Moscow Grand Prix 2006 - Return of the King?

[Invisible Hedgehog]

Well, frankly saying, Moscow GP is the only competition where we do not really care much about the results. They will be unfair anyway and there is nobody we can complain to. Though surely I can drop a few lines for those who did not have a unique chance to be present in Moscow

Organization
I guess the organizers do not know the Grand Prix Regulations. And neither do the supervisors of this competition? Or perharps they do but did not want to voice up. Russians wanted to have 5 gymnasts IN competition as Alina Kabaeva was an Olympic Champion. However, in GP regulations it is clearly written that a country can have MAXIMUM 4 gymnasts competing in Grand Prix circuit. Nobody really payed attention to it, except Ukraine of course. The problem is that last year we also wanted to have 5 gymnasts at Deriugina Cup but we were immediately told that according to the GP regulations only 4 gymnasts maximum can compete.
After a little tiny scandal one gymnast (Sveta Putintseva) was removed from the Grand Prix protocol

Every year I notice how indifferent are Russians to the organization of their competition. Last year both Grand Prix and Euros impressed me with it. They do not care about a nice magazine, about spectators at the tribunes. It looks like for Viner the main is to spend money on the judges, not to attract audience to this circus at the sport complex "Drujba"

Some comments about the gymnasts
Kabaeva. Personally I thought she will be much worse. And in fact she looked almost the same as on the Olympics (maybe a bit heavier) but overall her execution was the same. She has the same problems, especially with leaps and messing up in her artistry card. THOUGH I must confessed that I was surprised. I thought she will not be even near this condition. In fact, it always amazed me how Kabaeva can stay in a split on the carpet doing nothing before a routine and then simply walk on the carpet and perform with no drops. This is what is a secret of Kabaeva for me After every routine Viner was making a kind of show, which was much more interesting to watch then the next gymnast competing.
By the way, I can tell you why Kabaeva returned. There is a reward from the government of Russia to the Olympic Champions 2004 getting ready to Olympic Games in Bejing 2008 - 5 000 USD per month. I don't think that such money are lying on the road because Alina coulnd't find anything else she could do. She tried to go to TV but she was rejected (Alina has some problems with diction), she wanted to open her own firm and so on.
Now Ira Tschaschina is also thinking what she should do because her silver medal in Athens gives her an oppotunity to earn 2000 USD per month. Isn't it exciting?

Sesina. She was in a good shape at this competition, but the choice of the leotards was really dreadful. The one she wore for ball (I think previously worn by Kapranova) with dark pants looked awful. The one for ribbon looks really great from the back, but at the front there is too much. Concerning the routines, the music for ball is too simple, very old and not original. For ribbon she has Giselle, but very uninteresting parts. It seems that in Russia they have some problems with music really. Anyway she did a good competition, not dropping in the most important moment as usual

Kapranova. Well, she changed all 4 routines but I can't really say that they are well choreographed. For rope she has an interesting music, but her awful hands spoil everything. In ball she has classic music again, but really not interesting and you can't remember it. IT's a pity they didn't leave Nutcracker. I liked clubs though, to Russian folk music. In all-round she had a huge drop in clubs, though it didn't really influence her score...and in rope she simply missed half of the routine (in the final). Surely the judges had to react somehow to it. Viner was not really happy with her.

Godunko. She was very stable. I think the cleanest at this competition. She definitely was the best in ribbon. Kabaeva and Sesina in addition to the drops made a nightmare in their pivots in difficulty. It was ridiculous that Natasha didn't win and only got the bronze. In ball final she was really great as well, especially 7 backwards illusions without a single travelling! You can hardly ever see such an execution of this element (remember Tschschina or PUtintseva moving half way through the carpet)

Bessonova. Well, it was simply not Anna's day. I wonder where on earth did you get this information about her legs? Everything is quite fine with her legs. The only problem she experienced were some cuts on the knees. All her routines end in some acrobatics on the knees and as she is wearing pants with diamonds, they scretch her skin when she is landing and it's not really a very pleasant feeling. In fact she had problems in rope because of the leotard. Anya didn't wear it beforehands, it was transferred to Moscow right on the day of the competition. And Anya had too many diamonds on the stomach and as she has lots of apparatus work of rope around her stomach, she didn't really feel the rope and it was difficult for her to perform the routine. Anyway she did ball and ribbon more or less fine, though the scores did not reflect her true performance. In the training hall she always had the problems on throwing the club during a walkover, she always threw it too far away, so during the competition she tried to make a soft throw which turned out to be too soft. The same mistake she had in ball (also during a throw in walkover) when she put a ball a little bit aside and it went right out of the carpet and surely she had no mood to finish the routine at all.

Kovalchuk and Shirkina. Nice competition! Out of competition they ended up after all russians (I guess there were 5), but they impressed the judges, especially Shirkina with her spectacular quadrouple pivots in ring position and Kovalchuk in attitude. Kovalchuk messed up with clubs a bit, but Galina had no drops! Surely it was Russia and they couldn't even think to receive any good score!

Zhukova. I personally think that a gymnast of the top class should enter a season at least with 2 new exercises. Zhukova has none. And I really can't say that her 2005 ones were amazingly gorgeous (maybe except ball, but it already became a little bit boring, you are waiting only for the last catch). In all-round actually she didn't even try to do it, but in the final she caught it. Zhukova was not in a bad shape, but really when a gymnast shows nothing new, you lose some respect.

Cherkashina. I like her a lot, she is so clean! But her horrible compositions and a simple hairstyle make her worse in the eyes of the judges! She has 2 new routines - ball and ribbon but the most is not very nice, as actually are all BLR musics.

Garaeva - I guess Viner wanted very much Garaeva to win a medal. She is a nice gymnast now, better than Guimatova and Gurbanova of course, but soon she will fall down, she is simply a clone of Viner's school, same as Gurbanova. While Guimatova had smth different. BTW, Dinara said that she was "kindly" asked if she wants to become a coach in Azerbaijan (really, I guess it's a dream of every gymnast) and that is how she was hinted at the fact that she is not really needed by Azerbaijan. But Dinara replied : "No, pay money for me, I can still compete". Evaluate this conversation of a change on the football field of AZE as you wish....Really, there are a lot of foreign football players in different clubs, but they still compete for their national teams after all!
багышла, амма о озю мене буну дейиб

Risenzon coloured her hair in red, she now looks very much alike to one Ukrainian gymnast and we were making fun of it

Mitrosz had her routines composed in Belarus for free. But I don't think they became better, they still do not really suit her

I was amazed by the downfall of Muhitdinova. I was almost sure she would easily classify for GP. But she ended up in 30th places, out of around 35 participants!

well, that's all for now, if you have any questions, feel free to ask
_________________
Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat
check - http://www.ukraine-rg.com !

[Upy]

[lili@]

Thanks for your impressions IH!!!
You can give some impressions about spanish gymnasts?

lili@

[rgemmisia]

so kabaeva is back with viner right? because i know when she came back she was not with her..
_________________
--michelle

[RGSuperfan]

Thanks for taking time to write your impression just for us
Alina is back and moreover only for money , not for the gym I'd like to see her face if RG wasn't in 2008 OG , no gold , no money what for her future then
Thanks again!

Will Alina earn 5000$ per month if she wins GOLD again or just if she takes part in 2008 OG???
_________________
I can now exchange rhythmic DVDs! PM me to get my list!

[Canuck]

Can you post all the results some where please

Thank you for all the interesting news

[Dalitmarcus]

Thanks I.H.. -it was very intersting to read(and also sad... ).i hope that Bessnova will recover soon from this G.P. and will show her amazing routines soon.Goudenko's case in the ribbon final remind me what happened in the last G.P. in Holon-when she also was the best but didn't get the gold... i wasn't able to see the competition(i can't open it... i was very sad to read that Shpket and Putinsiva weren't the leading gymnasts in this G.P.-for me they have the best style from all the russian gymnasts,what is you impression from there performance and how was the Israeli gymnasts?THANKS

[Anna Kull]

Thank's I.H. for your impressions and for telling the mony story of Kabaeva! Mony is perhaps the only thing that could Alina make comeing back actually now. (remember her crying in Corbeil 2003)
If you have time I'd be intressted in knowing how Aliya did. If not, never mind!!!

[frog]

Thanks I.H. for all your impressions. I found them very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post them for us all.

[Invisible Hedgehog]

[JR]

Thanks for your impressions, IH.

[maii]

[purple]

Thanks HI! what you tell is always interesting.
_________________
Alessandra
www.zampablu.it

[Invisible Hedgehog]

you can find the results in the news section on www.ukraine-rg.com
_________________
Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat
check - http://www.ukraine-rg.com !

[Jonathan]

Brilliant, thanks for that.

I see Valdez, Colino and Mitroz are in the GP, congrats to them!
_________________
Jon