A very interesting post by Translating Russian Gymnastics:
Watching the Russian Cup this week, I was struck by the realization that Maria Kharenkova, at all of eighteen years old, was essentially the grandmother of the national team at this competition.
Since the retirements (or at least longterm breaks) of Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anastasia Grishina, Anna Dementyeva, and so many more this last quad, the Russian program has started to look increasingly young. But juxtapose Russian Cup with the Universiade, and the youth of this Russian team starts looking a lot more artificial.
Here’s the thing: despite what it looks like on the surface, Russia is not in want of successful or dedicated “older” athletes. Most of you probably already know of one or two of these athletes.
Tatiana Nabieva …
Maria Paseka …
Eleonora Afanasyeva, nee Goryunova …
Daria Yelizarova …Daria trains mostly on her own, without a coach, at her home gym. Despite being a member of the reserve national team, she’s rarely invited to national team training camps, even though her personal coach works at Round Lake, which is the reason she’s forced to train without a coach most of the time in the first place. When she won floor at the 2014 Russian Cup, she couldn’t be sent to Worlds because the national team staff had not even bothered to get her a proper FIG license.
In fact, in many ways the Russian system is set up to encourage athletes to continue training after what is traditionally considered the “correct” age of an international elite gymnast. Russian athletes don’t have to worry about NCAA eligibility. They begin making money as soon as they start winning regional medals. Not only is there prize money attached to those medals, but as they move up through the ranks, they can actually start earning an income just by being members of the national team …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 