Coaches and gymnasts of Russia enjoy their silver medal at yesterday's European Championships. The gymnasts are, left to right : Alexander Balandin, Anton Golotsutskov, Emin Garibov, David Belyavski, Denis Ablyazin. Picture courtesy of the RGF . Russia's men yesterday consolidated their recent improvements with a second place in the senior team event that emphasised their strength as individual apparatus specialists. The team had to carry weak third scores on certain events : in particular, pommels and high bar, where Golotsutskov was surely a compromise selection. Had they eliminated just one of the four falls they suffered during the course of the competition, silver could have become gold. It wasn't a bad result then, for the Russians, and we still have today's event finals to look forward to. I hope the gymnasts' experiences here will prepare them for a stronger performance in London in a few weeks' time, when it will really matter. Good lu...
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.