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Tag: Rhythmic gymnastics

  • Russian gym coach who criticized Olympic judges banned

    Russian gym coach who criticized Olympic judges banned

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    A top Russian gymnastics coach whose athletes won numerous Olympic gold medals has been suspended following vehement criticism of judges who ended Russia’s winning streak in rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics

    A top Russian gymnastics coach whose athletes won numerous Olympic gold medals has been suspended following vehement criticism of judges who ended Russia’s winning streak in rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics.

    The Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, which handles international disciplinary cases, barred Irina Viner from coaching or officiating at any competitions in international gymnastics for two years, in a decision published late Monday.

    That followed an investigation into statements made after Russian gymnasts took the silver medal in the individual and team all-around rhythmic competitions in Tokyo in 2021. Those were surprise defeats which ended a streak of gold medals for Russia going back to 2000 in both events.

    In comments to Russian media, Viner suggested the judges were motivated by anti-Russian prejudice and called the situation a “disgrace.” Viner also allegedly retaliated against an International Gymnastics Federation official from Russia who oversaw the judging at the Olympics by blocking her from running for re-election, and allegedly failed to cooperate with the inquiry.

    A summary of the ruling on the FIG website didn’t specify exactly which of the accusations were upheld but said Viner was found “liable for breach of the FIG rules”. Her comments after the Olympics were “deemed abusive and in violation of FIG rules,” the statement said.

    Viner’s two-year suspension won’t begin until current measures excluding Russia and its ally Belarus from international gymnastics over the invasion of Ukraine are lifted, or else five years pass.

    Viner, who was formerly married to billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov, is head of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation and widely seen as a leading powerbroker in Russian sports. She raised the issue of the Olympic judging at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in 2021, Russian state news agencies reported at the time.

    Responding to the decision to suspend Viner, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko accused the FIG of “discriminatory policy against Russia,” in comments to the Tass state news agency. Viner can appeal the ruling.

    Viner’s coaching style came under scrutiny in a documentary, “Over The Limit,” which followed her and gymnast Margarita Mamun ahead of the 2016 Olympics, where Mamun won gold. The documentary showed Viner repeatedly criticizing Mamun in stark personal terms.

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  • Amid the war ruins in Ukraine, Banksy seeds art

    Amid the war ruins in Ukraine, Banksy seeds art

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    BORODYANKA, Ukraine — Amid the ruins of war, the flowerings of art.

    A delicate painting of a gymnast doing a handstand has popped up on the wall of a wrecked building outside of Kyiv and appears to be the work of the British graffiti artist known as Banksy.

    Banksy posted photos on his Instagram page of the artwork in Borodyanka, northwest of Ukraine’s capital.

    The town was the target of shelling and fighting in the early stages of the Russian invasion, which turned apartment buildings into charred, bombed-out hulks.

    The mural of the gymnast is in black and white and is painted so she looks like she is doing her handstand on the crumpled remains of concrete blocks that poke out of the blackened wall. Towering above her are the gutted, blown-apart innards of what were once apartments.

    Another mural in the town — of a small boy doing a judo throw on a man — also looked like it might be Banksy’s, although that wasn’t posted on his Instagram page.

    President Vladimir Putin of Russia is a judo practitioner.

    A Banksy-like painting, also in black and white and again not confirmed as his by Banksy himself, also appeared on the wall of a war-damaged building in the town of Irpin, on Kyiv’s northwestern outskirts.

    It shows a rhythmic gymnast doing a pirouette with a ribbon, over a gaping hole in the wall.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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