Or, if you are an old school soviet sports bureaucrat, MASSIVELY EXCITING NEWS FROM RUSSIA.
Recently, the Russian Gymnastics Federation has been reformed. Previously, the RGF was an administrative umbrella organisation with the different disciplines having separate, pretty much fully autonomous, national governing bodies. Now all the disciplines will be controlled by the RGF. Although each discipline retains a committee.
Nikita Nagornyy is vice president of the artistic gymnastics committee. I don’t know if this signals his retirement or if this a role that will always be fulfilled by a currently competing athlete.
The new head of the RGF is Oleg Belozyorov, the man who makes the trains run. He is the head of Russian railways. He is currently sanctioned by the UK, the US and the EU. Personally I would rather deal with diesel locomotives during a Siberian winter, they are far more cooperative than Valentina Rodionenko.
As part of the RGF shake up, the domestic competition schedule has changed. Previously the Russian championships was in March and the Russia Cup in the summer. From 2025, it will be switched around. The reason is not clear, but Valentina mentioned that it fitted better for the international schedule. Interestingly, she mentioned the dates of both euros in Leipzig and worlds in Jakarta.
For those who may not be aware, Russian championships is the larger, more prestigious event which has a team competition. The Russia cup is individual events only as is usually only contested by national team members plus a few others who are invited. This format dates back to the 1970s and probably made more sense in an era of many more gymnasts than now.
The team competition has changed somewhat over the years. During the days of the USSR, the teams comprised of the various affiliations ie Trade Union, Dinamo, Army Club. Meaning that gymnasts from all over the USSR could be on the same team. In 1987, the army sports club won. Their team was Shushunova, Gurova, Shevchenko, Pryakhina, Laschenova and Chudina! It was not an easy win however, as the trade unions had Omelianchik, Tuzhikova, Kolesnikova, Strazheva and Sazonenkova!
It is not like that now, the teams are comprised of cities/oblasts, making it almost impossible to defeat Moscow, although Voronezh has given it a good go in recent years. It was a bit better in the early 00s, when the gymnasts other than Moscow and st Petersburg, represented their federal regionals. The central region in 2004 had for example Khorkina, Pavlova plus top juniors like Lozhechko, Pravdina and Elizarova. Moscow had Zamolodchikova, Yezhova, Nadezhda Ivanova and St Petersburg had the Ziganshina sisters, Polina Miller and Alexandra Shevchenko.
Recently, the Russian Gymnastics Federation has been reformed. Previously, the RGF was an administrative umbrella organisation with the different disciplines having separate, pretty much fully autonomous, national governing bodies. Now all the disciplines will be controlled by the RGF. Although each discipline retains a committee.
Nikita Nagornyy is vice president of the artistic gymnastics committee. I don’t know if this signals his retirement or if this a role that will always be fulfilled by a currently competing athlete.
The new head of the RGF is Oleg Belozyorov, the man who makes the trains run. He is the head of Russian railways. He is currently sanctioned by the UK, the US and the EU. Personally I would rather deal with diesel locomotives during a Siberian winter, they are far more cooperative than Valentina Rodionenko.
As part of the RGF shake up, the domestic competition schedule has changed. Previously the Russian championships was in March and the Russia Cup in the summer. From 2025, it will be switched around. The reason is not clear, but Valentina mentioned that it fitted better for the international schedule. Interestingly, she mentioned the dates of both euros in Leipzig and worlds in Jakarta.
For those who may not be aware, Russian championships is the larger, more prestigious event which has a team competition. The Russia cup is individual events only as is usually only contested by national team members plus a few others who are invited. This format dates back to the 1970s and probably made more sense in an era of many more gymnasts than now.
The team competition has changed somewhat over the years. During the days of the USSR, the teams comprised of the various affiliations ie Trade Union, Dinamo, Army Club. Meaning that gymnasts from all over the USSR could be on the same team. In 1987, the army sports club won. Their team was Shushunova, Gurova, Shevchenko, Pryakhina, Laschenova and Chudina! It was not an easy win however, as the trade unions had Omelianchik, Tuzhikova, Kolesnikova, Strazheva and Sazonenkova!
It is not like that now, the teams are comprised of cities/oblasts, making it almost impossible to defeat Moscow, although Voronezh has given it a good go in recent years. It was a bit better in the early 00s, when the gymnasts other than Moscow and st Petersburg, represented their federal regionals. The central region in 2004 had for example Khorkina, Pavlova plus top juniors like Lozhechko, Pravdina and Elizarova. Moscow had Zamolodchikova, Yezhova, Nadezhda Ivanova and St Petersburg had the Ziganshina sisters, Polina Miller and Alexandra Shevchenko.
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