Skip to main content

Russian MAG win first team medal in sixteen years

It was an amazing moment.  Sadly my camera work, never the best, suffered under the strain of emotion.  I was hoping for bronze and never expected silver.  Belyavski was the real captain of this team, his desire to win so evident throughout, Nagorny its beating heart, Stretovich the cool head.  Kuksenkov and Ablyazin the engine and accelerator.

The pictures are poor, taken in a hurry on my iPad.  But they capture the true passion of the moment.  Molodyets, boys.

Men's gymnastics is the best sport in the world.  And Russia, with a little more work on high bar, and more precision on floor, could soon be the best gymnasts in the world.
























Comments

  1. Congratulations to Russia!!! I am thrilled for them. Now I am going to cry over the American performance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why can't the girls be like them? At least if the girls can pull out a silver tomorrow we can say Russia is still the best across both genders.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't give up on the girls. Remember Russian men also had falls in TQ.

      Delete
  3. Congrats Russia, it's a Silver but it tests like Gold for me!!!
    John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well silver is the new gold in some cases, when you have Japan and US as teams and Kohei and Simone as all-arounders everyone else is fighting for silver

      Delete
    2. It's not the same, no one can beat the American women, the Japanese men are in fact beatable.

      Delete
  4. One of the best things in Olympics is to see athletes shed tears of joy for a silver medal as they had won gold. Congratulations boys !!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats to the men, they have been a disappointment in big competitions the last few years, where they qualify well but falter in the final. This time, they held their nerves and did well for the silver.

    Congrats to them, also Stretovich did well. Many weren't happy when he came into the team (at least the way he came in) but he proved his mettle.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations on an outstanding achievement. It was a pleasure to watch them perform everything they were capable of and come away so satisfied with the result.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats boys. I screamed, laughed, cried and put my cat on the verge of heart attack. I grabbed and hugged her hysterically on every hit routine. After the final result she was taking refuge on the top of the fridge. I am still in denial and want to watch the competition again. It is nerve wrecking. Love you all yeeeehaw. !!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Russian men's in interview after winning the silver in team comp. yesterday! David is more happiest from the others) start at 2:47 http://news.sportbox.ru/olympics/spbvideo_NI648532_Vse_na_Match_Rio_2016?ci=289121

    ReplyDelete
  9. Glorious day! They are back where they belong!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congrats to the Japanese and Russian teams! A terrific final for both. Once again, Japan's difficulty on high bar pays off. It's always great to see the risk earn the reward.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Mustafina is no longer in pain' - Valentina Rodionenko

Picture of Aliya Mustafina, courtesy of RGF Valentina Rodionenko has provided some updates on the Russian teams and how their preparation for Worlds (Nanning, China, 3 to 12 October) is progressing, via Allsports (http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=84328) - The teams are now at camp in Italy, in two small towns close to Milan, by the sea, where the girls travelled on 29th June and the men on 1 July.  The athletes aren't only training, they can also relax. - Komova is working out at Round Lake, she didn't go to Italy.  We will see how she does at the Russia Cup, which will be held late August in Penza. Tatiana Nabiyeva is looking good in training and the other girls are also working.  Ksenia Afanasyeva won't have time to prepare for Worlds, and Anastasia Grishina's participation is also in doubt, we just don't know if she will qualify for the team.   We have hopes for Aliya Mustafina.  As always, she is our number one.  It would be great if there were t...

Nelli Kim - 'Russian gymnastics has closed in on itself' - Lupita translates

Lupita has translated this ITAR-TASS interview with Nelli Kim.  It's controversial, to say the least. Ed's note : much of the initial response to this interview - both here and in the wider gymternet -  has focussed on the detail of Kim's words and especially her comments about Viktoria Komova, and smiling.  But I think these have to be taken in context, and not too literally. Don't forget that just a day ago Andrei Rodionenko complained bitterly about the judging in Antwerp, calling Kim's behaviour 'aggressive'. Kim is responding to this here, and to the wider current context of Russian gymnastics.  What she is essentially saying to the Russian coach is 'get your own house in order, produce confident, disciplined, well trained gymnasts - stop complaining, do your job, and I will do mine.'   She goes about saying this in a somewhat long winded way and says some things along the way that seem contradictory, unfair, inappropriate even for th...

The Produnova vault - should it be banned?

Elena Produnova - one of the most beautiful and powerful gymnasts ever There is a lot of discussion about this at the moment and I felt moved to add this blog's voice to the rising tide of opinion. The vault you can see below (a) should not be banned as it is exciting, innovative and beautiful. Vault (a) http://youtu.be/nQuIQ9s3ddM But the vault below (b) should receive a zero, leaving the coach and gymnast effectively disqualified from the running for team, all around and apparatus finals.  While you might argue that the gymnast nominally lands with her feet on the ground, she can't sustain the landing and her weight is taken by back, head, neck and several other body parts.  Surely common sense dictates a zero score.  You can argue, if you like, that common sense shouldn't come into judging, but surely it is not too much to expect judges to make judgements.  Or perhaps a minor change to the wording of the Code if Points is required to make this more comfortable for...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more