Course towards revival: why rhythmic gymnastics competitions in Russia will be held according to their own rules

Federations in various sports reacted differently to the massive exclusion of Russians from international tournaments.

Some of them, in particular, the Russian Football Union, the Figure Skating Federation, the Skating Union, the Fencing Federation appealed to CAS with appeals against the relevant decisions of international organizations.

The All-Russian Athletics Federation, on the contrary, took a wait-and-see attitude and focused on restoring membership in World Athletics and developing a network of internal tournaments.

And the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics went even further and, for the duration of the suspension, introduced its own rules for competitions held in the country.

This approach will allow athletes to make programs more spectacular and varied.

According to the head of the WFHG and the head coach of the Russian national team Irina Viner-Usmanova, the FIG rulebook greatly weakens the overall level of the sport.

According to him, high marks are provided for simple and uninteresting elements with which all programs are now filled, while complex and bright ones are valued much less and have practically disappeared.

Russians, on the other hand, have always been distinguished by spectacular body elements - turns, complex jumps, mixes of two components.

“Since the Athens Olympics, all decisions have been aimed at cutting off the head, pulling the tail and getting something in between, figuratively speaking.

These rules were designed for weak countries that would like to compete with Russia.

The existing requirements can be met by many gymnasts who are not even close to the level of Russians.

And we are also forced to put programs in accordance with these rules, because if you don’t do elements that are very expensive, they won’t give high scores, ”Viner-Usmanova said in an interview with RT.

The head coach of the national team recalled that from 2000 to 2016, domestic gymnasts won all the Olympic gold in both individual and group all-around events.

In her opinion, FIG officials did not like this, who want universality and victories of participants from different countries.

“And now it has come to the point that the gold of the Olympics goes to the gymnast who dropped the object on the floor.

Despite the fact that Dina Averina performed superbly.

And this is explained by the fact that Lina Ashram supposedly has a more complex program.

We have been told all our lives that Russia's program is too complex and impossible to implement.

That is, the rules made it possible to manipulate the results.

And the current ones are to manipulate in the square, ”Viner-Usmanova said.

The specialist complained that the policy of weakening has borne fruit, and in recent years there has been a degradation of the sport in the country.

But the new approach will allow the gymnasts to return to their previous level of skill.

“We gave athletes and coaches complete freedom.

They make interesting elements that have already been forgotten.

Now they will think about which element to insert - ugly, but expensive, or both beautiful and expensive.

I think they will choose the second one, and at this stage the rhythmic gymnastics of Russia will be revived, ”Viner-Usmanova emphasized.

She is sure that domestic athletes will not have any difficulties with the transition to international requirements with a return to the world stage.

“In Soviet times, the rules were also different, and before the competition, our gymnasts mastered the necessary program in a week, since it was much easier than the one we did,” the famous coach explained.

According to the head of the WFHG, the rules that Russia is now introducing for internal use may later become the basis for international tournaments. 

“We must move forward, our rules are aimed at diversity and the realization of the capabilities of each gymnast,” the specialist emphasized.  

However, not everyone is enthusiastic about Viner-Usmanova's idea.

So, a petition was published on the Change.org platform asking them to abandon innovations, and it has already collected three thousand signatures.

As its authors — parents, coaches and doctors of sports medicine — note, it is obvious that in conditions of isolation, the question of maintaining Russian rhythmic gymnastics in the forefront, increasing its entertainment and attracting new fans is acute.

“However, we are concerned that the use of rules that have a certain territorial basis will further alienate domestic rhythmic gymnastics from the world and increase the risk of exclusion of this type from the Olympic family,” the message says.

Also, the initiators of the appeal are afraid of the possibility of an increase in injuries among young athletes, because the new rules allow gymnasts to participate in adult competitions from the age of 13, while according to the FIG regulations, the transition is carried out at 15. This may result in a shortage of personnel for the reserve of the national team.

The new rules, according to which technically complex elements of the body will be highly evaluated, will begin to be applied at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of Russia, which is planned to be held in Luzhniki.

In addition, the WFHG intends to organize several stages of the Cup of the country with the invitation of foreign athletes.

However, the organization of these tournaments is still in question due to bureaucratic difficulties.

The status of international competitions implies the participation of national teams, and in the current realities, when Russia has lost tournaments under the auspices of FIG, their arrival is almost impossible.

“We will not invite national teams, but clubs.

Four, five, maybe seven clubs from abroad will come to us.

But the Ministry of Sports has not yet confirmed these tournaments to us, saying that there should be national teams.

Do they really not know that we are removed from everywhere and none of the national teams will come to us?

And everything is moving so slowly, this bureaucratic fuss is going on, and the athletes are waiting for the competition, ”the head coach complained.

The stages of the Cup of the country also involve the participation of national teams of Russian regions, which, according to Viner-Usmanova, "will finally be able to come out of the shadows."

“After all, they could only perform at the championship and the championship of Russia before, and we didn’t see them anywhere else.

And now they will compete with the leading gymnasts and will be able to prove themselves, ”the specialist emphasized.