Russian Cup: Pre-Podium Training Training?

Russian Cup is this week and it appears as though the gymnasts were given a day of podium training before the official podium training. Luckily for us The Couch Gymnast had a reporter in Penza and reported on some very interesting tidbits. With that said this appears to be a much more interesting Russian Cup than last year's almost no show by any of the top Russian gymnasts.

The reporter saw Viktoria Komova but did not witness her training but rather talking to Andrei Rodionenko. There shouldn't be anything read into it because it isn't the official podium training and this is the same gym that the Russian Nationals were held for the previous couple of years. I wouldn't make it a big deal until something otherwise makes it one.

The other major gymnast, Aliya Mustafina, appears to be taking Russian Cup more serious than was lead on. Valentina Rodionenko had previously said that Aliya was the only gymnast that was going to receive a bye for this event and it seemed like she wouldn't even show up until last week and now she might even do more than a bars set.

Even more appears to be going on as it was revealed that Aliya has put an arabian, on beam, back into her routine. She had been missing a lot of the connections in her routine lately and could do with the extra bonus that an arabian is worth but is a big risk. There appears to be other little changes in her routine which could be a test for potential World routines.

Maria Kharenkova was mentioned as performing solid sets on beam which isn't a surprise given that it's her signature piece. Alla Sosnitskaya is still having issues with her beam routine but is adding interesting combinations. The biggest surprise was the mention of Ekaterina Kramarenko, the vault flop girl. She hasn't been seen much since the 2008 Olympics but could be making a comeback. She was mentioned as having added a Pak salto to a Van Leeuwen or something of the sort. If that was true then she is really going for it on bars.

I'm really interested in seeing the action start on wednesday. It is guaranteed to be a fun-filled week of gymnastics.

via The Couch Gymnast - for the full in-depth rundown.

Vika in Penza with some awesome looking pants.

Breaking Down: Gymnastics Turn Combinations on Floor

The current CoP was updated to reward turn combination but not just any turns can gain the connection bonus. The CoP will only reward a very limited kinds of turns and will only give out one tenth bonuses for any turn combination on floor. For those that don't know what a gymnastics turn is then you should check my previous post here.

The CoP states that a turn worth a D or higher connected to a turn worth a B will earn a one tenth bonus. The specific turn being discussed here is a turn that is performed on one leg and not the turn that is performed on a back or another way. The other method of gaining a one tenth bonus is by performing two B elements in connection without a step.

The current queen of turn combinations is Ksenia Afansyeva, she performs two different complex turn combinations. She can perform a double attitude turn, Semenova, into a double turn - a D turn into a B turn. The second combination that Ksenia is capable of performing is a double turn with leg held at horizontal into a single turn with leg held at 180 degrees. Combining a difficult D turn into a B valued turn. Ksenia really attacks this combination turn and almost goes for a double to double combination. The video below will show that she gets a good 1 and a half turn on the second turn.

There are very few other gymnasts that have these turn combinations down but one that is doing them is Maria Kharenkova who does the same horizontal leg turn as Ksenia. I've noticed some of the US gymnasts are doing turn combinations as well but none are really working on anything extraordinary. 

I'm almost certain that I saw Anastasia Grishina training a double turn with leg at horizontal into an illusion turn but I lack the video to proof that. If anyone has any videos of combinations being done please leave a link in the comments and I will update this post. 

FIG Rules | WAG Code of Points - BB - Devaluation of Element #5.513 (D)

The FIG has a YouTube channel these days and has been uploading videos showing some of it's devaluations. The element number 5.513 has been by far the element every gymnast has added to their balance beam routine - almost every. Element 5.513 is a salto backward stretched with both legs together, also commonly referred to as a layout on beam. It is valued in the CoP's as an E element but will be devalued to a D element if the gymnasts is deemed to deviated from the requirements of the element.

The move was emblematic of the Chinese gymnasts in the 90s and performed by almost every nation now. The emergence of the layout on beam can surely be attributed to the modification of the CoP after the 2012 Olympic games. The newest CoP added a whole new method of determining connection values and series bonuses that weren't around before. Before a gymnast that wanted to win a beam title needed to either have a highly valued element or an extremely complicated routine, an arabian or a full-twisting back tuck. The complexity used to fall on the judges hands as the rules weren't very clear on what a connection was, which lead to many controversial 'fantom' tenths being rewarded - best case of this was Nastia Liukin's balance beam routine in the 2008 All Around final.


In FIG's video release they show a lot of gymnasts that have legs separated going into the jump and don't float down but rather pull their body's down in a piked form. The gymnasts are clearly 'cheating' the jump and are making it easier for themselves to land. A gymnast should try and get as most height and let the jump float on down instead of forcing it down. If you take a look at all of the examples you will see just how evident it is.

The sad thing is that there are only a handful of gymnast out there that are performing the element how it is supposed to be done. I can think of Maria Kharenkova, Angelina Melnikova and Anastasia Grishina but not many others.

Example of a well executed layout at around the 22 second mark the element is being performed.