Throwback Thursday: Gymnix 10 Years Ago

L'International Gymnix has been held every year for more than 20 years, so it's natural that the meet has had some very reputable gymnasts as contestants. For Russian gymnasts in particular, the meet has often given us international debuts of their most promising juniors. The 2008 Gymnix 10 years ago was no exception, we saw 12-year-old Anastasia Grishina and 11-year-old Nailya Mustafina, the Queen's little sister, at the top of the podium. Nastia obviously went on to have a semi-successful (but considering her talent, still disappointing) senior career, but Nailya broke her leg while still a junior and never recovered to compete at her old level.

I might be the only one who finds watching old videos of absolutely dreadful quality even slightly entertaining, but here you go anyway. It's a bit comforting to see that even Grishy had a rough time, so clearly there's hope for the rest of them too. Although, no matter how many mistakes Grishy made, she still looked nothing short of exceptional with the way she carried herself. And Nailya... Such a talent at only 11. I remember many people thought she was more promising than Aliya. I think she was younger and had more difficulty and skills, but lacked Aliya's finesse. Time would have shown, but it wasn't to be.

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.

My Favorite Routines from This Quadrennium (IV)

So this one should be probably named "My Favorite(ish) Routines", because Russia and floor was kind of a disaster this quad. It was a real shame too considering that they were AMAZING last quad, Aliya, Vika, Grishy, Afan, Belo, Myzdrikova, Semy, Demy...how I miss Russia's 2009-2012 floor. Oh well, since I have to stick with this quad, we might suffer from a bit of an Aliya-overdose. If that's even possible.

It actually took me days to assemble nice routines, and after spending more days looking at them and grinding my teeth over naming this mediocre mess "my favorite", I ended up dividing them into two groups. The first group is dedicated to my actual favorite routines, and the second group are the routines that were highlights in the middle of everything terrible, but not really that memorable. Enjoy. Or not. I don't blame you if you fall asleep after the first group.

FLOOR EXERCISE

My actual favorite routines:

Aliya Mustafina immediately brought on her A-game starting in 2013 with TWO new floor routines. I absolutely love her routine from 2013 European Championships. It's very different from her later routines, it almost reminds me of 2010 Aliya. There's just something understated but captivating about it, and that beautiful pose during her "down to the floor" choreography gave us some great pictures. And look at her execution too, the first tumbling line is pretty much perfect, the other tumbles are very well landed too, and powerful. The spins have control, even the almost "Mustafina". We just haven't often seen the perfectionist side of Aliya on floor this quad, but this performance definitely stands out to me. And the extensive amount of time she spends in the corner breathing and uhm... "dancing" before her last tumbling line, it just makes me nostalgic, such classic Aliya.

My Favorite Routines from This Quadrennium (III)

BALANCE BEAM

The day of the 2013 World Championships balance beam final I was visiting my grandmother with my mother and missed it live, but when I came back, I immediately went to my computer (I wanted to watch the actual competition before looking at the results), but before it was even on, my mother had turned on the TV and yelled at me that they were showing highlights. I ran to the living room and looked at Aliya with her gold and my mother was like "isn't she your favorite gymnast, she won, how nice" and I was like "NO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND this is BALANCE BEAM, it's her worst apparatus, SHE'S A WORLD CHAMPION on BALANCE BEAM!!!!". And that was Antwerp summed up for me. Of all the great beam workers in that final, it was Aliya who somehow took the gold. This routine is fucking legendary and it kills me that people who didn't follow gymnastics back then are like my mother and will never understand those feelings. Those two years when Aliya's beam was a complete disaster and she scored 11 at an international major competition are lost from memory and there's nothing shocking about her being a World Champion on beam anymore.

Grishina for AA Champion 2032!

Afan only got married two seconds ago, but we have more happy news! A brand new Russian Gymnastics Baby! After Anastasia Grishina suddenly got married last winter, there were so many rumors in Russian gymternet that she was pregnant, and I guess for once it was true, because behold, Baby Grishy! Congratulations!

I don't know if it's a girl or a boy, but I'm hoping that it's a girl and that she'll be the 2032 all around champion, because the Grishina family has too much beauty to settle for one Olympic silver.

On a side note, I feel SO old right now. Wasn't Grishy herself a baby just a few years ago? And now she has a baby of her own.

Nobody Retired, but Maybe Valentina Herself Should

As I suspected, Valentina is talking shit again. We already knew Nabieva wasn't retired, but now both Grishina and Kramarenko have denied their retirement too. Kramarenko isn't sure if she's able to fully come back from an injury that happened last summer, but she is training.

Valentina however is of retirement age and clearly all kinds of crazy, so let's hope she takes her own advice and retires.

Heartbreaking Retirements - Or Just the Usual Nonsense from Valentina

According to tass.ru, Valentina Rodionenko announced the retirements of three of Russia's former national team members, Anastasia Grishina, Tatiana Nabieva and Ekaterina Kramarenko. Even though the retirements wouldn't be that surprising, you should take this news with a grain of salt. Valentina has a habit of making announcements that don't make sense or are plainly untrue.

And sometimes I actually feel like she uses publicity as psychological warfare, warfare against her own team at that. She's a bit like genuinely delusional dictator who sees enemies everywhere and uses propaganda and mind games to keep everybody under control.

Anyway, at least Nabieva has already denied being retired. And even back when she did retire, she still went to Worlds.... ;)

Anastasia Grishina Might Not Be Grishina Anymore

All Children, except one, grow up. - J.M. Barrie

And now it's Anastasia Grishina's turn. A few days ago the soon-to-be-20-year-old surprised everybody when pictures of what looks like a wedding turned up. To my knowledge she hasn't confirmed anything, but it certainly seems like she got married. Wasn't she a teeny tiny junior with incredibly beautiful gymnastics just two minutes ago?

I don't actually have anything to say about this, but I just felt like I should mention it. I wish all the happiness to her and her new husband, they look like a lovely couple. But I still need her to come back and save Russia.