Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

  Kartsev: FX, PB, HB; Suedin: PH, PB, HB; Roschina : V, UB Kalmykova: V, FX; Vassilieva: BB, FX; Kaiumova: UB, BB At times, I have been at a loss as to what to say; I still am.  I don’t think that politics and sport make good bedfellows, but we live in a time of global confusion and sadness.  It has been more than twelve years since Russia has competed under its own flag at the Olympics, and for all I know it could be another twelve or more before things revert entirely to ‘normal’.  I don’t know how seriously to take any of the announcements being made recently, about junior athletes being allowed to compete as Russian, about athletes in the Winter Paralympics being allowed to compete under the Russian flag.  I’d like to see the athletes back and able to live their lives, for them to be able to show off a bit and feel pride in their accomplishments.  But I can’t ignore the bigger picture of death and destruction.  People are lucky if they can live in...

According to the Russian Gymnastics Federation via sports.ru.  Google translate. ‘The Russian Gymnastics Federation announces the return of the Russian gymnastics community to the world arena. 🤸Participation of athletes: 🔸Participation in the 2025 Trampoline World Cup stages in Portugal (July 5–6), Germany (September 20–21), Bulgaria (September 27–28), and France (October 3–5) has been confirmed. 🔸Participation of Russian athletes is planned in the Trampoline World Championships (Madrid, November 2–10) and the World Championships (November 10–17). 🔸A preliminary application has been submitted for the participation of Russian athletes in the 2025 Candidates' Cup in artistic gymnastics, which will be held in Paris on September 13–14. The final number of participants will be determined by July 16, 2025. ✍Participation of judges in competitions: 🔹Alina Gusarova and Irina Berek will work as neutral judges at the Tbilisi Cup in rhythmic gymnastics from June 11 to 15, 2025. 🔹RGR Vic...

  War and violence are taken to be the domain of men, in the main … but women suffer too. The Russian female gymnasts are showing a few bruises.    Our ‘new generation’ of Kalmykova, Vasilieva, Roschina, Andreeva and others look well trained, but the lack of opportunity for overseas competition must be a severe disappointment.   24 year old Melnikova has commented that her career has crossed some very interesting times … the doping scandal with all its uncertainty, leading to neutral competition status for the team, Covid and the postponement of competitions, if not a battle with the illness itself for some individuals; and, now, the war with Ukraine, leading to sanctions against Russian competitors.    Finally, Russia’s rather pointless decision to ban themselves from competition as a kind of ‘protest’ against the neutral status they were seeking for so many of their team members.   The fact that Melnikova could carry away individual and tea...

Elena Shushunova, European, World and Olympic Champion 1984-1988, has died of pneumonia, reports TASS.  'Shusha', perhaps the greatest artistic gymnast, was only 49. She will be greatly missed and we will remember her with awe and love.RIP.   http://rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com/2015/08/elena-shushunova-grace-power-complexity.html Shusha BB -  https://youtu.be/EQPUDGoLucc Shusha FX -  https://youtu.be/EQPUDGoLucc Shusha UB -  https://youtu.be/yLSwcPgBNw0 Shusha V -  https://youtu.be/aUC7DjWfZuQ

Dutch news site nu.n l has reported the sudden death of coach Boris Orlov.  Boris coached 1981 World Champion Olga Bicherova.  In 1986 he moved from Moscow to Holland and made his home there, holding a number of club and national coaching jobs, including as Head coach of the Dutch national team from 1994 to 1999 .  His gymnasts included Renske Endel and Susanna Harmes, medallists at the 2001 and 2005 World Championships. Boris was 73.  Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

I am on my way home after attending the annual World Congress of the International Society of Sport, which this year was held over three days in Switzerland.  More than 300 participants gathered at the University of Lausanne, on the edge of Lake Geneva, to discuss issues relating to the place of sport in society.  Themes covered included sports policy, anti-doping, social exclusion and participation, ethics, disability, gender issues, sports development, globalisation, Olympism and mega-events and health. I attended the second gathering of the group ISCWAG (International Socio-Cultural Research into women's artistic gymnastics), which is a relatively newly assembled group of academics from all over the world.  You can find profiles of the founder members here .  This year the papers focussed on such subjects as the coach-gymnast relationship and grooming; gender-based violence and gymnastics coaching, and the pattern of older gymnasts continuing to compete in the...

At the next Olympics, the teams will include four all arounders.  This rule change is one of the more positive things that the FIG has done for the sport recently.  Specialists like Denis Ablyazin will still get a chance to qualify for a limited number of specialist spots, but the emphasis on all around achievement is just what gymnastics needs.  The all arounder has always been the most intriguing gymnast, and it is is the all around competition that brings with it the greatest sense of show, endurance and self challenge.  This change will eventually, hopefully, encourage the pursuit of excellent and consistent execution as a route to self actualisation, if not competition medals.  Apparatus specialists can be very exciting, but they are also rather hit and miss.  If the sport's raging epidemic of injuries can also be quelled, and gymnasts can enjoy competing longer, it will be a step forward. I always love the RGF's photo galleries, especially the way the...

Knysh and Korbut in training, 1973 Olga Korbut has repeated her allegations of mistreatment and rape by her coach, Reynald Knysh, in a Russian Jerry Springer style panel show.  She first made these allegations public in the early 1990s. Supported by her sisters, and her first husband Leonid Bortkevich, Korbut confronted Knysh, who has repeatedly protested his innocence, revealing that he had been suspended from the national team after an investigation into complaints made in the 1970s.  Korbut says her abuse went on for over one year. An occasionally hostile audience, and a sceptical panel who included 1968 Olympian Olga Karaseva, could not drown out Korbut's strong and assertive performance.  After Olga was accused of lying, former husband Bortkevich spoke out:  'I was married to Olga for 25 years and she never lies'.   It is now too late for any legal redress against Knysh.   . A Sports Express report  of  the documentary includes a video of the...

World and European champion gymnast Elena Eremina, 16. Elena, and her team mates Lilia Akhaimova, Valeria Saifuluna and Tatiana Nabiyeva, all hail from St Petersburg where they train together under the same roof with world class coaches such as Alexander and Vera Kiryashov. Their predecessors include Olympic champions such as Elena Shushunova, Elena Davydova and Alexander Detyatin Now, it seems, the club is experiencing some problems - their facilities at a 'new' gym are very poor - no pit, they are landing on concrete floors, the apparatus are old, and there isn't enough space for a busy gym with lots of children.   The big problem is that the local St Petersburg admin refuses to help with the refurbishment of the gym.  So Elena, via her Instagram account, is asking us to post and repost her message explaining the situation.   This is a recurring theme in Russia at the moment as we take on board the surprising decision to close the gym in Leninsk-Kuznetsk.  I hope t...

Moscow's Sambo club, a multi sports complex with a strong gymnastics history, is currently being demolished and rebuilt with new, improved facilities.  This is not the only example of ongoing sports development in Moscow as the new Dynamo complex, sponsored by VTB, approaches readiness.   Sambo has produced many world and Olympic champions, i ncluding Maria Paseka, Seda Tutkhalyan Alla Sosnitskaya and Elena Zamolodchikova. I  remember a time when Zamolidchikova could only practice her vault with full run up by beginning it in the corridor beyond the main gym, so this development has to be positive!   The club is also home to Greco-Roman wrestlers, with Seda's father, Gurgen Tutkhalyan, as a coach. Renat Layshev, who is an MP in the local Moscow Duma , and Director General of  the sports club, posted these pictures on his Instagram account. Ooo - I almost forgot to mention - figure skaters Evgeniya Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova also compete for the Sambo club! ...

The major centre of gymnastics in Kemerovo Oblast, Siberia - the Mametyev School of Gymnastics in Leninsk - is to close in July 2018, reports the RGF. No announcement has been made in the Club's own website and the reasons for the closure are unclear.  National team members, Anastasia Ilyankova and Nikita Ignatyev, train at the Club and have their families and homes in the district. Leninsk's greatest hero, Maria Filatova, had recently returned home to Leninsk after a long struggle to secure her Russian passport.  Filatova, who owns and runs a Gymnastics club in Rochester, New York, is much loved wherever she goes and was a trailblazer of difficult and artistic gymnastics during her competitive years.  She has always been loyal to her hometown, creating distinctive choreography for 1992 CIS and Russia team member Tatiana Ignatova.  There is a 2016 documentary about her emotional return to Russia on  Youtube . Other gymnasts who have trained at the Club include V...

 Mustafina will return to Round Lake on 3 September to begin preparations for Euros in August 2018, says Valentina Rodionenko.  The Olympic Champion, who gave birth to daughter Alisa in early June, contacted the head coaches to ask for an invitation to camp.   Good luck, Aliya! Tass/Albert Starodubtsev http://tass.ru/sport/4514671

Russian promise Elena Eremina at control competition at Round Lake last week, 27th July.  Courtesy RGF www.sportgymrus.ru Hello friends and readers Just a quick line to say, I have not disappeared and I have not lost my love for Russian and Soviet gymnastics. I'm not writing on this blog at present, largely because I have another, bigger project to concentrate on, and I can't do everything.  Over the years, a great deal of material has accumulated here and the internet has become populated with masses more information, self generated, state generated and media generated, about gymnastics in all the various eras.  I am, therefore, currently undertaking the monster - but not onerous - task of trying to unravel all the strands, create records, and begin to work out a structure for everything that lies behind this blog.  My ambition, over the years, is to produce some more lasting publications based on the amazing things the gymnasts did, and to record their le...

Legendary coach Vladislav Rotstorotsky, genius, innovator, and 'infinitely kind' according to top Russian sports journalist Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, died yesterday aged 85.   Vladislav coached Soviet heroes Lioudmilla Tourischeva, Natalia Shaposhnikova and Natalia Yurchenko amongst others, including 1981 Soviet team member Alla Shishova.  His creative work shaped much of the art of gymnastics on show today.  On vault, bars, beam and floor his gymnasts innovated and amazed.  The names of Yurchenko and Shaposhnikova are engraved in the sport's vocabulary. Rotstorotsky believed in gymnastics as an end to itself.  Gold medals were not the only aim.  A favourite saying of his was 'Do not shame gymnastics'.  He encouraged his athletes to participate in the arts and to enjoy literature, encouraging them to borrow books from his own private library.  'If those with whom I work grow up to be good and truthful people, it has been worth it all', he said. ...

Why did Katya Sokova retire?  Here's why - a sad and shocking story of neglect and a seriously hurt 16 year old 😔http://israeligymnerd.blogspot.co.il/2017/04/sokova-on-ending-her-career.html

Plans for the Olympics, the family cat, how Aliya managed her nerves in 2012 and much more - translation on Liubov's blog http://israeligymnerd.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/aliya-mustafina-radio-interview.html?m=1

Aliya Mustafina has said that she will begin training again in December, says Andrei Rodionenko, and he believes that she is strong-willed enough to make the transition back into competitive gymnastics.  Adding that it would be a first for the Russian team, Rodionenko clearly believes that Aliya could still bring a certain something to the sport with her unique determination. http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170305/1117267865.html

National head coach Andrei Rodionenko says he feels optimistic about the next four years, based on the number of gymnasts who are showing promise.  He says that the team strategy for both men and women is to prepare two teams each who can compete for places at the Olympics.  It is likely that the excellent competition facilities in Kazan will host another gymnastics competition for the Russians in 2018, adding that they had all enjoyed their time there. Rodionenko went on to say that obviously Dalolyan and Kapitonova had done well here but he isn't ready to name the teams for Euros (!).  A decision will be made based on performance in training over the next four weeks. http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170305/1117268356.html

Looking well ahead (there are another six weeks to go before the European Championships) Valentina Rodionenko has outlined a few assumptions for the final team selection. Injury apart, those who are guaranteed a place on the teams are Artur Dalolyan and Natalia Kapitonova. Also selected are Nikita Nagorny, David Belyavski, Seda Tutkhalyan and Angelina Melnikova, as well as Elena Eremina.  Vladislav Polyashov has a good chance, and the coaches will also be watching Viktoria Trykina closely. European Championships - 19 to 23 April.  This time in Romania, the 2017 Champs will be individual AA and EF only.  I am surprised not to see Lankin mentioned here. http://tass.ru/sport/4071960

  Baby face ... Born 30 December 1972, Elena Gurova was one of the Soviet Union's gymnastics prodigies who blossomed early, but never quite showed her full flowering.   At the age of 14, Elena took multiple medals at the Soviet Cup and Soviet Championships to qualify as a member of her country's team at the World Championships in Rotterdam.   Despite a stunning floor routine, including a double layout opener and a final tumble of full twisting double back, Elena received just one medal there, a silver for her team contribution.  She failed to qualify to any individual final, thanks to the incredible depth of a Soviet team that included eventual World - and Olympic - Champions Shushunova, Omelianchik, Boguinskaia and Baitova. The following year she competed at the World Sports Fair, taking the AA gold with, by her standards, watered down routines.  Sadly she was not named to the Soviet Olympics team and her competitive record then runs dry - does anyone know any ...