Moved to Tears by Brazilian Gymnasts

I saw this video today on the Bulgarian forum. It is in honor of Maria Petrova (World All Around Champion - 1993, 1994, 1995, European All Around Champion - 1992, 1994, European Cup Winner -1993, Olympics 5th Place - 1992, 1996)

Maria is my favorite gymnasts of all times. As a child, I wrote to her and she responded to my letter with an autographed picture! I have also met her personally and she has never disappointed me with her beauty and grace. In 1996, after the World Championships, I spent all of my pocket money on a large bouquet of white lilies for Maria. When I rode on the crowded bus number 313 in Sofia, Bulgaria, to get to the gym, where Maria trained at the time, everyone moved to make room for my flowers, I was even offered a seat and even asked who will receive the bouquet! :-)

Here is the routine that inspired the flowers AND this tribute. With this routine Maria won the silver medal in ball at the 1996 World Championship in Budapest. At this particular performance, a true swan song, she is at the opening of the Atlanta Olympics, her last big international competition.

She looks like her feet are not touching the ground, and her red ball is floating on her own, as though drifting into a cloud of melancholy.

Congratulations to the New Champion of Asia

Anna Alyabieva from Kazakhstan has won the Asian Championship this year, not surprisingly, yet, convincingly scoring higher than her strongest Asian rival, Ulyana Trofimova from Uzbekistan, who was my personal favorite for the title. 

I like Anna a lot more than the previous prima from her country, Yussupova, who I thought did not show a lot of emotion while performing, nor express the music. When I watched Anna in Montreal, I thought she was very tall and elegant. Although I have objections with regard to her apparatus technique, I think she is pleasant to watch and can develop her own style. So I'd like to congratulate her on her title and wish her the best!

Anna Kotchneva, Champion Mom

Many of you probably know that the mother of the Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Nastia Liukin is a former rhythmic gymnast,and none other than Anna Kotchneva, who, in 1987, won the world gold medal with clubs for this routine:

Her clubs gold medal was shared with the celebrated Bulgarian Bianka Panova who is the only rhythmic gymnast to have received 8 perfect 10's in one competition. Born in 1970 in Moscow, Anna Kotchneva is also the 1987 World bronze medalist in the hoop, and the 1987 World co-bronze medalist in the rope with the Olympic champion Marina Lobatch. Anna started training rhythmic gymnastics at age 9 and her first coach was Natalya Semenovna Karpushenko. She also won the prestigeous "Olympic Hopes" tournament in 1988 as well as three bronze medals, in hoop, rope and clubs, from the Soviet Nationals the same year.

Here are a couple of curious things I read about the Liukin family:

- When she married Nastia's dad Valeri, he was wearing a cast on his arm due to another sports injury.

- They moved to the United States in 1991, when Nastia was 2, but she visits her grandparents in Russia. This means Anna was 19 when she had her daughter and 21 when she left her native land to start a new life in the United States! How brave!!!

- Initially, Valeri and Anna did not encourage Nastia to practice gymnastics but she was drawn to the gym since a very early age.

- Anna is afraid to watch Nastia in competition so she often stays outside the hall during her medal-winning performances.

- In an interview with a Moscow radio station, Anna shared that she only coached her daughter at a very early age. Now, Valeri is the main coach and she is part of the "support." ("Ой, ну, я Настю тренировала только на самом раннем этапе. Сейчас основным тренером является Валера. Я так в группе поддержки").

As I follow Nastia Liukin's tweets and her general media presence her in the United States, I am constantly and greatly impressed by how optimistic,devoted, humble, respectful and friendly she is. She really demonstrates a lot of enthusiasm about the sport and about inspiring young girls to follow in her champion path. On a daily basis, Nastia tweets about her passion for everything she does,from gymnastics events and trips around the globe to every day jogging and work at the gym, and she also writes about her powerful and rewarding relationships with her peers. Nastia shows her gratitude to coaches, other gymnasts and friends all the time and she moves on to each of her new ventures with a lot of momentum and joy.  Good job, mom Anna, you raised an energetic and soulful human being!

As you know, Nastia Liukin won the all around title in Beijing Olympics in artistic gymnastics and also won medals in balance beam, uneven bars and floor, despite some controversial judging in China. She really should have won the gold in uneven bars but the Chinese girl was pushed to a less than deserved gold medal in Nastia's crown discipline.  I love this picture of Nastia from an add campaign she did.