Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

World Floor Champion Ksenia Afanasyeva and her coach Maria Nazarova attended the opening on the 1st December of a new gymnastics hall for the Junior Sports School of the Olympic Reserves in her hometown, Tula . Yet more evidence (see yesterday's post on Denis Ablyazin) of the investment Russia is making currently in its sports effort. If you are in the UK, you will be able to see on BBC IPlayer a twenty minute programme ('Olympic dreams - the Russians are coming') on the development of contemporary, post Soviet Russian sports, presented by Matthew Pinsent. There is no direct reference to artistic gymnastics, but he visits Ekaterinburg, Moscow and Sochi and speaks to a variety of sporting coaches, athletes and commentators. 'The chaos of the last twenty years is beginning to disappear', he says, and there is reason to expect outstanding results in the near future. But competition from China is a worry; this country adopted the old Soviet mantra of early speci...

Following her successes at this year's Spartakiade and Youth Olympics, Russian junior star Evgeniya Shelgunova recorded a good result at the Top Gym tournament in Belgium. Results can be found on IG . Shelgunova will be eligible to compete at senior level in 2013. You could read a brief biography and summary of an interview with her here . She is a very dynamic gymnast who seems pretty fearless. View it on Youtube . Evgeniya's team mate in Charleroi was Yulia Chemaryova, who scored best on bars. Chemaryova is coached by Maria Nazarova, alongside World Floor Champion Ksenia Afanasyeva and 2010 world team member Ksenia Semenova. View it on Youtube . A.Sidorova Fan has commented on Shelgunova's loud voice - she can be heard here supporting her friend! Here is Evgeniya's floor routine View it on Youtube Apparently she has a D value of 5.5. I have to say, though, I do not like the trend towards broken music mixes which is becoming common amongst...