"The sport has a terrible and long history of corruption"
July 25, 2024 9:21 PM Subscribe
A (not-so) Quick and Dirty Guide for 4-Year Fans of Rhythmic Gymnastics Back in May, Reddit user freifraufischer posted a detailed look at the runup to the Olympics for rhythmic gymnastics, with dozens of links to gorgeous routines with the ball, hoops, ribbon and clubs, as well as info about RG's byzantine scoring system, recent judging scandal and years of domination by the horrifically brutal (and recently banned) Russian coach Irina Viner.
There has also been a rope competition, which "has fallen out of favor largely because it's difficult to read on TV, though many purists think it's the most difficult apparatus."
Irina Viner is a terrible person (and is said to have introduced her pal Putin to his mistress, the former rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva), but she sure built a beautiful gymnastics palace in Moscow.
Some positivity:
But here is the best part.... Rhythmic Gymnastics is taking the time they have without the Russians and without Viner and they're fixing as much as they can as fast as they can. The age for juniors was raised last year (something Irina very much did not want) and the 2025-28 Code of Points takes a hatchet to a lot of the difficulty stacking (very broad over simplification) that has been written into previous codes to favor particular Russian gymnasts. They're basically unwinding what she did to the CoP either directly or through her influence.
And right now Rhythmic is more competitive than it's ever been. A wide variety of countries are winning medals, and the RGI All Around in Paris looks to be the most unpredictable that it has ever been and much more unpredictable than the artistic all arounds.
The post ends with a section on men's rhythmic gymnastics (with examples from Japan and Spain, which have two very different sets of rules), and a discussion of the future of RG given the IOC's recent push to eliminate single-gender sports, which it calls"the biggest looming issue" for the sport.
(The documentary Over the Limit, about the abuse suffered by gymnast Margarita Mamun under Viner's coaching, is available for free on Kanopy and Hoopla.)
There has also been a rope competition, which "has fallen out of favor largely because it's difficult to read on TV, though many purists think it's the most difficult apparatus."
Irina Viner is a terrible person (and is said to have introduced her pal Putin to his mistress, the former rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva), but she sure built a beautiful gymnastics palace in Moscow.
Some positivity:
But here is the best part.... Rhythmic Gymnastics is taking the time they have without the Russians and without Viner and they're fixing as much as they can as fast as they can. The age for juniors was raised last year (something Irina very much did not want) and the 2025-28 Code of Points takes a hatchet to a lot of the difficulty stacking (very broad over simplification) that has been written into previous codes to favor particular Russian gymnasts. They're basically unwinding what she did to the CoP either directly or through her influence.
And right now Rhythmic is more competitive than it's ever been. A wide variety of countries are winning medals, and the RGI All Around in Paris looks to be the most unpredictable that it has ever been and much more unpredictable than the artistic all arounds.
The post ends with a section on men's rhythmic gymnastics (with examples from Japan and Spain, which have two very different sets of rules), and a discussion of the future of RG given the IOC's recent push to eliminate single-gender sports, which it calls"the biggest looming issue" for the sport.
(The documentary Over the Limit, about the abuse suffered by gymnast Margarita Mamun under Viner's coaching, is available for free on Kanopy and Hoopla.)
They banned Viner, huh?
May Eteri Tutberidze be next.
posted by humbug at 7:14 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
May Eteri Tutberidze be next.
posted by humbug at 7:14 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
Thanks for this post. I've always found rhythmic gymnastics gorgeous, but know nothing about it other than the glimpses during the Olympics so this is going to fun diving into these links. I've only watched the ball and hoop performances so far that you linked and the body control is just incredible!
posted by Art_Pot at 8:09 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
posted by Art_Pot at 8:09 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
May Eteri Tutberidze be next.
So many coaches need to go. Over on the artistic gymnastics side that more folks are familiar with, the French team (after a series of fines, firings and actual convictions of coaches, most recently the suspension in March of one of the three coaches for the women's team while he's investigated for "violence and mistreatment") has managed to change things for the better with a new training regimen:
According to Martine George, the coach overseeing the team’s Olympic preparations, hiring psychologists from outside the federation to work on mental preparation and create a positive environment was a turning point last year. She said it helped coaches move away from the traditional authoritarian training methods that have long prevailed in France, to individualize each athlete’s training program and improve communication between gymnasts and coaches...
“It had never been done before, to get the athletes to express their views on what they were going through,” she said. “And there was this cry from the athletes: ‘Trust us, give us more autonomy and don’t add stress to the stress. We know what we need to do.’ The coaches heard them.” [...]
The coaches have also worked on their own behavior to improve their body language and make sure they don’t pass on their own stress to the athletes. And at competitions, the gymnasts are enjoying a lot more freedom.
“We can do more things than we used to. We can go out into the city, which is something we didn’t do before. It’s better than going back and forth from the hotel to the gym all the time,” Devillard said. “We’re big girls, we know how to manage ourselves, we know what it’s like, we’re not going to do anything stupid before a big competition. It’s all about confidence.”
posted by mediareport at 8:28 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
So many coaches need to go. Over on the artistic gymnastics side that more folks are familiar with, the French team (after a series of fines, firings and actual convictions of coaches, most recently the suspension in March of one of the three coaches for the women's team while he's investigated for "violence and mistreatment") has managed to change things for the better with a new training regimen:
According to Martine George, the coach overseeing the team’s Olympic preparations, hiring psychologists from outside the federation to work on mental preparation and create a positive environment was a turning point last year. She said it helped coaches move away from the traditional authoritarian training methods that have long prevailed in France, to individualize each athlete’s training program and improve communication between gymnasts and coaches...
“It had never been done before, to get the athletes to express their views on what they were going through,” she said. “And there was this cry from the athletes: ‘Trust us, give us more autonomy and don’t add stress to the stress. We know what we need to do.’ The coaches heard them.” [...]
The coaches have also worked on their own behavior to improve their body language and make sure they don’t pass on their own stress to the athletes. And at competitions, the gymnasts are enjoying a lot more freedom.
“We can do more things than we used to. We can go out into the city, which is something we didn’t do before. It’s better than going back and forth from the hotel to the gym all the time,” Devillard said. “We’re big girls, we know how to manage ourselves, we know what it’s like, we’re not going to do anything stupid before a big competition. It’s all about confidence.”
posted by mediareport at 8:28 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
the body control is just incredible!
It's an ongoing source of perplexity to me why more folks don't appreciate the incredible physicality of rhythmic gymnastics. And don't get me started on the coordination in the group events. When the athletes soar in this sport, watching it becomes a goddamn psychedelic experience.
posted by mediareport at 8:32 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
It's an ongoing source of perplexity to me why more folks don't appreciate the incredible physicality of rhythmic gymnastics. And don't get me started on the coordination in the group events. When the athletes soar in this sport, watching it becomes a goddamn psychedelic experience.
posted by mediareport at 8:32 AM on July 26 [1 favorite]
Omg group rhythmic gymnastics is my very favorite Olympic event. It’s like a competition of acrobats.
posted by LizBoBiz at 8:00 PM on July 27 [2 favorites]
posted by LizBoBiz at 8:00 PM on July 27 [2 favorites]
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The Rio 2016 group final is 97 minutes of beautiful athleticism, if you're into that.
(Oh, the recent judging scandal came *after* freifraufischer's post in May; a Polish gymnast had the scores given to her by the judges' panel blatantly lowered by a very suspect "superior jury", which blocked and lowered those scores; she lost her spot to a Cypriot gymnast with close ties to Russia who also trained at the same gym as some of the judges who blocked her opponent's scores. As you can tell, I got sucked into various threads over there and got the dates muddled.)
posted by mediareport at 9:38 PM on July 25 [1 favorite]