Rita Mamun: from Russia and Bangladesh with Style

I have been promising to post some photos of Margarita Mamun, who used to compete for Bangladesh, but lives in Moscow and just represented Russia at the World Cup in Montreal. Rita won the bronze in the all around and the gold with ball, for a truly sparkling brilliant, smooth and lyrical routine.



Here are some photos from the warm-up. Rita looked very focused and confident with her blue ribbon. She looks very thin and almost fragile, so the energy and strength with which she performs look even more impressive.

Both Lukonina and Mamun had really beautiful leotards at this competition but because Rita is olive-skinned, the bright colors and the gold and silver embellishments look particularly striking on her:

I am curious to see if this gymnast, who has a lot of personal style, will have the chance to compete for Bangladesh or Russia. I think she has a chance to place among the top 10 in the world if she continues performing with control and confidence, like she did in Montreal.

New Russian Jewel: Yana Lukonina

Not that I am not a fan of Kanaeva, Kondakova and Dmitrieva (yes, all three!), but I have to say Yana Lukonina has the potential to compete for gold medals with them. Nothing else comes to mind when you look at Yana other than the word: amazing. I think her flexibility, her confidence and the way she interprets very powerful music are a landmark of the Russian style.

In a way Yana reminds me a bit of Gizikova. She has a stunningly beautiful face and looks very inspired on the carpet.

Technique-wise she also reminds me of Zaripova, who, ironically, is her coach. Both of them are not always able to control their flexibility and both have the worst club technique I have ever seen. Yes, Yana needs to learn to hold the clubs. When she does, she will display a quite wonderful routine. Here are some pictures with clubs:

I also have a couple of pictures of Yana during warm-up. She looks very focused but also friendly. She chatted quite a bit with Narkevich and Charkashina. She wore a stylish "BEBE" T-shirt during warm-up and looked very pretty with her blue ball. Behind Yana on the first picture is her teammate Margarita Mamun.

I have to say that Yana's ball routine was breath-taking. Although she did not perform it cleanly in Montreal, I absolutely love it. It's very elegant and difficult and there is an amazing catch where she does a split and catches the ball behind her back. That element made the audience gasp. I will wait for her to perform without major errors before I post here, though.

Another favorite from Montreal was actually her ribbon. She won a bronze with ribbon but if she had worked more on her apparatus technique, I think she could have done much better. I hope that the Russian coaches don't make with this girl the mistake they made with Amina Zaripova: showcasing her flexibility but not teaching her to hold the ribbon and clubs. Because Yana deserves to medal many times and making silly drops of the apparatus is just not acceptable when you compete at this level. She already has more difficult things mastered! Why is it so hard for her to lift the ribbon off the floor? Here is her ribbon. This routine has the potential to be so much better:

Yana's hoop routine was also quite a treat for everyone to watch. She reminds me of Kabaeva a little bit with her joyful presence and all the flexibility but I am glad there are also some interesting elements with the hoop itself, which she executes almost perfectly:


Yana is only 17 so I really hope she takes the time to perform better with the apparatus. If she does, she will be hard to beat, even by her celebrated teammates. I think she has a lot more personality than Dmitrieva and is just more fun to watch. This girl can be yet another bright jewel in the Russian gymnastics crown. I'd really like to see her in the top 3 with the Olympic champion Kanaeva and the expressive Kondakova. We are in for quite a battle of gymnastics queens!

Larissa Lukyanenko Returns...as a Judge with Red Hair

Remember a stunning, breath-taking gymnast from Belarus, who frequently won against stars like Kostina, Petrova, Vitrichenko, Serebryanskaya, Zaripova?

When the Bulgarian TV comentator first saw this gymnast, she said, "God gave this girl so much talent, he forgot to stop."

Yes, I am talking about Larissa Lukyanenko from Belarus who I was thrilled to see as a judge at this year's World Cup in Montreal. Here are a couple of shots of Larissa in her new role.

For those of you who need a memory refresher, I am just going to say that among Larissa's many titles are the gold medals with rope at the 1992, 1995 and the 1996 World Championships. Wow, three rope gold medals! In 1992 she also won both European and World golds with hoop.In 1993 Larissa was second after Petrova in the all around the European Cup in Malaga but won the ball and clubs. She also won the European Cup Final with rope and ball in 1995 and got gold with clubs at the European championships in 1994. I still think rope was Larissa's best apparatus and here is an original and versatile routine that makes me feel sorry that the rope will not be used anymore in rhythmic gymnastics:



I think Larissa was one of the most memorable gymnasts of the 20th century and I wish her a meaningful and exciting career as an international judge. Perhaps she can help bring the rope back!