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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bulgaria's Second Team Makes a Dazzling First Impression

Some of you may not know this, but Bulgaria has a second senior group coached by the absolutely incredible Kamelia Dunavska, who is a world champion in the group exercise herself. They put together this routine, where nobody ever stops moving until the very end, where you can finally take a breath:



I am not sure that this team will have the opportunity to showcase this routine at a bigger international event, so I am sharing it here, despite the small errors that are still visible.

Enjoy!

Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Group May Have a New Addition

I have heard that Simona Dyankova, a gymnast, who I absolutely love as an individual, is about the now join the group. I think she has a powerful personality and a unique presence on the carpet so I was a bit surprised to here that. I wrote about her in the past here.

Here is also a new ball routine she showcased at a test competition, obviously not polished but promising:



I was similarly sad when Sasha Narkevich joined the group in Belarus instead of staying as an individual but then she ended up winning an Olympic silver and a world gold, so, in the end, I was happy for her.

Moving from an individual arrangement to the group competition can be a difficult transition. It is not for everyone, but for the bravest, strongest, and most adaptable athletes out there. Change is good when we welcome it with an open heart. I still like gymnasts with great expression like Simona, so I hope she will infuse the group with her strong spirit.