Universiade - gymnasts arrive in Kazan - Mustafina a question mark

The Gymnastics Centre, Kazan.  It can seat 3,200 spectators.Russia's gymnasts have arrived in Kazan and are ready to begin their competition on Sunday, with the WAG team final.  The teams travelled there by train, a journey of around eleven hours from Moscow, and the...

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Quick updates - Moscow Dynamo, Boguinskaia on Alexandrov and the Anadia Cup

High summer has hit and with it an uncharacteristically high load of features to write ... to keep things up to date I will provide some brief links here to all the latest news.The historic Moscow Dynamo club, home to champions past and present including Emin Garibov, Sergei...

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Profile of a Russian gymnastics fan - Valeria

Valeria was sitting right next to me in the Olympiski Arena, Moscow, during the first day of the men's and women's event finals at the European Championships.  Her enthusiasm was infectious, her English excellent, and we soon got talking.  I'm really curious to...

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Russia announces teams for Universiade

Tatiana Nabieva will compete on vault and barsRussian teams for the Universiade (gymnastics competitions take place 7th to 10th July) have been announced. Team format is 5-4-3 : MAG : David Belyavski, Nikolai Kuksenkov, Denis Ablyazin, Emin Garibov, Mattei Petrov. Substitute...

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World class - but they never competed at a World Championships ...

They were brilliant, but did not make it to their final national teams for the World Championships, thanks to the sheer strength in depth of the Soviet team, or because they peaked too young. Enjoy a few of the best gymnasts never seen at World level - perhaps you would like to suggest a few more of your own?Yulia Kut, floor exercise, 1987Nadezhda...

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Alexandrov and Mustafina update: RGF confirms Alexandrov's departure

The RGF has now confirmed that Alexandrov has left Russia : thank you Laerke and Jennifer Ann for the link.  A brief summary of an interview with Valentina Rodionenko follows : Alexandrov's contract as national coach terminated at the end of last year; his acting role...

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Alexander Alexandrov to Brazil

RRG can confirm (with thanks to Vladimir Zaglada) that Alexander Alexandrov has now left Moscow (with effect from 1st June) and will be taking up a coaching position in Brazil as soon as the fine details are sorted out. Patience please as we try to verify the exact details ... eyes peeled for Brazil or Russian press reports.Aliya Mustafina fans, don't...

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Will the real Aliya Mustafina please step forward?

Not a fake profile ... Aliya's unofficial fanpage has over 50,000 followersHave you seen the film Spartacus, the bit where the Romans try to get Spartacus to give himself up, but fail because there are so many people who claim to be him?The gymnastics online community is getting...

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Stravinsky's Rite of Spring - 100th anniversary

Yesterday marked the one hundredth anniversary of the first performance of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring, choreographed by Nijinsky. It caused a riot.  Here is a production from the Marinsky Theatre, St Petersburg.Now watch the famous floor routine by 1988 Olympian, 1989 World all around bronze medallist Olga Strazheva, set to an extract of the...

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Midsummer madness - high season gymnastics 2013

Anastasia Grishina at this spring's European Championships.  Courtesy: RIA NovostiIt seems to be a long time since the Russian team has had such a prolonged quiet time in training.  All I know is that currently, the teams are taking a short break before returning to...

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Photo comparisons II - back flip, split leaps, Tkachev

Many thanks to Liz McOsker who has contributed these fantastic photo collages comparing various skills - back flip (Komova/Wieber), Tkachev (Afanasyeva/Raisman) and split leaps (various) as performed by the American and Russian gymnasts.Words fail ...

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Svetlana Khorkina - the first Russian World AA Champion

She was the first Russian All Around World Champion, competing here in 1997 on the final piece of the first of three gold medal winning all around performances at World Championships.  She was the Queen of bars, taking gold on the apparatus at two Olympics (1996 and 2000) and five World Championships (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001).  The first...

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Photo compare collages - Mustafina/Raisman, Komova/Douglas

Lifje has been hard at work, producing these picture collages comparing Olympians Alexandra Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas with their Russian counterparts, Aliya Mustafina and Viktoria Komova. I'll let both pictures speak mostly for themselves, but the differences are absolutely...

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Is gymnastics still Russian? A post-Europeans, early Olympiad perspective

Mustafina needs more connections without intermediate swing, says coach ZagladaRussian gymnastics is at another one of those turning points ... at the beginning of a new Olympiad, it is time to review and renew.  This post examines the state of Russian WAG gymnastics today,...

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A Day in the Life of Svetlana Boguinskaia - 1992

Svetlana Boguinskaia during team qualifications at the 1988 OlympicsI'm lucky enough to own a copy of a limited special edition entitled 'Svetlana Boguinskaia - L'Etoile de la Gymnastique - Le Charme Slave'.  It is full of pictures of the most photogenic gymnast ever, the...

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1974 World Gymnastics Championships - USSR WAG video

The 1974 World Championships, held in Varna, Bulgaria, were all about Ludmilla Tourischeva. As reigning 1970 World Champion and 1972 Olympic Champion, she took four golds, a silver and a bronze here, affirming her status as Queen of Gymnastics. She medalled on every event.Just look at her bars routine if you want confirmation of her genius - around...

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Nemov and Plushchenko advertise Mercedes cars - TV advertisement

2000 Olympic champion, 12-time Olympic medal winner, Alexei Nemov, now appears in a (no doubt, lucrative) advertisement for Mercedes sports cars, with ice skater Evgenyi Plushchenko.Link to Yout...

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Russian WAG qualifying, London 2012 - videos

Many thanks to Gabriel McDonough, who has posted videos - no commentary - of the Russian WAG team during qualifications last summer.  A nice reminder of a great competition, and a lot of work for Gabriel in editing and uploading them.I'm certainly going to be spending some time this weekend, viewing the routines again.VaultBarsBeamFl...

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Evgenyi Grebyonkin : 'it would be risky to show our whole strategy in the first year of the Olympic cycle'

All Sport has an excellent interview with Russian WAG head coach Evgenyi Grebyonkin, which I am summarising here with help from Lupita.  Grebyonkin reveals some of the planned competitions for the girls, along wth some intriguing teasers hinting at secret upgrades. ...

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David Belyavski : 'We can beat the British gymnasts'

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