Bulgaria's Golden Team Deserves More and They Aren't the Only Ones

The Bulgarian team won a much deserved gold in the mixed group routine today. But we all saw that the judging in the all around and ball final was not great. While fans are not experts, fans are the heart of this sport. If nobody watched gymnastics, gymnastics would not exists. And if fans watch a routine with mistakes that gets an unexpectedly high score, fans have every right to feel indignation and anger.

I write about the issues with judging here not because I like certain gymnasts more than others. I have always written heartfelt and inspired posts here, not just about Bulgarians but about gymnasts Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Italy, Israel, South Korea, USA, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and many other countries. Even about gymnasts from countries that do not have a strong tradition in gymnastics, like South Africa, Australia or Argentina.  But I am getting really tired of watching teams make serious mistakes and still win medals.  The Bulgarian team has tremendous difficulty built into their routines. When they perform cleanly, they should not be outscored by teams with mistakes. The situation is very simple and the injustice is visible for all of the fans. I would imagine that the gymnasts themselves want to win fairly, not receive medals from "gifts" from judges, as fairness is the fundamental principal of athletic competition.

Many fans, myself included, are also getting tired of the sisters Averini making drops, stumbling on pivots, and wiping the carpet with the ribbon, only so as to win another gold. We have fantastic gymnasts like Linoy Ashram and Katya Galkina who have routinely been prevented from winning gold when they deserve it. The truth is that if we want fans in this sport to still enjoy it, all of this should stop. These comments don't mean that Dina and Arina are not wonderful gymnasts. They are.  But if they want to continue to earn the admiration and respect of fans, they need to win fairly and be scored fairly. Just like everyone else.

Sports should be an opportunity for those who are the best to win, not a place where scheming and machinations among judges determines the winner.  If the interpretation of the code of points  or the code itself results in unfair treatment, we need to revise the code to make our sport attractive and loved by the viewers, rather than mocked and despised because of constant drama related to judging. It should not be that hard to see those who are the best take the podium!

Boryana Kaleyn Faces New Challenges Following Her Amazing European Championship Performance

The new leader of the Bulgarian team, Boryana Kaleyn, took two bronze medals with ball and ribbon at the EC in Baku. In her interviews for Bulgarian TV, she shared that the week following the championship will be very challenging for her because her "matura," exams, which take place during the last year of high school, are coming up.

She has been studying for these exams while also preparing for a very strong performance at the EC. A high school senior, Boryana placed ahead of gymnasts who are 6-7 years older and much more experienced than her, including her teammate,  the Olympian Vladinova, who is 25.

Boryana truly is one of the most hard-working and determined athletes in Bulgaria and I am sure she will shine in everything she does, from school to sports, to her personal hobbies and aspirations.

We are fortunate to have her on a team that really needs new ideas and originality in order to defend a proud and beautiful gymnastics tradition. Go Boryana!

Captain of Bulgarian Group Simona Dyankova Can Rock on Any Carpet

Photography:Dimo Dimov

We have all seen her leap in the year behind her teammates but do you remember her as an individual gymnast? I wrote about her  along time ago here: https://ludafenka-en.blogspot.com/2011/01/beautiful-young-gymnast-from-bulgaria.html.

At first I was skeptical about her move to the group. This is a gymnast who always adds her own interpretation to every movement and, with those touches, can make a routine memorable, but groups are about uniformity and harmony, not rock-star individual stage presence. I thought she would stand out with her own style and not look like the other four girls, to put it simply. Now that she has been with the group for a while, I think her place as leader of the group has made a significant impact on the entire national team, an impact she may not have had the chance to make before. She raises everyone's spirit and pushes for a more expressive style.  I think the others on the team perform more boldly under her guidance and contagious example. 

Being part of the group exercise does not work smoothly for everyone and many top performers retire due to the internal politics of their federation because they don't "break through" as an individual competitor, or at least not as quickly as their coaches expect. The group is not some kind of second chance, though; it is simply a different challenge and a choice to commit and contribute to a shared goal.

While Simona had a lot of potential to bring her gymnastics to the next level as an individual as she's a true actress and a diva of dance and expression, all the personal sacrifices she has made to be part of the group are definitely well worth it. She has become the leading athlete in a dream team and is participating in performances that will leave a mark on the history of the sport.

The New Bulgarian Hoop Routine Will Blow Your Mind

If we go all the way back to the 1960s, when the triple world champion Maria Guigova entered the world podium with a hoop routine, or back into the 90s when Maria Petrova's hoop routine set to "Carmina Burana" dominated the world, Bulgarians have showed supreme mastery with hoop.

Now, in 2018, we see an original, extremely dynamic routine, charged with energy and risky until the very end.

The routine has left many fans wonder how it is possible to put so much movement in two and a half minutes of music:



I feel hopeful that the team will prepare psychologically to take this routine to the next level of performance where we could see all masterful touches and expressions that the potential of the routine and the choice of music hold in store. The music by the famous "Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices" is fitting for the upcoming season when the world championship will take place in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

This routine is Bulgaria's claim to literally throw the hoop higher, faster, with more risk, to continue to assert the creative tradition of the Bulgarian school, and, most importantly, to show fans around the world that rhythmic gymnastics is spectacular and breath-taking, a demanding athletic discipline that elegantly touches the border of art.

Finally! Two Bulgarians in Top 8 and Ready for Medals

They train side by side and are great friends. They show unique moves with every apparatus. They use bold, exciting music. They are a joy to watch. Bulgaria hasn't shown two gymnasts of such high caliber since the 1990s. But Neviana and Katrin are not hear to defend the old glory of Bulgarian gymnastics. They are here to write history.

Russia and Belarus are the only two countries in recent years who have had more than one gymnast in the top, consistently. Other countries attempted but never quite accomplished this.

For Ukraine, while Maksimenko and Rizatdinova were both equally promising, Maksimenko's career was rather short-lived. Following Maksimenko's retirement, Victoria Mazur has been struggling to prove that she can earn the same scores as her illustrious teammate Rizatdinova. Prior to Rizatdinova's rise to number one, Anna Bessonova was the only medal-winning Ukrainian for awhile.

Israel has also had fantastic gymnasts in recent years and was especially strong during the times when Risenzon and Rivkin competed together. However, after Risenzon retired, various controversies and scandals prevented Filanovsky and Rivkin from consistently placing at the top spots and Rivkin ended going to the Olympics by herself. Now, with the rise of Linoy Ashram, who is the best Israeli gymnast, in my opinion, Israel may also break new ground by having two equally promising gymnasts in finals.

For Belarus, Cherkashina and Staniouta and then, Staniouta and Halkina had many strong and exciting competitions together where they both were up for the medals.

Russia, on the other hand, has regularly had two gymnasts on the podium together at big events such as Grand Prix competitions, World Cup tournaments, European and World Championships.

As for Bulgaria, for many years, only one gymnast showed world-class results. For a long time that gymnast was Simona Peycheva. Elizabeth Paisieva, who fully deserved to be right next to Simona, had unfortunate issues with coaching changes and very harmful federation politics,  so did not quite rise to Simona's level. Then, Silvia Miteva earned spots in finals as well as some medals from big events. But a second gymnast of the her caliber was never present.

Finally, in 2017, both Katrin Taseva and Neviana Vladinova are earning scores in the upper 18s. I really would like to see them reach for medals and stand next to one another in many prestigious events. They are very different in style, but each has amazing qualities as well as the ambition and resilience needed for great achievements.

The First and Only Gymnast to Ever Earn 8 Perfect Scores in One Competition

Almost 30 years ago, at the World Championships in Varna, Bianka Panova from Bulgaria got 4 perfect 10.000s in the all around. She then went ahead to get another 4 perfect scores in each of the finals. This is a feat that will likely never be repeated, but it was very well deserved. 

Bianka is the perfectionist of rhythmic gymnastics, a performer who executes every movement with amazing precision.I believe a gymnast of such exquisite dedication is Yana Kudryavtseva as well. Ironically, both Yana and Bianka dropped a club at the Olympics, which resulted in a silver for Yana and only a fourth spot for Bianka in 1988.

My very first memory of a seeing gymnast  on TV as a child is  a still image of Bianka in a simple white leotard. Under the image, the score, 10.000, is displayed. She is executing a beautiful jump with a wide ribbon that looks like a natural extension of her arm. I still recall sitting in front of the TV thinking: here is a magical creature from the fairy tales, a  princess by nature, without any jewelry at all. I am rather certain that if she had to perform under the current Code of Points, she would still shine with absolute glory.

Boryana Kaleyn's Modern Style 2017 Routines

Boryana Kaleyn has already built a reputation as one of the most promising young Bulgarian gymnasts. As a junior, Boryana won the bronze with ball at the Junior European Championship in 2014. Needless to say, Boryana's dream is to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Last year Boryana already showed 3 new routines. She has worked on mastering new skills as she is now in action with the senior gymnasts. Her coaches have decided to use music with lyrics for 2 routines, which is a  bold choice. But the changes to her style and the distinct music with lyrics may be happening too fast. I agree with some of the Spanish fans comments in YouTube which say that sometimes music with lyrics may feel more appropriate for a gala, rather than a competition routine.

Sometimes the unusual music will somewhat distract the judges from the difficulty and the purity of the elements performed and, may, in some sense, take away from the gymnast's personal presence.

Still, the routines are interesting and "catchy" because of more than just the catches! So I am posting them below for more fans to see and hope Boryana will shine in 2017.


ball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVodn1gHsxw
hoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzV8BuMyi3Q
ribbon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCkuu-rOXWA

Bulgarian Group Olympic Medalist Lubomira Kazanova Retires from Competition

The bronze medalist  with the Bulgarian group from the Rio Olympics, the gymnast who took the place of Tsvetelina Stoyanova, has announced her retirement. Lubomira has explained that she competed with an ankle injury which did not heal properly and that she is finding it very difficult and dangerous from a health perspective to continue with a competitive career. 

Lubomira also feels that she "does not fit well" in the new group after he distinguished colleagues, world champions Mihaela Maevska, Reneta Kamberova, Hristiana Todorova and Tsvetelina Naidenova also retired.

Lubomira's retirement, according to some, marks a new page in the development of the Bulgarian team, as a brand new team will follow into the steps of the former Olympic bronze medalists.

Some fans feel that the national team coaches and the federation should have taken better care of Lubomira in terms of allowing her to compete with what appears to be a serious injury.

Still other have commented that the ankle problem is not the actual reason behind the retirement decision so much as the fact that Lubomira really felt a sense of belonging to the old team and would simply like to move on to new ventures now that everyone else on the team has left. While Lubomira has fulfilled her Olympic dream and played a pivotal role for the team as a whole after the Stoyanova incident, perhaps her retirement is a wise decision to end her career on the most positive note. Lubomira retires as a true hero, and all fans will remember her as taking the team to the medals both at the European Championship and at the Olympics.

While Lubomira will be very much missed, I am also hopeful that the new team will take an even better approach towards preparing for the next season especially in terms of the choreography and originality of their routines as well as their general conditioning and ballet training. We have yet to see whether the Bulgarian team will also undergo substantial coaching changes.

Tsvetelina Discharged from Hospital, Group Captain Shares Thoughts on Retirement

Tsvetelina Stoyanova has left the hospital on September 5 after her accident in mid-June. Her teammates from the group visited her and she congratulated them on winning an Olympic bronze.

All members of the current Bulgarian group are considering retirement with the exception of Lubomira Kazanova, who replaced Tsveti after the accident and made it possible for the team to win medals both at the European Championship in Israel and at the Olympics.

"We went through a lot of difficulties and what happened with Tsveti Stoyanova was one of the challenges. We still don't realize that gymnastics is now no longer a permanent part of our lives. You lie in bed and think of training camps, but they are in the past. You don't know what lies ahead. We have time to think. We are grateful to all of Bulgaria for supporting us for 8 years. Our fans gave us strength, " shared the captain, Mihaela Maevska.

Mihaela at the European Championship in Holon

Tsvetelina Stoyanova Reported Better

According to the Bulgarian papers, Tsveti, has left the intensive care unit and will stay at the neurosurgery department of the hospital where she will focus on recovery and rehab.

The other members of the Bulgarian group are in Rio and think of her with great love and care. The hardest part, for both Tsveti and the team, appears to be over. 

Fans have expressed high hopes that now the team will actually be able to focus on is routines and enjoy living the Olympic dream, for which they worked so hard. As for Tsveti, the best of her life is yet to come, and her success and joy will surely go well beyond sports, but the sense of team effort and belonging as well as the strong spirit gymnastics builds will remain to help her keep moving forward in life.

We Keep Hoping for Tsvetelina Stoyanova

The Bulgarian Minister of Healthcare, Mr. Peter Moskov, has visited the central intensive care unit in the Pirogov Hospital where Tsvetelina Stoyanova is recovering since last Tuesday. The Prime Minister, Mr. Boyko Borisov, has also asked about her condition every day since the incident.

Here are the latest news from the doctors in Pirogov, who are consummate professionals and have seen many cases of trauma:

- Tsveti does have fractured vertebrae but overall her spinal cord is not critically injured, which means that she would likely be able to walk and move without tingling or numbness in her arms and legs when she recovers;

- She has a head injury which is fairly minor given she came down from a height of about 18 meters;

- She has a minor pancreas injury and internal swelling which is common for trauma caused by a fall from a substantial height;

- The biggest issue right now is the condition of her lungs which were punctured in several places due to the fall. This is why she is still using assisted breathing and is in a medically induced comma; the comma was induced with medication in order to keep her breathing;

- Her blood tests in the last couple of days have shown stable hemoglobin levels;

I am personally grateful to the doctors at Pirogov not only for treating Tsveti but also for sharing this information with us so that we can have some knowledge of the situation as we continue to hope and pray for Tsveti's recovery.

More Than Bronze, More Than Words

Today the Bulgarian national team won the bronze medal with hoops and clubs at the European Championship in Holon. In their fairy-tale blue leotards, they quietly reminded us  that this sport is not about glitter and pirouettes. It is about strength of character as much as any other sport. And, just like in any sport, actions speak more clearly than any words. 

We all saw this team act as the moral winner by the standards of both sport and life. They did not give in to false accusations, to the pressure of sensation-seekers, and to the hypocrisy of former supporters.

  

A reserve gymnast going to her first big event on a short notice of several days. A team captain, who had take her team out of the carpet and then proudly held up a medal for an injured teammate. A  dedicated coach who was blamed for a tragedy she did not cause and did not back down from her professional duties.  In this championship they acted as one. They held together as a team and held to the value of their work.

Why did they choose to perform despite the tragedy? The answer is that this performance was about standing up for what you believe and what you have strived to become. Winning a medal is not the reason. Saying that you support a teammate is not the reason. The will to do your best, in the most distressing of circumstances, is the real and the greatest achievement. 

Many people outside the Bulgarian team needed to see this lesson in honor and courage. This team will continue to perform professionally, ethically and with respect to those who deserve it. The coaches and the gymnasts will work together  and they will make decisions together.  They will not allow anyone to be made a scapegoat. They will go to Rio with the same mental strength and zeal.

The greatest support we can give them as fans is to try to be like them.

Tsvetelina Stoyanova's Condition Has Not Changed, Bulgarian Team Performs Beyond All Expectations

First, I would like to thank all the fans around the world for their moral support for the Bulgarian team. For those who have been asking for updates: Tsveti's condition is stable, though still critical. She is using assisted breathing due to lung injury. She is able to move her toes and fingers. An MRI has been performed to further ascertain the extent of her trauma. No additional surgeries are scheduled to be performed at this stage.  Some newspapers have written that there is great hope she would be able to walk when she recovers. Also, the Bulgarian hospital "Pirogov" has requested that people donate blood for Tsveti.

In the meantime, Tsveti's teammates qualified in 5th place at the European Championship in Holon despite an issue with their music for the first routine where they stepped out on the carpet and the wrong music played. After this organizational gaffe, they still managed to show a wonderful routine. 

I would like to draw the attention to the reserve gymnast, Lyubomira Kazanova, who has done an absolutely amazing job performing under pressure and on a very short notice. The team did a flawless club and hoop routine. Their courage will be remembered forever. The second routine, with 5 ribbons,  was the last one in the all around championship. The girls had minor mistakes with the ribbons, but, overall, stayed very focused and clean. They will participate in the finals on Sunday where I deeply hope that they will be even more confident and strong.

I would like to ask that all fans around the world congratulate and support the whole Bulgarian team, including the coaches, federation members,  and psychologist. Additional encouragement is also much needed for the individual gymnasts Neviana Vladinova and Katrin Taseva, who I am sure have also been  greatly emotionally affected by the tragedy.

While many have tried to place the blame on the Federation for Tsveti's condition, those who are close to the team know that everyone supported Tsveti and that she was seen by a clinical psychologist to help with her health condition. The coaches and the Bulgarian Federation have done everything to make Tsveti a successful gymnast and will support her in the future with her recovery as well.

Hope and Prayers for World Champion Tsvetelina Stoyanova

Fans around the world have been shocked and dismayed to hear that a member of the Bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics group, Tsvetelina Stoyanova, has attempted to commit suicide by jumping from the 6th floor balcony of her apartment in the Sofia neighborhood "Nadezhda" (the name means "Hope"). She is in a critical state at the top Bulgarian trauma hospital, where she was admitted with heavy bleeding. The bleeding is now under control and her spleen, which was ruptured in the fall, has been removed.  

The Bulgarian papers have, sadly, published highly contradictory and not sufficiently respectful reports claiming that Tsveti's coaches and the gymnastics Federation pushed her to an emotional breakdown by making the decision not to have her participate in next week's European championship in Israel. One of the gymnast's neighbors allegedly stated that she came home very upset the night before and shared that she would not participate in the big event. Some reports have also claimed that Tsveti had panic attacks before competitions which led to the decision to remove her from the team.

Tsveti started gymnastics at age 7, became national champion at age 14, and was only a teenager when she lost her mother, the person who brought her to the gym for the first time. In an interview about her career, she shares that her mother got her first leotard. Her father and brother are also athletes: their sport is boxing. Here is Tsveti as a junior gymnast performing with hoop as a real breathing angel:

Some reports claim that the 21-year old gymnast lives with her grandmother, but a TV show in the past featured an interview with a boyfriend, a soccer player, who was living with her at the time. Needless to say, some media outlets have claimed that personal and romantic woes were the reason for this tragedy.

Bulgarian media and media around the world need daily reminders that mental health is a delicate and complex condition and that the last thing we need is to try to point fingers at people who are suffering with Tsveti as she is going through this terrible time. We need to remember that mental problems are treatable and that individuals who suffer need our full respect and support. As do their loved ones, co-workers, teammates and fans.

Tsveti was a world champion with the Bulgarian group in 2014. She is one of the most loved Bulgarian gymnasts and I am sure that all of the coaches she worked with, her teammates and the entire Bulgarian Federation wish her nothing but health and happiness. I am certain that thousands of fans keep both her and her team in their prayers in this difficult time.

Great Work, Katrin Taseva!

Finally, Katrin performed this intricate, risky routine cleanly much to the delight of her coaches and fans. Although Katrin has mostly been receiving compliments or her playful clubs routine and the wonderful ball routine, both of which placed her among the top 8 this year, I have always thought this routine has a lot of potential.

My hope is that, in the future, clear routines from Katrin will receive scores upwards of 18 points. This will be well-deserved and worth celebrating for the Bulgarian team, which has shown continued progress this season.

The only reason Katrin has not gotten higher scores is because she is not "established" with the judges yet but if she keeps performing like this, she will build up a very strong reputation.

Bulgaria's New Star

Katrin Taseva is looking more confident with every competition and has recently received high scores both in Bulgaria and at international event. I previously really liked Katrin's ball and clubs routines, but she has shown great progress in all four events so I would like to share her ribbon routine with the fans.




I really like that Katrin has both very clean lines and flexibility.Each movement she makes flows into the next one. In the future, we will see even more amplitude and expression in her routines so I really hope we get to see her at many world-class tournaments..

Katrin Is Ready to Show Playful, Glamorous Style

I have been following Katrin Taseva for a couple of years. I think the Bulgarian Federation made a mistake by not including he in the national team earlier and by not sending her to move international competitions last year.

Katrin is very flexible, has made a lot of progress with both her pirouettes and leaps, and, this year, she also has a lot more originality. Some of the risks with clubs you can see in this routine, despite the minor mistakes, are very different from the what most other gymnasts show on the carpet. Also, she is expressive, playful, and just fun to watch.

I am excited that this season she is showing off new and routines with very new and beautiful leotards that bring out her personality and style. I think she can be a real gymnastics diva, who can do perform to some very fun and fast music, and also really engage the audience, while not losing her focus on the difficulties that she is showing. I think these sparkly but elegant leotards will look even more beautiful with medals!


From the competition in Espoo, Finland, I like her clubs performance best, even though it was not the highest scored. This is very clearly a routine that has the potential to be remembered when Katrin becomes more confident.

This year at the Espoo International Tournament, Katrin got scores mostly around 16.8- 17.0. I think if the judges had seen her more last year, she would consistently receive over 17 even with some minor errors, just because at this point in there development she has enough difficulty to earn that. She usually appears very confident and I am pretty sure the mistakes will go away with time, too. At this stage, I definitely think Katrin has made more progress than Sara Staykova, who is the other candidate for the number 2 spot on the Bulgarian team. Sara had the chance to compete at a lot of events last year, and although she is very beautiful to watch, some of the inconsistencies in performance that we saw last year appear not to have changed at all.

I wish the Bulgarian Federation would consider investing some more time and effort in Katrin's international presence so that the judges will not perceive her as a brand new gymnast or as a "reserve" on the team, but rather as a competitor who can claim spots in the finals in the not so distant future. I have really enjoy how Katrin handles the clubs with her feet at the ending of this routine and I can't wait to see her perform it even better.

Neviana Working on Brave New Routines!

Neviana Vladinova, Bulgaria's top rhythmic gymnast, will be showing 4 new routines in 2016. I feel very hopeful that each of the routines will show the best and Nevi has to offer to the world of gymnastics and will remain memorable for the audience around the world. I would like to share snippets of some of the new work with ball and I can't wait to see more:

Final part of new Nevi's ball routine 😍😍❤💜👏👏 #nevianavladinova #vladinova #rhythmicgymnastic #new #routine #Repost @nqnichka with @repostapp ⚫⚫⚫ 🔴 #newball

A video posted by NevianaVladinova&MariyaMateva (@vladinova_mateva_fans) on Oct 14, 2015 at 10:02am PDT

A video posted by NevianaVladinova&MariyaMateva (@vladinova_mateva_fans) on Oct 17, 2015 at 3:37am PDT

I wish all gymnasts the best of health in 2016 and may this year bring out the best in all of us!

The Impossible Mission of Always Igniting the Crowd

Happy 35th birthday to a gymnast, who made everything exciting, including the rope:



The perfect combination between Russian technique and Bulgarian choreography.It makes me wonder how someone like Titova or Selezneva would look, if a more daring choreographer created their routines.

Watch her pirouettes! She would have easily won medals in 2014, under the new code, which puts high value on the change of leg position while turning.

If you are looking to engage the audience, look no further than perfect technique and bold choice of music, but, also, of course, a strong personality.

Another Bulgarian in the Finals: A Swan in Any Color

You know I love it when Bulgarian gymnasts perform well and the young Radina Filpova, who just placed 8th with hoop at the World Cup event in Lisbon is another example. Here is her final-worthy routine:



I really enjoyed the throws of the hoop, especially the catch in a backscale that she does. Her pirouettes may need some work on the shape of the leg and height of the releve, but she performed them especially cleanly in this event.

A couple of years ago, I watched videos of Radina, where she had to perform the same routine twice, once with a black leotard and once with a white one because of a problem with the music or some other issue. I remember thinking that she looked equally beautiful as a white swan and as a black swan! But at the time she had not become part of the national team.

I don't know if these are videos from the same event, but here she is, definitely doing the same routine with different leotards.  She has improved her expression a lot since 2011, but her distinguishingly long arms and legs were always beautiful to watch.

Black swan:


White swan:



Radina is less established in the national team than Mateva, Vladinova and Staykova, but I hope she will get the chance to show her best quality work at other competitions soon. She moves with grace in any color and many fans find her simply beautiful to watch, but I think as she adds more difficulty to her routines, she can become completely spell-bounding.