Vera Kolesnikova, with her daughter, Viktoria, in 2005 Vera Kolesnikova became World Champion in artistic gymnastics with the Soviet Union team at the 1985 World Championships, and the next year became all around champion at the Goodwill Games, ahead of team mates Oksana Omelianchik and Elena Shushunova. Today, Vera is known for her work as a coach and international judge. She is also, far from incidentally, mother to 2011 World Uneven Bars Champion Viktoria Komova. Viktoria is expected to fight for gold in the all around competition in a few days' time, at the London Olympics. Russian Gymnastics sponsors VTB has published an interview with Vera, featuring some very sweet pictures of Viktoria as a little girl. I have already featured these on this blog (see July 18th), but now Lupita has provided a complete English language translation of this interview which you can read below. What are champions made of? How are champions cut out?...
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.