Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Nico Jackson writes: Two-time Olympic bronze-medalist, Anna  Pavlova , won Azerbaijan’s first World Cup medal in artistic gymnastics by taking gold on uneven bars at the World Challenge Cup in Ljubljana, Slovenia this past weekend. In a fairly weak women’s field,  Pavlova  easily won gold with low difficulty but superb execution scoring 12.825 (4.5/8.325). To the surprise of many,  Pavlova   even  upgraded her dismount to  a  double pike  after competing  a simple layout flyaway the past few years. It was certainly interesting to see her win on what has been her weakest apparatus throughout her career.   Unfortunately the balance beam final did not go quite as well for Pavlova  where she showed obvious signs of nerves, wobbling after a number of e lements and sitting down her 5/2  twist dismount. Nevertheless,  Pavlova’s  lines and presence were as strong as ever despite the mistakes. Her  Omelianchik  ...

Viktoria Komova.  Courtesy of the RGF This afternoon's Russia Cup all around competition at the Burtasy School of Gymnastics, Penza, ended with Youth Olympics Champion, World Vice Champion Viktoria Komova in first place, the first major senior title of her career.   2010 World All Around Champion, Aliya Mustafina, is well on the road to recovery following an ACL tear at last spring's (2011) European Championships, achieving a good finish in second place.  Mustafina has not quite regained her full form as yet, particularly on beam and floor where she suffered a few problems today, but she was strong enough to make a close fight of this.   This was the first time Komova and Mustafina had competed head to head in an all around at senior level and given the ambition of both gymnasts one can expect a thrilling rivallry in London. World 2011 team member and beam finalist Yulia Inshina finished in third place all around.  While she does not score particular...

Thanks to Alan who alerted me to this English language radio interview with Head Coach of the Russian team, Andrei Rodionenko. Rodionenko has a lot of thinking to do before the London Olympics.  Picture courtesy of the RGF .  Rodionenko's key points were as follows : For the Russians the Europeans were a control test for a young inexperienced team rather than the endpoint.  Sometimes the Europeans are the most important competition but this time round we have the Olympics in plain view and the main goal was to collect information to help decide what kind of team to take there.   He was h appy to see the Romanian team so good and taking gold. This was not the final team that will go to London; Afanasyeva and Dementyeva were both sick, and in London Mustafina will perform on all four pieces of apparatus.  The fact that she competed on only three pieces in Brussels significantly affected her psychological preparation. Will the team be ready in tw...

A single picture is worth thousands of words , so take your time to look at these images.  Consider the variety of feeling, shape and flow.  There is a quality of gymnastic eloquence that is about more than 'form'.  A quality that is trained, but innate and deeply embedded in Russia's gymnastics culture.  A quality that has been uniquely the possession, and responsibility, of the Russians in recent years. I believe it used to be called virtuosity.  Consummate artistry.   The beauty, the power and the glory. These Russian women gymnasts are the rarest of the rare, the final, finest remaining strand of a chain of heritage.  You are experiencing here the last masters of a fading art form.  In London, America may well take the medals with their power and consistency.  But Russia already owns the soul of artistic gymnastics.  Only they understand the sport in all its colours.  What we call choreography is for them an alchemy of t...

Some of the medallists from this weekend's Russian National Championships The Russian National Championships drew to a close this weekend with gold medals for three of the best Russian gymnasts of the past five years, and one up and coming star, including 2008 Olympian Anna Pavlova (vault), 2010 World Champion Aliya Mustafina (bars), 2008 Olympian and 2011 World Floor Champion Ksenia Afanasyeva (beam) and first year senior Anastasia Grishina (floor).  Full results are available in Russian here .  All members of the 2011 World Championships team competing here (Komova and Nabieva were not) managed to secure a medal in these national championships. Vault results were noticeably flat this week with only one national team member (Grishina) competing (Maria Paseka is in the reserve squad) in the final.  National team coach Alexander Alexandrov has commented on his team's performance on this apparatus as trailing that of their main rivals, the USA (thanks to Gymnastics Co...

Russian gymnastics fans the world over have been feverishly hitting their refresh buttons and praying that the live link will work.  It didn't always, largely because the weight of our collective enthusiasm overwhelmed the world wide web.  But I'm pleased to say, at the end of the day, our Queen Mustafina is back.  Clearly, the gymnastics presented today is work in progress.  We might never make true conclusions thanks to the grainy nature of the videos.  I'm risking putting the cart before the horse when I say that the USA and Russia are complete opposites when it comes to PR, the one (USA) all bluster and hype, the other (Russia) all mystery and understatement.  I'm sure that my friend, Mr Zaglada, will tell me that it's the results and the results alone that matter.    The only thing that will really count this year are those few days at the end of July. The absence of two of the leading contenders for this title, Viktoria Komova and Anna D...

   Olympic test event medallists on the uneven bars.   Anastasia Grishina (centre) gold, Youna Dufourney (France) silver, Jinnan Yao (China) bronze Picture : FIG/Volker Minkus At the end of the day, Russian Princess Anastasia Grishina won through with a splendid competitive performance on bars that fully deserved the gold medal.  It was great to hear the Russian national anthem played for the first time in the Olympic venue.  Let's hope it is prescient for many other airings during the summer.    New!  There is a very nice brief interview with Anastasia at the All Around blog. Full results of the test event FIG Youtube Channel including archived live coverage of all the finals and selected routine coverage from qualifications Piibunina's Youtube Channel including individual routine videos from the test event It wasn't an easy competition for the Russians, by far, this test event.  First time senior international, Anastasia Grishina...

A revised roster for the women's competition at next week's Olympic test event is now available. Competing for Russia will be Moscow's Anastasia Grishina, who will turn 16 on the 16th January, and World Championships team member Yulia Inshina. This is a solid selection - neither gymnast has anything to lose, indeed Grishina can only gain from this new competitive experience and exposure.  Inshina's calm competitive attitude can only help her team mate along in what might be a daunting first senior competitive experience.  The 02 arena is huge, and far from my favourite venue for a gymnastics competition.  As a spectator I would go so far as to say it lacks intimacy and involvement; goodness knows what it is like for the gymnasts. We had hoped to see Anastasia Sidorova at this competition, but apparently her wrist injury (sustained during a biking accident last summer) is still causing her discomfort. Grishina has significant respect from Russian team coach Alexa...

Lupita has provided another good translation of the recent interview in Gymnastika magazine with Russian senior team member, Yulia Inshina.  One of the key improvements that the Russian team has made over the past two years has been the development of greater maturity, reliability and strength amongst those gymnasts who might be considered 'reserves' or the starting members of the team.  This year at the Tokyo World Championships, the two Yulias, Belokobylskaya and Inshina, proved this point strongly.  While expected to do very little, both gymnasts performed to the optimum of their abilities, contributing soundly to the team's overall silver medal by providing a solid beginning to each apparatus.  Inshina, who also qualified to the beam final, finishing in 6th place, hopes for better in the future, and says she is planning to add difficulty to her work in a bid to make the Russian team for the Olympics. Yulia Inshina, born on the 15th April 1995, trains alongsid...

Full results for this competition can be found at the DTB Cup website and below, if you have a magnifying glass.  I promise, one day, to work out how to do screen captures better. Russia did rather well, taking both the men's and women's team titles.  In the all around, Yulia Inshina took the bronze medal, while Emin Garibov finished 5th for the men.  I like the new generation of Russian men who compete with great motivation, energy and lightness of foot.  The women's all around results linked to videos are also available at Full Twist . I'm delighted to see the Russian women's team do so well, even if things didn't go completely to plan ... very, very sorry that Aliya couldn't compete as expected - she did look upset - but some uncertainty is the nature of recovery from such a difficult injury and it's best to follow doctor's orders in order to be ready for the big fight in London next summer! All three team members - Polyan, Belokobylskay...

Queen Elizabeth is officially appalled.  Her flag (unusually, white blue and red) is flying at half mast.  Remember these names - Ksenia Afanasyeva, Viktoria Komova, Anna Dementieva, Yulia Belokobylskaya, Yulia Inshina, Tatiana Nabieva, Alyona Polyan - they are all consummate artistic gymnasts, fulfilling the requirements of the sport to be both artistic and dynamic.   They are a vibrant example of a dying breed, and they alone keep the sport alive. There is not enough time in the world for me to articulate the dissent and dismay I am feeling at present, after the women's all around final.  So for now, I will keep my silence.  Other than to offer my sympathy - and congratulations - to Viktoria Komova in particular, and Ksenia Afanasyeva and the entire Russian team in general.   But shortly, in the not too distant future, I intend to produce a review.  A state of War may shortly be declared.  A War of Words. That is all I have to say a...

Russia did well in the first, qualifying, day of competition in Tokyo, taking 2nd place in the team competition behind a solid USA, with youngster Viktoria Komova taking top position- by a whisker - in the all around.  It was a good performance from a team relatively weakened by the absence of world champion and team leader Aliya Mustafina, and a lingering injury to last year's Youth Olympics Champion Komova. Newcomers Yulia Inshina and Yulia Belokobylskaya performed a fantastic job for the team as strong lead off gymnasts.  Beginning on bars, the team had no margin for error.  Inshina, starting up, had no previous experience of major international competition but showed no sign of nerves as she went through her routine flawlessly.  She is an enchanting little gymnast who performs her floor and beam routines with her head a little to one side, as if deep in contemplation.  A personal characteristic that adds no end of expression to her work.  A nice rewar...