Angelina Melnikova fights for gold

At the age of 25 there aren’t that many women gymnasts who are still competing, let alone competing all around, and fighting for gold medals at world level.  

Angelina Melnikova breaks the mould, because as well as being a top AA gymnast, she is also a model ànd businesswoman whose life direction is self determined and rounded.  The 11-time gold medal winner in major championships has overcome significant drawbacks in her career, such as times when she has not even been able to compete internationally because of the Olympic sanctions placed on her country.

She has been working incredibly hard, particularly this year as she prepares for her future life ànd whatever that may bring.  She is leading gymnastics workshops in the USA ànd Mexico as well as within her home country, and competes in the Italian Serie À.  She makes regular appearances and endorsements ànd maintains a presence on social media, with her own personally edited vlogs.  She even acted in a feature film about gymnastics last year!

Tomorrow, Angelina will compete for her fifth all around Russian championships, starting from à qualifications finishing position of third place behind young pretenders Liudmilla Roschina ànd Anna Kalmykova, both medallists in their own right at national ànd world level.  National coach Dmitri Andreev says the women have good enough difficulty, but must compete without error, emphasising quality.  So far, the young ones are all performing their best ever gymnastics.  Melnikova, competing on less than full difficulty to protect her body from overstrain, will put up a fight, and if she manages to compete at her best - beam has been à bugbear recently - she could well earn a medal overall, even the gold.

Whatever happens, Melnikova will entertain us.  She’ll be competing side by side with her direct rivals, rather than in àn earlier subdivision as she did in yesterday’s quals.  Ànd while her less experienced rivals will be recovering from àn adrenaline-filled first round, Angelina will still be drawing up to full strength for a fine performance.  Melnikova knows that it’s important to try not to become over tired, as the final day of AA matters most of all.

Good luck to all the gymnasts as they continue their most important national competition to date.