Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

2012 Olympic silver medallist, and multiple European medal winner in her native city of Moscow in 2013, Nastia Grishina, has retired, confirms head coach Valentina Rodionenko in an interview with Albert Starodubtsev of Tass. 20 year old Grishina, a beautiful beam and floor worker who was once considered to have significant all around potential at world level, married recently.  She has been studying journalism at a Moscow University. Rodionenko wasted no time in ascribing Grishina's waning as an international star to her changing coaching arrangements since the Olympics.  Regular readers of this blog will know that Sergei Zelikson, whose tenure as Grishina's personal coach was terminated suddenly in 2012, was recently re-appointed to the national WAG team as tumbling coach.  'The leaders of the Moscow Gymnastics Federation made a fatal mistake a few years ago, when they decided to transfer Grishina to a different coach', said Rodionenko.  'You couldn't take Gris...

Dolly-Z has provided the following news from her blog :  http://dolly-z.tumblr.com/post/112496835068/anastasia-grishina-will-miss-2015-russian -  'Anastasia Grishina will miss 2015 Russian Nationals due to the knee injury. Nastia injured her knee again, right before the Nationals. It happened on practice last week (end of the February) while she was doing vault. She was doing Double twisting Yurchenko, but underrotated the second twist and hurt the same knee she’d hurt last year. Doctors said there is nothing really serious. She luckily didn’t break any bone and didn’t tore anything! But she’ll have to miss Nationals. So sad to hear it. She was in a good shape. It took her a year to recover from her last injury she got in April 2014. And now such a disappointing moment again :( But she will be ok! Let’s wish her a speedy recovery! Stay strong, Nastia! ❤' It is only early in the season, so there is plenty of time for Nastia to recover and perhaps gain eligibility for competitio...

Via Sports Express, TASS has confirmed the following :  TASS conducted a telephone interview with national team coach Valentina Rodionenko.  A chronic back injury has prevented Mustafina from showing her best for a long time. At the end of 2014 the athlete started receiving treatments from a clinic in Germ any. Now Mustafina is back training at Round Lake while continuing her follow-up treatments in Germany.  Valentina Rodionenko: “Aliya last went to Germany at the end of January. So far the doctors are pleased with her recovery and pace. As long as Aliya follows their orders, then most likely they won’t need to do any more with her. Right now Aliya is training but not at full strength. This was the physicians’ orders. As such, Aliya will not compete at the Russian Championships in March or European Championships in April in France.” TASS wants to note that the biggest competition of the season is the World Championships, which will be held in October in the UK.  Val...

Well, they seem to be all over the place ... First of all, at Lake Krugloye, in the deep winter snow Sosnitskaya, Spiridinova, Shelgunova, Fyodorova, Kharenkova, Bondareva, Tutkhalyan and Kramarenko get some much needed daylight in this picture shared by Ekaterina Kramarenko.  Incidentally, you will be pleased to hear that Aliya Mustafina is also there.  Aliya will travel to Munich later this month for a check up on her back, after which coach Sergei Starkin will take some decisions about when she can resume full training. But where is Tatiana Nabiyeva? In this Instagram from her Pushkin (St Petersburg) home, Tatiana says that, 'better late than never', she is beginning her personalised 'Nabyiki' training programme for the upcoming (February) Russian Championships. She will compete there for her home team alongside such gymnasts as Nastia Cheong. Finally, Pottsville Gymnastics have posted a lovely, short video of a happy Nastia Grishina to their Facebook page.  Let us k...

2012 Olympians Viktoria Komova, Anastasia Grishina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, and Nikolai Kuksenkov will compete in the Voronin Cup, Moscow, 15-17 December.   Aliya Mustafina, Emin Garibov, Denis Ablyazin and Alexander Balandin are out with injury or in recovery - expect them back next spring. http://itar-tass.com/sport/1629215

Yesterday in Moscow, gymnasts, dignitaries and athletes from all sports celebrated Physical Culture Day.  The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a great selection of pictures on their website, and I will post my favourites for you here. The one that captured my heart though - as I realised it was 30 years ago since the summer of the Oloumoc Alternative Olympics - was this picture of the all around champion at those Games, Olga Mostepanova, who scored a perfect 40 in the all around, the only gymnast ever to do so.  She was the ultimate gymnast, in so many ways. Videos of this competition are rare, the 'Holy Grail' of gymnastics.  But just look at this video of Olga on beam during the individual competition.  You will rarely, if ever, see an example of more ample perfection, technical, artistic and competitive.  I often wonder what would have happened in Pauley Pavilion (the venue for the Los Angeles Olympics) if only politics hadn't taken an ugly turn that summer....

2012 Olympian Viktoria Komova will compete on bars and beam at May's Europeans, says Russian Head Coach Valentina Rodionenko.  'Viktoria still isn't ready to vault', said Valentina, adding that they were protecting the 18 year old, but expected her to be fully ready for the World Championships in October.  She added that Anna Rodionova and Ksenia Afanasyeva were in reserve, but that Afanasyeva still hadn't recovered fully from her operation of last autumn. After participating in this competition she had decided not to try for Europeans, and was targeting the World Championships. 'Mustafina is almost fully recovered, but it wasn't quite enough in the fourth day', Rodionenko said, adding that the 2010 World Champion had performed well in the all around. In other news, an unofficial but trustworthy source has said that Anastasia Grishina, who suffered a partial ACL tear, broken knee bone and cartilage damage in Saturday's team final, will be travelling ...

Beam medalists today in Penza ... Daria Spiridinova, Maria Kharenkova, Aliya Mustafina Not everything went to plan today for the 'big' stars of Russian gymnastics.  There were signs of some strain and tiredness as the weakened ranks of former Olympians stepped aside and made room for three newcomers to the medal rostrum ... the interesting Daria Spiridinova (coached by Tatiana Fomkina, who formerly coached 1996 Olympian, Elena Dolgopolova), the feisty Maria Kharenkova (who  needs no introduction) and Polina Fyodorova from Cheboksary (highly touted by Sergei Zelikson back in 2013).  Winning on vault was Alla Sosnitskaya, who last year won gold in floor at the Russia Cup. Today's stand out performance was by Maria Kharenkova on beam.  She didn't quite match her strongest performance of the team final, but her beam was on another planet to the others as she zipped through her skills with speed and confidence, minimising a very off balance landing in a layout as if she w...

I Anastasia Grishina fell to the ground after over rotating a triple twist on floor in the team final this morning.  She was stretchered off. It seems that there is a problem with her left knee (dislocation?).  Her mother says she will need an MRI scan.  It will probably be days before anything will be confirmed. Unpleasant echoes for the Russian team.  Unsurprisingly, Aliya Mustafina looked rather dispirited in her floor exercise, sitting down her double Arabian and taking a noticeable pause before resuming the exercise.  Before her exercise, right after Grishina's injury, the World Champion was seen to crouch by the podium, as if in tears ... An emotional moment for her in many ways. Just keep hoping for the best, and think strong thoughts for Nastia and her teams. NOTE CORRECTION FROM EARLIER EDITION - Grishina was injured during competition, not warm up.

Courtesy of the RGF Aliya Mustafina successfully defended her national title today with a convincing, if not totally faultless, display, showing herself to be preparing well for the coming internationals.  She also led her Moscow team to a strong first position in the qualifying for team final, later this week. Aliya has now matched the illustrious Svetlana Khorkina for the number of national all around titles she has won (previously 2009, 2012 and 2013) although Khorkina's career wins were accured over a longer period of time - 1993, 1995, 1997, and 2002.  Looking fit and more energetic than at any period of last year, Mustafina shows much promise for the coming year if she can build on her early year training and continue to develop.  She looked especially strong on beam and floor, but suffered a deduction on bars, where she competed her 2011 routine but suffered a deduction when she hit a landing mat with her feet.  Mustafina's Moscow team mates Alla Sosn...

Young gymnasts line up prior to the first major Championships of the year In an interview with Itar-Tass national head coach Evgeny Grebyonkin has given us some clues as to the competitors in Penza this week. 'All of the strongest gymnasts will take part in Penza, with the exception of Afanasyeva, who has only just begun full training again after a foot operation', he says.  'Komova, Grishina and Mustafina will compete for the top places.  Tatiana Nabiyeva has been unable to decide about the future continuation of her career, and this competition will help her draw a conclusion.' The Antwerp World Championships, back in October, was the women's last major competition.  Since then, Viktoria Komova has recovered from a foot injury she suffered at New Year.  Earlier this year, Aliya Mustafina took a two month break, and she is now working towards achieving optimum form at the European Championships.  She has recovered from her break, but won't be doing anything new...

Flashback to London 2012: Viktoria Komova The Russian Championships for women gymnasts - junior and senior - begin on the first of April (yes) in Penza, finishing on the 6th.  You can see the schedule here : http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=43065 It is a full competition where the regional teams participate and individuals get a chance to test themselves and their early preparation for the coming competitive season.  This year the top women will be competing for places on the European Championships teams (junior and senior) for Sofia, Bulgaria, later in the spring.  It is expected that we will see Viktoria Komova for the first time in many months - which must be the most anticipated comeback for years.  Aliya Mustafina is also hoped to make a show, as well as Anastasia Grishina and Maria Paseka.  There has been an announcement that Ksenia Afanasyeva will compete vault, and I would also be surprised if we didn't see Maria Kharenkova ...

Anastasia Grishina with coach Viktor Razumovsky Partial translation of the 9th March interview with Valentina Rodionenko, by Albert Starobutsev 'All of our strongest gymnasts will compete in the Russian Championships, except Afanasyeva' Russian WAG team leaders Aliya Mustafina, Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina will not compete at Cottbus next week, but will remain at Lake Krugloye to prepare for the forthcoming Russian Championships in Penza. A shoulder injury has ruled Emin Garibov out of the Cottbus competition. 'The Russian Championships will be a major step in the selection for the May European Championships in Bulgaria', said Valentina, 'in Penza all of our strongest gymnasts will compete, except Ksenia Afanasyeva.  We decided to send some young athletes to Germany so that we could evaluate them on a senior stage, and consider them for a place on the Europeans team.  Anna Rodionova, Daria Spiridonova, Polina Fyodorova and Maria Kharenkova will all compete...

Tatiana Nabiyeva celebrates her golden week in Penza Tatiana Nabiyeva shone this week in the Russia Cup, taking five of the six available gold medals (all around, team, vault, uneven bars and beam; she withdrew from the floor competition for which she had qualified), thereby establishing herself as the current spiritual leader of Russia's gymnastics team.  This is a dramatic turn around for the 18 year old from St Petersburg.  Before this summer's Universiade, Nabiyeva's last all around competition of any note had been the 2010 World Championships, where she finished in seventh place.  Since then, she has battled chronic back pain, a significant growth spurt and a drubbing from Russia's head coach Valentina Rodionenko for what she called her 'obesity', sitting out last year's Olympics as reserve before digging herself out of a rather doubtful place in Russian gymnastics' history to a hopeful position as we approach the 2013 World Championships. As a...

The RGF has posted a gallery of pictures from the Universiade, a few of which I'll share with you here, along with some videos of the competition. Did you realise that every member of this Russian team has a chance of winning medals at this Championships?  Possibly even, gold?  There is hardly the competition here that there will be in Antwerp later this year, but I hope the team takes encouragement and motivation from this rare opportunity to shine. With the exception of Afanasyeva's fall from bars (apparently she has ripped hands - 'not many people would even have the courage to compete', says Rodionenko) the team performed without major errors.  Even in Rotterdam 2010, where they took the team gold medal, there were two falls, so this is an important improvement, even if they were not performing full difficulty. The team will take a short holiday soon, from the 12th July, before heading back to Krugloye to begin preparations for Worlds.  That is a mere twelv...

Many thanks to Liz McOsker who has contributed these fantastic photo collages comparing various skills - back flip (Komova/Wieber), Tkachev (Afanasyeva/Raisman) and split leaps (various) as performed by the American and Russian gymnasts. Words fail me.

Aliya Mustafina projects that mystical charisma, while Europeans team mate Ksenia Afanasyeva looks on at last year's Russian Championships.  Courtesy RGF The Couch Gymnast has put up some extensive reports on women's podium training from yesterday as a preparation for tomorrow's competition - read them.  It is the age old story of Russia looking tired and off form with Romania soldiering on.   No, better than that, shining at the first major competition of the year.  Russia normally shake themselves down in time for the actual competition, but can they pull off another revival again this time?  It must take so much energy overcoming all the emotion of a poor warm up performance ... the pre-competition publicity, spun by Valentina Rodionenko, does not make them sound a happy ship.  Has Russia lost its passion for artistic gymnastics?  I hope not.  Let's see how qualis go first, then finals. Here is the start list for tomorrow's competiti...

Anastasia Grishina - a 'butterfly for a day'? Valentina Rodionenko here provides clarification of some of the points made in yesterday's interviews. In a more measured account than her Allsport interview which is summarised as part of yesterday's blog pos t, she emphasises the need to retain and develop gymnasts on the WAG team and says there is a new, smiling, face of the team management, with greater collaboration between personal and lead coaches. Key points are : There is a new atmosphere in the Russian team since London, under new head coach Evgeny Grebenkin.  Everything is OK: everyone is friendly, works hard, there is no shouting and generally 'good human relations'.  'Perhaps because we have worked abroad for a long time, we have never had any desire to humiliate or offend anybody.  We do not use such methods.' Evgeny Grebenkin has brought the personal trainers into the centre of the team, rather than working on the sidelin...