May Khorkina bless this Tumblr and all who enter

An old blog from here ("whatshouldgymfanscallme" I think was its name) also made a great recap of the whole mess, but, yep, I think the Alexandrov's interview came from RRG right?

FS is way more dramatic, like rivalries are in their DNA, in gymnastics the closest is RG, WAG is pretty chill. The Alexandrov's dismissal was huge because of the implications it had on the programme, that whole quad was a mess for Russia. An also because there were coaches publicly attacking him. Other examples of #gymdrama are probably Nunno vs. Karolyi - so funny but second-hand embarrassment -, or 2012 Tour with Nastia arguing with everyone. Or Galieva insinuating someone tried to kill her at 1992 Worlds! That's the most insane thing I have ever read about WAG conspiracies - but I have to clarify Galieva was melodramatic and she thought she was more important that what she actually was.

I don't follow FS that much except for competitions, but sometimes I like to catch up in the middle of the season and I'm embarrassed with their fights haha. I thought Medvedeva going to Orser was huge, then Kostornaia and Trusova leave Eteri, and then they come back. Everyone fighting each other in the middle lol. Embarrasing.

I forgot about Grishina's mom!! That even got into the Russian news. Did they ever reconcile?

Zelikson was a disgrace, although I'm sure he was basically following Rodionenko's orders, because attacking Mustafina was like attacking Alexandrov. But yes, the fact he directly blamed Alexandrov and Aliya in A PRESS CONFERENCE right after the team final LOL.

To be honest I have even thought sometimes that they made Grishina implode on purpose to blame Alexandrov. And about Nastya, the way they treated her after she moved to the Razumovkys... Disgusting, ugh.

Technically is Grebenkin, but seems the actual coach is Aliya. I don't have very clear how the actual coaching staff is currently in Russia tbh, too many changes in so little time.

Denisevich is still her personal coach as far as I know, but I think they have not left for their home gyms these last months as much as they used to because of COVID. Usually - or at least some years ago - most of the month they were at Round Lake and then a week or so they left for the local gyms - or if the travel was too long they stayed at Round Lake or went to a Moscow gym like CSKA.

Yeah, usually NT gymnasts are mostly coached by the NT coaches, you can see that in how their gymnastics change from the point they arrive to Round Lake. The perfect example is the Van Lueween trend or how everyone got the Russian bars set or similar during the Rio quad.

The Alexandrov-Mustafina was similar to Arkayev coaching basically almost every Russian of the late 90's to 00's lol. Although Arkayev did it to get more money from the state. Basically at that stage they are mostly coached only by the NT staff, but also depends in their coaches attend RL.

Alexandrov was really problematic, but he knew how to get results fast. But yes, for what I have read he was very "excentric" (lol) and that had to be a big shift from Gavrichenko I imagine. Also, that for quite some time Ostapenko were the junior head coach helped too. What a pair!

I think all started because Aliya didn't tell her about her wedding, which was a huge secret, and eventually they fell out. I guess she started not feeling into gymnastics as much as she did because of that? no idea, but she was really nice and her posts were very insightful about the atmosphere inside Round Lake back in those days.

I think it was Matthias Fahrig? I remember reading it at STOI! a long time ago, but I don't remember exactly the name, sorry :/

I would say Kulikova. She basically destroyed Sokova's back and Agafonova has been permanently injured except for 2019. She's the Russian Kim Zmeskal lol.

Grebenkin is a very good coach on bars though.

The truth is that the impact Russian coaches have on their gymnasts is not as much as happens in US, for example, because, unless they are part of the NT staff - like Nazarova, Ulyankina or Elfimov used to be, even Arkayev or Alexandrov, who where the head coaches -, once they arrived at Round Lake they don't work with them as much as Americans do. It's more about the basics and style.

Zubova won beam at Russian Cup! I hope she gets her shit together on BB and FX for next quad, because she could be a strong asset for Russia there for Universiade or minor teams.

Ans I missed so many things! This cycle has been more "relaxed" in terms of russian drama, but the quad from London to Rio was INTENSE. I will try to find posts from 2013 explaining the Alexandrov-Rodionenko feud.