My petition for Seda to get her act together

A quick foreword: I wrote this post right after Worlds (and didn't publish it then because of reasons that I have since forgotten, the reason actually might be that I just forgot to publish it and now forgot that I forgot if you can keep up), so the emotions come through just a little bit strong maybe. :P
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I took forever to decide on a title for this some of the options were:

• Why Seda WHY? 
• Why do I even bother with this shit
• If actually bother to write a post for you, you can stay on the beam, deal?
• Enough with the young angst, grow up and be the champion I know you can be
• *insert any song with "i believe" in the lyrics*
• To quote the rich bitches on Laguna Beach: Dunzo
• Not done with you but done with your drama
• *insert every bad word in your vocabulary*
• Please, Seda, PLEASE!
• *uncontrollable sobbing*

Can you feel my frustration combined with partly irrational wild hope and air desperation? I should bottle that up, it would be the perfect wine or perfume for... I don't know, blind dates? Bachelor/ette parties?
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But this post is about Seda Tutkhalyan. Russian gymnast, new senior this year, born in 1999. And one of my personal faves and future hopes for Russia. Because Russia needs some hope. They were actually quite deep this year, but that had a lot to do with the returners from last quad, and they won't stick around forever. There are plenty of excellent juniors, but about 97% of Russian great junior talent doesn't hold up in senior level. But I'm hoping Seda will, even if it looks like... well, what it looked like at Worlds.

A Love Letter to Viktoria Komova's Uneven Bars Routine

Author's note: I swear I was trying really hard to not sound corny, but it just didn't work out, okay?!? So this post is filled with some sugary drooling after Vika's bars, starting with an extra sugary foreword, forgive me.
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It has been four years since Viktoria Komova last competed at World Championships. Four long years. The last time was in 2011 and the Worlds were in Tokyo. It was a different time and a different Code of Points, but it was also the exciting pre-Olympic year.

I began this post with this reminder, because I feel like a lot of people don't remember what happened then. They remember her two silvers, one of them tainted with tears of disappointment, but they forgot what came afterwards, and that was a gold medal.

She was the uneven bars World Champion then and she regained her title this year, in perhaps the most bizarre final in ages, but still. And she may look a completely different gymnast, but the way she swings bars is still as breathtakingly beautiful as it was then.
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So, Svetlana Khorkina. Should I yell at her, yell with her, or just cry a little bit?

It was expected that Svetlana Khorkina would have something (controversial) to say about Russia's 4th place finish at the World Championships and she did not disappoint. You can read the original Russian interview (published by Sport Mail) here and a great English translation/summary by tumblr user papaliukin here. I recommend you read it, Khorkina is brutally honest which makes for an interesting interview. You can disagree with her on a lot, but she still makes you think.

The first part of the interview is Khorkina just saying aloud what everyone else is thinking: Russia didn't look ready at all, their routines still lack the difficulty needed to challenge USA in Rio and the time is running short. They can fight for the podium if they hit, but since hitting is a big problem for them, they have the work cut out for them. Sure. They also have amazing gymnasts, capable of being champions. She mentions Mustafina, Komova and Tutkhalyan in particular, but makes a point saying that they look like they're lacking the necessary motivation to reach that potential and actually become champions. 

But it's after the obvious is said when the interview really gets interesting and starts revealing more about Khorkina herself and the changing society and its effects on gymnastics than the Russian situation itself. For the most of the interview she expresses her frustration over gymnasts' work ethics and the increasing publicity over the team inner workings and then she compares them to herself and how things were done back then. While most of us seem to be happy that the gymnasts aren't isolated from the rest of the word anymore and have freedom to decide for themselves, she longs for the old days when the Round Lake camp and gold medals were the only things that mattered to gymnasts, and the coaching staff was there to make sure that everyone worked as hard as they could and more.