Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

The local Ministry of Sport of Kabardino-Balkaria (a republic in the South of Russia) is conducting a poll to find out which are the most popular of sports.   Elena Produnova is the Republic's head coach and asks that we all support gymnastics.  The poll appears in the top right of the web page. For those of you who don't read Russian, it's  Спортивная гимнастика Please vote!  http://минспорткбр.рф

The gymnastics group at VK.com has published an interview with 2000 Olympian, Elena Produnova.  Thanks for their permission to provide an edit of it here. People will remember Elena in particular for two reasons: her original vault that no one else has been able to emulate; and her own special brand of powerful  acrobatics, energetic temperament and musical flow, a heady mixture that today's gymnasts find impossible to match. Recently there have been some photographs of Elena working in a gym.  Although she has always said that she wouldn't have a coaching career, it seems that now she is a coach at a gym in Nalchik,  a town in the very south of the Russian Federation, in the foothills of the Caucasian mountains, in the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.   The first question, tell us how you ended up in Nalchik? - Nalchik came up at the right time, in terms of my life circumstances.  Through my previous work I had a very good friend - head of the sports depart...

   Elena Produnova - one of the most beautiful and powerful gymnasts ever Ahead of today's Commonwealth Games WAG vault final, where India's Dipa Karmakar will attempt her handspring double front vault, I just wanted to take the opportunity to remind people that it IS possible to perform this risky skill safely and well. http://youtu.be/nQuIQ9s3ddM Produnova cowboys this attempt but it is high, flighty and well landed.  She was ahead of her time, launching into space off an old-style vaulting horse that did not offer the benefits of the new vaulting table. Dipa Karmakar (see video below) has managed to qualify to event finals at the Commonwealth Games as a consequence of a difficult vault performed very poorly.   http://youtu.be/yE8v5-jlOoY The second vault scored 14.4 with an E score of 7.4.  The difficulty value of the Produnova is 7 - almost a mark higher than the Amanar vault that is otherwise considered to be the acme of women's vaulting achievement.  ...

Elena Produnova - one of the most beautiful and powerful gymnasts ever There is a lot of discussion about this at the moment and I felt moved to add this blog's voice to the rising tide of opinion. The vault you can see below (a) should not be banned as it is exciting, innovative and beautiful. Vault (a) http://youtu.be/nQuIQ9s3ddM But the vault below (b) should receive a zero, leaving the coach and gymnast effectively disqualified from the running for team, all around and apparatus finals.  While you might argue that the gymnast nominally lands with her feet on the ground, she can't sustain the landing and her weight is taken by back, head, neck and several other body parts.  Surely common sense dictates a zero score.  You can argue, if you like, that common sense shouldn't come into judging, but surely it is not too much to expect judges to make judgements.  Or perhaps a minor change to the wording of the Code if Points is required to make this more comfortable for...