Watanabe Visits Round Lake

The new FIG President, Morinari Watanabe, graced Round Lake on the 20th of January to meet with the men's and women's team of artistic gymnastics, the Moscow minister of Sport, and the president of RGF & FSGR (governing body for artistic and rhythmic gymnastics). Making the diplomatic rounds on a global tour, Mr. Watanabe sought to strike a supportive and reassuring tone in his meeting with officials and staff. “The presence of such a [newly appointed] minister of sport, [Pavel Kolobkova], is a winning moment for Russia and for the world of gymnastics. I’ve met with ministers of sport in so many different countries, but one so loving and knowledgeable in matters of sport ministry- what a rarity.'' As Russia continues to be embroiled in lengthy legal battles over the McClaren report and face further consequences stemming from other doping accusations, the FIG president met and discussed the political climate and noted he and President Titov shares many of the same views: "I agree that the athlete should be brought to the forefront. For me, the Russian athletes are my athletes: these are my daughters and sons. We must do everything to ensure that these children are happy. I hope that my first deputy and Mr. Titov can do even better gym," he said.   

For all my new followers, read what you need to know about Morinari Watanabe and how his vision differs from Grandi's and Guelzec's right here. (His new vision for the sport is already coming through in the use of star gymnasts for promotion: American Olympian, Alexandra Raisman, will be in Australia for their World Cup strictly to sign autographs and bolster ticket sales.) 

Bulashenko was fired

In other news...

I remember a conversation I had with one of my anon commenter's a few months ago expressing concern that we had not heard any summary report from the national team staff concerning the results of Rio. Normally they hold a meeting and a media summit of sorts to discuss all that's passed and all that's to come. After London, we had a barrage of information but with that access came a lot of public controversy and scandal. This time around it seems the Rodionenkos have kept things very internal and a lot of people have been fired, a lot more quietly. 

Daria Spiridonova's bar coach, Anton Stolyar, was fired from his position as the senior coach of UB. In 2013, Anton returned to Russia from Italy where he had been coaching members of the Italian team including Erika Fasana and Elisa Meneghini, so I suppose he might return there? Marina Bulashenko, the beam coach, was also let go. She'd upset a lot of us by blaming Seda's terrible post- Olympic performances on weight gain. I'm sure that those comments weren't what led to her being fired, more likely the total destruction of confidence and ability on beam after a very excellent 4 years under Larissa Ushakova. If anything, Bulashenko's excuses were the symbolic summation of an entire quad of mediocre work led by tutelage. On that note, LARISSA IS BACK! She was rehired to fix any further deterioration on this vital piece of apparatus. Following the Olympic order of rotation, one could always see how apprehensive the girls became after bars were done so Ushakova has her work cut out for her, but on the other hand, she's dealing almost exclusively with new girls so hopefully she can break that timid mentality. And last but not least we have Zelikson leaving the National team; some say he was fired others say he resigned. Either way, we know he's headed to Saransk to manage Leonid Arkayev's former gym.

I don't know all of the NT positions (especially MAG) but below is who I know is on staff. Highlighted in yellow is who I'm unsure of but believe still woks at Round Lake:

Andrei Rodionenko Head coach, MAG & WAG
Valentina Rodionenko Unofficial Head coach, MAG & WAG
Valery Alfosov Senior coach, MAG
Evgeny Grebenkin Senior coach, WAG
Nikolai Krukov Senior coach, Junior MAG
Olga Bulgakova Senior coach, Junior WAG

Nikolai Yepishin Senior coach/physical education expert, WAG & MAG
Vasily Ivanov Tumbling specialist, WAG
Olga Burova, Choreographer, WAG
Vladimir Timonkin Coach-doctor, WAG
Vitaly Olgychev Coach-masseur, WAG
Larissa Efremova Choreographer, junior WAG
Yuri Korolev Technical preparation coach, junior MAG
Yuri Barinov Tumbling coach, juniors
Artem Voinov Technical preparation coach, junior WAG
Dmitri Gusev Tumbling coach, juniors