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.

Gymnast Update: Anastasia Sidorova Back in Training!

Russian gymnast Anastasia Sidorova is back in training after failing to make the 2012 Russian Olympic team. Anastasia S. was pegged by many to make the team but was removed from real contention because of a bike accident. I'll describe the accident, she was riding a bicycle and apparently broke her wrists when her bike stopped. A gymnast is really really limited without the use of their wrists - they can train bars with a broken leg but not with broken wrists. She was able to make a run at a spot at trials but didn't have an amanar vault, had a weak beam set and her floor exercise was very watered down from when she was Russian champion on floor.

The videos being filtered of her are just recently out - within three hours of this post. She appears to be at her home gym and is training on vault. The video shows that she is the in the early phase of her comeback and is almost at the same point as Aliya Mustafina is. She does the basic yurchenko layout, then the full twisting yurchenko and then attempts a double twisting yurchenko. She does not successfully get the double twist in but I'm sure she can get it after more training.

I find this news to be a positive light because this particular gymnast is very talented and was on my predicted 2012 Russian national team. With that said I don't know if she has what it takes to make the 2016 team. The team is very light and needs top caliber gymnasts to supplant the aging talents but can she do it? I have hope that she can make a successful comeback and at least make a world team.  

Via Alyssia Spaan on Youtube - She always scores the best video!

Gymnastics News! | Aly Raisman

After reading little things here and there and seeing pictures of a supposed comeback attempt by the three time olympic medalist, nothing is more convincing then seeing her tumbling. Aly Raisman posted a video of her tumbling on her instagram page - hopefully shot recently. There had been videos of her 'training' but nothing ever really showed her working out except for her trying to fix her poor toe-point. The video tells me that she is back and is definitely working on a comeback for a shot at Rio 2016.

The video shows her working on an arabian double piked. I will summarize what an arabian is now but will talk about that term extensively in a later post. An arabian is a half turn, the gymnast starts from a back entry and then takes the half turn and proceeds to forward twice. The most typical arabian being performed on the floor is an arabian double tuck, valued at an E. Gymnasts that are currently performing that particular skill are Aliya Mustafina and Maria Kharenkova.

The piked arabian is slightly more difficult, valued an F, and not that many gymnasts on the women's field are performing it. Part of the reason that there aren't that many people training it is because front moving saltos have difficult landings. If you see the video you will notice that she takes a very big step forward which would probably incur a three tenths, .3, in deductions.

Enjoy.

 Via GymnasticsCoaching