The Perks of Being Russian

"Yesterday came as a surprise to us," said Alejandra Quereda of the Spanish group, referencing her country's first place rank following qualifications. "Of course we worked toward a medal but we didn't expect things to happen like that [in the finals]. For us, a silver medal tastes like gold to us." After a disappointing fourth place finish in 2012, the Spanish group was leaving Rio with a silver medal, its first Olympic medal since 1996. The joyous tears, hugs, and shouts of elation amongst the girls did not indicate they felt any malice or complaint about the official results, but while they jumped for joy fans the world over erupted in horror at Russia winning the gold medal for the 5th consecutive time. 

There's no doubting that Team Russia is always the favorite to win the two gold medals awarded in rhythmic at the Olympics. Confidence radiates when they take to the floor. They have the most depth of any country, the best training facility in the world, the sharpest expertise from a plethora of top coaches, and a treasure chest of golden riches to support their ego. They have the right conditions to maintain their success. While it's true they dominate the sport on a whole, there are moments of prolonged vulnerability when they do get trounced by other nations and this almost always happens, not in the individual segment, but in the team competition. Russia's group has always had more difficulty staying on top of the podium. Last quad, they never once won the group AA and had to sulk behind Italy for three years before they begged Irina Viner to personally undertake the construction of their routines for the London Olympics. In 2013, they settled for AA bronze behind Belarus and Italy, in 2014 they didn't even make the AA or 10-clubs podium! In 2015 they finally won the gold in AA but took silver behind Italy in 5-ribbons. So as invincible as Russia might look their armor is not impenetrable either. Everyone knows where they historically show weakness, so if any upset was going to take place in Rio it would be done in the groups category, not in the individual all around. 

I've always had a love/hate relationship with Russia's group ensemble. I appreciate that they pack in the difficulty, but they're basically never synchronized (and you know how crucial it is for a unit to move as one), they don't invest in real choreography when they're transitioning out of movements or for general dance, and sometimes it feels like they're not fully committed to an idea, or worse, they don't have a theme at all. They blow hot and cold for me so I certainly understand the global desire to see them lower in the rankings.  

 

But one also has to admit, when Russia gets it right they do it right. I might despise their terribly tacky 5 ribbons routine but they saved themselves with 6 clubs+ 2 hoops, by far the stronger of the two routines this season. Which brings me to the Olympic final. Their 5 ribbons routine doesn't hold up well next to what other countries have produced, and throughout the season even their best efforts have only given them the tiniest advantages over their competitors. It was to be expected, then, that after Bliznyuk (always her!) botched a throw and had the ribbon fall to the ground, they would be sitting in an unfamiliar rank at the halfway point. Because they don't have the most amazing ribbon routine their all around ambitions have to rely on the second performance to cement gold, and it would have remained this way had Bliznyuk not counted a drop. The girls rebounded with a compelling performance in the clubs+hoops and I honestly have never seen them do this routine better. Those of you who watch RG know that the complexity of this routine has them looking sloppy even when it's a hit. But with the exception of Tatareva having to do a little run for the hoop at the end, it was the best they've ever performed it, and you know if Russia goes clean they're going to score upper 18. Their difficulty alone was three or four tenths higher than the rest, and their execution was not so outrageous as to cause disbelief. They scored a 9.233 e-score while Italy had a 9.033 and Belarus and Bulgaria right below the 9.0 mark with 8.966. So while I'm normally the first to admit that Russia keeps getting the benefit of the doubt with judges, that simply was not the case when it came to their 6 clubs+2 hoops. It's a masterpiece in overall construction, use of the carpet space, dance, lifts, throws, and apparatus handling. I mean, show me the team that does two lifts and adds in a leg catch just for giggles! It's probably human nature to desire a 'perfect win', but gymnastics is not a chronographic sport where the person with the single best effort will win, as is done in swimming or track. It's a subjective sport whose winners are determined by averages; averaging difficulty and execution for one routine and averaging different routines for an All Around score. This is not to say I think the Russians were so terrible as to need my defense. Both performances were good, and besides, I've had months to be disappointed by 5-ribbons so I knew as long as they were good in clubs+hoops, victory was theirs. If anyone else should win, I would've wished for either Italy or Bulgaria to be champions because both have sets of routines that are equally amazing. 

All that being said and done, I am sympathetic to the ensuing outcry because it happens often enough in our sport that the Russians get away with mediocrity while other teams have to do the most just to get within reach of them. They're all doing difficulty out of 10.0 yet only Russia ever gets most of it's difficulty credited. And then there are times, such as the World AA final with 5 ribbons, where they receive the highest execution even though they're nearly running out of bounds trying to catch the apparatus. They've been sloppy plenty of times and in addition to their lack of cohesion, it's upsetting to the wider fanbase to see how far ahead they can score without even trying. But they were trying very hard during this AA final, and judges were as fair in punishing them for their mistake as they were in rewarding them for their excellence. I guess the question remains, would another team have scored much worse for the same error? I always thought the perks of being a Russian was that your training, coaching, preparation, and living accommodations were top notch. But the growing cynicism between fans suggests the main perk of being a Russian is that the judges are habituated with seeing you in 1st place. Gymnastics needs to become more transparent so that we stop losing these hardcore fans to skepticism. 

We will continue to see a grudging acceptance of their dominance in the individual category, but I expect team matches will continue to be a hotbed of resistance amongst the fans and the actual competitors. "Nobody is undefeatable," Quereda told reporters with a shy smile. "We could see that yesterday [in qualifications]. Yes, Russia is strong in rhythmic gymnastics but we're getting there." And along with Belarus, Italy and Bulgaria, her team is one of the strongest contenders determined to disrupt 20 years of supreme domination. 

When each time is like the first time