Tweet Russian Coach Valentina Rodionenko speaks about the Russians in the run up to the 2011 World Championships next month. The following interview is  By Grigoriy Gureyev for RIA-sport. This interview was posted on the Russian Gymnastics Federations website.

- How is Aliya Mustafina’s recovery progressing?
Aliya Mustafina will not recover in time for world championships. We do not
want to risk hurting her. If her injury comes back, or something else happens,
we might not see her at the Olympics in London. But we will be fighting for
medals anyway, since we have good …

Tweet This weekly round up aims to give a synopsis of the week in news. If you haven’t already subscribed to Full Twist by adding the URL to your Google Reader or by entering your email address in the subscribe button on the website, then you may be missing out on some of the exciting gymnastics news.  You can also follow Full Twist on  Twitter and Facebook to keep up with the news.
First off, Full Twist must apologise for the lack of fluid and regular updates over the last 2 weeks, as explained we are on vacation and should be home by …

Tweet Alan Owen has confirmed via email that Viktoria Komova will compete in the upcoming Russian Cup taking place August 15th – 21st. He writes:
Special thanks to the Komov family for the new update! Vika is likely going to be competing at the Russian Cup taking place next month in Ekaterinburg. If all goes well at the Russian Cup, she will be scheduled to compete at another competition taking place in Belgium (I don’t know the name of the event.)
Sounds good but some might fear that this is too soon …

Tweet A few weeks ago a video and article emerged of the Russian girls taking a break from Round Lake and training in Mallorca in Spain. They were all there, Nabieva, Komova, Mustafina, Dementyeva, Belokobylskaya, Semenova, Afanasyeva.
Another article titled “The rebirth of Russian gymnastics” has appeared this week of the Russians training in Spain. The spanish article translates as the following in Google;
During recent decades the Russian gymnastics was a big mystery. It was known that a hundred kilometers from Moscow, near the lake, stood a gray and mammoth sports complex where they lived …

Tweet My newly ordered copy of Vladimir Zaglada’s book “One Coach’s Journey from East to West:  How the Fall of the Iron Curtain Changed the World of Gymnastics” arrived this morning from Amazon. I can’t wait to read it. Product description from Amazon:
ONE COACH’S JOURNEY FROM EAST TO WEST: HOW THE FALL OF THE IRON CURTAIN CHANGED THE WORLD OF GYMNASTICS
Until the fall of the Soviet Union the West and the Communists were engaged not only in a heated arms race but a race for Olympic gold, and Moscow …

Tweet The schedule has been released for the upcoming Russian Cup, taking place August 15th – 21st in Ekaterinburg. The schedule has been posted on the Russian Gymnastics Federations website. A list of competitors has not yet been posted but obviously Mustafina and Komova will not compete.
Tuesday August 16th
12pm – 2pm – WAG Training
3.30pm – 6pm – MAG Training
Wednesday August 17th
2pm – 4.30pm WAG Qualification
5.30pm – 8pm MAG Qualification
Thursday August 18th
5pm – 7pm WAG All Around Final
Friday August 19th
5pm – 7pm MAG All Around Final
Saturday 20th August
4pm – 7pm MAG …

Tweet Alan Owen has posted another fantastic update on the recovery of Aliya Mustafina and Viktora Komova on their websites. He explains that both gymnastics have returned to Round Lake following a two week break away to Spain.

Whilst Komova is training for the 2011 World Championships in October, she is only performing light training since back in Russia. It is hoped that she will be able to compete on at least some apparatus in Tokyo. Presumably vault and floor are debatable.

Mustafina has not been granted permission to train just yet, …

Tweet Russia’s Anna Pavlova has a new website. Like the other Russian gymnasts, the site is run by Alan Owen. Visit her new website here.

Tweet We had reported earlier that Anastasia Sidorova was to compete in the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2 weeks time in Trazbon, Turkey. Alan Owen has unfortunately reported on Sidorova’s official website that she is still injured and will not compete at the EYOF.
Withdrawing from Youth Olympic Festival
Unfortunately, Anastasia Sidorova had to withdraw from the European Youth Olympic Festival because her wrist in still in plaster and she never had an opportunity to return to full training
We haven’t seen Sidorova compete since the Russian Junior Championships in April this year, where …

Tweet The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a few new updates online about the russian gymnasts.
Viktoria Komova
Is said to be returning to full training in 2 weeks time since surgery on her ankle some months ago. Apparently Komova has had 2 surgeries on her ankle and described how her injuries occurred:
Komova said that the recovery process after the first injury lasted about six weeks, but after the second injury, she could not train for two months. “I was performing a skill and took a step back and twisted my leg — …

Tweet As reported, Tatiana Nabieva will not compete at this weekends Moscow Cup. An article has appeared online where Russian Coach Valentina Rodionenko is said to have explained that Nabieva is injured.
The translation from Russian to English by Google is the following:
Should establish itself as Nabiyev, which has earned the right to speak at the World Cup, but she also injured. Not as serious as Alia Mustafina, but we decided to keep her.

The idea of an injured Nabieva has been discussed on the International Gymnast forum with Amanda Turner reporting that …

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Rewriting Russian Gymnastics has just linked to a brief interview with Russian Coach Valentina Rodionenko. He confirms that Viktoria Komova will indeed miss the European Championships next month in Berlin, as suspected by some bloggers. What a pity, better her protect herself that cut her career short.
International Gymnast has also posted about Komova and named the Russian team who will compete at Euro’s – Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabiyeva, Anna Dementyeva and Yulia Belokobylskaya. The Men’s team is compiled of Anton Golotsutskov, Maxim Devyatovsky, Nikita Ignatyev, Alexander Balandin, Emin Garibov and Denis Ablyazin.
Photo Via Mark Dadswell / …

Tweet Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that the government will spend $3 billion ( 90 billion rubles), on the development of sports in Russia over the next 3 years. The money will be invested in sports development in 2011 and funding for sports medicine will also be increased. The Prime Minister also declared that 2011 is the Year of  Sports in Russia!

Whilst the funding seems to be more geared towards Sochi 2014 (Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2014) rather than London 2012, I’m sure that the  Russian gymnastics teams …

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The WAG Russian National Senior Team has been announced. Information is available on the  Gymnastics Federation of Russia’s website too – if you can understand it.  As posted on the Tatiana Nabieva and Viktoria Komova Facebook pages:
Senior national team:
Ksenia Afanasyeva
Yulia Belokobylskaya
Anna Dementyeva
Yulia Inshina
Viktoria Komova
Ekaterina Kurbatova
Violetta Malikova
Ramilia Musina
Aliya Mustafina
Anna Myzdrikova
Tatiana Nabieva
Maria Paseka
Diana Sapronova
Ksenia Semenova
Reserve Gymnasts:
Anastasia Grishina
Maria Dunaeva
Kristina Kruglikova
Irina Sazonova
Anastasia Sidorova
Tatiana Solovyova
Maria Stepanova
Click through to the links to the gymnasts websites!

Tweet A few weeks ago, after the Voronin Cup Tatiana Nabieva spoke to Sport Express about the 2010 gymnastics year and her plans for the future.You can read the interview in it’s original Russian format here but the Facebook page  Tatiana Nabieva Online has a Google translated version.You’ll have to take what you can get from it but it’s easy enough to figure out what is being said.

Tatiana explains the reason for her upset after her performance on bars during the Voronin Cup, discusses that she has problems with her …