Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

  Baby face ... Born 30 December 1972, Elena Gurova was one of the Soviet Union's gymnastics prodigies who blossomed early, but never quite showed her full flowering.   At the age of 14, Elena took multiple medals at the Soviet Cup and Soviet Championships to qualify as a member of her country's team at the World Championships in Rotterdam.   Despite a stunning floor routine, including a double layout opener and a final tumble of full twisting double back, Elena received just one medal there, a silver for her team contribution.  She failed to qualify to any individual final, thanks to the incredible depth of a Soviet team that included eventual World - and Olympic - Champions Shushunova, Omelianchik, Boguinskaia and Baitova. The following year she competed at the World Sports Fair, taking the AA gold with, by her standards, watered down routines.  Sadly she was not named to the Soviet Olympics team and her competitive record then runs dry - does anyone know any more? In the pi

Dmitri Bilozerchev rose to prominence at the age of 16 in 1983, as the youngest World All Around Champion ever.  He was an astonishing talent. Quickly, legend built up around this extraordinary young man.  Stories circulated of how his coach, Alexander Alexandrov, would reward him with cake for good performance in training.  Bilozerchev's prodigious talent earned him the title the 'Mozart of Gymnastics'.  'He has 'perfect pitch'', said Alexandrov. The only events on which Bilozerchev did not win medals at his first World Championships were the vault and the parallel bars.  Two years later, at the European Championships in Oslo, he collected a full set, a silver medal on the vault his only vaguely modest outcome.  No one could compete with the brilliant Russian.  As we looked forward to the World Championships in Montreal, there was only one gymnast : Dmitri Bilozerchev. Then tragedy stuck as Bilozerchev suffered a catastrophic car accident, his leg bro

Liubov Baladzhaeva has provided a good translation of the article from the Saransk and Mordovan Times .  Text in square brackets are Liubov's personal comments.   Leonid Arkayev was fired from the gymnastics center in Saransk that was named after him. It is not clear what was the real reason (or the host of reasons), but the authors speculate that the main issues were conflict over the state-owned apartment given to Arkayev and the lack of results from the athletes he trained. However, when the journalist went to investigate the situation she encountered rumors that Arkayev had a special interest in the female gymnasts. The author claims she was able to talk to some of the victims whose names she can’t reveal. First, the article talks about two issues with Arkayev as a coach that weren’t related to sexual harassment allegations. His former colleague, a gymnastics coach called Irina in this article (not sure if it’s her real name) talked about working with him. According to her,

Just to let you all know, I am trying to get a translation of a local (Saransk/Mordova) press report that is critical of former Soviet and Russia head coach Leonid Arkayev.  Leonid's contract as head coach of the local facility (the Arkayev Gymnastics Centre ) was terminated last October.  There are three key allegations : (i) that he is difficult to work with and that his training methods are outdated (ii) that there are financial improprieties relating to his state accommodation and to the trading of gymnastics competition titles and (iii) that he has been molesting female gymnasts and that the girls do not feel comfortable around him. Everybody wants to know whether this is believable.  From what I have been able to garner via personal contacts and online comments, views are polarised.  Some influential people have been critical in the past - this isn't surprising for someone in such a high profile position.  It is difficult to judge. It is plain that Arkayev can be ver

Imagine a time when there were no videos, no internet, no blogs.  A time when World Championships results often didn't reach the press (incomplete) until days after the end of the competitions.  When results of the national competitions in other countries took months to reach you, if at all.  No Valentina Rodionenko press reports to ruffle your feathers, no Instagram posts from your favourite gymnasts, no Nikushkin Day videos to familiarise you with what the gymnasts want you to know of their everyday lives.  No live streaming, no video posts of the youngest gymnasts.  Secrets were secrets and details of upgrades and innovations rarely reached the lay person's ear before they were revealed at major competition.  There was no Google translate to help you untangle news of your favourite Soviet gymnast. Information felt like gold.  We pored over words and pictures for every ounce of meaning, sometimes more than was there.  We devoured televised coverage hungrily, eager for every

Dear Readers I moved house in October and am still filtering through boxes and reordering my life - moving is always like this!  This morning, I have begun to browse through my gymnastics archive and to reflect on just a little of the material that has given my writing life over the past few years.  Over the coming year or so I will be posting on this blog less, as I wish to concentrate on the preparation of a book I have been planning for some years - please be patient.  My archive will continue to fuel my ideas, but I will also need to keep up with current developments in the sport in Russia.  There is a lot going on, not just within gymnastics but within the wider political, economic and social spheres.  I don't want to give too much away, but I will keep you up to date with anything major. It has always been a joy to share things with you on this blog and I intend to continue.  Today, I'll post a few scans of items I have found in my collection - there will, sporadica