MAMUN'S MOMENT: Upsets For The Gold!!!

Well. She's spent three years playing the princess, never the queen, but finally Rita Mamun put the exclamation point on a fantastic year by claiming the ultimate throne in RG: the Olympic All Around title. She's always been the one girl judges thought capable of beating Yana, but nerves frequently got the better of her abilities and we became acclimated to seeing the steelier and calmer Yana get rewarded for her consistency. Then November 2016 occurred. An ankle surgery at the end of last year left Kudryavtseva playing catch up for more than six months, and even when she began to resemble her former self again, she found herself battling with confident teammates who had won multiple World Cup events. She rehashed old skills for her new program and wasn't committed to to crafting something spectacular- and singular to her unique skill set- the way her teammates did. Overreliance on what worked in the past turned out not to be enough for Kudry this year, since a large part of the reason she's been so dominant is because her teammates were never as complete as she was. But as they improved and took on more risks, Kudry was fighting just to maintain and played it safe, which only further highlighted how brilliant Sasha and Rita's programs were this year. But it wasn't just Yana's injury that created an opening. The rising credibility of Alexandra Soldatova positively affected Mamun since she saw herself as the weaker girl likely to be replaced if she couldn't get her act together fast. Three months of watching Sasha outdo her did more to make Rita a better competitor than three years of comfortable rivalry with Kudryavtseva. A precarious Olympic berth sharpened her mindset into becoming a stronger performer and when the results began to validate this improvement her confidence grew.

Though we fans weren't fully aware of it, we were beginning to recognize that Rita was not just equal to Yana but even better than her IF she could hit four for four. I think for me this moment of realization came after Rita took silver at Euros only because she dropped the apparatus; normally, after adding back in the deductions, she's still below Yana but more and more consecutively the results began to show that without her mistakes she would be well ahead of Yana. I think we need to remember that Yana was not in control of her own destiny at Euros, remember that Rita beat Sasha and Yana in Kazan & Baku, and remember Pesaro, where she was criminally underscored and still came within a tenth of the gold. These moments, not to mention her World Cup victories, made me take her more seriously than I have in years. Still, rhythmic gymnastics being such a predictable sport meant the wider fanbase still thought Yana would take the title in Rio, and I was right there with them. But as we've witnessed through an entire week of artistic gymnastics, when you've done your best and others haven't, victory can be yours if only you compete for it. Winning is not always possible but making the effort to win is, and that's exactly what happened in this All Around final. 

The scoreboard was wiped clean after a shaky qualifications for both girls. Mamun was the lead off in finals and I think going out early always produces her best results. In this case particularly, it took the pressure off her having to see anyone else's score, and for once her performances were admired without the taint of how they compared to Kudry's. What I love about Mamun, besides her humility and personable demeanor, is that she's more dramatic and striking than many of her compatriots. She doesn't have the super hyphenated body lines so beloved in this sport, but with an abundance of theatricality to her work she doesn't need to look like a swan to be beautiful. When I was watching her ribbon routine, it seemed like she was in the minority of girls who weren't afraid to use her natural power to make ribbon into something dynamic instead of something very classically delicate and soft. Scoring was the tightest it's been all season so she had to really impress to deserve that 19.233 and she did deserve it. 

Rita surged ahead of Yana when the latter couldn't catch one of her clubs at the end of what was going to be her third masterful routine. Yana had similar problems throughout qualifications and couldn't temper those nerves by finals, collapsing into her own hands as she waited for her score. I was very surprised with the 17.833 they gave her because I've seen Russians, and Kudry in particular, get higher scores with drops before. But I suppose one could say it never should've been that way in the past. It's a shame because I thought she would do what Simone Biles did in WAG- sweep the quad- but then that individual could have fallen and still won the gold (for once it seems RG is more competitive than WAG). I won't say I'm not shocked that Kudry isn't our Olympic champion- I am shocked that it's happened but I'm not surprised, only because we've seen her trailing Rita a lot this season. I guess the takeaway from all of this is that rhythmic isn't so predictable after all: everyone wants to be the queen, but keep in mind a queen can be dethroned (except Aliya). This article is not about what Yana did wrong, it's about what Rita did right, so even though Yana was leading after two rotations and gave a probable gold away on clubs, I hope everyone will acknowledge that Rita was in superior control of her performances and appreciate her for all the ways she's different from Yana.

She gave us an exhibition full of agility and elegance, captured the all-around gold and stretched Russia's dominance in rhythmic gymnastics into a fifth straight Olympics (they've placed two on each podium since 2000). Margarita has been a world champion on each apparatus over the last four years yet has never won the AA. Today, she realized her title hopes with a combined score of 76.483 and top marks of 19 or more on every apparatus. There were some problems with scoring; Mamun received full marks despite missing the pass through catch with her leg (for hoop) and instead caught with her hand, and judges are still giving Yana full difficulty even though she struggles with completion of body elements. Their scores were lower than what they've been receiving of late, but then, everyone else's scores fell as well so the gap remained much the same. To me, Rita is the most artistic gymnast we've had on the top pedestal since Yulia Barsukova (surprised I went this far back?). Each of her routines are innovative with exciting apparatus handling. She might not execute to the umpth degree like Yana does, but time has brought her refinement and I think she's more polished with finishing things thoroughly before rushing to the next skill. With the exception of this year's clubs, I've honestly loved every routine she put together this quad. Her best events this year, in terms of scoring and construction, are ball and hoop. I've seen her perform these routines better than what she did at the Olympics, and in that sense both Rita and Yana failed to shine in the brightest hour. But despite the obvious jitters she was feeling Rita has always been the more spirited of the two, and I think the nerves amplified the energy she put into each performance. Never a truly classical gymnast, Margarita finally found her own style in 2014. She and her coaches have done a terrific job of modernizing classical Russian choreography, stripping away the fragile femininity they traditionally abide by and turning it into a passionate, lively, and rapid fire presentation of acrobatic dance. Maybe Yana is more elegant and technical but Rita is more stylish and daring. 

Irina Viner once said that Rita was a 'child' not meant to compete: "If you tell her what you expect from her she will never do it...she's meant to spread love, she's a performer and does best when she's simply performing for an audience." Finally, her ability to express her love of performance has earned her this stellar achievement. I'm happy to call her our Olympic champion, and what an inspirational story she leaves for future generations. Consistently the runner up to Kudryavtseva's glory, today a different kind of consistency emerged, and it won her her first All Around gold, the only All Around medal she'll ever need.

Friends forever