The latest from Russia - please note that these stories all come from official channels and I have no way of verifying what I am seeing right now.
- The Games of Future, a ‘phygital’ (mixed physical/digital events) multi sports event, the first of its kind, opened on 21 February in Kazan. There are no gymnastics disciplines. At the opening ceremony, a beaming Nikita Nagorny is depicted sitting next to President Vladimir Putin.
- Artur Dalaloyan was also present and was interviewed by Match TV. He emphasised that with the Russian Championships coming up in 3 weeks, the Friendship Games in the summer, and the Russia Cup, there were lots of competitions for the gymnasts to prepare for. Gymnastics doesn’t have much potential as a digital sport, said Artur - to be able to compete as a gymnast, children need to be in the gym, not playing on a computer. He expressed the hope that the Russian gymnasts could participate in dual meets if friendly countries’ teams could travel to Russia. The more competitions there are, the greater the gymnasts’ motivation to train. There was little likelihood of Russia competing at the Olympics, and the conditions for neutral participation for individual athletes weren’t workable, said Artur.
- Meanwhile, more quietly, David Belyavski attended the CSKA Museum for a modest awards ceremony for members of the CSKA (Central Army) club who had to be given their Master of Sports award and other similar qualifications. Belyavski has been a member of CSKA since childhood - as have many of the Russian national team members in gymnastics (Aliya Mustafina was one of their stars). CSKA has many gyms all over Russia and its affiliation means that coaches are assigned military ranks, but their work is purely sporting. Children go to their nearest gym when they begin sport; the choice of gym is made for them and they rarely change clubs, as happens so frequently in the USA and Britain.
At present, few of the national team members of gymnastics are posting on social media, and the only stories getting out of Russia are official announcements and interviews, like the ones we see here.
I don’t know why social media has dried up; it could be a broader ‘stop’ on Russian media either by Western internet providers, or by Russia itself, or it could be that the gymnasts are simply concentrating on their preparations for the upcoming Russian championships. I don’t know if this ‘block’ is final, but in the wider context it feels sad to have lost contact with the worlds of the gymnasts in Russia.
As ever, I pray for peace. Love to all of those affected by this awful war, to Ukraine in particular and to those still in Russia, who cannot speak their truths.