Ksenia Afanasyeva has been praised for her 'sports character'. A round of press conferences took place at Lake Krugloye National Training Centre last week. Lupita translates here the bones of a key report from Championnat in which the respective coaches - Valeri Alfosov for the men, Alexander Alexandrov for the women and chief coach Andrei Rodionenko - reflect on team strengths and medal prospects. 12th July, at a press conference organized by the Russian Gymnastics Federation and VTB Bank in 'Ozero Krugloye' [Round Lake, the Russian National Training Centre for Gymnastics], the Olympic teams were officially announced by national coach Andrei Rodionenko. Later, Alexander Alexandrov explained how the team was shaping up during the Olympic cycle: Ksenia Afanasyeva is the only gymnast who participated in Beijing [2008 Olympics] and she has been able to defend her spot for London. In 2010, Mustafina and Nabieva jo...
Reporting and analysing Russian gymnastics since 2010. Includes original and exclusive interviews with leading coaches and gymnasts, and historical issues dating back to the Soviet Union. The first blog to report extensively on the sport using Russian language sources. I read, I argue, and I have opinions. Be warned.