29 thoughts on “2022 Russian Championships Results”

1. Great post, Lauren. I’ll donate to a couple of those charities. Missing seeing a favourite gymnast of mine, Anastasiia Bachynska, compete because of Putin’s deplorable war but thankfully she is safe.

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   • Thank you! Some of these are very small Ukrainian-founded charities where every little bit helps and funds go almost straight into the pockets of people who need them, so I thought I’d share in addition to the bigger, more international ones.

     I also miss Bachynska! I’m glad she was able to find her way to safety and I’m so impressed with her and so many others’ resilience. I’m also glad so many national gym programs have been so welcoming…I’ve heard nothing but good things about so many clubs doing whatever they can to bring in athletes from the region, housing them, opening up their facilities, etc. There’s so much in the sport that we’ve heard about over the past 5 years that has been absolutely horrendous but to see the international gym community come together and support Ukraine in this way has been such a positive.

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2. No Gelya? Do we know what’s up with that? And also, thank you for your decisions regarding Ukraine.

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   • I think she’s just taking time off…much deserved, I’d say, considering how many competitions she did last quad! I know she did say she was going to take a break after the Olympics but then she did worlds and a couple other smaller meets so I guess her break didn’t start until November. I have a feeling with Euros and worlds up in the air for Russia, she may just focus on training for this year and not on competing, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see her at Russian Cup later in the season…especially if it looks like international restrictions for Russian athletes will be lifted.

     And thank you! I was trying to find a way to sensitively acknowledge that Russian nationals were happening without promoting the athletes or the federation too much, so I hope this is something that most people would approve of. I know there were a few people who didn’t want to see any coverage at all, including results, but a greater number of people wanted the official results translated since the PDFs use the Cyrillic alphabet so I think this is the best compromise, especially if I can help spread awareness and resources in the process.

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3. Nelli Audi’s senior debut went…….ok………Sorta…………….

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   • I think this is both her senior debut and last competition ever…she hasn’t competed in 3 years and I read somewhere, maybe her Instagram a few months ago?, that she was planning on going to nationals and then retiring.

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4. 😲 I can’t believe any of them are supporting this war, just wow!

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   • I think they’re fed a lot of propaganda OR just aren’t allowed to speak out against the war…there have been a few stories in the news where people from Ukraine will call their Russian relatives and the Russians will be like “actually your own government is attacking you dressed up as Russians to make it look like we’re the bad guys.” It seems like many of them TRULY believe this stuff…it’s like the 9/11 or school shooting conspiracy theorists who think everyone is a “crisis actor.” One Ukrainian teenager called her uncle in Russia to tell him her mother died from a Russian attack and her uncle said “that’s a lie” but then called her on a burner phone and said he was sorry and believed her but couldn’t say anything on his regular phone.

     There are definitely some Russian gymnasts who are pro-war, and Nagornyy seems to be among the worst, but I think/hope most are just either ill-informed or fear speaking out against it. In Belarus, which is assisting Russia, something like 90% of people are against the war, so I’d think if Russians were able to get correct information or were allowed to speak up, the majority would hopefully also not support what their country is doing? A lot of people are saying there’s no excuse for Listunova or Urazova joining Putin’s war rally, but I highly doubt either of them had a choice.

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5. Lauren, you are not only an incredible journalist, you are a classy person in your decision about not covering Russian meets. I have been seeking info on many past Ukrainian gymnasts in the hopes that they and their families are safe. Thankfully many are coaching in other countries but must be so worried about loved ones still in Ukraine. I appreciate you posting the links for donations. Slava Ukraine!

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   • Thank you so much! I’ve been looking up many of the currently active Ukrainian gymnasts on Instagram and it seems like a lot of them are safe, especially the girls – but it seems many of the guys are still in Ukraine and some are even joining the fight. I can’t comprehend the fact that Russians are just going about their day like nothing is different while the entire Ukrainian world has collapsed. I understand that people still love the Russian gymnasts and want to stay engaged with watching them, but I hope they do consider donating to help Ukraine if they’re watching the streams or videos from Russian nationals.

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6. They are literally set for life after winning an Olympic medal — they get a nice apartment, an expensive car and positions in the government if they want to. Plus Putin has a soft spot for gymnasts because of his affair with Alina Kabaeva. Of course they are going to support him no matter what.

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   • The affair, and isn’t Viner’s husband one of Putin’s oligarch pals? I wouldn’t be surprised if most gymnasts openly love and support Putin and now his war, but I’m sure if any are for whatever reason against him, speaking up wouldn’t exactly be easy.

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7. Totally support your decision about providing information and thank you for providing the resources to help Ukraine. I have endless sympathy for anyone in Russia who doesn’t support this war and is stuck but don’t see how the rest of the world can do anything different than try to punish Putin. My heart breaks for the Ukrainians.

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   • Thank you! Fully agree. I understand, especially from a western perspective, why people want to be really hard on those in Russia who aren’t speaking out but I mean…when Trump was president I sometimes was like, if I tweet something negative about him we’re totally headed in a direction where this is going to get me on a list lol. In Russia that’s actually a thing, though, especially for high-profile dissenters. And as much as people want to say that they’d brave the consequences or whatever, I doubt most would actually be that brave when put in that same position. So I have sympathy for those who are against him and are afraid. But of course, I have more sympathy for the Ukrainians being forced out of their homes, tortured, murdered…it’s devastating.

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8. Are the men also competing?

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   • Next week! I’ll have a separate post up for their results.

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9. I don’t blame the gymnasts who don’t speak up. They can’t. They would lose everything and could possibly be targeted as well as their families. The ones who do, like Nagorny and that cocky little puts who wore the Z in that last international competition….to hell with them. Literally. When dead ten year old girls with torn genitals are found in Bucharest and these Russian gymnasts speak out in support they are demonstrating that they are monsters. I’m sorry but it’s the truth.

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   • It’s harsh but the truth and I couldn’t agree more.

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   • Where is your concern for Libyan children? Do you care about them? NATO bombed it against UN wishes and destroyed the central government turning it into a hell-hole and a haven for trafficking. Do you have any idea how many children have been killed of sold into slavery in that country? Yet no NATO countries had athletes banned

     I won’t go into what the US or other countries have done. Google “Myanmar rapes”. Or substitute in Ethiopia. Here’s one of many done by Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings. When only one country is getting banned, that should be all you need to see

     Oh, and Bucharest is in Romania so you might want to check your “facts”

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     • Shockingly, caring about people being killed in Ukraine doesn’t negate caring about people also being killed in the dozens of other crises around the world at any given time.

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       • Yet you perpetuate this collective punishment against Russian athletes, Russian children?

         What do you think Russians are telling their young athletes right now? Their young people? “The west hate you, the west are out to wreck our country”. As they always have been. Despite all the broken promises, all that Russia has given up. For nothing. All they have ever known is the west are the enemy. NATO has 8,500 tanks. The Russian government are just pointing the finger at us and saying “look at the hate”

         South Africa’s sportspeople were banned from international competition for decades. The apartheid regime used it as a propaganda tool and cracked down on their population even harder. And the Russians will do the same. This will backfire horrendously

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       • Right now the west is fighting Russia through the use of sanctions, all of which affect the general Russian civilian population about a billion percent more than they affect anyone who is actually responsible for this war. All economic sanctions effectively are a “collective punishment against Russian children.” In the same vein, this is another sanction meant to hurt the top – since Russia is so invested in its international sporting successes – yet ripples down and affects those at the very bottom of the sports business, aka the athletes, more than anyone else. Russians would be telling their young athletes “the west hates you” REGARDLESS of sports sanctions, by the way. It’s called propaganda and it’s been a thing literally forever which is why most Russians don’t even believe they’re on the “bad side.” They think their soldiers are martyrs saving the world.

         Also, I personally did not think Russian athletes should have been banned until Ukrainian athletes who were competing against them requested the ban. Having watched the world cup where a Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun won a medal and was forced to share a podium with a little Russian asshole who wore what is essentially a genocidal symbol on his chest? That sealed the deal for me. I’d hope most Russian athletes (and people in general) would see this behavior as disgusting, and yet most instead supported it. I do think there is an element of ignorance here, as well as the likelihood that athletes are being used as pawns by the government to support its propaganda, so I feel especially bad for any Russian athlete who is secretly against the war but can’t safely express their feelings in this way. But I don’t feel even 1% as badly for them as I do for Ukrainian athletes who have lost family members, friends, pets, homes, and their entire lives while Russia continues to senselessly attack them. Boo hoo, you can’t compete internationally for a few months or eat McDonalds? The HORROR, while Ukrainian children are forced to hide in their basements with their dead parents rotting next to them and endure car rides through minefields while Russian “heroes” specifically pick out cars to attack that have “children” spray-painted on them because their parents thought it would protect them. Sanctioning civilian Russian children who frankly have no idea what’s really going on is a bummer, but I’m saving most of my empathy for the people truly going through loss at an unimaginable level.

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10. I appreciate the way you handled this post, I think the context at the beginning and then listing the information was a great decision. Thank you.

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    • Thank you so much – I asked for thoughts on Twitter because I wasn’t sure how to go about it. I would say 75% of people wanted some coverage while the other 25% said they wouldn’t click on Russia-related content no matter what so I hoped this would be a compromise for those both okay with it and against it.

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11. Hi~ Thank you so much for this coverage. I am really glad you posted some results but made sure to include links to help the people of Ukraine and show your support for the people who are suffering. Personally, I do not believe that Listy or Vlada are the “monsters” or “nazis” some people are labeling them as; Im sure they had no choice about the rally and refusing could mean the end of their career or even further consequences. They are barely adults, after all. I hope everyone can see that even though some gymnasts (Nagornyy, Kuliak) are being horrible on their own initiatives, some gymnasts really didn’t have the choice.

    I also think that even though Russia being banned from competition is the best and most effective choice for now, it is also important to acknowledge that USA gymnasts were spared from such bans when their own country waged an unfair war on other people.

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    • Fully agree with everything you say! I think the behavior of most people in Russia deserves to be looked at with nuance and outside of a traditionally Western European or U.S. perspective. There are many stories of people who are afraid to speak out and I’m not going to take silence as support. Unless an athlete is outwardly pro-war, I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt. It’s easy for people outside of Russia to say how they would behave if they were in this situation, but I doubt the majority of them would have the bravery to stand up in that way, especially in a country that jailed five children aged 7-11 for carrying flowers and “no war” signs at Ukraine’s embassy in Moscow.

      I’ve also talked about how while I agree with sanctioning Russia in any way possible – including athletes – the U.S. and other countries that have waged unnecessary wars have never faced similar consequences and their own war crimes were barely acknowledged, or worse, seen as legitimate “retaliation for terrorism.” The U.S. and Israel are two prime examples of nations that have committed offenses just as heinous as what Russia is doing in Ukraine, but it’s met with silence. And just a couple of years ago, Azerbaijan attacked Armenia and during that very time they were allowed to host an FIG-sanctioned world cup Olympic qualifier which Armenian athletes weren’t allowed to attend due to the conflict. Zero outrage or anything from gymnastics fans and even if there was I doubt the FIG would have done anything given its current relationship with the Azerbaijani federation.

      Being sanctimonious about Russian athletes not speaking out or seemingly supporting the war when these thoughts have never crossed anyone’s minds with any other country that has acted as an aggressor is interesting, for sure. I would say that in this case, Ukrainian athletes spoke up early on and demanded no Russian athletes be allowed to compete with them while most countries in the near past have invaded countries with no major sporting presence on the international scene and so athletes from Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan for example weren’t able to come forward in the same numbers…but in the case of Armenia there WERE athletes speaking out about how wrong it was to hold events – especially Olympic qualifiers – in a country attacking them, and it was just…ignored? There’s also the relationship between China and Taiwan, and Taiwanese athletes wanting to be referred to as from Taiwan, but the IOC seems to not care about the sensitivities surrounding this and keeps them as Chinese Taipei officially…with no outrage outside of Taiwan.

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      • “…and so athletes from Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan for example weren’t able to come forward in the same numbers…”

        No because so many of them are dead

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        • I mean, true, but they also do have living competitive athletes at international meets who weren’t speaking out about the U.S. being there because, to be entirely frank, no one would care. Regardless of what the U.S. has done to these countries – e.g. killing thousands of civilians for no reason – if athletes approached international governing bodies with requests to ban U.S. athletes, nothing would happen. The U.S. would fight it and would win. I was actually shocked Russia was banned, but think if Ukrainian athletes WEREN’T backed by other larger Western powers, they probably also would have been turned down. Especially after seeing Russia getting away with breaking literally every doping rule in the system and still being allowed to send teams to the Olympics? I didn’t think there was any chance in hell the international sporting community would have the balls to stand up against them re: Ukraine, but Ukraine had allies that Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan don’t have, and so athletes from these countries would never win in a sports arbitration battle against the U.S. Politics, babe – welcome to how our shitty world works. It’s disgusting that the international community doesn’t care as much about victims of international terrorism who aren’t blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white people that they can “identify with” and it sucks that we just have to shrug and accept that this is the way things are.

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