DTB Cup results and video links

December 3, 2012, 3:10 am

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Russian WAG at Stuttgart this weekend : national coach Evgeny Grebenkin, Aliya Mustafina, Yulia Inshina, Anna Rodionova, Kristina Goryunova.  Can anyone identify the coach to the right?  Picture courtesy of Schwaebischer Turnerbund on Facebook.

The Russian WAG team had a good time at this weekend's DTB Cup in Stuttgart, finishing in first place.  It is good to see the girls competing well in a friendly, despite some setbacks.  Anna Rodionova suffered an injury on bars in the final and had to retire from the competition, leaving Aliya Mustafina to pick up responsibility on vault (full twisting Yurchenko) and Yulia Inshina to perform on floor.  Kristina Goryunova, freshly restored to the national team after completing an enforced break due to a doping infringement, did some good work on beam.

In the WAG all around, the USA's Elizabeth Price took the gold.  She reminds me of Alexandra Raisman, all power and energy, but look around for photographs of her in flight, all booty feet and bent legs.  It's a terrible indictment of international standards and the Code of Points that, as Rick says on Gymnastics Coaching, Elizabeth is probably the strongest international competing currently, what with the leading Olympians taking breaks from full training. He thinks she could have taken gold medals in London ...

Russia's representative, the hard working Goryunova, finished in seventh with a disappointing score on beam; but she would not have finished higher than fifth at best.  (Rumour has it that Goryunova substituted for Anna Dementieva in the all around, who found she could not travel at the last minute because of visa complications, though I do not understand why the unfortunate Dementieva should be the only one to be unable to secure a visa ...).

In the MAG team competition the Russian men finished second behind Japan, but ahead of Great Britain, counting some fantastic scores from star Denis Ablyazin, but still showing a shocking weakness on pommel horse.  

David Belyavski took the bronze in the men's competition all around behind Germany's Marcel Nguyen and Britain's Daniel Purvis.  Almost incidentally, but very sadly, Phillipe Boy announced his retirement from international gymnastics this weekend.  I will miss him.

You can access the original of this document here.

TamTam1982 has some videos from the competition.

Aliya Mustafina: straight Yurchenko



Aliya Mustafina : beam



Aliya Mustafina : bars



Is Mustafina nursing her leg during that dismount on beam and on vault? 

GymPower has a wider range of video available:

Anna Rodionova floor (qualifications)



Kristina Goryunova balance beam (quals)

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WAG Voronin Cup results, 2012

December 17, 2012, 4:23 am

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Fan favourite Anna Dementyeva took three golds in Moscow this December

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has now published the full results of this competition which I will  reproduce below (WAG first, MAG in a separate post).

I think the most significant outcomes are the junior women where Evgeniya Shelgunova, who turns senior next year, took the gold in the all around and beam.  Maria Kharenkova, who will train with the seniors next year but won't have senior competitive eligibility till 2014, also rounded out the year nicely with a silver in the all around and a the gold medal on floor.

It is good to see Dementyeva pick up some gold (gold all around in the senior competition, and gold on bars and beam where she scored 15.6 with an SV of 6.6).  With Anna Pavlova taking silver in the all around and golds on floor and vault, this must have been a pretty competition to watch.  Olympic team members Komova and Mustafina were present and appeared on individual apparatus, though as exhibition performances.  I wonder though why Moscow-based Anastasia Grishina did not compete?

Qualifications/all around, junior women

WAG Senior All Around competition

Master of Sports competition, WAG All Around

Junior WAG individual event finals
Vault

Uneven Bars

Beam

Floor

Senior WAG Individual Event Finals

Vault

Uneven bars

 
Beam

 Floor

You can find the team competition results here.

2012 Voronin Cup MAG results

December 17, 2012, 7:34 am

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Junior champion on floor, Artur Dalolyan

You will find full results at the Russian Gymnastics Federation's website.  Highlights are reproduced below.


















Junior MAG All Around

Miscellaneous all around senior results (place 21 onwards; edited highlights)

 

Full team results can be found here (junior) and here (senior).

Apparatus finals

Junior men

Floor

Pommel horse

 
Rings

 Vault

Vault scores are not available at the moment.

Parallel Bars

 High Bar

Senior men

Floor

Pommel horse

Rings

Vault
Results not available at present

Parallel Bars

High Bar

 

2012 Voronin Cup ... picture gallery

December 17, 2012, 8:55 am

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The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a gallery of Elena Mikhailova's excellent photographs of the Voronin Cup. 

You can view a selection of the edited highlights at RRG's Facebook page.  There are some stunning photographs of Anna Dementyeva in particular.

All around Voronin Cup champion performing at the Voronin Cup this weekend.  Courtesy RGF

London 2012 ticketing report

December 20, 2012, 3:01 am

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The organising committee of the London Olympics (LOCOG) has finally published full details of ticketing at the Olympic Games, including how many were eventually sold to the public rather than given away to sponsors and dignitaries, and how many tickets were available in each price category.

Despite the fact that the public and press have been baying and begging for this information for most of the past year, LOCOG have chosen to publish their report as quietly as possible, without any accompanying press releases or events, and right upon the cusp of Christmas, at the same time as the UK media is sizzling with news stories left, right and centre.  Almost as though they would like to keep some of the facts as quiet as possible; after all, they have managed to convince us that the Games were an immense success.

Which, in the main, I agree with.  I don't want to say goodbye to 2012; the Olympics brought much happy spirit to the city of London and its people, and I don't think Londoners will ever be the same again.

That happy spirit wasn't about the ticketing, though.  While I was delighted to secure my one Olympic ticket, to the WAG qualifying, at 10.30 on the night before the competition (it was a lifelong ambition realised)  I was less pleased to see all the empty seats around me, knowing how many of my friends would have given an arm and a leg to be there if only they could have managed to navigate the many barriers that were put in their way and which made obtaining tickets far too difficult for the majority.  I have never before seen regiments of soldiers occupying whole sections of a gymnastics arena.  LOCOG does not mention its somewhat desperate rent a crowd efforts designed to make relatively empty arenas look full, and indeed we are now hearing about 'sell out' events.  This may be true of certain sports, but not of the gymnastics.  You just had to use your eyes to see this.

Of course, having all the data available isn't necessarily a good thing as it's rather indigestible and difficult to interpret.  I need some time to print out the key sections and read them properly, to avoid misrepresenting what is there.  There are some apparently simple data: overall, 59% of tickets for the artistic gymnastics were sold to the public; I find this a surprisingly high percentage but that is what the figures say.  I have, however, noticed that for certain events, in certain price categories, the figure comes down to as low as 35%.  In other words, you might say, about two thirds of these tickets were given away to sponsors and dignitaries, presumably the top priced tickets for the premium finals, which might explain why there were so many empty seats visible on our TV screens, even towards the end of the competition. 

The, there are the unfathomables : for example, were rent-a-crowd counted as sold, or unsold? Are all these statistics strictly accurate? I remain convinced that there was an almighty balls-up in the initial ballot that left so many of us disappointed.  Ticketing will remain a thorn in the side of the London Olympic Games. 

I'm still very glad I managed to be there, though.

Lupita reports ... Alexander Alexandrov will stay in Russia

December 31, 2012, 11:09 am

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Alexandr Alexandrov, former Russian national gymnastics coach,  stated that, most probably, he’ll stay in Russia and will train Olympic champion Аliya Mustafina further.

 

The Ministry has asked me to stay, with the same salary I was earning. Some people want me to be in the team, so I rather think I’ll stay in Russia. At some meetings, some people expressed their claims against me. I don’t know if they were right or wrong. Time will tell.

I was offered to work abroad, but I told them to wait. I was born in Moscow, I grew up and I spent all my life here. Only if something doesn’t turn right, then... I’m not 15. I went abroad only because I was obliged to, when everything collapsed. 

All this concerned Mustafina, as if she was to blame because she didn’t train well in the team. I don’t understand. If someone doesn’t train well, how can this affect the rest? We’re not a football team, where, because of someone, everything can go wrong. Could she influence someone, all the more she had such a difficult year, — explained Alexandrov to «Р-Спорт».

Link to Russian language report.

Aliya Mustafina - 'My family do not worship sports'

January 8, 2013, 12:46 am

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Matthew Hicks translates this 28th December interview with Aliya Mustafina, from Novaya Gazeta.

The last year more than compensated for all that Aliya went through in the year leading up to the Olympics in London – a serious injury, surgery and a long recovery. Not surprisingly, Aliya won Sportswoman of 2012 at a post-Olympic Kremlin-hosted ball. Novaya Gazetainterviewed the champion:

NG: Aliya, back in London, responding on the significance of your victory, you spoke that your greatest achievement is yet to come.

AM: I’m simply a sportswoman, a normal person. In the real world, I’m a nobody. In gymnastics, yes Olympic Champion, but in everyday life I’m just another person...like in school studies

NG: Do you study sports?

AM: No, I am at the Gubkin Oil and Gas Institute, in the economics and management department. I’ve always liked exact sciences. At school, physics and mathematics are my favorite subjects. They come easiest to me, probably because I’m most interested in them. Some people say physics in not interesting. But is it not interesting, for example, to understand how the laws of nature work?

NG: Your mom is a physics teacher. Perhaps it’s in the genes?

AM: Maybe. We haven’t even studied physics in my grade, yet my mom is already reading me advanced books on the subject.

NG: The girls on the team say that you can calculate all the results from the competitions in your head. Is that true?

AM: Well, not exactly. Katya Kurbatova was also on the team that won World’s and she is also excellent at math.

NG: Aliya, admit it, you’ve cried more this past year than ever before in your life!

AM: Not any more.

NG: The recovery process after that injury took almost an entire year?

AM: Yes and it tested me greatly. It changed me, externally and internally. I rose to the occasion and began to work in a different way on all events. The old me was like a child. After the injury I became an adult.

NG: That’s gymnastics ...

AM: And it’s also like that in life. I realized that because of my goals I didn’t have a right to give up, no matter how hard things got. The goal was to get to the Olympic Games. And not to just get there, but to help the team win a medal. Then can come the tears.

AG: In all the competitions that you competed in, tell us about how you compete.

AM: I always try not to think about the excess–the main thing is to do your job. How well we each do, that will be the final result. I understood that when we won the world championships. We felt that we could beat anybody. The excitement remained, and I didn’t want to stop there. When I was recovering from surgery, I watched all the competitions. I didn’t panic. Nobody was doing anything that I couldn’t handle. Of course the responsibilities of the Olympics were greater than other meets. The Olympics don’t come along everyday, and not everyone gets there. I cannot say that that responsibility came lightly. In my mind I told myself to simply do my job, and that was all. I worked for 12 years to lay it on the line on the Olympic stage. Six months before the Olympics I was still far from being in gold medal form. It was tough to force myself to work hard, and the doubt that I could make it constantly surrounded me.

AG: Sometimes it seemed as though you’d never make it?

AM: Yes. Sometimes it seemed like I could do no more; like I wanted to give up. But such thoughts came quickly and vanished just as quickly. I understood that I had to suffer to get to the Games. Once I got there things would be easier.

AG: Did your family support you?

AM: We have a normal family and don’t worship sports. But it is understood that sport is important in life – my father was a 1976 Olympic Bronze Medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling – but he didn’t force his goals on me. Only sometimes when I was little would he say, “Come on Aliya, you need to train hard to become world champion.” But I’m not sure whether he just said that or actually meant it. Mom and dad did not sit for hours in the gym, like many parents do when their children start gymnastics. My parents knew that in sport I could learn about all of life’s difficulties. They respect my decisions. Even if I wanted to be done with gymnastics, they know it would be useless to try and discourage me.

AG: The status of being a leader can be great but also has its obligations. The girls on the team are like a family. Has anything changed?

AM: I don’t even think about that. A leader is someone who competes well at all meets. But when we train, we’re all the same. I don’t carry around a big head. When I became world champion two years ago, I wondered if things would change within me. They didn’t. Achieving something earth-shattering didn’t change anything. My pride comes from my soul, from within myself. I say to myself, “there’s the event, now go work.” I became an Olympic Champion, my dream came true, good job, but why should that change me? I don’t have any different friends now than I did before the Games. The ones who supported me before are still here, not complaining.

AG: Well, all the same, Aliya, Olympic Champion, were you born like this or did you work for it?

AM: A lot of desire and hard work got me here. How can you become Olympic Champion if you sit around and do nothing?

AG: It is often said that champions have a character of iron.

AM: Well yes. I compact myself into a fist of iron and compete like that, like I did in Rotterdam and in London on the bars.

AG: You seem like a pretty relaxed, low-key person.

AM: Well, it just looks that way (laughs). Am I outgoing? Probably. More yes than no. But I like to hang out with my friends and have fun and be the center of attention. But I don’t really like being in a big crowd of people.

AG: Will you try for another Olympic cycle?

AM: I really want it. I’ll certainly try...


With many thanks to Matthew for his work!

Viktoria Komova - picture gallery

January 14, 2013, 7:02 am

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I was doing something far more important, researching an article, when these pictures of Viktoria Komova caught my eye. 

They are far from the standard gymnastics pictures of gymnasts celebrating, commiserating, or caught in the midst of their most graceful pose.  Not the best, most aesthetic images to view.  When looking at pictures of gymnasts I am often conscious of selecting the ones taken from the most flattering angle, avoiding the shot with the bent legs, the out of control arms. I took a different viewpoint here, choosing Komova at the most stressed, the least stagey point of her work.  These pictures capture Komova in flight, in the height of motion and effort.  There is no contrivance to them, no trained pose or pause to impress the judges. 

Viktoria Komova is a rare gymnast, classical in style and execution.  Her national heritage of ballet, her family heritage of the best of sport is visible in her posture and carriage.  Every single move, from a simple leap or transition to the most complex of somersault, is performed with absolute amplitude, her line sharp and clear.  Besides her own special talent, it is the result of the meticulous attention of a choreographer from the earliest days of her career.  It is gymnastics that pays respect to a broader culture of movement that is recognisable in other art forms, such as dance.  Such gymnastics renders a Code of Points useless if it can only differentiate by means of execution deductions and difficulty value. 

Komova is the best gymnast in the world, and has been for the past two years.  She is not always the best competitor, but then the judges make too many mistakes.  Hopefully, in 2013 they will finally get it right at the third time of asking, and beyond. 

During her Jaeger somersault on bars

Concentrated on the bars

In the middle of a side somersault on beam

A tricky turn on floor, toe point despite the heavy strapping

In full flight, at the height of effort, twisting over the vault

A simple pose becomes a work of art

Chalk flies as Komova catches the bar

At full stretch, beyond 90 degrees

Those troublesome feet and ankles ... 2011

Another shot of the side somersault

At full stretch ... Viktoria Komova

 You can view more fantastic pictures of the gymnasts at the RIA Novosti Media Gallery.

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Anna Dementyeva - Balance Beam Champion?

January 17, 2013, 10:18 am

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Alfi writes :

I found on Youtube Demy's BB routine that scored her 15.600 in EFs. Goodness, it is super packed. If she cleans up the minor balance checks, she will definitely get gold in any competition. Please spread the word.

Thanks Alfi, here's the video.  Enjoy, and comment!

Happy Birthday, Svetlana Khorkina!

January 20, 2013, 4:31 am

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Svetlana celebrated her 34th birthday yesterday.

Performing here on beam in 1992, she wears the leotard of the Soviet national team well before she became famous as a Russian diva.

Khorkina had eight skills named after her - two vaults, two beam and one floor element, and three innovations on her particular genius, bars. She shared her career with coach Boris Pilkin (1928-2010) who was the architect of Khorkina's special style of gymnastics, at once powerful and lissom. It was always an intriguing partnership: the fiery blond gymnast, sometimes arrogant, sometimes vulnerable; alongside her elderly, white haired coach, quiet, gentle, a man of few words but whose mind must have been full of gymnastics.





Khorkina went on to win nine gold medals at World Championships, including three all around titles. She competed at three Olympics: 1996, 2000, and 2004, winning gold twice, on uneven bars, in 1996 and 2000. Her best result on beam was gold at the European Championships in Paris in 2000. Notoriously unpredictable, her longevity ensured that her talents were recognised and recorded.

It could be argued that on beam, Khorkina's talent shone brightest - those endless, long lines, the languid nature of movement that disguised the power, the fluidity of the routine. In 1992, in this video, Khorkina was still a junior gymnast moving up the ranks. But her nascent talent is there for all to see.

2013 Russian National Team

January 21, 2013, 4:02 am

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Evgeniya Shelgunova, who progresses to senior international eligibility this year and is the only gymnast of her age on the Russian national team.

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has been hard at work, updating the list of those who will be included on the Russian national gymnastics teams this year.

For the women, it is a transitional year, with many of those who matured at or before the London Olympic Games still on the national team, and no retirements announced.  This year, the Russians need gymnasts for the Universiade (gymnasts age 18+), World and European Championships (16+) and European Youth Olympics (14+).  The expected post Olympic retirements are likely to be postponed until after the Universiade, which is taking place in Russia (Kazan) this summer.  So the team this year appears rich and full of strength in depth, but it remains to be seen how many will continue competing beyond the end of 2013.

New to the senior team is 1998 born Maria Kharenkova who will train this year alongside the seniors before progressing to full senior competitive eligibility in 2014.  1997 born Evgeniya Shelgunova went through the same introductory period last year and is expected to qualify for major senior competition this year, while 1996 born Polina Federova appears on the senior national team listing for the very first time.  The senior reserve team includes former World Championships team members - for example, Kramarenko, Belokobylskaya and Myzdrikova - and also many of the burgeoning youngsters from last year's Junior Europeans, most noteably, Viktoria Kuzmina, Ekaterina Baturina and Yulia Tipaeva.  Do not forget that Maria Paseka made the final Olympic team from a starting point on the national reserve last year.

The senior men's team seems less altered, perhaps reflecting the longer competitive lifespan of male gymnasts, but in the senior reserve and junior ranks we see the progression of such gymnasts as Grigori Zyrianov, Sergei Stepanov, Artur Dalolyan and Ivan Stretovich who have all performed well in local junior competition over the past years.

Go-Tribe has transcribed the list (see below) and has also developed the most amazing resource at her website, Videos of Russian Gymnasts, where you can find the list with links to videos of all the gymnasts, where they exist.   

National Team members:
Senior Team members:
Ksenia Afanasyeva/Ксения Афанасьева
Kristina Gorunova/Кристина Горюнова
Anastasia Grishina/Анастасия Гришина
Anna Dementieva/Анна Дементьева
Yulia Inshina/Юлия Иньшина
Viktoria Komova/Виктория Комова
Aliya Mustafina/Алия Мустафина
Tatiana Nabieva/Татьяна Набиева
Maria Paseka/Мария Пасека
Anna Rodionova/Анна Родионова
Anastasia Sidorova/Анастасия Сидорова
Polina Fedorova / Полина Федорова
Maria Kharenkova/Мария Харенкова
Evgenia Shelgunova/Евгения Шелгунова

Denis Ablyazin/Денис Аблязин
Aleksandr Balandin/Александр Баландин
David Belyavskii/Давид Белявский
Emin Garibov/Эмин Гарибов
Nikita Ignatev/Никита Игнатьев
Daniil Kazachkov/Даниил Казачков
Nikolai Kuksenkov/Николай Куксенков
Nikita Lezhankin/Никита Лежанкин
Igor Pakhomenko/Игорь Пахоменко
Konstantin Pluzhnikov/Константин Плужников
Aleksei Rostov/Алексей Ростов
Pavel Russinyak/Павел Руссиняк
Dmitrii Stolyarov/Дмитрий Столяров
Andrei Cherkasov/Андрей Черкасов

Senior Reserve:
Ekaterina Baturina/Екатерина Батурина
Yulia Belokobylskaya/Юлия Белокобыльская
Olga Bikmurzina/Ольга Бикмурзина
Ekaterina Kramarenko / Екатерина Крамаренко
Viktoria Kuzmina/Виктория Кузьмина
Anastasia Marchuk/Анастасия Марчук
Anna Myzdrikova/Анна Мыздрикова
Alla Sosnitskaya/Алла Сосницкая
Yulia Tipaeva/Юлия Типаева

Dmitrii Gogotov/Дмитрий Гоготов
Grigorii Ziryanov/Григорий Зырянов
Kirill Ignatenkov/Кирилл Игнатенков
Nikolai Kovinov/Николай Ковинов
Mikhail Kudashov/Михаил Кудашов
Pavel Pavlov/Павел Павлов
Kirill Prokopev/Кирилл Прокопьев
Maksim Khodykin/Максим Ходыкин
Sergei Khorokhordin/Сергей Хорохордин

Junior:
Elena Alekseenko/Елена Алексеенко
Anastasia Belova/Анастасия Белова
Yulia Birulya/Юлия Бирюля
Maria Bondareva/Мария Бондарева
Anastasia Dmitrieva/Анастасия Дмитриева
Evgenia Zhukova/Евгения Жукова
Natalia Kapitonova/Наталья Капитонова
Evgenia Korolkova/Евгения Королькова
Kristina Levshina/Кристина Левшина
Daria Mikhailova/Дарья Михайлова
Ekaterina Sokova/Екатерина Сокова
Daria Spiridonova/Дарья Спиридонова
Polina Spirina/Полина Спирина
Yulia Chemareva/Юлия Чемарева


Viktor Britan/Виктор Британ
Evgenii Vasilev/Евгений Васильев
Shamil Gatiyatov/Шамиль Гатиятов
Artur Dalaloyan/Артур Далалоян
Ilya Kibartas/Илья Кибартас
Andrei Lagutov/Андрей Лагутов
Igor Lemeshenko/Игорь Лемешенко
Boris Lozhkin/Борис Ложкин
Vladislav Polyashov/Владислав Поляшов
Kirill Potapov/Кирилл Потапов
Valentin Starikov/Валентин Стариков
Sergei Stepanov/Сергей Степанов
Ivan Stretovich/Иван Стретович
Ivan Tikhonov/Иван Тихонов

Junior Reserve:
Raisa Batyrova/Раиса Батырова
Olga Kalashnikova/Ольга Калашникова
Viktoria Rezakova/Виктория Резакова
Daria Skripnik/Дарья Скрыпник
Seda Tutkhalyan/Седа Тутхалян
Alexandra Yazidzhyan/Александра Языджян
Kristina Yaroshenko/Кристина Ярошенко

Aleksandr Bogatiryev/Александр Богатырев
Sergei Eltsov/Сергей Ельцов
Mansur Zaripov/Мансур Зарипов
Vladislav Kozin/Владислав Козин
Dmitrii Lankin/Дмитрий Ланкин
Nikita Nagornii/Никита Нагорный
Nikolai Shadurkin/Николай Шадуркин

Youth:
Lilia Akhaimova/Лилия Ахаимова
Viktoria Bykova/Виктория Быкова
Elena Eremina/Елена Еремина
Ekaterina Ilyankova/Екатерина Ильянкова
Maria Iontef/Мария Ионтеф
Anastasia Kuznetsova/Анастасия Кузнецова
Elena Likhodolskaya/Елена Лиходольская
Angelina Melnikova/Ангелина Мельникова
Elena Oganesyan/Елена Оганесян
Tatiana Ruzhova/Татьяна Рыжова
Yulia Sushkova/Юлия Сушкова
Ekaterina Tishkova/Екатерина Тишкова
Alena Chernova/Алена Чернова
Anastasia Shlenkina/Анастасия Шленкина

Artem Arnaut/Артем Арнаут
Nikita Vasilev/Никита Васильев
Aleksandr Glukhov/Александр Глухов
Insaf Idiyatulin/Инсаф Идиятулин
Aleksei Kaneseev/Алексей Канесеев
Kirill Kozin/Кирилл Козин
Denis Kolpakov/Денис Колпаков
Nikita Letnikov/Никита Летников
Andrei Makolov/Андрей Маколов
Maksim Sinichkin/Максим Синичкин
Aleksandr Sychugov/Александр Сычугов
Marat Khabibullin/Марат Хабибуллин
Mikhail Khudchenko/Михаил Худченко
Denis Yurov/Денис Юров

National team coaches, Russian Federation 2013

January 21, 2013, 6:00 am

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Yuri Korolev (right), has joined the Russian national coaching team.  He is seen here congratulating his gymnast, 2012 Olympian Dmitri Barkalov.

The RGF has now updated its list of national team coaches.  The senior management team includes Andrei Rodionenko and his wife Valentina Rodionenko as Head Coach and Senior Coach of the men's and women's teams respectively, with Evgeny Grebenkin installed as Senior Coach of the women's team.  (Grebenkin has stepped down from his personal coaching responsibilities for national reserve team member Ekaterina Baturina.) Nikolai Yepishin has taken up a position as Senior Coach of boys and girls.   Valery Alfosov, Nikolai Krukov and Olga Bulgakova remain in their existing positions as Senior Coaches of the men's, junior men's and junior women's teams respectively.

Alexander Alexandrov, personal coach to Aliya Mustafina, is confirmed in this position on the national coaching team, and Gennady Elfimov, coach to Viktoria Komova, is similarly appointed, so the coaches to the top two gymnasts on the WAG team are now, it seems, paid by the RGF/Ministry of Sport as full time employees.  This undoubtedly emphasises the importance of Mustafina and Komova to the Russians' preparation for the coming Olympic Games in 2016.

Anton Stolyar has been newly appointed as a women's senior coach, returning to Russia from Italy where he has been coaching members of the Italian team including Erika Fasana and Elise Meneghini.

Returning to the senior WAG team is beam coach Marina Bulashenko, who has many years of experience of international competition, having worked with such gymnasts as 1992 Olympic beam champion Tatiana Lyssenko and 1996 World beam champion Dina Kochetkova.  Bulashenko replaces Larissa Ushakova, who contributed to some of the best beam work of the last Olympiad, so she has a hard act to follow.

There were rumours after the Olympics of a bid to recruit a much needed vault specialist for the WAG team.  It is unclear from this simple list whether any changes have been made on this vital piece of apparatus which has become a relative weakness since Oleg Ostapenko left.

Moving from the Vladimir School of Gymnastics, 1981 and 1985 World Champion Yuri Korolev, and Sergei Andrianov (son of the legendary Nikolai Andrianov and Liubov Burda) join the national coaching team, in charge of the technical preparation of the junior gymnasts.

Elsewhere, it has been confirmed that Viktor Razumovsky is now personal coach to senior WAG Anastasia Grishina. 

Andrei Rodionenko                        Head coach, men and women
Valentina Rodionenko                    Senior coach, men and women
Valery Alfosov                               Senior coach, men
Evgeny Grebenkin                          Senior coach, women
Nikolai Krukov                              Senior coach, junior men
Olga Bulgakova                              Senior coach, junior women
Nikolai Yepishin                             Senior coach, boys and girls

Gennady Elfimov                            Coach, women
Alexander Alexandrov                    Coach, women
Anton Stolyar                                 Coach, women

Vasily Ivanov                                  Coach-acrobat, women

Marina Bulashenko                         Choreographer, women
Olga Burova                                   Choreographer, women

Vitaly Olgychev                              Coach-masseur, women
Vladimir Timonkin                          Coach-doctor, women

Nikolai Suchilin                              Coach, technical preparation, men and women
Sergei Ryubakov                            Coach-engineer, men and women
Dmitri Skakodub                            Administrator of the training process, men, women
Andrei Belikov                               Coach-operator, men, women
Alexei Yushin                                  Coach, men, women


Andrei Dukhno                               Coach-acrobat, men
Vladimir Gaverdovsky                    Coach, men
Alexei Blyushka                              Coach-masseur, men
Konstantin Lyskov                          Coach-doctor, men

Ludmila Mamontova                       Choreographer, men, juniors

Sergei Andrianov                           Coach, technical preparation, juniors
Yuri Korolev                                 Coach, technical preparation, juniors

Yuri Barinov                                  Coach-acrobat, juniors
Artem Voinov                                Coach, technical preparation, juniors
Dmitri Gusev                                  Coach-acrobat, juniors

Larissa Efremova                            Choreographer, juniors

Dmitri Kurov                                  Administrator of the training process, junior teams
Yuri Golubev                                  Coach-masseur, juniors
Alexandra Popova                          Coach-masseur, juniors
Sergei Gulevsky                              Coach-doctor, juniors

Grigory Marsov                               Coach-doctor, juniors

Igor Kozenkov                                Coach, technical preparation, boys and girls

Happy Birthday, Viktoria Komova!

January 30, 2013, 10:25 am

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Viktoria Komova celebrates her 18th birthday today, and in celebration Voronezh residents made this roadside tribute to the Olympic silver medallist.  Happy Birthday, Viktoria!

Picture courtesy of Sovietski Sport

Slightly less happily, Viktoria's mother, Vera Kolesnikova, has now confirmed that Vika will miss this spring's Russian Championships, and European Championships, to rest a back strain.  The Russian Ministry of Sport has elaborated, with translation courtesy of Alar at the All Around Forum :

'Viktoria will be in Voronezh where she'll continue to train lightly and do some conditioning. She's excused from participating at Russian Championships and Euros, but will prepare for Worlds.

Nothing serious was found with her back. Her pains were attributed to delayed puberty and it was decided that she has not fully recovered from the workload before the Olympics yet. She was given a month to recover physically and mentally.'

I wish Viktoria a rapid and full recovery.

Russian national team in training at Lake Krugloye - video

January 30, 2013, 10:52 am

≫ Next: All-Russia Regional Championships

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Enjoy this video of the Russian national gymnastics team in training in Lake Krugloye. 

Seen here : Denis Ablyazin, Yevgenia Shelgunova, Maria Paseka with tumbling coach Vasily Ivanov (practising a straight double front), Aliya Mustafina, Valentina Rodionenko, Viktoria Komova (with coach Gennady Elfimov), Ekaterina Baturina with choreographer Olga Burova, newly appointed beam choreographer Marina Bulashenko with WAG junior head coach Olga Bulgakova, senior WAG head coach Evgeny Grebenkin, Ekaterina Kramarenko practising bars with Grebenkin.

The gymnasts will take a week's break now and then return again to Lake Krugloye to prepare for Russian Championships, which will qualify the team travelling to European Championships (Moscow, 17th to 21st April).

Not surprisingly, the Russians plan to send full teams to Europeans (6 men, 4 women, do not forget that these are the individual European Championships with no team competition).

For the men, this is an important competition as they face fierce competition from leading world contenders such as Germany, Ukraine and Great Britain, so I expect to see a very strong selection.

The competition is less fierce for WAG, and I wonder what selection strategy the Russians will use there. Komova is out of the picture, and Mustafina has already said that her emphasis this year will be on preparation for the Universiade this summer. Relying on Mustafina once again to provide gold in Moscow will involve her in preparing and competing in three major competitions this year, in addition to the usual round of domestic and other international meets; surely this can't be good for any gymnast in a post-Olympics, post injury recovery year.

I do hope that the Russian selectors take care to protect their best competitors from over exposure this year. There are plenty of young gymnasts who could benefit from the experience of a home-based big competition like Europeans (eg Shelgunova, Rodionova). And I wonder if we will see a newly refreshed and revived Anastasia Grishina make an appearance?

All-Russia Regional Championships

January 30, 2013, 11:09 am

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These competitions are ongoing, with full results at the RGF website.

Go-Tribe is doing a great job of transcribing these results at her blog, Russian Gymnast Videos.  Key results so far are that national team member Anna Rodionova competed in the Penza Championships and won the all around, while MAG junior Sergei Stepanov won the MAG, sharing some of the gold in the individual events with senior national team member Pavel Pavlov.

Siberia's Grigori Zyrianov, national junior team member, features in the advertisement for the Kemerovo competitions.  Courtesy of the Russian Gymnastics Federation

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Alexander Alexandrov to coach Brazilian WAG?

January 30, 2013, 12:09 pm

≫ Next: An incredible story: Maria Filatova close to securing her Russian citizenship, finally

≪ Previous: All-Russia Regional Championships

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It seems that former WAG national coach, now personal coach to Aliya Mustafina, Alexander Alexandrov, is considering an invitation from the Brazilian Gymnastics Federation to take on the role of national senior WAG coach there as they prepare for the Rio Olympics.  Alexandrov would be working alongside his former colleague Oleg Ostapenko, junior WAG coach, who left the Russian junior team for Brazil in 2010, and would no doubt considerably strengthen the Brazilian gymnasts as they prepare for their home Olympics.

Nothing is certain yet: Alexandrov went on a fact finding tour to view training facilities and meet the gymnasts recently, and still has to make his decision. If he were to decide to go, he would be a significant loss to the Russian WAG team and in particular to Russia's only Olympic gold medal gymnast.  Alexandrov had recently confirmed that the Russian Ministry of Sport had asked him to stay in Russia and he appears on the RGF's recently published list of coaches.  However, the Brazilian Federation benefits from significant financial support as it prepares for its home Olympic Games in 2016, meaning that it can probably afford to make Alexandrov a very attractive offer.  I would assume that Alexandrov's decision is also likely to be influenced by his working relationship with the senior team leadership, Andrei and Valentina Rodionenko, and whether he feels he is likely to have the autonomy to give the best to his gymnast/s.

View the source articles here, here and here.  Google translates work pretty well, but we should wait for official confirmation of Alexandrov's final decision ...  this decision, apparently, is due tomorrow.  Do not hold your breath though, I have known such negotations to take weeks.

With many thanks to Bernard Abdo who provided the links at GymFever.

Alexander Alexandrov (third from left) during a recent trip to view training facilities in Brazil

An incredible story: Maria Filatova close to securing her Russian citizenship, finally

January 31, 2013, 11:17 am

≫ Next: 'I hope we will prove that gymnastics can be both difficult and beautiful' - Andrei Rodionenko

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Lupita translates a 23rd January article from Sovietsky Sport. 

Maria Filatova looks likely to secure her Russian citizenship in February.  Good luck, Maria, from all of us xxx

This incredible story has been around for 17 years! Born in the USSR, two-time Olympic gymnastics champion Maria Filatova has tried to obtain Russian nationality. Now the end of this process seems to be nearer than ever.

Maria Filatova is 51. She was born in Leninsk-Kuznetski. In 1976 and 1980 she became Olympic champion in gymnastics. Many people remember a minuscule girl with funny bows in her hair, who won gold and glory for our country.

After the dismantling of the Soviet Union, Filatova worked first in Europe and later in the US. She now lives with her husband and her daughter in Rochester (New York State). Since 1996 she has been trying to be granted a Russian passport. So far she only has an old Soviet passport and a US green card, which don’t allow her to travel to Leninsk-Kuznetski to visit her mother’s and her coach’s tombs.

Aman Tuleev, Governor of the Keremovo Region, wrote to the Commission for Citizenzhip under the President of the Russian Federation. In autumn last year, he asked to grant Filatova with citizenship. The prestigious lawyer Aleksei Sinitsyn prepared all the documents.

– Before last summer, before we began to act, nobody did what had to be done in a competent way, – stated Sinitsyn.  You had to look for the law on citizenship and read it carefully. The mechanism to be granted citizenship for persons with special merits in the field of sport. In our case, governor Аman Tuleev submitted the President the demand to grant simplified citizenship to Filatova, who had special merits in the field of sports.

–When was this done?
 

– In October 2012 the documents were sent to the Commission. We wanted to play safe and we went to the archives of the Ministry of Sport, аs well as of the Gymnastics Federation, where we got a dossier with Filatova’s merits and achievements. Therefore, we have the maximum amount of documents.

–Will the decision be taken by the Commission?
 

– The documents are sent to the President, but they’ll be studied by the Commission for Citizenship. In principle, this decision belongs to the President, the Commission is a counselling organ, created to express a position about the granting of citizenship to someone.

– To what extent is a positive decision likely?
 

– I think it’s highly likely taking into account that the information is not questionable. I don’t find any reason to deny her citizenship. If not to her, who else? I think everything will turn out well.
The next assembly of the Commission will take place in February. Maria Filatova will have then the possibility to become Russian.

– Thanks, Tuleev, he’s nice and smart! – Filatova said yesterday to ‘Sovietski Sport’  –  It’s nice that among civil servants there are some reasonable people. It seems that the majority of them don’t know the law and only keep passing the buck.

We all hope that this turns out the right way, and that Maria finally gets her Russian passport, the right to travel wherever she likes, but most of all recognition for her lifetime of hard work and all she did, and does, for Soviet and Russian sport.  

I thought it was the right time to share the gorgeous picture with my readers; it was a present from Maria, and I am very proud of it.

'I hope we will prove that gymnastics can be both difficult and beautiful' - Andrei Rodionenko

February 1, 2013, 10:10 am

≫ Next: Evgeny Grebenkin: we cannot replace the current members of our team

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Lupita has kindly translated the key points of this Ministry of Sport video which has been doing the rounds on the internet.




The national teams are currently training at Ozero Krugloye. They train 2-3 times a day. They have begun a new Olympic quad. Still, important competitions are ahead. Junior gymnasts are training with them.
 

Every gymnast has an aim: Rio, the Universiade …   For Mustafina the Universiade competition is the most important this year.

Their participation at this year’s competitions will depend on their condition.

Valentina Rodionenko: I hope everything will turn out well. We’ll fight for the medals. We have to. 

The team changed its working system and the staff.

Rodionenko: There’s a struggle. We are for more classical gymnastics, with an excellent level of execution.  The Americans show more athletic gymnastics. After 2000 our team lost its position and the Americans imposed their style. Yet, I hope we’ll prove that gymnastics can be both difficult and beautiful. 

Evgeny Grebenkin: we cannot replace the current members of our team

February 4, 2013, 5:03 am

≫ Next: Nikolai (Mykola) Kuksenkov interview - Lupita translates

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Lupita translates here the first interview of any significance with Evgeny Grebionkin, newly appointed senior coach of the Russian WAG team.  The article appears on the press website of the Russian Ministry of Sport.
 

The gymnastics national team’s head coach, Evgeny Grebionkin, has talked in an interview to FTP-Press about the changes in the staff, the specificities of the new season and the new Code of Points.

- Evgeny Anatolevich, what has changed in your work as the national team’s head coach?

- I’ve been working with this team for four years. The thing is that I have more duties now. I used to focus on bars, essentially. Now I follow the athletes on all apparatus. I have to organize the training process right now.

- How do you feel about the young gymnasts who have joined the team?

- So far it’s difficult to say something specific. Four years ago Mustafina, Komova, Nabieva joined the team the same way. It was tough for them at the beginning. Nevertheless, this year the young gymnasts don’t have competitions.

- There are new coaches working for the team …

- Exactly. We have two new coaches: an experienced coach Marina Bulashenko (beam) and a young coach Anton Stolyar (bars).

- Do you share your experience between yourselves?

- Our group is very friendly. We help each other because when you are following the gymnast, you can miss something. From the outside errors are easier to see.

- At the beginning of a new quad there’s always a new Code of Points.

- Yes, there are new combinations that add value to the score for execution. Beam will be scored more severely. The elements have not changed, but they will not be given bonus for the combination.  If Mustafina had a 7.1 start value, according to the new CoP, her routine will be worth 6.5.  This is why we have to look for elements that will add value to her routine.

-  What can the fans expect from our gymnasts this season?

- This season will be very difficult for the Russian national team. Everywhere the majority of Olympic medalists will rest. For instance, a lot of American gymnasts will not compete this year. Some of them have injuries. In our situation we cannot replace the team.  Our gymnasts will have to compete.  It’s difficult for them after the physical and psychological loads of the Olympics to resume training. Yet the girls are trying hard, and this is nice to see.

- Do you train for this year’s competitions or do you focus on Rio 2016?

- This year we are preparing for the European Championships and the Universiade in Kazan. Contrary to other years, we plan to have our first team competing there. We have four good junior gymnasts (born in 1998-1999). We’ll prepare them for Rio. Some of them are too young to compete in competitions for gymnast born after 1997. We plan for Shelgunova to participate at some stages of the World Cup for her to gain experience.

- Which control competitions are foreseen before the European Championships?

- First, the Russian Championships [editor : 1st to 7th March, Penza]. We will choose the team for the European Championships [17th to 21st April]. Then the World Cup stage in France[16th March] invites gymnasts who performed in the Olympic finals. Four more girls will compete in Cottbus [22nd to 24th March].

ДмитрийРачиций, РоманШишов. Фото: ГеоргийШпикалов, агентство PR+Sport  

Nikolai (Mykola) Kuksenkov interview - Lupita translates

February 5, 2013, 11:02 am

≫ Next: Pictures, pictures, pictures ... and an Alexandrov update

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Lupita translates a Sovietski Sport interview with newly adopted Russian MAG team member, former Ukraine Olympian, Nikolai (Mykola) Kuksenkov.

Nikolai Kuksenkov and his sister, journalist Irina.  Courtesy of Sovietski Sport

KUKSENKOV INTERVIEWED BY HIS SISTER JOURNALIST IRINA KUKSENKOVA

A STOLEN MEDAL

– Tell me, Kolya, when did you first ever think about going to live in Russia?
 

– Irina, it was a long time ago, when we were living in Belgium, where Dad was the national team’s coach. You entered the Journalism School in Moscow University and I thought it would be nice to go to Russia. I was still a kid and I went back to Kiev with our parents. Later I was seriously injured before the Beijing Olympics, I had surgery and a long recovery. You remember, I came to see you in Moscow, we went to different specialists. I didn't know if I would come back to elite sport. The doctors didn’t give a very promising prognosis. At the end, I watched the Olympics on TV. Аnd I lived for the following four years thinking of London.

– Before London, a new injury...
 

– I tore my foot joints when I was practising tumbling. The doctors questioned my participation at the Olympics, at least in vault and floor. It’s difficult to express that situation. I decided to recover and compete on pommel horse. I couldn’t miss a second Olympics.

When we arrived to London, Dad didn’t know if I would compete in the All Around or only on four events. We decided to remove difficulty and to try to make the All Around.

I worked for the team on the first day. We put on an excellent performance. Then came a scandal, that had never happened in the history of gymnastics – we were stolen our medal was stolen.

– What did you feel when you heard that the bronze medal was going to the Japanese team?
 

– You never forget this kind of thing. Injustice! I think I was in a kind of fog. We finished the competition in third position and the bronze medal. TV showed a table, where the Ukraine was third. Once the competition finished, the Japanese, decided, without respecting the rules, that the Ukrainian team had to fall off the podium.

The Japanese submitted their protest when the delay was over. Had the protest been submitted by any other country, it wouldn’t have been filed. A Japanese gymnast fell, hit his head on the pommel horse, yet that dismount counted for him. It’s ridiculous. Everyone who understands gymnastics was sincerely sorry for us. Who needs a sport where a good performance is not necessary, where you have to ask properly?

–Whom?
 

– In London I understood that sport is also politics and business. I thought that I would never compete again. Yet I overcame those feelings. And I decided to compete again.

– Did you compete in the all around throwing in the towel?
 

– I was in physical pain. I concentrated and did what I could. I came fourth, again off podium. In London I realized I had to change something. I thought again of moving to Russia.

A NEW PASSPORT

– You always expressed your uneasiness when your father was the national team’s head coach...
 

– Sometimes you don’t have the feeling he’s simply your father. By the way, Dad said he respected my decision. It’s true that he has now problems in the Ukraine…

– Who’s now your coach?
 

–Igor Kalabushkin, in Vladimir. He is an excellent specialist and a good person. Psychologically we fit one another. I like his sense of humour. I enjoy going to the gym to train with him. Kalabushkin was a coach to the late Yuri Riazanov. We were very good friends...

– Аnd why precisely Vladimir?
 

– Vitali Ivanchuk, director of the Vladimir School, had made this proposal to me some time ago. He invited both my father and me. I accepted, but Dad decided to stay.

– When will you show me the Russian passport?
 

–The Minister of Sport Vitali Mutko has already sent a letter to Putin about my documents. I’ve been told that I’ll get my passport in February.

– You probably know that in the Ukraine some people say you are a traitor?
 

– These people say so because they don’t know the situation of Ukrainian gymnastics. I had to pay for my surgery. They didn’t allocate funds for the national team. When you give everything, including your health, this is unbearable!

– Is it different in Russia?
 

– It’s like night and day! I spent three weeks at Ozero Krugloye [Round Lake, the Russian National Training Centre] and felt the difference. Everything is done for the athletes; you only have to train. A beautiful gym, numerous specialists, a special coach for pommel horse or high bar.

– How did your new teammates welcome you?
 

– Very well, I have known them for a long time. We spend three weeks at Krugloye. Then everyone goes home for a week. I go to Vladimir.

 
-      Which are your next competitions? 

-      The Russian championship is going to take place in Penza in March. Then in April in Moscow the European Championships. I wish I stay healthy and I can fight for a medal.

– You are being compared to Gérard Depardieu, who gave back French citizenship and took Russian...
 

– Of course, it’s pleasant, but it’s not a correct comparison. I’m Russian! You know that, contrary to Depardieu, we have roots in Russia. Dad is from the Moscow region; Mum is from Bashkiria. In the Soviet period people worked in different places in a huge country. After the dismantlement of the Soviet Union, not everyone came back home. I felt Russian all my life.

– I remember that you wrote Putin a letter, when you were a kid and we were living in Belgium. Мum has kept it. Now we laugh when we read it.
 

– At my Belgian school, the teacher told us about Moscow: misery, deprivation, abandoned children. I stood up and said that it was not true. Unlike the teacher, I had been in Russia, and had never seen this. Belgian kids humiliated us Russians constantly. I hit a boy and I had to go to the headmaster’s office. I came back home humiliated. I wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin, who had just become the Russian president. In my letter I explained how the Russians were perceived in Belgium.

– Don’t you have the impression that this letter from your childhood reached the President?
 

– And as an answer I’ll soon receive my Russian passport? Yes, probably. On my passport they won’t write Mikola, but Nikolai as my parents called me. Here you have a subject you can dwell upon!

Nikolai Kuksenkov was born in June 1989 in Kiev.

As a member of the Ukrainian team: European Junior Champion. Third in the European Championships (2011). Winner of the Universiade (2011). Winner of stages of the World Cup. Fourth in the AA at the London Olympics (2012).

At the end of 2012, got the Russian citizenship and will perform for the Russian team.