Nagorny lost the main title to a gymnast who did not compete at international competitions

The Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Kazan was held against the background of talks about the admission of fencers to international starts. Athletes and specialists passed the news, meeting in the corridors and at the platform, many times. Maybe gymnasts will be next? After all, ours are the strongest in the world, both the women’s and men’s teams are Olympic champions in Tokyo. The European Championships are in April, but everyone is waiting for the IOC to set out its vision for admission, and the International Gymnastics Federation will already make a decision. Everyone is waiting and remembering: we need to be released with a clear conscience and good programs. Coaches know how to hit the spot.

And the coaches also said before the start: we don’t expect anything special from the Olympic champions at the Russian Championship. And this, perhaps, would have sounded rude in relation to the same titled Nikita Nagorny, Artur Dalaloyan (he was forced to withdraw after the team competition due to injury) or David Belyavsky (won gold on horseback). But no, no disrespect. It may be harder for the champions to improve, but they must show their level. But those who pursue them must rush forward to catch up with the leaders. And yes, overcome them. This was expected in Kazan.

Sooner or later, the “little ones” grow up. And they begin not just to vote, but to impose their demands. It happens all the time in sports. And it means beautiful: internal competition pushes new leaders to the platform, who have grown up behind the backs of the titled ones, on their victories, skill, starting from their base of complexity. It is this internal competition that determines the strength and level of the national team. By pushing out new ones, she makes everyone work even harder at once. When combined, they become even more powerful.

In Kazan, seventeen-year-old Victoria Listunova defeated Angelina Melnikova in the individual all-around. And she won five gold medals of the Russian Championship! And eighteen-year-old Daniel Marinov made Nikita Nagorny take the second step of the personal all-around podium. Vicki’s golden triumph was not repeated by Daniel, the competition among the guys on the shells is very serious. But his Kazan catch is six medals (bronze in the team dispute, silver on the freestyle and three bronze medals: horse, vault and crossbar).

Breakthrough Marinov

… It suddenly occurred to me to look, and when did Daniel Marinov receive, for example, the title of master of sports? Found: the order was legally registered on June 30, 2021. A month before our guys became Olympic champions.

And, if Vika, the Olympic champion, managed to go through international junior competitions, won the first world championship among juniors, managed to become the absolute champion of Europe before Tokyo, then Danya … has not managed to do anything like that yet. And his competitive experience on the adult platform is only the starts of the last year, of course, not international ones.

Therefore, Marinov can simply state: if he had performed on the international platform before, then maybe he would have missed him. But he does not have such experience from the word “absolutely”. At first he was small, then the covid quarantined his junior stage, and then the suspension of all our athletes was left at home.

And Nikita Nagorny, having lost to Marinov in Kazan, rejoiced. If someone can think that it was for the public, then in vain. Nagorny, like the coaches of the national team, like our Olympic champions, was waiting for this moment. And he knows for sure: if there weren’t such a cool Marinov and young guys who ended up on the podium in Kazan in separate events, it would be right to fall into depression here.

This is exactly what Nikita, who is always sincerely happy for the winners, even if he himself is a loser, says: it is a great achievement that two young athletes were on the podium of the absolute championship at once, who a year or two ago did not represent competition (third place was taken by Sergey Naidin) .

“We had the same conditions, the same tasks. We came to the gym and trained together. And in this equal preparation, Danya won “? – Nikita states, emphasizing that the breakthrough of the young is important. Because they were not afraid, they entered into competition, they showed that they can and can.

“You will never be successful if you are afraid of defeating someone in competitions,” says Nagorny. And he knows what he is saying: he himself once burst onto the platform without a shadow of a doubt that he has the right to get involved in any fight and take his own. Let not everything, but at that time the maximum.

Nikita also says that young people tend to worry too much and maybe even be shy. True, this is not just about Marinov on the platform. No, after the speech, he, of course, becomes shy and admits: there is no talk of any surrender of leadership to Nagorny: “What are you talking about? You can’t even talk about it, or even think about it. And the young should not be compared with the elders at all. Our champions are cool professionals, they know all the intricacies of gymnastics, they have gone through something that I have never even dreamed of.

But he won’t hide it right away: of course, there is ambition to delve into all these “subtleties” and surpass the leaders. “I strive, I will try, I really want to perform at the international level so that we show our strength.”

Nagorny, who was standing nearby, will nod: Danya can fight for the top three at any competition. “At the European Championships, he would definitely have fought even for the first place, most likely, he would have fought with me.”

Selfish and complex

Of course, no one is used to such results of the team leader Angelina Melnikova. Gelya in Kazan won silver in the individual all-around and bronze in the team competition. The Olympic champion explained the failure by the fact that there is an injury and there is no emotional stability.

She admitted that the Russian championship turned out to be very difficult: her leg has been hurting for three years, apparently, there has been an aggravation. “I go out on the carpet and think that this may be my last exit, since Achilles is a terrible injury.”

Angelina believes that, in addition to the interfering injury, due to the lack of international starts, she herself seems to be marking time in one place. Yes, and hopes for a return, which then appear, then also quickly disappear, unsettle. “You come to training with hope, and a week later you are broken again, you don’t want to do anything.”

Not enough starts, says the Olympic champion, and all the girls. For example, earlier, a group of athletes could immediately fight for gold on shells, and in the all-around Kazan, only Angelina and Vika sorted out the relationship.

And Melnikova praises Vika Listunova very much, says that in the international arena she would be a superstar today. “I won by a huge margin, her gymnastics is constantly changing, Vika goes for complication everywhere.”

Yes, Listunova became an ornament and a thunderstorm of the tournament in Kazan. Vika did not get on the podium only in the beam exercise, which pushed her back to the penultimate place in the final. And so – she took all the gold, including the team.

With criticism, everything is in order with Vika, the maximalist is already well-known, therefore she called the championship “rather successful”. She said the usual about the beam: mistakes are corrected in training, I really wanted to do everything beautifully, but, apparently, I even overdid it.

And everyone knows, and personal trainer Olga Petrovicheva says so: “Vika is a proud girl, she wants to have the most difficult programs and be the strongest in the world.” This determines the motivation for the joy of all. Everything, it turns out, is simple.