely chosing a quote from this blog, as the opening page of her website´s. I do like her website and Queen Elizabeth´s quote. Cute. <3

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fact or fiction? The press, gymnastics and pregnancy doping

By
It was a Sunday morning.  I was drinking my coffee and contemplating the day ahead - a workout at the gym, shopping for groceries, an evening reading a book, or catching up on last night's episodes of crime thriller The Bridge .  How nice it was not to have to think about work for a day. Then I saw it - a story about the history of doping in The Observer .  Interesting reading. Of course, cheating is as old as the hills.  It is, unfortunately, human nature for some people to try to gain easy advantage in any kind of competition.  That is why we have laws, rules, ethical guidelines.  People who cheat should face justice and shouldn't complain when they are found out. But the story about pregnancy doping bothered me.  Hadn't that been found to be fictional?  The author began with Olga Kovalenko's allegations made in 1994 - but the rumours had started way back in 1991 with the documentary series More Than A Game .  The practice...
3 comments
Read more

Aliya Mustafina - 'I'm just trying to stay healthy'

By
A brief interview with the World and Olympic Champion from All Sport is summarised below. Russian national gymnastics continues to prepare for the World Championships, which will be held October 3-12 in Nanning (China). Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina told Mary Staroverova about her health and about preparations for the competition. - In June, I went to Germany to solve the problem with my ankle.  I had a small operation to clean the joints of a build-up of bone particles.  Nothing serious was evident, and the operation went well.  Now I have to tumble.  But there is still some discomfort, a slight pain at full load, and I can not tumble at full force.  For the time being, I try to go easy on my legs.  After the Russia Cup I will have to fully prepare for Worlds. That is just one month.   Even if I'm not tumbling, I will keep myself in good shape, and that should suffice (smiles). - I can't say if it is a different pain to before Europeans, because at...
48 comments
Read more

National team coaches 2024, the Russian Federation - a full list

By
In January each year the Russian Gymnastics Federation publishes its list of coaches and gymnasts who have made the training teams for their country.  You will find below a transliteration of the list of national team coaches, 70 of them in total.  The oldest member of the team is Valentina Rodionenko, 88, the youngest Ivan Galonenko, 24 - he is a bars coach, to the junior women's team.   The senior coaches to the senior teams would all have qualified as coaches during the Soviet era.  Many of them work out of Moscow, Vladimir and Rostov, former Soviet strongholds of gymnastics.  The doctors are all attached to Yaroslavl.  St Petersburg has two coaches listed, but there are no St Petersburg gymnasts on the senior national teams at present.  There are no coaches from Russia's Far East.  This region has been highlighted as a geographical area President Putin is targetting for sports development and investment over the coming years.   ...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more