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
Rewriting Russian Gymnastics
Reporting and analysing Russian gymnastics since 2010. Includes original and exclusive interviews with leading coaches and gymnasts, and historical issues dating back to the Soviet Union. The first blog to report extensively on the sport using Russian language sources.