The US version of this series was a pretty much HIT! Russia haven't been ALL IT in 2011 and early this year but they have some exciting juniors coming up to the senior ranking plus they have experienced members i.e Afan and Nabs who all know the world expectation. Here are the 5 I'd choose;
Ksenia Afanasyeva
I think the Russians will be crazy not to choose this experienced, mature lady! She has been on the scene since 2006 at the Worlds. She went to the 2007 worlds aswell! After that, she made the olympic squad. Afan successfully made the beam final but finished around 6th-7th! In 2009, she had a quiet year at the end of. Well, she went to the European Chpts in Milan, Italy! There was a lot of HOO-HA (if you like) about her being bumped over Christina Goryunova too make all-around final but she finished in a strong 2nd place behind Semy! She made the Worlds but she withdrew with injury problems. 2010 was a new year and a new start for her too make her move after her injury! Afan didn't go to the European championships and instead went to the Pacific Rim International to help out the younger Russian's in their bid to win team gold! In October, she made the World Championships team and was part of their gold medal winning performance in the team final! She made the floor final, but fell twice!
In 2011, she won the Gold on the floor exercise at worlds.
Yulia Inshina
This teeny, tiny tot to the gymnastics world is capable of some beautiful yet hard gymnastics. Inshina came onto the scene later in 2011 and she had a very good season. Yulia made the world championships team. At this meet, she won a silver in the team competition. In the beam final, she didn't medal but gave a clean routine. After Worlds, she went to the DTB Stuttgart competition. She competed in the all-around competition with some nice routines. Her Test event performance wasn't the greatest performance, falling on floor but better to make the mistakes here than at the olympics.
Victoria Komova
From her worlds perfomance, we've learn't Komova is a gymnastics beauty but needs to take losing better and not get in 8 year old tantrums, but the media attention hit her like a bullet! One of my favorite things about Komova when she was a junior was that she was happy cruising along with the harder, nicer executed tricks. Some of her amanars she threw at the YOG were a bit dodgy but she also has the execution to match her high start values. So, YOG WAG gymnastics is summed up with Komova. In 2011, Komova was part of the worlds team. She picked up a silver medal in the team final. In the all-around final, it was a big trauma because she was 0.033 points low than J Wiebs, but she won a silver. In the bars final, she WON, trust me, she was very,very,VERY happy after that!
Anastasia Grishina
Anastasia is one of the newest to the senior rankings in Russia but promises beautiful yet tricky work. She first made her mark on the International scene in 2010, competing in the european championships. She did well there! Unfortunately, each nation was only aloud to take 1 gymnast to the YOG and they chose Komova over her. I'm not sure what she did in 2011. At the london test event, she won the bars final! Overall, I think she would be handy to the team.
Tatiana Nabieva
A lot of people know who this girl is and rightly so! Tatiana Nabieva has been on the international scene since 2008. Her debut was the European Championships in Clermont-Ferrand, she won a few medals! In 2009, Nabieva went to the Japan Cup, they didn't win the team but gained experience. 2010 was her year though, she was a first year senior. The Europeans were has her first major, she got a gold medal with Russia and a silver on vault. Later, she progressed to the Worlds. etc,
Aliya Mustafina, Anna Pavlova?, Ekaterina Kurbatova and some other people could also challenge, I'm just tired!
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