Are Belarus and Soldatova Tired of the Permanent Second Place?

As delicate as a flower, lyrical, smooth and very, very high skilled, Katya Halkina should have won medals art this European Championship, but she made many mistakes. Still, the team from Belarus is very strong and deserves to one day finally win gold as a team. The problem is that they do not project enough confidence. Perhaps in the mind of many, they will always be second best after Russia. And that is unfortunate. Or, as the American President Donald Trump would say, "SAD."

Yes, Katya was sad and next time will be better, if she continues to work hard. She had a difficult time with some of the routines, especially the clubs in the team championships (left) and waited for her score knowing she could do a lot better.

Here is the other question: how can someone as talented as Sasha Soldatova only win one individual medal? Well, it happened because, in terms of apparatus technique, she is only good with ball. It's even more sad because, well, she is incredible. Her balances, pivots, jumps, her emotional expression: all in a class of their own and way better than the Averini sisters, who move around without any regard for the music. Actually, at this event, Sasha's expressions, especially with ribbon showed a new level of intensity. The overall strength of the routine: not so much.

Perhaps gymnastics scoring should change once again. The Averini should be penalized for not showing any synchronization with the music. What they are demonstrating is not "rhythmic" gymnastics. It is a complete lack of rhythm. Their errors are not being counted and they are pushed to gold in front of many better gymnasts who work just as hard.

But the hope is that Alina Harnasko (below) will start looking at the medals with even more intensity, too, that Halkina will clean up her routines and blossom into the amazingly graceful flower that she is, and that Sasha will rise to her true potential. Let's restore the grace and strength of this sport and make it inspire audiences around the globe!

European Championship: Who Will Make the Top 8?

The 2015 European Championship for individual seniors and junior groups is less than two weeks away. This year, Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, will host this exciting event.  I hope this means the girls from Belarus will win medals!

As far as the top 8 for this event, I expect that the first 4 will contain two Russians, Rizatdinova from the Ukraine and Staniouta from Belarus. The big question for me is whether Mamun from Russia will perform and whether she will finally show her routines in their shining, flawless quality, especially the clubs. I think Rita has better routines than the other 2 Russians and she deserves to get rewarded for them. Will Rita perform confidently? Nobody can question she has shown masterful execution with hoop and ribbon. But she needs to take the ball routine, and especially the clubs, to the same level.

For spots 4-7, I see the following gymnasts fighting quite an exciting battle: the experienced Neta Rivkin from Israel, the young, but wonderful Katsyarina Halkina from Belarus, and Marina Durunda from Azerbaijan who absolutely  dazzled at the last couple of big tournaments. My preference is for Durunda and Halkina and I hope they motivate more seasoned gymnasts to show new, more interesting routines.Although I love Durunda, I think the home advantage will really boost Halkina in Minsk.  Halkina' s hoop is her strongest exercise, but I also see a lot of promise for her ball routine, which she performs with this elegant blue leotard.

But I would like to hope that Marina Durunda will step up to the challenge to show that she is a better and more interesting gymnast than many in the elite, with very intense routines, and exceptionally clean lines. Marina got a lot of praise for her exciting ribbon routine. I also love her hoop exercise very much and would love to see her receive higher scores for all of her hard work, and all the control and elegance she shows.

Who will take the 8th spot? This is perhaps the most interesting question. While several gymnasts have a chance including Moustafaeva from France, Filanovsky from Israel, and Shafizada from Azerbaijan, my favorites for entering the elite this year are the Greek Varvara Filiou who has added  a lot of difficulty and even more expression to her routines, and, most importantly, the Georgian star Salome Pazhava.  Salome has already shown quite a strong presence, especially with clubs and hoop. Here is Salome preparing for her exceptional dance with knives to traditional Georgian music. Blue does seem to be this season's color!

I would still like to hope that this championship will be a big break for Varvara, who totally deserves a spot among the world's best athletes.

Katsyarina Halkina and Her Brave, Brave Heart

This year Katsyarina Halkina from Belarus has been performing very risky routines and winning medals. We still think of her as the novice on the team, always following the established leader Staniouta. But did you know that in 2011, when Halkina was only 14, she had to make a decision whether to have heart surgery in order to continue her training as a world-class athlete?

This interview with her (in Russian) explains that she had to have a surgical procedure involving a heart valve, so that she could be able to support the extreme physical demands of training and competitive sport:
http://charter97.org/ru/news/2014/12/30/133197/

If Halkina had chosen to leave competitive sport, she would have been able to have a normal life without surgery. But she made a choice to follow her talent and passion.

Halkina, her family and coaches must feel very proud of the choice she made as a human being and an athlete, which is to always to try to improve, despite unexpected difficulties and circumstances she cannot control.

Beauty and Grace Take Over Los Angeles

This weekend, in the first major competition for the season, rhythmic gymnasts from all over the world are going to show off new routines at L.A. Lights.

Past medalists include world champion Rizatdinova from the Ukraine, European champion Charkashyna from Belarus, Maximenko from the Ukraine, Staniouta from Belarus, and, my new persona favorite, Galkina from Belarus, who won the tournament as a junior. Here is Galkina at last year's worlds. She is very athletic and dynamic:



I am also excited about this year's participants, particularly those by Iliana Rhythmic Gymnastics, out of Philadelphia, coached by one of my favorite gymnasts from the past. I would like to highlight Evgeniya Chernukhina, a very promising representative of this club:





Here is the most up to date participant list:

http://lalightsmeet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/LAL-2015-Competitor-List-by-CLUB-1-3-2015.pdf



I wish all the participants the best of health and the strength to perform strong, expressive routines!

What a Wonderful World (Championship)

The world championship in Kiev brought fair results that pleased many, if not most fans. As a fan, I am pleased because two of the gymnasts, who I wrote about back in 2011, Mamun from Russia (ball and clubs champion), and Narkevich from Belarus (as part of the Russian group) became world champions. I liked them a lot back then and I am very happy for them now.

Yana Kudryavtseva, on the other hand, was the absolutely uncontested and incomparable world champion. Before her last routine, she actually gestured to the Russian national coach, as if to say, "Don't worry, I'll win it."




My other favorite, Melitina Staniouta, came back with three bronze medals and I hope to see her win gold, too, she deserves it. How about the host country and everyone's favorite Ukrainians? I was not surprised to see Ganna Rizatdinova win with hoop. Hoop is by far her best routine this season:





And Alina Maksymenko got  a bronze with clubs, too, after numerous errors, small and large, that she made in her other routines.

Still, she was smiling the moment she stepped out in front of the audience loves her so much. I don't know if she is planning to retire. I think she is still young and she can work on focusing better and performing cleaner routines. But it seems she thoroughly enjoyed herself anyway.

New stars have risen, too, on the world gymnastics horizon. One of them is the Greek Varvara Filiou, who I have really liked lately. She impressed me A LOT during the European Championships,  the Mediterranean games and the Kazan Universiade. She placed 4th with ribbon at this World Championship so I hope many medals await her, and overall, a great career full of health and fan love. Congratulations!

Flying Hoops and Hopes: First Day of the European Championship

I watched the European Championship live from Vienna last night and loved the performances of all gymnast, both new stars and some well-established veterans.

A great hope for Greek gymnastics, Varvara Filou may be warming up her shoulders here, but her lines looked clean and strong in her performance at the EC so far.

Meanwhile, Margarita Mamun from Russia showed no nerves and got stellar scores with ball and hoop.


Alexandra Piscupescu, on the other hand, is not just a hopeful but the best Romanian rhythmic gymnast to date. She deserves to make finals and should be proud of herself.



Judges, please, give Alexandra good marks! ;-) And while we are at it, give them to Silvia Miteva, too. She made minor errors in her pivots and missed a risk with ball, but she showed strong routines and choreography as usual. This may be her last European championship!



Halkina from Belarus, a new hope for this gymnastics powerhouse, looks sad after dropping the hoop and with a reason! This error may put Belarus out of the medals, which would be very sad. Meanwhile, Lala Yusifova from Azerbaijan is just short of the 17.00 mark but her hoop and her spirit flew very high. I hope to see her win medals next year!







And, finally, the question remains: who will win more gold, Mamun or Kudryavtseva. I favor Mamun's style but prefer Yana's apparatus technique. Let's see if Yana's nerves will not betray her. This championship may become her first big victory.

Melitina Staniouta Makes My Head Spin

I am enjoying the training videos from Grand Prix- Thiais and I feel very inspired. In the absence of Kanaeva, we have much more contested competitions now, and though girls like Mamun, Merkulova and Maksymenko are the favorites, some wonderful, even younger stars have begun to shine, like Durunda and Yusifova from Azerbaijan, and Rakhmatova from Uzbekistan.

But Melitina Staniouta, who is not a new star, has absolutely won me.

Dear fans, just watch the pivot she does starting at 1:03 of this video and tell me: isn't this beautiful girl the best gymnast in the world right now?



Seriously, I don't want to jinx her but I really hope she wins many gold medals this year. I thought she simply got "robbed" at the last competition in Holon, where she should have been first with clubs and with ribbon, but instead only won the hoop and got two silvers. Silver is not bad, but for someone of this class and talent, I just don't feel it is enough.

I am not going to discuss judging issues right now but will say that I do hope Melitina stays healthy. Sometimes, bad luck with injuries gets in the way of very deserved success. This kind of misfortune, involving a broken ankle, already hurt another star from Belarus, the fabuluous Larissa Lukyanenko, who should have competed for the top spot at the Worlds in 1993.

Much like Lukyanenko in the 90s, right now Melitina performs undoubtedly the best jumps in the sport, and some of the very best pivots. In addition, she puts a lot of risk with the apparatus in her routines and she has improved her confidence and expressivness. Nothing should get in the way of her path to the gold.