Aliya competed this weekend in Ukraine - probably our last chance to see her before Euros in just over two weeks' time. I haven't seen full results yet but even with a fall on floor, Aliya won the all around, with Russia taking gold in the team competition ahead of Ukraine and Japan. Competing with her on the Russian team were Anna Dementyeva and Polina Fedyorova. Ukraine's Oleg Vernaev won the men's competition, leading the winning team ahead of Russia and the Netherlands.
Aliya looks to be concentrating on developing new combinations for her beam routine and I guess that her competition goals this year are somewhat longer term than Moscow Europeans which are coming earlier in the year than usual. I'm feeling a replay of 1987 Europeans may be on the cards, with the feisty veteran looking vulnerable here while younger gymnasts take centre stage.
For many years, Collet's socialist bookshop on Tottenham Court Road, London was somewhere I went to find little treasures of Soviet gymnastics. It was a subject that was sparsely, often very cynically treated by the British press, and it is hard to explain how ridiculously valuable every last jewel of information seemed. I read more than I could buy, but remember the thrill of finding my first copies of Sport in the USSR. And there were, occasionally, books and booklets, too.
I stumbled across this little biography of Nikolai Andrianov when sorting through some books and papers recently. I love the look of it, the use of black and white photography, the presentation of Andrianov as a man of the people, the arty farty shots of the chalked up hands, the Olympic champion exhausted in a pile of foam. It was 95p, not much then or now, but worth a whole lot more to me, always.
I have a new camera, ready for my trip to Moscow later this spring, and tried it out, taking a few photographs of the book. I'm not a very good photographer, but I did want to share my moment of nostalgia. 'Sports are, first and foremost, competition. But this doesn't mean all means are good to beat your rivals. Soviet sportsmen live by fair play' reads a comment on the back cover, reminding me that this publication is, fundamentally, a tool of promotion for the Soviet state. But, then again, Andrianov was the perfect role model.
Published by Raduga,1979
He reminds me a little bit of Denis Ablyazin in this cheeky shot.
Hands, chalk, grips, gold medals
Just a small proportion of the Andrianov medal booty
Hard at work with coach Nikolai Tolkachev
With the love of his life, Liubov Burda-Andrianova
Just an ordinary man : preparing salad for dinner
Future talent - with the future World Champion, Yuri Korolev, right
Women : Aliya Mustafina, Anastasia Grishina, Maria Paseka, Ksenia Afanasyeva
I'm delighted to see Afanasyeva on the team - to me, she is the natural selection over the still developing Evgeniya Shelgunova, whose selection could really only be justified on developmental grounds - and perhaps this could be seen as rather indulgent given the current competitive climate in world gymnastics. Afanasyeva really adds clout to what is a mature and classy Russian team. She was also looking on good acrobatic form at the French International recently - perhaps less focussed on her dance, but then since when did this really matter to the scores?
Aliya Mustafina is reportedly competing at the Stella Zakharova Cup in Ukraine this weekend so we shall have a chance to see how her preparations are going. Both Anastasia Grishina and Ksenia Afanasyeva have put in convincing showings at recent competitions, with Grishina looking much stronger and more confident than in London, in my opinion a legitimate contender for the all around gold, and Afanasyeva hopefully able to fight for a European floor gold to add to her World medal from 2011.
But remember what happened last time Europeans were staged in Moscow - 1987? There the graceful young Daniela Silivas came in and stole the all around title from young pretender, Alleftina Priakhina, leaving veteran Elena Shushunova with a bronze medal. I would love to see Romanian Larissa Iordache make a similar impact at this competition and compete closely for a medal in the all around. European gymnastics needs and deserves a higher profile than it gets and a beautiful podium of Grishina, Mustafina and Iordache would really emphasise the classical artistry that is still so much a characteristic of the sport in these parts of the world.
The Russian men's team includes Denis Ablyazin, David Belyavski, Alexander Balandin, Emin Garibov, newcomer Matvei Petrov and Nikita Ignatyev. Belyavski and Ignatyeva are going for the all around.
A nice interview with Aliya from just before the Russian Championships.
Key points from the Google translate :
She won second place in an R Sport vote for the best Russian sports woman, behind Evgeniya Kanaeva but ahead of Maria Sharapova. She says Evgeniya came first because she is a beautiful gymnast; but knows little about Sharapova.
She has no time for life outside of gymnastics, as she trains three times a day - can only meet with her friends on rare occasions, and declines to comment about whether she has a boyfriend in gymnastics.
Her father is her main supporter, but the person whose opinion she values most in gymnastics is her coach, Alexander Alexandrov :-)
She does not have any gymnastics idols.
Good luck to all the Russian gymnasts as they prepare for the European Championships!
The evergreen, always opinionated Valentina Rodionenko
Lupita translates below an interview with Valentina Rodionenko from the 28th February. This was before the Russian Championships had closed, but it provides some useful insights into likely selections for the European Championships.
On the women's side, Rodionenko echoes what Grebenkin said earlier this year - there are few up and coming gymnasts who can replace the members of the London Olympics team. Euros looks likely to revolve around Mustafina and Grishina, with some juggling of the places going on around Shelgunova, Paseka, Afanasyeva and (less likely) Dementyeva.
On the men's side, she emphasises that fierce competition is emerging for places on the first competitive team this year. There are six places available for Moscow, and I am intrigued to know who the second all arounder is likely to be!
The aim of the Russian championship is to select the team for the European Championships and for the Summer Universiade in Kazan, - Valentina Rodionenko told us. Not all the gymnasts have yet recovered after the Olympics. But we cannot yet replace those who competed in London. Nevertheless, we freed Vika Komova because of an injury. She is feeling fatigue after the last Olympic quad. We have to preserve her, she is a young gymnast.
Aliya Mustafina is recovering. Masha Paseka, Ksenia Afanasyeva are training well; Dementyeva is recovering after her last injury. Grishina is showing good results at the control competitions. The men show a better situation than the girls. There is a second team and more competition.
- How many athletes will represent our country at the European Championships that will take place in April at Olympiski?
- At the European Championships four girls and six men will compete, this figure is relative to the number of events. Concerning the men, we�ll have two all-arounders, the girls, three. This year there is no team competition at the European championships or at Worlds. After the Olympics, there is a year of individual competitions because it�s difficult for those who did an Olympic quad to compete again as a team. The load is huge.
- Will the same team compete at the Universiade?
- Of course. Mustafina, Afanasyeva, Paseka, Dementyeva will compete. Only Grishina and Komova are too young for the Universiade. They are not university students. We hope that Nabieva will stay fit. She was injured, but she is now training actively. Katia Kramarenko, who competed at the Beijing Olympics, has come back after an injury and is working well. Our five best athletes will compete at the Universiade.
- Are any of the young gymnasts ready to compete with our first team?
- We have a gymnast born in 1997. Zhenia Shelgunova is now starting to compete with the senior team. She was one of the best juniors.Yet it�s very difficult to enter the senior team. She is training with the seniors, but it�s difficult for her. We�ll have her compete at senior level. In mock competitions she always comes in the first three. The most important thing is to avoid injuries.
- On which principle will you name the teams for the European Championships?
- First, we�ll select the all-arounders, the best placed. Of course, we know their potential more or less. There are no miracles. We want them to compete. The best on events can make the team. We�ll take into account the health and the difficulty of the routines. Sometimes at our national competitions the gymnasts perform easier routines and win. They make mistakes with more complex routines. But we don�t have so many gymnasts that we do not have to select the best ones
Russia's charming young gymnasts, Maria Bondareva, Anastasia Dmitrieva, Polina Spirina and Ekaterina Sokova, knocked out the rest of the competition with their artistry in Montreal this weekend. Bondareva and Dmitrieva shared the all around title. The team beat Canada and Japan by a narrow margin.
These girls are not yet performing work of outstanding difficulty, but it is a pleasure to watch their gymnastics, particularly Bondareva on beam who has such confidence and authority. You can find top five AA results below, full results are available at Gymnix International - team results link is not working properly at the moment but you may find them later. There is a start list for today's event finals - Bondareva and Dmitrieva are qualified to vault, bars and beam, with Bondareva appearing on floor with Sokolova. Good luck girls, and well done so far!
There is a Youtube channel (thanks Lisa!) with good videos of the Russians' routines for you to enjoy.
Olympic medallist Denis Ablyazin was the star this week in Penza
The spectacular events of beam, floor, vault, parallel bars and high bar took place last week and I am finally updating the blog with these results, which can be found in full on the RGF website (WAG and MAG).
They were interesting results : over the two days of event finals, four different women won gold medals (Paseka, Grishina, Shelgunova and Afanasyeva). The absence of Komova from the competition, and the withdrawal of Mustafina and Grishina from beam and floor finals mean that these results cannot be considered to be the comprehensive book on Russian WAG form, but it is good news that the Russians have such plausible champions on each piece of apparatus. I am particularly pleased to see that Ksenia Afanasyeva is continuing at full force - her beam routine was especially interesting.
For the men it was a stunning endorsement of the specialist work being done by the fiery Denis Ablyazin (gold on floor, rings and vault), with all around gold medalist David Belyavski confirming his class on parallel bars with a gold, and newcomer to the Russian team Nikolai Kuksenkov asserting his authority and value with a gold on high bar and a bronze on pommel horse, both apparatus at which the Russian men struggle during team competitions. Kuksenkov's official accession to the national team may come too late for qualification for this spring's Euros, but if he continues in this vein he will be a very useful team member at World Championships in Antwerp. Of the gold medallists only Matei Petrov, pommel horse, had not been on the Russians' team at the London Olympics. His candidacy for Europeans will depend on weighing up his likely consistency and medal winning possibilities on this one piece compared to others who may be able to spread their risk across two or three pieces. Balandin, for example, has potential both on rings and on parallel bars.
There is little room for a fair to middling all arounder on the Russian MAG team these days - most of them are specialists. Nikita Ignatev, who earned a medal in the all around, looks unlikely to make a senior national team at a major competition, except as reserve, as he has no single piece at which he particularly excels. I trust that last year's Olympic team captain, Emin Garibov (injured?), does not fall foul of the same forces this autumn in Antwerp. Internationally, outstanding all arounders such as Kohei Uchimura are becoming increasingly thin on the ground. What a pity.
As we work towards the first major competition of the four year preparation towards the Olympic Games, the men's team looks more interesting and competitive than the women's.
WAG beam
1. E Shelgunova 14.05 2. P. Fedorova 13.9 3. K. Afanasyeva 13.775 4. A. Dementyeva 13.4 5. A. Pavlova 13.275 6. K. Goryunova 13.275 7. E. Kramarenko 12.8 8. A. Polyan 11.725
WAG floor
1. K. Afanasyeva 13.6 2. K. Goryunova 13.525 3. A. Polyan 13.075 4. A. Pavlova 13.00 5. E. Shelgunova 12.9 6. A. Dementyeva 12.625 7. M. Smirnova 11.95 8. P. Fedorova 11.8
MAG vault
1. D. Ablyazin 14.075 2. M. Kudashov 13.525 3. P. Pavlov 13.125 4. V. Kozin 12.075 5. D. Yakubovski 12.00 6. A. Byikov 11.85 7. A. Cherkasov 11.075 8. P. Suetin 10.475
MAG parallel bars
1. D. Belyavski 15.03 2. A. Balandin 14.8 3. N. Kuksenkov 14.7 4. A. Cherkasov 14.7 5. N. Ignatyev 14.68 6. D. Stolyarov 14.5 7. D. Gogotov 14.45 8. K. Ignatenkov 12.9
MAG high bar
1. N. Kuksenkov 14.95 2. N. Ignatyev 14.85 3. D. Kazachkov 14.1 4. V. Kozin 14.03 5. P. Russinyak 13.7 6. E. Garibov 13.03 7. I. Pakhomenko 12.5
Rodionenko clapped his hands in dismay and turned his back on Maria Paseka when she had the fall on bars. I guess this means she has made his job difficult in terms of selecting who competes at Europeans - her vault score in finals didn't live up to the promise of the previous day and perhaps Afanasyeva will provide a better chance of gold, on floor (please God ...). Aliya Mustafina had a large form break in her routine while Nabieva performed her exercise as well as she possibly could have, for the well deserved mark of 14.625. Anastasia Grishina showed her competitive mettle with an excellent routine, for the gold! Davai Nastia!
Denis Ablyazin looks likely to be the big star of these Championships, with two golds already in hand and a potential gold on vault tomorrow. Picture courtesy of the RGF.
MAG Floor
1. Denis Ablyazin 15.35 2. David Belyavski 15.1 3. Daniil Kazachkov 14.65 4. Andrei Cherkasov 14.33 5. Kirill Prokopev 14.25 6. Dmitri Stolyarov 13.98 7. Igor Pakhomenko 13.18 8. Filip Chuglasov 12.98
MAG Pommel Horse
1. Matvei Petrov 15.68 2. Andrei Perevoznikov 15.33 3. Emin Garibov 15.3 4. Nikolai Kuksenkov 15.28 5. David Belyavski 13.83 6. Dmitri Gogotov 13.5 7. Grigori Zyrianov 12.88 8. Pavel Russinyak 12.78
MAG Rings
1. Denis Ablyazin 15.88 2. Nikolai Kuksenkov 15.3 3. Nikita Ignatyev 15.00 4. Daniil Kazachkov 14.95 5. Alexander Balandin 14.95 6. Pavel Pavlov 14.9 7. Nikita Lezhankin 13.93
In my opinion competition for places on the MAG team is intensifying as gymnasts like Ablyazin, Garibov and Belyavski mature and begin to show their strength. Selection for Euros will involve the coaches in making difficult decisions. At present of the top gymnasts only Belyavski is competing in the all around. I suspect that in Moscow, the Russian men will begin to show their class at international level - and may well outshine their female counterparts over the coming four years.
Russia has apparently improved its performance on pommel horse with four incredibly close scores at the top of the apparatus rankings. Newcomer, former Ukraine national team member Nikolai Kuksenkov has already integrated into the Russian team, placing fourth on pommels and achieving a silver medal on rings. His eligibility for Euros depends on his Russian nationality coming through in time.
Artistry and Music in Gymnastics IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF EUTERPE!
Lausanne (SUI) / FIG Office, March 05, 2013: At its recent meeting in February 2013, the Executive Committee decided to organise two workshops on artistic and musical content, which are part of the judging criteria in Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics exercises. The workshops will be held this year at the World Championships in Antwerp (BEL) for Artistic and in Kiev (UKR) for Rhythmic. They will be led by the 1st Vice-President of the FIG, Ms Slava Corn, and target choreographers and coaches primarily, with access for judges.
A panel of internationally recognized experts will be appointed under the technical leaders of both disciplines, particularly Ms Lyn Heward (CAN), Creative Director with Cirque du Soleil, Montreal, Mr Lasse Nettum (NOR), expert and specialist in music and Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Mr Hardy Fink (CAN), FIG Education and Gymnastic Academies Director.
Music and artistry are two major elements in exercise composition and judging. For this reason, FIG President, Prof. Bruno Grandi (ITA) was clear when addressing his authorities: "Artistic content and a gymnast's immersion in the music are crucial; when translated through body expression, these are the heart of an exercise. Not only do athletes need to grasp this concept, but so do choreographers and coaches. When music is properly integrated into an exercise, a sense of artistry can truly evolve," emphasized the President.
The workshops will spur the creation of an educational programme targeting coaches, a concept to be developed in cooperation with the Cirque du Soleil.
About the FIG: The International Gymnastics Federation is the governing body for gymnastics worldwide. It is the oldest established international sports federation and has participated in the Olympic Games since their revival in 1896. The FIG governs seven disciplines: Gymnastics for All, Men's Artistic, Women's Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline, Aerobic and Acrobatic. It counts 133 national member federations and boasts a 27-person staff at its international seat in Lausanne (SUI), host city of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Graceful David Belyavski has been Russia's leading AAer at these championships.
Central beat Moscow (a close result again - 259.95/259.6) ... in today's MAG competition. Find the full results here.
Kuksenkov, competing for the gold medal winning team, managed a 15.25 on pommel horse and a 15 on parallel bars - I think these scores could add something to Russia's team totals in international competition.
Garibov achieved a 15.1 on p bars and a 15.55 on high bar, with Ablyazin achieving in the 15s on all three pieces he competed.
Belyavski is thus looking the strongest - perhaps the only - all around in the senior national field at this competition - are Russia steering their men's team towards specialists?
A fresh start has been made in the Russian Federation, and yesterday Russia's stars presented themselves anew in their first small steps towards the Rio Olympics in 2016. The team's leading Olympic medallist, Aliya Mustafina, won the all around competition ahead of the unlucky bird of London, Anastasia Grishina. In third position we have youngster, first year senior Evgeniya Shelgunova. Of course, the subtext here is that the best of all, graceful, powerful, Viktoria Komova, could not compete thanks to a nagging back injury ... surely she would have beaten the lot of them if she had only been at full strength.
On the men's side, David Belyavski confirmed his position as Russia's leading all around gymnast, and joker Nikita Ignatyev gave him strong competition in second place. Many of Russia's leading male gymnasts did not appear in the all around competition, however, preferring to present on their specialist pieces. The most encouraging work came from Garibov who managed a 15.45 on pommel horse - very important to the Russians who struggle on this piece . Balandin managed a fantastic 15.7 on rings, but then Russia's talent on this piece is well established.
The influence of new beam coach Marina Bulashenko is well evident in the work of Aliya Mustafina, who has added significant new combinations to her work and seems revived in her floor choreography (which, by all accounts, Bulashenko has been helping the team with). You can see a good video of Aliya's work below, with thanks to Tatiana. Aliya came first on three apparatus : vault, bars and beam, leaving floor to her London team mate Ksenia Afanasyeva, who has added a two and a half twisting somersault to her battery of floor skills. Second placed overall, Anastasia Grishina, saw her competition spoiled by a tired double pike at the end of her floor exercise (12,6) but then she did manage to complete the double double which had seemed to be a twist too far in her London efforts. I liked the look of Grishina at this competition, she seemed significantly more confident and strong alongside her new personal coach, Viktor Razumovsky. I am expecting great things of her at her first home international, the European Championships, in Moscow, in April.
I was not especially impressed by newcomer Shelgunova, but then Valentina Rodionenko has emphasised that she is there to gain experience so perhaps we can expect better things in a year or so. Of the specialists, Maria Paseka looks to be in contention for a place on the Europeans team with strong performances on vault, where she placed second to Mustafina, and an improvable fifth place on bars.
Sadly, Anna Dementyeva seems to remain in her good reserve position, rather than having taken a step back up into contention for the main team. I think a place on the University Games team is probably more realistic for her than Europeans. Nabieva posted solid scores on bars and vault and may have qualified to vault finals but will need to keep up her training effort if she is to compete in Kazan this summer - fingers crossed for the joyful Tatiana.
I'll post below Mustafina's beam video, some links to screen captures from the live stream (thank you Albert) and links to results. More to follow, including today team finals, then later in the week the all important event finals.
See Albert's channel for some captures from yesterday's live streaming.
Watching videos of this weekend's competitions - the qualification and all around rounds of the Russian championships, medal winners from the American Cup - I am struck, more and more, by the huge difference between the American and Russian schools of gymnastics. It led me to ask the question : do artistry and acrobatics have to be mutually exclusive?
(I am afraid that I think naming 'American' gymnastics a 'school' is perhaps lending an undeserved dignity to work which has become excessively obsessed with the difficult and the consistent, but I am using the word here so as not to label unfairly those individual gymnasts who are blameless in the direction of their training.)
The FIG's vision for gymnastics is said to embrace more artistry; at least the publicity it has put about on the subject of its new Code makes that fairly plain. So perhaps the Russians, with their inconsistent brilliance and superior body carriage (Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva) will be able to fight closely with the upcoming new generation of Americans (Ohashi, Biles) whose powerful acrobatic talents and energy are NOT beautifully complemented by the usual aesthetic dimensions of the sport of artistic gymnastics.
Does acrobatics have to stand at odds with artistry? I think not. Let's think of the wonderful USSR sports acrobats who graced the world during the 1980s and 1990s. Despite the focus of their efforts on acrobatics, even the most muscled, statuesque acrobat could perform with artistry. See here, where the powerful base man can perform with grace and line, easily matching Ohashi in this department!
Coach to Carly Patterson, Evgeny Marchenko, somewhere close to six foot tall, shows even greater artistry in this presentation with his pair, Natalia Redkova.
Have the American women taken their emphasis on difficulty, consistency and energy too far? Will they eventually be stymied by a Code which professes to care about aesthetics? The Russians need to find more power and consistency in their tumbling and vaulting, that is for sure; they need to find more mental assurance in the big competitions; but then they are attempting so much more than acrobatics.
Come on FIG, have the courage of your convictions - artistry and acrobatics can be combined - but this does need to be reflected in the way that you mark your competitions. Artistry will, otherwise, die out - for sure.
The Russian Championships for MAG and WAG begin tomorrow - a good opportunity to judge how training has been going for the gymnasts. Remember that Viktoria Komova is not competing here as she has a nagging back injury, but we will be able to see Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Grishina, Ksenia Afanasyeva and senior team newcomer Evgenia Shelgunova. Tatiana Nabieva and Anna Dementieva are also in the mix. Personal coach Alexander Alexandrov is on the floor with Mustafina, as is one half of Grishina's new coaching team, Viktor Razumovsky.
The senior men are there in depth, as evidenced by a video I have seen, but their start lists have yet to be published so I will avoid mentioning names at this stage.
These national championships are part of the qualification process for the Russian teams for April's European Championships, so a lot is at stake. The Russian Gymnastics Federation will be live streaming some of the competitions, and you will find below details of the promised schedule. Podium training was transmitted online early this morning. There were reports of new combinations from Mustafina on beam, though I suppose we will have to wait and see if she uses them in competition this week.
You can view a brief online news report of the championships here.
The competition schedule is as follows . All times are Moscow.
3 March CI & CII WAG 11 am - 2:45 pm CI & CII MAG 4 - 8:15 pm 4 March C IV WAG 3 - 5:30 pm 5 March C IV MAG 3 - 6 pm 6 March C III MAG/WAG (FX, PH, R; V & UB) 11 am - 1 pm 7 March C III MAG/WAG (V, PB, HB; BB & FX) 11 am - 1 pm Online streaming will be available at the following times. Bear in mind, they may be subject to change, or the feed may be taken down unexpectedly if there is excessive online traffic.
3 March 11 am - 8:15 pm 4 March 3 to 5:30 pm 5 March 3 to 6 pm 6 March 11 am to 1 pm 7 March 11 am to 1 pm
Start lists for the competition are available at the RGF website.
Good luck to all the gymnasts!!!
And with thanks to Nora at the All Around Forum, and all on Facebook who have contributed links , translations and information - you know who you are.
