Alexei Nemov’s memoir “Fair Play”

Luba Baladzhaeva:

The book (2009) is absolutely fascinating and also includes chapters by his coach and his wife. However, it’s never been translated into English and likely won’t ever be. I am currently reading the book and posting the highlights in English on twitter. All the tweets are then assembled into a story on Storify.

His first coach kept notes and wrote that at the beginning Nemov was physically weak, lacked endurance, poorly behaved and was prone to sudden mood changes …

He talks about food and hunger a lot. He still remembers (and holds a grudge) how Voropayev stole his breakfast …

He bought his first car in 1995. At the time coaches didn’t like when gymnasts left the Round Lake territory even on the days off, so Arkayev often confiscated his car keys …

Between 1995 and 1997 there was a huge drug problem at Round Lake. Mostly weed, but some heavier drugs as well …

Storify – Fair Play by Alexei Nemov

https://twitter.com/cherity1313/status/930803996918517760

Ponor retires at the Mexican Open

One of the all time greats.

Age 30, Cătălina Ponor, is a triple Olympian. (2004, 2012, 2016)

During her career, she won 23 Olympic, World and European medals. More than a half of them (12) were gold.

past U.S. male High School gymnasts needed

An author wants to interview you on your history.

katcornetta (a) gmail.com

Details on Patreon.

 

The Magic of Winning by Svetlana Khorkina

Great gymnast. One of the best all-time.

But I dismiss most of what she says today.

Luba posted highlights of her new book in English.

Nadia’s perfect 10

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

Bars dismount – Tanac

REPOST from 2010:

A great old school dismount. Back in the day it was competed by many girls, especially the ones who did not like flyaways.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That’s Nellie Kim competing it with a full twist. But it’s today a banned skill in the F.I.G. Code of Points. Happily, it’s still allowed in some levels of competition, including NCAA.

It went by many names depending on where you lived: “Spank Back”, “Whip Salto”, … Also, butt beat, Munich Salto, …

Update: Chris, of Coaching Gymnastics in the new Millennium , sends us this link: Biography – Joyce Tanac-Schroeder. The skill was, at one time, named after her.