Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Photo slideshow created with Smilebox 17 year old Tanya Nabieva has been a gymnastics champion for many, many years, always enthusing her friends and audience with that special brand of cheeky determination and flighty innovation that could only be hers. Tanya is a fearsome competitor and an excellent gymnast - her gold medal from the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam, and her silver medal on bars at last year's Tokyo World Championships, were her highest honours, but she also contributed to the team's success at the Europeans in Birmingham in 2010 and won many, many medals at national and junior international level. She has always been so much more than a gymnast - full of joy and sadness, all of it always expressed so clearly. And such a good, generous friend to her team mates, especially Aliya, with whom she shares a special bond. A painful back has troubled Tanya since her earliest days as a senior. Her Olympic preparations were disturbed by this and, most rece...