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| Evgeniya Shelgunova, courtesy of the UEG |
Russia's women gymnasts took gold at two different competitions this weekend, showing an interesting level of development across the generations. Veteran Anna Dementyeva competed with significantly improved form at the Joaquim Blume Memorial, hitting a 14.75 on beam, while at the annual Massilia Cup in Marseille, France, emerging senior (eligible 2013) Evgeniya Shelgunova led her team to first place, taking the all around title for herself. Youngster Maria Kharenkova added an exclamation mark to the Russians' performances with an emphatic gold in the floor exercise.
The Russian team's performance was enhanced by tiny Viktoria Kuzmina's silver medal on uneven bars. The team cumulatively took first place on every piece of apparatus but vault, where their fifth place underlines an urgent need to make improvements. Even the revaluation of the Amanar vault will not overcome such a deficit whilst competing against a relatively weak field.
Golden Maria Kharenkova, having grown quite a lot since her stunning appearances at this spring's European Championships, was quite magnificent on floor with longer limbs emphasising the height and power of her leaps. She also showed off some new difficulty, with a one and a half twisting somersault replacing the whip in her second tumble run (ending with double tuck), and adding a stag leap to her final tumble of double pike. The Russians need a good floor worker or two so it is encouraging to see Maria continue to develop in the midst of a growth spurt.
It would normally be in the Russians' plans to improve Maria's toe point but considering changes to next year's Code (which defines artistry as good tumbling but makes no mention of line, toe point, harmony or rhythm) they may decide it's not worth the time.
Hey ho. 14 year old Maria's work is still more interesting and aesthetic than the Olympic floor champion's by far, demonstrating that artistry can exist alongside great tumbling without compromising, or robbing the sport of its cultural dimension. Long live Russian choreographers.