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

Simone and the others - results and reflections

In the end, it was as predicted : Simone and the others, with Simone's teammate, Alexandra Raisman, providing the back up.  I do not need to point out that, by definition, the Americans are scoring significantly higher marks than the rest of the field.  Congratulations to them! Aliya Mustafina finished in third place.  The 2012 bronze medalist led the competition after vault and uneven bars, but had a very nervous outing on beam that might have taken a less experienced gymnast out of the medals.  A bravura performance on floor brought Aliya back though to confirm her third place all around.  From her senior debut in 2010 to today, Mustafina has continuously set high standards of grace.    It is the first time since 2000 that a gymnast (Amanar) has medalled in the all around at two consecutive Olympics, and  if Aliya can medal on Saturday's uneven bars final, she will once again be Russia's biggest medal winner of the women's gymnastics.  Russ...

Who will travel to Berne? A Russian mystery

Aliya Mustafina and team candidate Seda Tutkhalyan - both from Moscow Five days left before the MAG European Championships open in Switzerland, and Russian gymnast Nikita Nagorny is posting videos of himself practicing a full twisting Roche vault - I wonder if he will compete it in Berne?  The men's team seems fairly well prepared and ready to travel as announced some weeks ago - Kuksenkov, Belyavski, Ignatyev, Nagorny, Ablyazin.  But the composition of the women's team, who will travel to their first major competition of 2016 next week, seems somewhat undecided.  Will Natalia Kapitonova make her major senior debut in June, or will Seda Tutkhalyan, her dynamic yet unpredictable rival, grace Russia's team?  Or will other gymnasts be brought into play; will further, unexpected, changes be made? If head coach Valentina Rodionenko's recent announcement is to be believed, it is a simple case of replacing the injured Maria Paseka (a vault specialist) with Natalia ...

Aliya Mustafina - new interview

Aliya in her new Olympic Games outfit.  The teams were kitted out at the Bosco Olympic centre in Moscow last week 'Europeans went quite well, for me personally and for the team.  There were no big blunders or falls and we were able to show a good result.  If we continue to work in the same way as we approach the Olympics, everything will be fine ... Although of course we will need to do a little more in Rio.  For the Olympic Games, everything will be right. 'My knee [Aliya suffered a torn meniscus for which she had surgery last November] is all right, there are no problems with it, I am not worried. 'We will try to fight for first place. But we will be happy with any medals . As usual, our main rivals will be the teams of America, China and the UK. 'It will now be very, very difficult to fight Simone Biles [in the AA] because she has a very large D score. In general, in the individual competition, my goal is just to perform well. The most important thing in the Olymp...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more