The leaders in the main events in Olympic order are USA, Biles, Biles, Kocian, Biles, Biles. American gymnasts fill the first three spots AA, the first spot on vault, two of the top three on bars, and the top two in beam and floor respectively. The Soviet Union was never as dominant as this - nor was the scoring as inflated. Like the USSR, America deserves its success in general, but the bars scoring in particular has raised some eyebrows. I am reminded of the 1972 Olympics when the Soviet Union took almost all the gold - but then again in one, bars, the winner was East Germany's Karin Janz. Even in those days a slight sense of reality pervaded the scoring.
Still though, USA's dominance is unquestionable. Biles' vaulting and tumbling took my breath away. America has found its style of gymnastics victory and made it the style of gymnastics globally. Only the Netherlands has attempted to impose its own sense of direction on the sport's identity. It has, so far, made little more than a slight dent in the face of gymnastics as a sporting cultural form, but at least the ambition and imagination is there. Russia could do well to examine the thinking behind what this small country has achieved. Surely, with all their heritage of technical excellence and innovation, sprinkled with a flair for the individual and artistic, Russia could create a new paradigm for gymnastics that combines the elegance of the past with the athleticism of the new contemporary acrobatic gymnastics. In MAG, we see this in the work of Belyavsky and, for me, Stretovich, but the thinking needs to extend beyond the individual gymnast into the global planning of every gymnast's training right across Russia from toddler to champion, and into the competition strategy and programming of the best elite gymnasts.
Yes, the only answer is for our Russians to compete here with dignity, then to go home and think again. The gymnasts do not lack ambition or talent, but the coaching needs an overhaul. Russia needs to lead, not follow, in the sport of gymnastics and its coaches need to speak and live the rhetoric of winning ways if they are to succeed. Strategy and direction needs a total rethink. Change has to be in the air if Russia is to refresh and find its winning identity in women's gymnastics once more. Russia's coaches have proved remarkably effective in envisioning and implementing radical change in many different countries around the world - see what Alexandrov did for Brazil, Zaglada for Britain, and that's just a beginning! - now it is time to do the same, only better, for their own country.
I'll write more about this after the Games. In the meantime, congratulations to Aliya, Seda, Angelina, Maria and Dasha, and good luck for tomorrow's final!
I'll post images of the key results below, but you will find them easier to read at the link above.
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