Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

First year senior Anastasia Grishina is the Russian team's leading all around gymnast at these Championships.  Picture by kind permission of the RGF . I have to give credit to Romania today - they recalled Romanian teams of the past and performed with confidence and energy to beat Russia to first place in qualifications.  Ioana Iordache leads the unofficial all around with a display of light and precise acrobatics that must position her as a favourite for the individual Olympic title if she can reproduce her form of today once more, on that much anticipated July day in London. This was a strong, perhaps the strongest possible, Romanian team, drawing on Olympic champions past and, maybe, future.  As I had predicted, Iszbasa, Ponor, Iordache, Bulimar and Haidu pulled out all the stops to give their best and take first place against a somewhat below-power Russian team.  It remains to be seen whether the Russians can turn their form around in two days flat and co...

Twitter the Europeans : #Brussels2012 I am on my way to Brussels and will be providing a daily diary of all the excitement from the point of view of a well seasoned gymnastics traveller who loves the Russians.  These Championships are one of the most keenly anticipated of any I have attended in the past 25 years.  In the coming days we should expect to discover : Who of the latest crop of juniors are likely to be fighting for spots on the senior teams in coming years? How are the Russian team's preparations going for the Olympics? Which of Russia's first time seniors will be in the fight for places on the team for London? Can the Romanians pull off a surprise and win lots and lots of gold? The Russians have brought a very young team to Brussels; of the five gymnasts nominated three are first time seniors.   Some bright person noted that this is in fact the 2010 European Junior Championships team, with Aliya Mustafina in the place of Violetta Malikova. I cann...

Find here Lupita's translation of another excellent R Sport interview , this time with Ksenia Afanasyeva : Ksenia Afanasyeva at a recent press conference “The National gymnastics team has three strong leaders: Anastasia Grishina, Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina”, World champion Ksenia Afanasyeva told the agency R-Sport. Аfanasyeva was the winner of the team competition (2010) and won an event title (floor, 2011).  “I can’t say who the leader of our team is, because we have three strong gymnasts, three leaders – Аnastasia Grishina, Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina- “, said Afanasyeva. – “And they are all strong in their own way”. Concerning her own position in the national team, the sportswoman said:  “Those three girls are very strong in the all around, and I am very strong at floor”  “I am perhaps the leader on floor, but they are leaders in the all around and will be more useful to the team”, - she added. – “I know that I can help the team o...

Lupita has provided the following translation of an interview from Sovietski Sport (18th April). Valentina Rodionenko, coach with the Russian and Soviet teams for over 30 years, celebrates her 76th birthday in September this year.  Picture courtesy of RGF . Valentina Rodionenko, Russian national coach, tells us that the composition of the team that will fight for gold against the US is already known as far as three members are concerned: Aliya Mustafina, who missed one year of gymnastics due to a severe injury (although in Penza, Aliya competed and won), Viktoria Komova, who placed second at the world championships, whose tears in Tokyo for a lost medal were considered a personal tragedy in Russia, and a new name: Anastasia Grishina . -    We will be leaving for London on July the 21st. It’s no use arriving earlier.   Vitaly Smirnov, from the Russian Olympic Committee, thinks it’s better to arrive earlier .  We are better off here. If we have t...

Viktoria Komova with coach Gennady Elfimov, just prior to the 2011 World Championships.  Picture courtesy of RGF . Lupita has provided a translation of a short interview with Viktoria Komova from Sovietski Sport, which explains her no-show at the Russian Championships : April 20 th  2012 Russian gymnast Viktoria Komova, world champion, explained that she could not take part in the Russian Championships because her personal coach could not travel with her. “I was injured, but in fact my coach could not go to the championship, and they didn’t want to send me alone. I was sorry because all the girls were performing and I had to watch them on my computer. I was good to have a direct broadcast via the internet”,  Komova told Sovietskii Sport.

The Russian team of Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Dementyeva,Sidorova and Paseka won the tri-meet this Friday relatively easily, with a total team score of 177.30, almost two points higher than they achieved at last October's World Championships, although comparison is somewhat distorted as the competition formats were different.  Aliya Mustafina, performing only a portion of her full difficulty, won the all around with a score of 58.95 ahead of Grishina with 57.7 and Dementyeva at 56.55.  Observers (Maddie at the All Around forum and Trudi at the IG Forum) noted in particular the excellence of Mustafina's double twisting Yurchenko (15.2 with an execution score of 9.4).   Komova, performing only on bars and beam, acquitted herself well with a 15.85 on bars and a 15.2 beam.   Dementyeva's contribution of a 15 on beam should also not go without note. Maddie has posted videos of every Russian routine on her Youtube channel and you can read a report at the Couch G...

    On Friday we will have a chance to see how the Russian women's team is progressing, when they compete in Switzerland (Sporthalle Lindenhof in Wil) against the British and Swiss. Relatively little is confirmed yet; all the information on the website other than the time and place of the competition is subject to change.  But the Russian women's team is planned to include : Aliya Mustafina Viktoria Komova Anastasia Grishina Anna Dementyeva Maria Paseka Anastasia Sidorova Details of the other teams can be found here .   The competition begins at 5.00 pm local time and finishes with the awards ceremony at 9.15. Good luck to all the girls competing!

Viktoria Komova at last week's press day.  Note the background banner advertising sponsors VTB.  Photo by Elena Mikhailova, by kind permission of the RGF The Russian gymnasts and coaches are busy preparing for the London Olympics, and barely interrupted their regular training to make time to speak to journalists at the Russian National Training Centre in Round Lake ( Krugloye in Russian). Photographer Elena Mikhailova was on hand to record proceedings.  As ever, the reticent Russians do not reveal over much about themselves - what is said could probably have been intelligently guessed anyway, on the basis of results and other reports.  Nevertheless, it's helpful to hear how the girls themselves are feeling about their preparations and to see how happy and healthy they look in the pictures.  Alexandrov gives some details of their travel plans to London and Valentina Rodionenko reveals a framework for the national team composition, suggesting it revolves aro...