Soviet System Yet to Start Operating
The 38th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships started in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday, November 21, 2005. Of 300 gymnasts from 54 countries, 10 will stand for Russia. No medals of higher value could be counted on, said Andrey Rodionenko, senior coach of the national team of Russia.
For Rodionenko, who took over the national artistic gymnastic team a year ago, the near-term target is to revive the system of gymnastic talent upbringing. The new system, which is based on the principals applied in time of the former Soviet Union, could be viewed operating provided young and talented gymnasts appear in the team, the coach specified, adding they are just growing up now.
The situation has been critical in the artistic gymnastics until very recently. With no urgent actions taken, it might have disappeared as a sport in Russia in a couple of years, Rodionenko said. For instance, there were only five women gymnasts to choose four of them to perform at the past Europe Championships. But there is some hope – Russia’s Sports Committee has widened gymnastics funding by one and a half for the new Olympic cycle, paving the way to attract more candidates to the national team.
In Melbourne, Russia is, first of all, to gather maximum data on today’s leaders – the men gymnasts of Japan, China and South Korea and the women gymnasts of Romania, the United States and China in an effort to determine the own route towards success.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 22, 2005
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