Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Yuri Korolev (right), has joined the Russian national coaching team.  He is seen here congratulating his gymnast, 2012 Olympian Dmitri Barkalov. The RGF has now updated its list of national team coaches.  The senior management team includes Andrei Rodionenko and his wife Valentina Rodionenko as Head Coach and Senior Coach of the men's and women's teams respectively, with Evgeny Grebenkin installed as Senior Coach of the women's team.  (Grebenkin has stepped down from his personal coaching responsibilities for national reserve team member Ekaterina Baturina.) Nikolai Yepishin has taken up a position as Senior Coach of boys and girls.   Valery Alfosov, Nikolai Krukov and Olga Bulgakova remain in their existing positions as Senior Coaches of the men's, junior men's and junior women's teams respectively. Alexander Alexandrov, personal coach to Aliya Mustafina, is confirmed in this position on the national coaching team, and Gennady Elfimov, coach to Vik...

Andrei Rodionenko makes reference in his 27th September interview with Sovietski Sport to a video tape of the Coaches' Council meeting at which Alexander Alexandrov was voted out of his job of head WAG coach.  Here, Lupita translates an article from the same newspaper, with what are suggested to be key points of the meeting. Aliya Mustafina with personal coach Alexander Alexandrov.  Courtesy of Sovietski Sport At first sight it doesn’t make sense. Our coaches are not often recorded. But here… Rodionenko makes the suggestion that Alexander Alexandrov should concentrate on another job. At Krugloye I watched the recording of the Coaching Council where it was announced that the head coach would be replaced by someone else. The situation turns out to be not as simple as it seemed at the beginning.  I have to say I watched the video with the idea that I would see a trial against the winner. What will happen if we start to judge the winners of our rare victor...

The UEG has now published nominative registrations for Europeans, which begin two weeks today. I'm pleased to see junior Evgeniya Shelgunova lead a strong junior team which also includes the very young Maria Kharenkova. The senior team list will no doubt be adjusted in the next few days to reflect a replacement for the unfortunate Ksenia Afanasyeva. I'm expecting the Romanians to be very strong at this competition, and the medal count to reflect their array of impressive event specialists. Do not be surprised to see the Romanians take a significant medal count here, even perhaps the lion's share. Note that a key national coach listed for the senior team is specialist bars coach Evgeny Grebenkin - perhaps reflecting the Russians' understanding that bars is their best shot for gold.  Juniors   Evgeniya Shelgunova  Maria Kharenkova  Yulia Tipaeva  Ekaterina Baturina  Viktoria Kuzmina   Seniors Aliya Mustafina Viktoria Komova ...

The Pacific Rim competition is now well under way, and proving to be interesting.  Russia sent junior and senior teams in both the men's and women's competitions, with the juniors providing a real point of interest in terms of selection for the forthcoming Junior European Championships.  Startlists for today's men's competition can be found here and here .  Quick hit descriptions of routines for the men's and women's competitions can also be found here .  Gymnastics Examiner also has a list of which of the women have qualified for event finals tomorrow. Full results of the women's junior competition show Rostov-on-Don's Maria Kharenkova providing the highlight of the Russian performance across both seniors and juniors, to finish fourth (52.95) with a high note of 14 on her specialist piece, beam.  Ekaterina Baturina finished 5th, only .6 behind Kharenkova. Anastasia Belova ended in 10th place.  In the senior competition newcomer Anastasia Marchuk l...