About the finals of the rhythmic gymnastics competition at the Olympics, which brought gold and silver to athletes from Russia
Band exercise begins Margarita Mamun.
A fairly young sports discipline that is more like dance is rhythmic gymnastics. The competition participants, and these are only women, perform beautiful choreographic numbers to the music. All performances include complex gymnastic figures. This sport is the only one from the Olympic program created in Russia.
Participants in rhythmic gymnastics games
96 athletes from different countries will attend the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. There are two disciplines in rhythmic gymnastics: individual and group all-around. No more than 7 gymnasts from one country are allowed to participate, of which 5 can participate in the group competition and 2 in the individual competition.
The selection for the Summer Olympic Games has already been completed, and only 2 countries were able to nominate 7 participants each: Russia and Belarus. Countries from which 6 participants will come to the games:
- Brazil;
- Bulgaria;
- Germany;
- Greece;
- Israel;
- Spain;
- Italy;
- China;
- Uzbekistan;
- Ukraine;
- Japan.
The remaining participating countries will send one athlete each who will participate in the individual all-around:
- Australia;
- Austria;
- Georgia;
- Cape Verde;
- Kazakhstan;
- Romania;
- Finland;
- France;
- South Korea.
The qualifying tournament for these Summer Olympics is the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, which took place in 2015 in Germany. Additional qualifying competitions are held at the Olympic test competitions, where 3 group teams and 6 individual athletes will have a chance to participate. According to the rules, it is necessary that representatives from all continents be present at the competition. The Olympics are hosted by Brazil, so the country is guaranteed one place each in the individual and group competitions.
Rhythmic gymnastics competition calendar
The rhythmic gymnastics competition will last three days.
- Individual and group qualifications will take place on August 19;
- On August 20, qualifying for the group all-around will end, and the final for the individual all-around will also take place;
- On August 21, the finals of the rhythmic gymnastics competition in the group category will take place.
Since only women practice rhythmic gymnastics, men do not participate in this discipline.
Judges evaluate several parameters:
- Difficulty of the exercises. The exercises have strict requirements;
- Artistry and choreography. Since rhythmic gymnastics is sometimes more like ballet;
- Execution - that is, mistakes made during the competition.
There is also one coordinator who ensures that all the elements that should be included in the program are present.
Often additional items are used for performances to make the exercises more spectacular:
- Jump rope;
- Mace;
- Tapes;
- Hoop;
The duration of an individual performance is 1.5 minutes, a group performance is 2.5 minutes.
On Saturday, in exact accordance with the forecast, two awards at once - gold and silver - were won by the Russians following the results of the Olympic tournament in rhythmic gymnastics in the individual all-around. The victory went to Margarita Mamun, and 13-time world champion Yana Kudryavtseva, who was considered the favorite, was left with silver due to an error in the exercise with clubs. And on Sunday, the Russian team won gold in group exercises. Thus, our team takes both gold medals at stake in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics for the fifth time in a row. VALERIYA MIRONOVA - with details from Rio de Janeiro.
In a similar situation to the one in which the super champion of those years Alina Kabaeva found herself at the Sydney Games in 2000, Yana Kudryavtseva found herself in Rio, who by the age of 18 had won the all-around three times at the world championships, and in total had already earned 13 top world titles. The hoop “ran away” from Alina Kabaeva in Australia, and with it the Olympic title. It then went to her team colleague Yulia Barsukova. Kabaeva achieved her goal only four years later in Athens. In Rio, Yana Kudryavtseva, despite undergoing a complex operation on her foot at the end of last year (her scaphoid bone was completely crushed in the instep area) and a three-month absence from competitive practice, arrived as the favorite. With all due respect to Margarita Mamun, who also won several events at the World Championships during her career, this brilliant 19-year-old gymnast was still considered number two on the team. But it was she, and not Yana Kudryavtseva, who was destined to win here, first the qualifying competitions, in which both of our athletes made mistakes, and then the finals.
The main all-around competition, in which ten finalists sequentially performed exercises with a hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon, was opened by Margarita Mamun. However, after her two absolutely error-free performances, there was a feeling that the judges, despite all their impartiality (this fact was noted by all the participants here), still slightly held back their assessments. Probably because then it was Yana Kudryavtseva’s turn. And the referees, naturally, knew firsthand how charmingly she could do her exercises. And when for her performances, first with the hoop, and then with the ball, Kudryavtseva received one and a half to two tenths of a point more than Margarita Mamun, the feeling that she was being brought to the highest pedestal became stronger.
But everything changed in one second. With the final chord of the “cosmic” composition, to which Kudryavtseva launched, there were clubs to the sky, but she could not catch it back. Although she tried to hide her embarrassment, already lying in the final position and covering the clubs with her hand. This mistake decided the fate of the Olympic gold, which smoothly rolled from her hands into the hands of her reliable backup. Ironically, Yana Kudryavtseva was let down by subjects for which she was less worried than others. “The most difficult exercises for me are with a hoop and ribbon,” she told Kommersant. “You have to run, jump, jump and fly, which, given my injury, is unsafe for me. Maces are calmer. There you work more with your hands.”
It is noteworthy that the victory in the final event - in the exercise with a ribbon - again went to Yana Kudryavtseva. But she approached him, knowing for sure that under no circumstances would she become a champion.
Recalling the fatal moment for her, Yana Kudryavtseva said: “At the end of the performance, my strength was already running out, I threw the clubs poorly and did not have time to realize that they were not flying well. That is, she could have done something, but did not have time. There is, of course, a disorder, but there might not have been any silver.”
Margarita Mamun (right) in the individual all-around was ahead of her titled partner on the Russian national team, tournament favorite Yana Kudryavtseva
And Margarita Mamun, who purely performed all her compositions, choreographed by the team’s senior coach Irina Zenovka and perfected in collaboration with personal trainer Amina Zaripova under the supervision of the President of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation and the head coach of the national team Irina Viner-Usmanova, was in seventh heaven. “In general, I felt calm,” the Olympic champion recalls her feelings during the tournament. “I didn’t see Yana’s mistake and didn’t know who was in which place. I found out about the mistake when Yana made the tape and came to me. I also made a mistake in qualifying - I was distracted for a split second. But after yesterday’s clubs, I was no longer afraid of making mistakes again. Our sport is like this: go out and do it. I made a mistake - it's only your fault. Yana and I always support each other and have become family to each other.”
Irina Viner-Usmanova believes that Margarita Mamun did all the exercises very cleanly. But the outstanding specialist especially noted her exercise with the tape. “The tape is the last view on which everything could be decided. This is a very difficult subject, especially in Brazil where there is a lot of humidity. We were scared that the ribbons would be tied, but I told the girls right away - some will be first, some will not, and we worked calmly and correctly,” Mrs. Viner-Usmanova emphasized.
And she called Yana Kudryavtseva’s performance a feat and a huge victory, bearing in mind everything she experienced after the 2015 World Championships, in which the gymnast won with a broken leg. “Yana underwent a major operation, was in a cast for a month, and then had a long recovery. And today we saw the highest rating in three out of four types. In just one way, Yana did not complete the job,” Ms. Viner-Usmanova expressed regret and wished Yana Kudryavtseva, drawing an analogy with Alina Kabaeva, to correct the situation at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
The Olympic triumph of Russian rhythmic gymnastics became complete - for the fifth time in a row - the next day, when group exercises took place. And this ending had a completely different plot than the personal ending. He even made me remember that there were times when someone else could challenge Russian “artists” and could get ahead of them.
In Rio, the challenge was posed by the Spanish women, who had prepared well for this Olympics. Just as cool as the 1996 Olympics, when the group won gold. They excelled in the qualifications, and in the first final exercise - with five ribbons - they were a little ahead of the Russian group, by two tenths of a point. Moreover, the Bulgarians wedged themselves between the two favorites. There were whispers in the stands about a sensation until the Russian five - Vera Biryukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Maksimova, Anastasia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva - performed in exercises with three clubs and two hoops.
It was an amazing program in terms of dynamics and richness of complex elements. And for it the Russian group received an amazing score - 18.633. Against the background of her performances, even the really, really decent performances of the Spanish and Bulgarian women did not look good. These universes were too different. And the points received for clubs and hoops were, of course, enough for the Russian girls to take gold in total.
Vera Biryukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Maksimova, Anastasia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva brought the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team Olympic gold in group exercises
The Russian rhythmic gymnastics team won the group exercises at the Games in Rio de Janeiro. Gold medals were won by Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Maksimova, Anastasia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva, who received a total score of 36.233 points in the final.
After the first exercise - with ribbons - the Russian team took only third place in the final, behind the teams of Spain and Bulgaria. In the second exercise - with clubs and hoops - the Russians were significantly ahead of their rivals. As a result, the Spaniards took second place (35.766 points), the Bulgarians – third (35.766).
In qualifying, the Russians lost 0.233 points to the Spaniards and reached the final with the second result. At the same time, the results of the qualifying performance were not taken into account in the finals.
The day before, Russians Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudryavtseva made a golden double in the individual all-around. Mamun and Kudryavtseva secured gold and silver, respectively, before all their rivals had time to complete the last exercise - with the ribbon. Mathematically, they turned out to be unattainable for their rivals and officially became medalists of the Games. Third place was taken by Ukrainian athlete Anna Rizatdinova, who lost more than two points to Kudryavtseva. Mamun was in the lead after qualifying, Yana Kudryavtseva was in second place. During the final, Kudryatseva came out on top, but she made a serious mistake in the exercise with clubs - at the end of the performance she dropped the projectile.
Previously, at four Olympics in a row, starting with Sydney 2000, the Russian team won in both rhythmic gymnastics disciplines presented at the Games - individual all-around and group exercises. Yulia Barsukova won the individual all-around in Sydney, Alina Kabaeva won in Athens 2004, and Evgenia Kanaeva won in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
Also, at five Olympics in a row, starting with Sydney 2000, the Russian team won in both disciplines of synchronized swimming presented at the Games - in duet and team competitions. Olga Brusnikina and Maria Kiseleva won the duet in Sydney, Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova won in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, Natalya Ishchenko and Svetalana Romashina won in London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Having won gold in the duet and team competitions, Ishchenko and Romashina became five-time Olympic champions and repeated the achievement of Anastasia Davydova. Previously, Davydova was the only athlete in history to win five Olympic gold medals, competing under the Russian flag, and the only five-time Olympic champion in the history of synchronized swimming. At the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Ishchenko and Romashina will carry the Russian flag.
In the medal standings, Russia takes fourth place with 54 awards (18 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze). The Americans are still in the lead, the US team already has 118 medals (43 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze). In second position is Great Britain (66 awards, including 27 gold). In third place is China (70 medals, including 26 gold).
Vladimir RAUSH
from the Olympic Park
Writing about Russian rhythmic gymnastics is simple and difficult at the same time. Simple - because everything seems to lie on the surface. Fans are accustomed to the fact that ours always win in this sport. Yesterday. Today. And tomorrow too. Any other outcome will be taken as news of the end of the world. As if the world had collapsed, or the earth had left its orbit. The comparison may be banal, but nothing else comes to mind. If only because over the last twenty years of Olympic history this has never happened.
The difficulty of reporting on rhythmic gymnastics is that it is almost impossible to say anything new. Everything has already been written before us. And about the most severe daily and nutritional regime for the athletes who live at the base in Novogorsk in virtually barracks-like conditions. And about their grueling training. Not just physically difficult ones - any professional athlete will tell you about them. We are talking specifically about training that is mentally exhausting. Endless repetitions of individual elements and runs of entire programs - to the point of brilliance, to the point of automatism. Those that increase your grade as much as possible, but hit your psyche with a hammer and crush your brain.
UNRESREBRENITA KUDRYAVTSEVA
Getting ready to write about the individual all-around competitions, your correspondent wondered: what place did they take? Margarita Mamun And Yana Kudryavtseva at the previous Games? Only after several minutes of intense thought did memory suddenly prompt me - not one of them performed there. Other Russians shone in London - gorgeous Evgenia Kanaeva and her teammate Daria Dmitrieva. This is not about my sclerosis, it’s just that Mamun and Kudryavtseva are so accustomed to their constant victories that it seems that they were always on the platform.
It was not by chance that I began to remember the performance of our athletes in London. One of the revelations of recent months was an interview Kudryavtseva in “SE”, in which the athlete stated: it is not very important for her to win in Rio de Janeiro. The main thing is that the gold medal goes to the Russian woman. Hearing this, I was amazed. This undermined the whole essence of elite sport. His main driving force has always been personal ambitions, coupled with the prestige of the title of Olympic champion. All athletes are always driven forward by one thing - the desire to become the best, to surpass, to prove.
And here a person voluntarily gives up the main thing in his life, sacrificing it in favor of his partners. If there was a share of slyness in Yana’s words, it was very small - I don’t think that she was bending her heart, wanting to play the role of a disinterested person. This is simply such a degree of physical and spiritual self-sacrifice, brought to the absolute. Once you understand this, no other explanation is needed to describe the psychological portrait of Russian “artists”. Although, perhaps, we, mere mortals, are not given the opportunity to fully understand it.
ILL-FATED MACES
Pre-launch scenarios seemed to speak in favor Kudryavtseva. At three world championships of this Olympic cycle, she invariably took first place in the all-around, each time leaving her teammate and main rival behind Mamun behind the back. However, during the Olympic qualification, Margarita presented a surprise. She confidently won the competition, breaking away from the second Russian by a respectable 0.385 points. And this despite the fact that Mamun suffered a collapse in exercises with clubs - she lost the apparatus, received a serious deduction and took only 11th place in this discipline. One can imagine the level of its overall rating if the failure had not occurred!
In such a subjective sport as rhythmic gymnastics, qualification is always more than just selection. This is also an opportunity for judges to assess in advance the level of athletes and their readiness. It's no secret that the impression left in qualifying is often reflected in the marks received in the main competitions. And from this point of view, the Olympic all-around acquired new intrigue.
However, as soon as the tournament began, everything quickly fell into place. Kudryavtseva noticeably added to the complexity of the programs in exercises with a hoop and a ball, and after the first two events she won almost one and a half points against herself on Friday. Mamun, on the contrary, was a little inferior to herself. In general, the two tournament leaders were separated by a fairly impressive 0.275 points: 38.475 for Kudryavtseva versus 38.200 for Mamun.
Exercises with clubs took on special significance in light of what had happened the day before. Mamun to the famous song
We will Rock You Queen really rocked the hall, and most importantly, the judges. 19.050 - with this score she would have won this event in qualifying. But Kudryavtseva had a real sports tragedy. While performing the last throw of the mace to the final chords of her musical composition, she was unable to hold the slippery object in her palm and dropped it on the carpet.While waiting for the assessment, Yana sat with her head bowed. The body shook with silent sobs. 17.883 - these points retained her overall second place, but deprived her of any hope of victory. At that moment she was 0.892 points behind the other Russian woman - this cannot be won back within one event.
FORGETING ABOUT PAIN
Exactly Mamun opened the final type of the program - exercises with tape. The camera showed her face close up just before leaving - from nervous tension it turned into a mask. But Rita coped with her task: falling on the carpet at the end of the exercise meant not only a spectacular ending, but also a huge relief in her soul. Score 19,233 gymnast and her mentor, famous in the past Amina Zaripova greeted in a hug. It was clear that the Olympic champion had just completed her performance!
We must pay tribute Kudryavtseva. She stepped onto the platform, knowing full well that she would no longer rise higher than second place. And this is where the habit of forgetting about pain, both moral and physical, came into play at the right moments. Yana not only completed her program flawlessly, but even surpassed her opponent - 19.250. And although this did not affect her tournament position in any way, for some reason I am sure that this was extremely important for the athlete herself.
Everything in the world was not in vain. It was not in vain.
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Olympic Games 2016.
Gymnastics. August 20.
Individual championship. The final.
1. MAMUN - 76,483. 2. KUDRYAVTSEVA - 75,608. 3. Rizatdinova (Ukraine) - 73,583. 4. Song Young Jae (Korea) - 72,898. 5. Stanyuta (Belarus) - 71,333. 6. Galkina (Belarus) - 70,932.