ICYMI

The Rio paralympics turned out to be the second most successful Paralympics in history, after organizers appealed to the suffering Brazilian populace to buy [reduced price] tickets and support the Games. Yet problems with disability classifications continue to hamper the IOC's efforts at inclusivity. Several athletes never make it to the Paralympics because their disability is deemed not as severe as others, e.g. blindness versus paralyzed limbs. Athletes at the Games said there needs to be a reformed system where people of similar disabilities compete together in different groups under each sport in order to keep a level playing field (so blind gymnasts would compete against each other but not against gymnasts with down syndrome). What do you think? I think it will never come to pass because the IOC is trying to make the Olympics less expensive for cities to host and further division of sports goes against that effort. PLEASE read about the several other classification problems that engulf the Games, problems which allow some athletes to cheat by using a flawed system to their advantage.

The UEG approved a new format for the Rhythmic European Championships (x)

2x Olympic champion, Evgenia Kanaeva, is at Lake Placid (one of three Olympic training centers for RG in America) teaching a  masterclass. Here's some after hours fun:

2016 Olympic champion, Margarita Mamun, for OK! Russia magazine.
  

The results of the Grand Prix Eilat, in Israel, concluded with Alexandra Soldatova as the winner of the All-Around followed by Dina Averina and Arina Averina, so Russia swept the podium. Originally no one was scheduled to attend but then a grand prize of 10,000 US dollars was announced for the winner so you know they were sending a team after that! The scores are super inflated, especially for Sasha, but it's post Olympics and judges are allowed to get a little crazy since none of this sets precedence for next quad. You can watch the complete competition here. Sasha finished the AA with 77.033, Dina with 74.450, and her sister with 73.916; in reality, I don't think there is that significant of a gap between the Averina's and Soldatova. In EF's, Sasha took gold in hoop (19.3), ball (19.367), ribbon (19.117) and clubs (19.2). The video below shows Dina excellently performing a risky clubs routine, but she only scored a 17.467 (still high) after a drop at the very end.

At GP Eilat the junior AA was won by Daria Pridannikova and it's believed she swept the EF's as well, based on comments her coach made, but I can't find the official EF results. I'm still baffled by Ekaterina Ayupova getting such preferential treatment when she's such a huge headcase and even her best work doesn't score extremely high. I wish they would've sent someone else but Katya did do quite well here (16.450 for ball and 16.350 with the hoop). Does anyone know what the prize money for the junior title was?

Emin Garibov and 2012 group Olympic champion, Anastasia Nazarenko, mess around while broadcasting at the Rio Olympics

Nikita Nagorny training a triple back (named a Liukin), see here.

1988 Soviet Olympic champion, Valeri Liukin, was named the successive replacement for Martha Karolyi as the US national team coordinator. Previously he served as the youth development coordinator, primarily working with pre-elites at monthly camps and scouting various level 10 competitions for promising potential. I congratulate Valeri in his new role and am proud that this elevated position at the top of the American chain affirms the tremendous debt owed to Soviet excellence.