Games and Rings
  • A Blog for Olympic Sports Fans

Diverse Podium At Rhythmic Worlds?

9/28/2014

 
Picture
While Russia again topped the medal table in impressive style at the Rhythmic World Championships this week, there were a few breakthroughs from traditionally unexpected countries, in a sport notorious for long domination by Russia and Eastern Europe.

Rising star Son Yeon-Jae (KOR) won bronze in the individual hoop event, becoming the 1st Asian competitor to win an individual medal in Worlds history. (Note: North Korea, Japan, and China had all previously won medals in the Group event). Then, Israel won a silver medal in the Group club event, marking its first ever Worlds medal in any women's gymnastics event. The gold in that event went to Spain, marking the only non-Eastern European gold medalist throughout the tournament's 9 events.

Those glimpses of diversity came at a tournament in which Russia very well could have - and maybe should have - swept all possible medals, until the clubs event in the Group competition. A rare mistake there dropped them not only out of the clubs final, but out of the Group All-Around podium as well. That is a big shock for the nation that's won a Group All-Around medal the last ten times, including 5 straight golds starting in 2009. Their mistake there opened the door for Bulgaria to return to gold in the event for the 1st time since 1996.

As expected, Yana Kudryatseva provided the star-power to lead Team Russia. In winning the All-Around title, she became the youngest-ever to repeat as All-Around champion, and that after winning 4 gold and one silver in the team and individual apparatus events. Impressive hardware to go along with her 5 medals from the 2013 tournament. She led Russia to a complete sweep of their possible medals up until that Group competition, with the Team gold, gold in all individual events (including a double gold in the ball apparatus) and all individual silvers available to top the overall medal table with 12.

Having Korea and Israel make 1st-ever podium appearances, along with Spain and Italy (silver in the Group All-Around) to break up the Eastern Europe monopoly is certainly a welcome breath of fresh air in the sport. Hopefully, those competitors can continue to grow and inspire Asian and Western nations to continue fighting for a place. But in the meantime, Russia is far and away leading the charge of rhythmic, and in competition where reputation and subjectivity often gives one a strong start, is still the team to beat after their performance in Izmir. Let's see what happens over the next couple of years to Rio.


Comments are closed.

    About This Blog

    Highlights from the world of Olympic sports, focused on the athletes, and as seen through the cheeky lens of this one particular, passionate fan.

    Navigate It

    ​A Little Roundup
    Links to Olympic sport headlines and news, with a focus on the athletes

    Athlete Worth Watching
    Finding emerging names and stories in Olympic sports to keep an eye on

    Let's Get Social
    Sharing intriguing and provocative posts from Olympic sport athletes

    ​Ramblings and Things
    ​
    I have my own thoughts on Olympic sport news and athletes sometimes!
    Read more on me here.

    Picture
    At Rio 2016's Barra Olympic Park
    Header: Kallimamaro stadium in Athens, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896

    Follow Me

    Picture
    Tweets by @GamesandRings

    Picture

    Picture

    Favorite Sites

    The IOC
    The Olympic Channel
    The Olympic Museum
    ​
    Team USA
    World Athletics
    WADA
    ​Athletics Integrity Unit
    Court of Arbitration
    Around the Rings
    Inside the Games
    GamesBids.com
    NBC Olympic Talk
    NY Times ​Olympics
    USA TODAY Olympics
    ​AP Olympics
    Wiki Summer Olympics
    Wiki Winter Olympics
    ​Athlete365
    ​Olympic Historians
    World Olympians Assoc.
    ​Games Architecture​
    Art of the Olympians
    Olympic.org Results
    ​Olympedia
    ​Olympstats
    ​On This Day in Sports
    ​Olympic City Project
    ​
    Keep the Flame Alive
    ​Totallympics Fan Forum
    ​Lost Olympians
    ​
    Olympians 1964 to 2020
    Outsports
    ​
    Queerstory Files
    Rio 2016
    Pyeongchang 2018
    Tokyo 2020
    ​Beijing 2022
    ​Paris 2024
    ​Milan Cortina 2026
    Los Angeles 2028


    Categories

    All
    A Little Roundup
    Alpine Skiing
    Aquatics
    Archery
    Artistic Swimming
    Athens 1896
    Athens 2004
    Athlete Spotlight
    Athlete Worth Watching
    Atlanta 1996
    Badminton
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Basketball 3x3
    Beach Volleyball
    Beijing 2008
    Beijing 2022
    Biathlon
    Bobsled
    Books & Media
    Boxing
    Breaking
    Canoeing
    Cross Country Skiing
    Curling
    Cycling
    Cycling BMX
    Cycling Mountain Bike
    Cycling Road
    Cycling Track
    Diving
    Equestrian
    Fencing
    Field Hockey
    Figure Skating
    Freestyle Skiing
    Golf
    Gymnastics
    Handball
    Ice Hockey
    IOC
    Judo
    Karate
    Let's Get Social
    London 1908
    London 1948
    London 2012
    Los Angeles 1984
    Los Angeles 2028
    Luge
    Melbourne 1956
    Mexico City 1968
    Modern Pentathlon
    Montreal 1976
    Munich 1972
    Nordic Combined
    Olympics
    On This Date
    Other
    Paralympics
    Paris 2024
    Rhythmic Gymnastics
    Rio 2016
    Rome 1960
    Rowing
    Rugby Sevens
    Sailing
    Seoul 1988
    Shooting
    Short Track Speedskating
    Skateboarding
    Skeleton
    Ski Jumping
    Snowboarding
    Soccer (football)
    Sochi 2014
    Softball
    Speed Skating
    Sport Climbing
    Squash
    Surfing
    Swimming
    Sydney 2000
    Table Tennis
    Taekwondo
    Tennis
    Ternnis
    Tokyo 1964
    Tokyo 2020
    Track And Field
    Trampolining
    Triathlon
    Volleyball
    WADA
    Water Polo
    Weightlifting
    Winter Olympics
    Wrestling


    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014


    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly