Anna Rizatdinova Withdraws from Grand Prix Kiev Due to Foot Injury

According to the source below, Anna has a foot injury that seems to have bothered her for a while, but got worse recently.

http://kp.ua/sport/570299-stala-yzvestna-prychyna-po-kotoroi-ryzatdynova-snialas-s-kubka-deruihynoi

Ganna only performed a hoop routine at the event and did not appear for the other three performances. Coincidentally, Ukraine's number 2, Viktoria Mazur has stated in recent interviews that she is ready to be the new leader of the Ukrainian national team. Perhaps Ganna's withdrawal was not that unexpected after all.

While it would be wonderful to see Viktoria, who is extremely beautiful and talented, blossom into Ukraine's new prima, it is highly unlikely that Viktoria will reach the level that Ganna has been demonstrating in recent years. At least not during this season. This season was a chance for Ganna to take number one in the world after Kudryavtseva (and most likely Mamun) from Russia retired. It seems, at this stage, that luck is not on Ganna's side.

Still, it is too early to jump to conclusions before we have heard from Ganna herself. Let's wish her the best of health going forward!

5 Favorite Routines from the Ukraine

I thought I'd share 5 routines that I really love from gymnasts form the Ukraine. You may have seen them and forgotten some!

5. This routine would be lovely, just take away the clubs; they are in her way of being absolutely beautiful:



Too bad we could not watch Daria Kushnerova more as an individual gymnast.

4. With clubs, but much, much riskier:



I have other Vitrichenko routines that I have enjoyed but this one is my favorite.

3. An old routine, from more than 20 years ago, which I think is excellent, except for the jumps:



2.As for this routine, only about half a million people have seen it, and maybe more need to see it:



1.Finally, my favorite routine by a gymnast from the Ukraine, of all times:

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!

A Fair Podium, Maybe

Once in a while, we, fans, see the gymnasts we actually enjoy watching. I think the top 3 spots at the World Games in Cali ended up in harmony with fan preferences. Now that judges are taking and re-taking their qualification exams,  I can't help but wonder if the next competition will bring more results looking like this, Staniouta from Belarus, next to Rizatdinova from the Ukraine:

I happen to prefer Staniouta, as a gymnast, but both Maksymenko and Rizatdinova are showing significant improvement, and they always had a lot of charm and expression. The World Championship in Kiev will likely bring many medals to the Ukrainian team and I hope these medals come without depriving other deserving competitors.

World Games in Cali: Captured Moments

Ganna Rizatdinova held on to the hoop and won gold in the final but errors from other gymnasts gave her this chance.

Charopa from Belarus did a very strong ball routine and is probably the skinniest girl at the World Games

My absolute favorite, Melitina, looked magically inspired. GOLD with ball!

Tori Filanovsky from Israel is so energetic and fun to watch, even with her errors.

What is missing from this picture? Maksymenko finished without her hoop. Oh, pity!

Yeah, she regrets it and so do we.

Melitina could have won this final if she had been more confident. Her face says it.

The only non-Russian speaking girl in the Top 8 is Carolina Rodriguez from Spain. But, boy, did she wear the most sparkle. 

I really liked Nazarenkova from Russia. She is very elegant and she deserved the hoop bronze. Lovely leos, too!  Purple isn't great on everyone but she is just too pretty not to make it work.

Trubnikova, the other Russian, disappointed. Someone burn that leotard, and get rid of her circus music, pleaaaase!

Maksymenko looked fiery red with ball. 

She knows that the audience LOVES her. How can you not love someone so charming!

How do I even caption this shot?

Go Ganna! Go Ukraine!

Queens in Kazan, or Summer Universiade 2013

This is a very pretty leotard for Ganna Rizatdinova!

Too bad she hardly ever lets go of the clubs in this routine

Neta Rivkin, on the other hand, held tightly in all routines and beat Staniouta!

That 18 score for Ganna has yet to come. This leo is not a favorite, though.

I like this gymnast more and more every day. Varvara from Greece!

Here she is, with a smile of a queen and the qualities of a Top 8 gymnast!

Remember the cow print leo of Caroline Weber? Leave it to Austria to "delight" us with flowers and ribbons...

Rita Mamun, the 2013 Summer Universiade champions sparkles with grace, though. I like this girl so much! I love seeing her win.

Silviya Miteva, now Mrs. Miteva-Yaneva, didn't make the clubs final but tried to dance to Latin music in red. Talk about cliche.

From now on this gymnast is the only one in the world allowed to wear pink and yellow!

She is rocking it and ribboning it!

If you have no clubs technique, you can still "rock" a chicken dance with the clubs under your arms. Many do.

Deng from China doesn't need funky dance moves to delight us with her elegance. Even as she is waiting patiently for her score. Someone tell her it's OK to move while waiting! ;-)

And, finally, Ganna is clapping. We need to see that more, and we need more smiles.

When Will Ganna Win?

So, the Worlds will take place in Kyiv this year, and the Ukrainians are working hard and expecting medals. I have always thought that Ganna Rizatdinova has greater potentials than Alina Maksymenko. At the European Championship this year, Ganna won silver with ribbon but stayed out of the podium in the other finals. This year I like her hoop routine best and I expected more medals for her.

Ganna didn't look happy with her scores so she must have expected more, too.

What is Ganna missing that will make her outscore Mamun, Kudryavtseva, Miteva and Staniouta?

She demonstrates great pirouetting technique, she can jump, and she can dance expressively.

I think the area of potential improvement is apparatus difficulty. Her clubs routine is especially static, as she is holding the clubs in both hands most of the time. The ball routine, otherwise very elegant, also features catches with two hands only. Ganna won a medal with ribbon, but Kudryavtseva and Staniouta both had errors. Frankly, her ribbon does not impress me either. The only routine I like this year for Ganna is her hoop routine. I hope she puts in more apparatus difficulty before the Worlds in her homeland. That way, she will show off all the qualities of a winner.

My Top 4 Routines in 2013

Now that the first two strong tournaments of the year, one in Estonia and one in Moscow, have finished, I can say I watched the new routines of most of the world's best gymnasts. I have made my picks as follows

1. Top Ball Routine: Margarita Mamun. This is a lyrical, brilliant, light-as-a-feather routine, in which I think Rita Mamun displays some of the best arm movements in the business of dance and gymnastics. We see risk and we also see expression:



2. Top Clubs Routine: Alexandra Merkulova. This is one of the few routines with a vocal and with words that I actually enjoy. Sasha Merkulova takes the credit for looking like she is having tons, tons of fun performing and not like she is pretending to dance. I really feel sad when so many gymnast just move their hips around because now you have to include "dance elements" and they are not feeling the music, or the mood, or anything at all. Joyful dancing aside, this is a routine full of small movements and tricks with the clubs, which is what every routine should be. None of the elements look static and a few are pretty original. The routine covers the entire carpet and matches the music:



3. Top Ribbon Routine: Melitina Staniouta. A classy and classical routine beyond any doubt. As we know, all of Melitina's leaps and pivots are some of the strongest in the world and she has put a lot of effort into interpreting the music and making this routine very "alive" and fluid. Melitina Staniouta is, physically, the best gymnast in the world right now. If her expression matches her physical fitness, she should be winning gold after gold. But mostly with this wonderfully sophisticated ribbon:



4. Top Hoop Routine: Ganna Rizatdinova. Ukranian gymnasts completely "own" the hoop as an apparatus. Maksymenko has presented a strong hoop routine as well but Ganna's pirouettes and her dramatic, yet, not drama queen-ish interpertation has put it over the top of me. She is truly flying high like her hoop here, taking over all the emotional space she can: