Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Maria Bondareva, Maria Nazarova, Kristina Levshina 12 year old Maria Bondareva proved herself once again in competition on Friday, taking the All Around gold in the Candidate Master of Sport category with a score of 56.867 including a 15.2 on beam.  Bondareva's nearest rivals were (second placed) Polina Spirina  (52.933), who turns 13 in April and comes from Novosibirsk; and bronze medallist Kristina Levshina (52.9), 13 years old, who trains alongside Ksenia Afanasyeva with coach Maria Nazarova in the town of Tula.  Full results are available here . National team member Polina Spirina, who first shone in the 2010 Olympic Hopefuls competition The Master of Sport category competition was won by Polina Fyodorova but with a score almost four points short of Bondareva's total (53.133).  Following on her heels were Yuna Nefedova (52.4) and Irina Yashina (51.533) The junior competitions this year are marked by the absence of key team members who have until very re...

Young Russian gymnast Yuna Nefedova recently won an international competition in Helsinki, Finland, just ahead of her 15th birthday.  Yuna is one of a new generation of gymnasts who comes from Tula, home of the two Ksenias Semenova and Afanasyeva.  Her coach is Olga Baranova and she is currently training at the Central Army Sport Club, Vatutinky.   A link to a video and pictures of Yuna can be found here , and there is a brief report on the Russian Federation's website here .  Well done Yuna!

Remember this name: Yuna Nefedova .  According to the Russian Federation website, she is the next in a line of young championships to come from Tula, the home of Olympians Ksenia Semenova and Ksenia Afanasyeva.  Yuna, a 14 year old, has just returned to gymnastics after a long absence due to a back injury, and took the silver medal all around, and gold medal on bars, in the recent Master of Sport competitions held as part of the Central Federal District youth competition in Obinsk. Fuller results will follow; but it's clear that Yuna is a phenomenally determined young competitor.   Here she is competing bars at the 2009 Pre-Olympic Youth Cup,where she won the 12-13 year old age group all around competition against a field of German, Swiss and Dutch juniors. Link here to the video provided by Dutchfan33 on Youtube . Thanks, Dutchfan33! Gymfan.de also provides some nice pictures of her at this competition.