Russia's leading male all around gymnast, David Belyavski, with head coach Andrei Rodionenko |
The context : As I have said before, Russian sport has been hit hard by all the doping bans, particularly in track and field athletics. RUSADA, the national anti-doping agency, has been accused of falsifying documentation. Tennis has taken a hit, with Maria Sharapova testing positive for the controversial drug Meledonium, and now swimming appears to be being targeted. I think we can probably expect that all Russian sport will be under the microscope for months to come. It's not as if Russians are the only athletes ever to have tested positive, but it might look as though there is an institutionalised, state-endorsed culture of cheating.
So Russia is looking for clean sports to step up and shine at the Rio Olympics. This article is part of a series entitled 'Together with the team' that looks to raise the profile and morale of Russian sports.
Head WAG coach Valentina Rodionenko has already gone on record to say that Russian gymnasts do not have a doping problem, and so artistic gymnastics appears to be one sport that the Government will be looking to to fill the gold medal gap in Rio. Not much pressure, then!
So it is not surprising that a fair chunk of Irina's article focusses on the rigourous doping tests that the gymnasts are regularly subjected to, and I think it's a good thing to emphasise that this process does take place. Gymnastics is a skill sport and there aren't many drugs that can give a performance benefit without affecting balance and so on. Internationally, over past years there are around ten doping cases listed for international gymnastics, compared to hundreds in the sport of athletics, and scores in swimming and tennis. Regardless of the high profile 'seven' who tested positive for meledonium in Baku 2015, when the drug was still legal, gymnastics is generally a very clean sport - and that isn't just about Russia.
Nikolai Kuksenkov |
'Kolya' makes the point that the five top teams - Russia, Britain, America, China and Japan - are all working pretty much equally, with only Japan with a slight advantage. He goes on to say that they can't pay attention to criticisms made by 'armchair' specialists - they must simply work hard and keep their nerve.
Denis Ablyazin with masseur Andrei Blyushke, and coach Sergei Starkin |
Emin Garibov, who is still the team captain, is back in training and says that the wider background of crisis in Russian sport is motivating for the team. He is just happy to be back in training after all of his injury problems. It is very difficult for him to train as he still has pain in his shoulders, and is sore all over his body, but the team spirit keeps him working.
At 6 am the previous morning, he had been awoken by a knock on the door - doping control for David Belyavski, who had undergone testing only the previous day at the Glasgow World Cup. It takes a lot of time, and since the recent controversies the process seems to have become more strict.
Andrei Rodionenko speaks of the gymnasts' performance at Glasgow, in particular Denis Ablyazin, who was disappointed to miss out on apparatus medals. He explains that it's 'not a reproach' to speak of this - Denis's performance has been analysed, and he will learn from it. The level of this gymnast's routines is ultra-high - there are only two or three other gymnasts who can perform at this level - and perhaps he wasn't ready psychologically to compete to the peak of his abilities. He is a highly responsible, well motivated and ambitious gymnast.
The competitions scheduled ahead are all stages of preparation for the Olympics - with Rio the final goal, where all the learning and training will, hopefully, come together. The team has been working together for a year now and there is a hard-working, goal-oriented atmosphere.
Photographs courtesy of Elena Mikhailova/RGF