Skip to main content

Ten gymnasts in training for Rio; Swiss lawyers will defend Kuksenkov's innocence

Head coach Valery Alfosov has unreservedly supported Russian AA champion Nikolai Kuksenkov, naming him to a group of ten gymnasts eligible for participation in Rio even though the gymnast's selection for international competition is currently impossible due to a positive drugs test.

The RGF is employing Swiss lawyers to defend Kuksenkov's 'honour and innocence'.  Russian gymnasts stopped taking meldonium last August 2015 although the drug is known for remaining in the system for long periods of time.  Other gymnasts have shown traces of the drug in their samples, but Kuksenkov's was 'scanty' but minimally over the limit.  No Russian gymnast should have this problem, says Alfosov. (Rodionenko earlier pointed out that gymnasts only take those supplements and medications given to them by the team doctor; they are not even permitted to buy over the counter cold medications or to self medicate at all).

Alfosov said that five gymnasts would travel to Rio, and two reserves, 'off list', who would act as reserve in the event of illness or injury.  The final selection would be made on the basis of performance at the Europeans and Russia Cup.

The ten gymnasts training for Rio are - 

Denis Ablyazin
David Belyavski
Nikita Ignatyev
Emin Garibov
Nikita Nagorny
Artur Dalolyan
Ivan Stretovich
Vladislav Polyashov
Dmitri Lankin
Nikolai Kuksenkov

Comments

  1. Of interest to this case - http://townhall.com/news/world/2016/04/06/ibu-says-it-will-delay-rulings-on-meldonium-doping-cases-n2144316

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Queen Elizabeth,

    I am off topic with this message, but I am wondering what you thought of the Russian Nationals. I was happy to Mustafina look good, but I hope they are not pushing her too early. What did you think of the competition and how team Russia looks?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please bear with me - it was an extremely interesting competition and I have lots to say. Will be posting in the coming days.
      BTW I think Aliya chose to compete. And I think despite doctor's orders etc it was a good thing. It is really now or never if she wants to be ready for Rio.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the reply! I look forward to reading your assessment. I was surprised to see how good she looked on both bars and beam so soon after her treatment. She's such a fighter. Cheers!

      Delete
    3. I'd like to hear your analysis on Tutkhalyan. Seda has such a difficult and interesting program which could challenge the top 3 AA gymnasts in Rio, like Biles, if she manages to stabilize it well and upgrade vault. Valentina seemed not enthusiastic about Seda's difficulty rather than stability. Can't wait to hear from you on that. Alfi

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

USSR is a mighty sports power!

Once upon a time sportsmen were heros and role models, a shining moral example for all of society as to the values of a strong work ethic and a healthy body. USSR is a might sports power!  B. Reshetnikov, 1962  Picture courtesy of A Soviet Poster a Day I love these Soviet era posters and the way they capture the spirit of the time, something special about the purity of the collective sporting effort.  Of course today, sport is about different things.  The political and behavioural symbolic value of sport has been replaced by sport as a commodity.  Sports stars exist as brand heroes in our shopping centres and glossy magazines, the sometimes lurid details of their everyday lives trumpeted on the pages of such magazines as Hello! and the gossip pages of the internet. Compare photographs of Olympians Svetlana Khorkina (1996, 2000 and 2004) and Ludmilla Tourischeva (1972, 1976): Khorkina is in all her glamour shot, sexually charged splendour; Svetlana Khorkina, undated Tou

UPDATE 23/9 - Russian WAG team for Nanning confirmed

Daria Spiridonova will compete at her first World Championships this autumn.  Picture : RGF Natalia Kalugina has confirmed the Russian team for Nanning : Aliya Mustafina, Maria Kharenkova, Tatiana Nabieva,Ekaterina Kramarenko, Alla Sosnitskaya, Daria Spiridonova.  Reserve : Polina Fyodorova Here is a paraphrased translation of a comment by Natalia Kalugina on her Facebook page : 'Aliya has confidence in competition and she is, kind of, a coach to this team.  In Europe she succeeded in this role and she has told the coaches that she even liked it. The main fighting force will be Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya and Spiridonova.  Accordingly, the strongest apparatus will be beam (Marina Bulashenko With God!).  The Chinese women, of course, have been known to win that apparatus, but if one falls, they all fall.   Alla Sosnitskaya could compete in the vault final, and - in theory - on the floor. On bars, of course, Russia will probably lose to the Chinese women, but they should be able to hold

Russian Nationals 2024 : Part 2 WAG Team Finals and Individual Qualifiers

Injury was a main concern for the Russian women at this competition.  Of the Olympians, only Gerasimova competed at full strength.  Both Listunova and Melnikova were suffering with pain; you could see this on their faces and in their movement, by the end of the day's competition.  For Listunova, foot and back pain were problems, while Melnikova had severe achilles pain.  Melnikova is booked in for an MRI as soon as she returns to Moscow after a short break in Sochi, where she is staying with David Belyavski and his family.   Slava Urazova didn't make the competition at all after injuring her knee in training.  Ilyankova has retired.  Both Diana Kustova and Alena Glotova are still recovering from chest infections and Kustova did not compete at all.  Up and coming gymnasts worth watching include Lyudmilla Roschina, Leila Vasileeva (a favourite of mine) and Maria Agafanova.  The standard of execution was generally good, although there were lots of mistakes, especially on beam.  On

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more