Category: ethics

Afan retires

Leading Russian gymnast since 2007, Ksenia Afanasyeva has retired from gymnastics for medical reasons, reports Alexei Fililov from R Sport.

Valentina Rodionenko explained that Ksenia has a serious kidney illness. She is in hospital and will take not just days but weeks to recover. …

Ksenia Afanasyeva takes retirement

Afan

… Ksenia Afanasyeva competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the 2011 World Floor champion, the 2013 and 2015 European Floor champion, and the 2013 Universiade Vault and Floor champion. …

Evgeniya Shelgunova, 18, will replace Afanasyeva as the traveling alternate for a team that includes Aliya Mustafina, Angelina Melnikova, Seda Tutkhalyan, Daria Spiridonova, and Maria Paseka. Natalia Kapitonova and Lilia Akhaimova are the non-traveling alternates. …

RRG

Of course we must wait until Sunday to find out if the IOC will allow Russian gymnasts to compete in Rio. 😦

Russian gymnasts should NOT be banned from Rio

Whilst FIG fully supports the IOC’s policy of “Zero Tolerance in Doping”, it strongly feels that not all Russian athletes of all sports should be banned and found guilty for actions in other sports and federations.

Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics and Trampoline athletes cannot be judged based on other sports. …

FIG raises serious concerns about possible blanket ban on Russian athletes

Rewriting Russian Gymnastics has been closely following this story – No Russia for Rio? – WADA/McLaren report set to recommend blanket ban

The good news?

IOC Executive Board member blasts USADA and CCES for calling for blanket Rio 2016 ban on Russian athletes in leaked letter

For the record, the Olympic boycotts of 1980 and 1984 were also terribly unfair to completely innocent athletes.

Mustafina

Western Australia Institute of Sport closing

I’ve been there once. A fantastic facility. This is terrible news.

Aussie gymnasts are devastated by the surprise announcement.

Gymnastics Australia posted Allana Slater’s response.

Here’s GA’s response.

Australian Gymnastics Blog open letter:
The Hon. Mia Davies MLA BMM
Minister for Sport and Recreation
Western Australia

GA President Jacqui Briggs-Weatherill:

“I would have expected that the chair of the Western Australian Institute of Sport [Peter Abery] would have at least had the courtesy to ring me and discuss this with me at a very minimum…I don’t even fully understand the reasons this decision has been made.

“We expected some cuts to the program because funding is tight across sport. We had no idea they were looking to close the program.”

The gym closure – set for December 31 – will equate to a saving of about $700,000 annually for the WAIS, which is funded by the Western Australian government and leave Melbourne’s elite training centre as the lone facility of its kind in Australia for female artistic gymnasts. …

The Age

should Romania have sent Larisa?

Balance Beam Situation thinks so:

WHY ROMANIA GOT IT WRONG

larisa

The announcement that Ponor was selected instead was so poorly done that I’m not sure the Federation was particularly organized on the decision.

related – Amanda Turner – For Iordache, and Romania, A Painful Olympic Outcome

Click through for a detailed history of the situation.

Everyone agrees that Larisa should have had automatic qualification to the Olympics for her AA medal at 2015 Worlds. If that had happened Romania could have sent both gymnasts. 😦

Chusovitina 15,600 vault

Here’s what FIG judges award a 15,600. 😦

landing

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

When are FIG WTC going to fix the vault rules?

Second vault very impressive, however. She’s in good shape for Rio.

(via Gymternet)

USOC revokes credentials for FloSports

The USOC has revoked Olympics and U.S. Olympic trials credentials for sports media startup FloSports for publishing video footage of several Olympics trials events. NBCUniversal owns exclusive rights to Olympics and team-selection events …

FloSports CEO & co-Founder Martin Floreani disputes the charge and criticized the USOC. …

Sports Business Daily

FloSports (including FloGymnastics) is a for profit company often criticized for pushing the limits of what’s legal and what’s ethical.

FloGymnastics has certainly improved over the years. But many are reluctant to link to FloGymnastics as they almost never link back.

judges reprimanded

Judges Valeria Lakerbai and Rodrigo Alberto Lagos Ahumada reprimanded.

Two Artistic Gymnastics judges receive a warning by FIG Disciplinary Commission

Too few FIG judges are called to account, in my opinion. We need more accountability, scrutiny and transparency in Artistic judging. Most other judges sports do a better job.

Louis Smith should be reprimanded

Louis has made many mistakes over the years. Seems to enjoy controversy.

Though this one is more juvenile than anything else, I messaged British Gymnastics recommending he be reprimanded. His reaction to the public furor was undisciplined at best. He’s a bad ambassador for the sport. This behaviour is exactly what we want to discourage. 😦

Carly Patterson said she didn’t mind, if that’s a factor.

As a one apparatus contender on one of the best teams in the world, Louis should be doing everything right to stay on the A squad. There are a dozen guys waiting to step into his place.

related – British Gymnast Louis Smith Gets A Perfect 10 In Sexism

coach Eric Harrison to prison

French / American Gymnastics coach Eric Harrison was sentenced to 2 years in prison with 1 year suspended.

Amongst his other crimes, he had a video camera in the locker room in Guise, France. It looks like a pen.

pen video camera

Harrison edited the website Gymnet.org, now gone from the internet. We’ve deleted all links to Gymnet.org from this site, as well.

I want to thank a member of the former Gymnet forum for alerting us to this criminal.

bias against Chinese gymnasts?

The Art of Gymnastics blog posted a thoughtful overview on the perception of Chinese gymnasts in Western media and general gymnastics fans.

Coaches and judges love Chinese gymnastics, especially Bars & Beam. Every insider I know feels China will be amongst the top 3 teams in Rio.

But I would agree that popular western media a bit unbalanced in coverage.

Read the post for yourself – Body Bias and Micro-Aggression: A Case Study in Lopsided Scrutiny

Shang Chunsong is used as an example. Shang is listed at 1.40m (4 ft 7 in), 35kg (77 lb).

There are many Chinese women this small. Shang’s not underage.

mass of Olympians

If Bela Karolyi or anyone else hints that she’s underage, he should be called out.

That said, China has deliberately cheated in the past. I’m more suspicious of that nation than others. (I’m more suspicious of Russia as a nation than others when it comes to doping, as well.)

Trust, but verify. 🙂

Thanks Cordelia.