Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

It's not a great quality video, but compelling viewing all the same.  It makes me shiver to think that this took place more than 25 years ago. Watch it on Youtube . 1986/87 marked a curiously quiet period for USSR women's gymnastics, culminating in the loss of the world title to the Romanians at the 1987 World Championships in Rotterdam. The 'top names' we see performing here include Olga Bicherova (1981 World Champion; 1981 and 1983 European Champion), Elena Shevchenko (1988 Olympic team champion), Elena Gurova (1987 World team silver medallist) and Alevtina Priakhina (1987 European silver medallist and reserve to the USSR team at the 1987 World Championships). Moscow was a real force in Soviet gymnastics in those days, and our current World Champions would be hard pressed to match some of the difficulty you see the girls training here. I am curious to know the name of the dark haired girl training double doubles with Priakhina. Besides the obvious big nam...

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...

ria novosti 28 June : Komova will train at full force after two weeks - Alexandrov discusses Komova's injury http://translate.google.ca/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsport.rian.ru%2Fother_sport%2F20110628%2F394804295.html&act=url qualification more important than medals - alexandrov - 29th June 2011 http://translate.google.ca/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsport.rian.ru%2Fother_sport%2F20110628%2F394804295.html&act=url

Liubov Burda competed for the Soviet Union at the Olympics in both 1968 (age 15) and 1972.  Born on the 4th November 1953 in Voronezh, Burda was coached by Yuri Shtukmann and obtained gold medals (in the team event) at both these Olympics, as well as at the 1970 World Championships.  She was USSR national champion in 1969 and 1970 and won multiple event medals at the USSR national championships and the USSR cup between 1968 and 1971.  A unique element - the Burda underspin (1.5 twists) on bars, was named after Liubov, who remains in the sport till today as a senior member of the FIG women's technical committee. The latest edition of the Russian Gymnastics Federation's magazine Gymnastika includes an interview with Liubov which Lupita has translated, below.   It is a wonderful read, touching on many important subjects, and most moving in her affectionate discussion of her late husband, 1976 Olympic champion Nikolai Andrianov.  Liubov Burda : 'I don't k...

Alan Owen has posted a good translation of a St Petersburg Vedemosti interview with Tatiana Nabieva at Tatiana Nabieva Online .  It is a nice insight into the life and attitudes of this rapidly maturing champion - well worth a read. Picture by permission of the Russian Gymnastics Federation

Don't forget to keep checking I-G.tv , - this interactive website on Russian gymnastics is continually updating itself with competition reports and the like.  There is the recent addition of a profile of 1980s legend Natalia Laschenova, including a commentary from coach Vladimir Zaglada putting Natalia's achievements into the context of overall achievement by Soviet gymnasts of that era, and a nice reference to her choreography. If you scroll down from the Russian language version, you can read the article in its original English language.