Artistry versus acrobatics???

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.