Elena Eremina - straight Tkachev

   Eremina in 2016

St Petersburg has a tradition of great gymnastics - from 1980 and 1988 Olympic Champions Alexander Detiatin and Elena Shushunova, to this year's Junior European Champion, Elena Eremina via  World Champion Tatiana Nabiyeva and European beam champion Evgenia Kuznetsova.

And we shouldn't forget St Petersburg as a home of great innovation.  Elena Shushunova's half blind change to Markelov was astonishing in its time.  And then, we come to possibly my favourite single gymnastics element - the straight Tkachev, which Nabiyeva performed at the 2010 World Championships.

The legacy and heritage continues, and now 14 year old Elena Eremina is practicing the same skill in training.  You can see a video of this at her coach, Vera Kiryashova's Instagram account (https://instagram.com/p/BGsMgtNnqSk/).  Vera and her husband Alexander also coached Tatiana Nabiyeva.

Coach Vladimir Zaglada, who has held senior coaching roles in the USA, Russia and the Soviet Union, has commented - 

'I am very proud of the fact that Russian Gymnastics  still developing this counter swing's technique born in Russia more than 40 years ago!

It is quite obvious that particularly this kind of Reverse Hecht which was performed on such high technical level could decorate the routine of the future Olympic Medalist! 

My personal congratulations to the coaches from St. Petersburg, Vera and Alexander Kiryashov,  their brilliant gymnast. I wish Good Luck to them and Russia at Rio-2016'.

The Tkachev flight was first performed in international competition by Alexander Tkachev, in the Riga Cup, 1977.  Alexander now coaches in the USA, and his unique element is pervasive in both men's and women's gymnastics today.

Alexander performs the Tkachev somersault in 1977 - https://youtu.be/cxchk6yGgsY.

    Nabiyeva in 2010

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FIG clears Vera Kiryashova of judging impropriety

   Coach and judge Vera Kiryashova with one of her world champion gymnasts, Tatiana Nabiyeva

TASS (Albert Starodubtsev) reports that Russian WAG judge Vera Kiryashova has been cleared of biased judging at last year's World Championships.  The well known judge, also coach to champions Tatiana Nabiyeva and Elena Eremina, stood accused by the Women's Technical Committee of overscoring the beam routines of Maria Kharenkova, Seda Tutkhalyan and Viktoria Komova.   All expenses were reimbursed in respect of the disciplinary hearing (1,000 Swiss Francs).

Olympic licenses have already been handed out to judges, and Mrs Kiryashova was denied hers in favour of her compatriot Maria Ulyankina (personal coach to Maria Paseka and Seda Tutkhalyan) pending the result of the disciplinary hearing.  She says that she will not pursue its reinstatement as that would involve denying her colleague the opportunity to judge at the Games.  'I was banned from the Olympics before any investigations had taken place', said Kiryashova, 'even though my work to date had been rated as excellent by the FIG'.

Vera Kiryashova was assigned to work as an execution judge in team qualifications at Glasgow Worlds.  Details of the WTC's allegations were made available to Kiryashova in a letter of 25th March.  The disciplinary hearing took place in Lausanne on 11th May.  

Source - http://tass.ru/sport/3339206

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