Skip to main content

Congratulations, Russia!

By
Another gold medal for Russia's team in artistic gymnastics at the European Championships.  Russia now rules the sport in Europe, both men and women.  15 year old Angelina Melnikova scored the highest of all competitors across four apparatus; exactly as her team captain, Aliya Mustafina, did six years ago in her own major senior competitive debut.

Aliya waved her magic wand here and somehow helped the team to summon up courage to fight the effervescent British team.  Angelina was a strong start off gymnast on every piece, just what the team needs to settle them.  In her own quiet way, 'Gelya' makes as much difference to this team's fighting spirit as Nikita Nagorny does to the men.  

In the end, the working order put paid to a close fight.  Under pressure, Britain showed uncharacteristic errors and finished more than six points behind Russia.  EF tomorrow will tell a different story, I suspect.  Russia's victory was down to solid teamwork as much as individual brilliance.  Strong work on bars and beam gave the girls a cushion on the other apparatus, where there is less of a margin.  It should be noted, however, that the girls are landing their tumbles with far more confidence - this could be to do with the appointment of Sergei Zelikson as tumbling coach at the national training centre.

Congratulations to all the girls - and good luck now, as you prepare for Rio!





Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous4 June 2016 at 21:31

    Melnikova upped her AA score by full point, she scored more than she did in Qual. in all apparatus except VT where she repeated her qual. score, she is gaining experience and confidence rapidly, and she has put her name on the quad list for Rio.
    I'm looking for the dual fight between Melnikova and Alyia on UB and BB final tomorrow
    John

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown4 June 2016 at 22:07

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

By
Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...
14 comments
Read more

Mustafina Interview 2 of 2 : 'I will only perform under the Russian flag'

By
Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...
4 comments
Read more

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

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more