Times have been hard on the famed Russian National Gymnastics Team in recent years. For most of my lifetime they have been indisputably the best in the world. The gymnasts we studied to learn about technique. The coaches we most admired. And emulated.
The future looks bright, however, for Head Coach Andrei Rodionenko and the team. For the third time in sequence, Russia won the European Junior Championships. That shows depth and consistency.
Here’s a recap of the meet last weekend on GYMmedia:
… With 180.625 points they won the event ahead of France (170.500) and the Netherlands (169.959), who both won a team medal in the juniors’ field for the first time.
Surprisingly, the two-time silver medalist of the last years, Romania, and also Italy (bronze in 2004) remained without medals on the ranks 4 and 5 today.
With more than 60 points Tatiana NABIEVA from Russia won the all-around competition in front of her team mate Aliya MUSTAFINA …
I’d love to see Russia back and challenging the USA, Romania and China for the Olympic team title one day.
Blythe on Gymblog has some reservations.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 