A Most Magical Moment

David Belyavskiy's eyes glistened but he wouldn't allow any tears to fall. Around him stood his coaches with terse postures and eyes glued to the overhead scoreboard. His teammates were already comforting one another with hugs and hair ruffling. In a most breathtaking fashion, he had just led his team through 18 out of 18 hit routines and this time they felt sure their consistent performance would pay off with a medal. The atmosphere had been raucous throughout the evening, with a home crowd that was witnessing its own country enter a team final for the first time. But at this moment the entire arena was quiet with pent up tension, after enduring 2 hours of nail biting scores that had kept most countries close together. China finished their bar work on a spectacular note with a 15.5 and Japan was sitting comfortably in first after their floor workers got the job done in inimitable style. Britain and America had fallen off the pace kept by the top teams, and Brazil had a meltdown from all the pressure they were under. So Russia was in a good place to finally reach an Olympic podium, but the unpredictability of the sport left them very nervous as they waited for one. final. score.

                                     
David was a base for this team, going up on 5 events, and in fact if they had used him on rings he would've only needed a 15.0 to break 90 in the AA! His stability was just one part of a team performance that finally achieved its balancing act between dynamism, execution, and consistency. The score came in and despite an oob's deduction the 14.666 clinched, not the bronze behind heavily favored China, but the silver medal three tenths ahead of them. I couldn't help breaking into a smile as I saw how they stared at the team total for several seconds before realizing what rank it indicated. It's like they were stunned! But they need not have been; MAG has had its typical problems this quad but 2015 was a landmark year and the turning point upon which we can truly say their road to Rio begun in earnest. Upon entering his seniority, Nikita Nagorny invigorated the program with his youthful optimism, demonstrated by fantastic upgrades- upgrades so good he took gold ahead of Denis Ablyazin on vault at Euros. The pace with which he, Ivan Stretovich, and Artur Dalaloyan began to up the ante stirred a fire within the older members not anxious to lose their position on the team. I began to notice how often the Russian men were posting instagram videos (edited in slo mo with hip hop/ techno music) confidently stunting out in the gym after official training was over, and it seemed that some of these after-hours feats were slipping into their routines.

It wasn't long before their hard work would pay off; multiple medals at the 2015 European Championships was capped off with a GOLD for a three member team of all- arounders sent to the first European Games. Many chalked their success up to lack of competition but at 2015 World's the same team members (with the addition of specialists) stunned their detractors with 18/18 hit routines. They didn't win a medal for it, and were visibly upset with what they perceived as favoritism towards the home country, Britain, and the Big 2 of men's gymnastics, China and Japan. I personally never felt raw about their fourth place finish at Worlds because it's a fact of life that your best isn't always better than someone else's best, and in this case their best wasn't enough. No reason to be ashamed of doing a great job, after all. I was upset about their qualifications, since they struggled to reach any finals, and by the conclusion of Glasgow it did seem like the men were failures. It only took a minor cool down period for people to look at their results more objectively and find things to praise, but I think the takeaway from World's was that they needed to optimize on their rejuvenated program, and take a few more chances on some of those big skills they were throwing in training.

I look back on World's and realize the men took it to heart as a learning lesson. No one can say they didn't qualify well this time around, even with the mistakes on floor! Collectively they raised their d-score to overpower a Whitlock-less GB team at the next Euros, and match them even when he is on the team. Their performances today averaged the second highest execution at 8.663, just two hundredths less than Japan. In every respect, their team gold at 2016 Euros was confirmation of what I already knew: this was the best Russian team we've seen since 1996. Each of our boys are qualified leaders in their own right, yet their bond lends to trusting one another and praising the strength of their mates instead of glorifying their own contribution. I have never been more proud of these good fellas; they competed with courage, with force, with style, and with a lot of heart. Their silver medal further embarrasses the advances of those who schemed to have them robbed of this moment, robbed of these Games. Can one love this team anymore than we all do right now? Hmm, we'll see after EF's. But for now, let's celebrate and consume the alcohol they can't, because the 16 year drought is over baby and it's all thanks to these amazing young men! Congratulations on Team Silver guys!!!

Look how happy they are!!!