The Most Glamorous of Them All

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Aliya Mustafina was selected as Glamour Russia's Sports(wo)man of the Year 2016 and managed to look positively glamorous in their photoshoot. Some anon once sent me a message stating that Aliya is like a phoenix, rising from the ashes time and again. I couldn't think of a better comparison (a cat with nine lives?) and that dress reminded me of it. It has ashes and flames for our phoenix. And the neckline reminds me of some old Soviet leotards. Considering that Russian gymnastics rose from those ashes, it's strangely fitting too.

"They say that in the gym, I'm a diva."

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope 2017 is going to treat you well and be a much better year than 2016, unless 2016 was great for you. In that case, HOW??? Tell me your secrets, I need to learn how to have a good year. Seriously, I haven't had one since I was a kid, and even those years were questionable.

The New Year is the biggest holiday of the year in Russia, so naturally My Tsaritsa Aliya is at home celebrating it with her kitty, just like me. Only she's looking gorgeous and I'm here like a hag in my PJs without makeup with a glass of Russian wine in my hand. At least my cat is looking dapper as always to make up for it. He's also plying with the cork of the Prosecco I drank earlier, so he has more class than me in the wine department too. Aliya's cat is cute but ready for bed. Perhaps too much wine?

The Queen certainly has many reasons to celebrate tonight. In 2016 she made a successful comeback, became a European and Olympic Champion, got married and got a cat. It doesn't get much better than that.

Voronin Cup 2016: The Nabz is back!

The Cup of Mikhail Voronin ended the competition season for our team a week ago in Moscow. It was a nice get together with most of the team present in some form or another. Everyone seemed to be extra tired and sloppy, but in good spirits nevertheless. There was even a live stream, but the competition was such a splatfest (as usual) that I wasn't sure whether to giggle or cry while watching.

Elena Eremina and Lilia Akhaimova easily won the team competition and took home a huge trophy for their efforts. Interestingly enough, while Lena won the junior AA, Lilia didn't even place. I know she's pretty much a one-eventer, but since we're supposed to take her seriously as a national team member now (I'm really struggling with it), she could have snuck in with the weak field they had in this competition. Senior AA went to Daria Elizarova instead, with Polina Fedorova as the runner up.

Merry Christmas

Whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, something else or nothing at all, I hope you're happy, comfortable and surrounded by people you love! You deserve it.

I and my cat would like to send love and virtual hugs and comfy and furry kitty snuggles to everyone, we're thinking of you and wishing you all the best in the world.

Russian Hopes 2016: Get your hopes up for Klimenko and Simakova

Russian Hopes was held in Penza at the end of November and I've been waiting for videos to show up to make a post about it. There still aren't that many videos, but by now it's probably all we're going to get, so let's see what we have to look forward to during the next quad.

Massilia Cup 2016: On the Other Side

Elena Eremina posted another vlog from France, this time showing some "behind the scenes" footage from the competition and the following banquet.

It's weird seeing how relaxed and chatty the girls seem to be in the middle of the action. I always think of competition (even a smaller meet like Massilia) as an extremely stressful and strict situation. Even during televised meets when teammates are laughing and joking with each other, you can sense this tension in the background, something that they're trying to relieve with the chattiness. But this just seems like everyday life for the gymnasts, which it probably is. There's time to wander around the arena, film a vlog, laugh with someone waiting for the green light from the judges... Maybe it just seems to be in stark contrast with the vault that came afterwards. Oh Seda.

It also seems like Lena speaks English quite well. She's translating for Nastia, who's getting interviewed. And Nastia is very excited about her medals, hopefully that ambition will boost her motivation so she keeps on improving.

Massilia Cup 2016: Just send them back to Mallorca

Élite gym Massilia was held this weekend in Marseille and the Russians sent a team of Anastasia Ilyankova, Elena Eremina, Seda Tutkhalyan and Daria Spiridonova. They won the team competition as expected with a team of this caliber and Nastia (56.550) and Lena (55.250) outdid the seniors taking the top two spots on the AA podium. Seda and Spiridoz... desperately need a vacation.

Nastia was clearly the star of the team, she actually outscored her teammates on every single apparatus during the team/AA competition, and took home the most medals. Gold on team, AA and floor, silver on bars and beam. I have really mixed feelings about her on anything else than bars, but she's definitely improving. She showed a new floor routine with a very...traditional Russian feel, and I actually like it. It's weirdly fitting that they are going back from whacky music selections to the safe past. I just wish she'd fix her form. The tumbling isn't any worse than her teammates, but those leaps... She either has her back knee really bent, or the leg is straight but trailing way under horizontal. For a Russian-themed floor from a Russian, those are some terribly un-Russian leaps.

They're Vloggin'

The newest craze at Round Lake is vlogging and I guess it's a major step up from their previous interests like babies and weddings, rotten teeth and medical tourism. So here'a a quick roundup of the Russian YouTube channels.

Russians on the Move!

It was a busy week for the Russians, both juniors and seniors were back to competition all over Europe and naturally kept falling everywhere like only Russians can. Melka was struggling on beam, yet again, and Seda's block on vault was wild, yet again. Oh, and two juniors had a collective meltdown on beam. A typical week, really.

It's the End of an Era

I'm sure we all know by now that Aliya got married, but I have avoided writing anything about it. Mainly because of my personal life that took a drastic turn to worse these past few weeks, but also, because what am I going to say?

Hi Aliya, I love you and your gymnastics so much that I take personal offence to you basically ending your career in this abrupt and weird manner, please don't make this any worse by making babies. See you in Tokyo, thanks! xoxo

Just kidding. It's actually an incredibly happy occasion and I wish the best to her and Lesha, may their extremely good-looking babies choose gymnastics over skeleton.

Of course her flowers and nails had to be purple. It's also adorable, how Lesha uses purple hearts in his instagram when referring to Aliya.

But seriously Russia... Grishina, Semy and Ablyazin, Afan, Rodionova, Beliyavski and now Aliya. All married/pregnant/both within one year. What a crazy year for Russian gymnastics, and that's saying a lot since Russian gymnastics is pretty crazy every year.