A rather young sports discipline that is more like a dance is rhythmic gymnastics. Competitors, and these are only women, perform beautiful choreographic numbers to the music. All rooms include the most complex gymnastic figures. This sport is one of Olympic program created in Russia.

Participants in rhythmic gymnastics

The 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be attended by 96 athletes from different countries. There are two disciplines in rhythmic gymnastics: individual and group all-around. No more than 7 gymnasts from one country are allowed to participate, of which 5 can participate in the group competition and 2 in the individual.

The selection for the Summer Olympic Games has already been completed, and only 2 countries were able to put up 7 participants each: Russia and Belarus. Countries from which 6 participants will come to the games:

• Brazil;
• Bulgaria;
• Germany;
• Greece;
• Israel;
• Spain;
• Italy;
• China;
• Uzbekistan;
• Ukraine;
• Japan.

The remaining participating countries will send one athlete each, who will participate in the individual all-around:

• Australia;
• Austria;
• Georgia;
• Cape Verde;
• Kazakhstan;
• Romania;
• Finland;
• France;
• South Korea.

The qualifying tournament for these Summer Olympics is the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships which took place in 2015 in Germany. Additional qualification of the competition is held at the Olympic test competitions, where 3 group teams and 6 individual athletes will have a chance to participate. According to the rules, it is necessary that representatives of all continents be present at the competition. The Olympiad is organized by Brazil, so the country is guaranteed one place in individual and group competitions.

Rhythmic gymnastics competition calendar

Competitions in rhythmic gymnastics will last three days.

• On August 19, individual and group qualifications will be held;
• On August 20, the qualification for the group all-around will end, and the final in the individual all-around will also be held;
• On August 21, the finals of the rhythmic gymnastics competition in the group category will be held.

Since only women are engaged in rhythmic gymnastics, men do not participate in this discipline.

Judges evaluate several parameters:

• Difficulty of exercise. There are strict requirements for the exercises;
• Artistry and choreography. Since gymnastics is artistic, sometimes it is more like ballet;
• Execution - that is, mistakes made during the competition.

There is also one coordinator who ensures that all the elements that should be included in the program are present in it.

Often, additional items are used for performances to make the exercises more spectacular:

• Rope;
• Mace;
• Ribbons;
• Hoop;

The duration of an individual performance is 1.5 minutes, a group performance is 2.5 minutes.

Vera Biryukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Maksimova, Anastasia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva brought the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team Olympic gold in group exercises

The Russian rhythmic gymnastics team won the Games in Rio de Janeiro in group exercises. Gold medals were won by Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Maksimova, Anastasia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva, who received a total score of 36.233 points in the final.

After the first exercise - with ribbons - the Russian team took only third place in the final, behind the teams of Spain and Bulgaria. In the second exercise - with maces and hoops - the Russians were significantly ahead of their rivals. As a result, the Spaniards took the second place (35.766 points), the Bulgarians - the third (35.766).

In qualifying, the Russians lost 0.233 points to the Spaniards and reached the final with the second result. At the same time, the results of the performance in the qualification were not taken into account in the final.

The day before, Russians Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudryavtseva made a gold double in the individual all-around. Mamun and Kudryavtseva secured gold and silver, respectively, before all of their opponents had time to complete the last exercise - with a ribbon. Mathematically, they turned out to be inaccessible to their rivals and officially became the winners of the Games. Third place was taken by the Ukrainian athlete Anna Rizatdinova, who lost more than two points to Kudryavtseva. Mamun was in the lead and after the qualification, Yana Kudryavtseva was in second place. In the course of the final, Kudryatseva came out on top, but she made a serious mistake in the exercise with clubs - at the end of the performance, she dropped the projectile.

Previously, at four Olympiads in a row, starting with Sydney 2000, the Russian team won both disciplines of rhythmic gymnastics presented at the Games - in individual all-around and group exercises. In the individual all-around in Sydney, Yulia Barsukova won, in Athens 2004 - Alina Kabaeva, in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 - Evgenia Kanaeva.

Also, at five Olympics in a row, starting from Sydney 2000, the Russian team won in both disciplines synchronized swimming presented at the Games - in a duet and team competition. Olga Brusnikina and Maria Kiseleva won the duet in Sydney, Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova won in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, Natalya Ishchenko and Svetalana Romashina won in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Having won gold in the duet and team competitions, Ishchenko and Romashina became five-time Olympic champions and repeated the achievement of Anastasia Davydova. Previously, Davydova was the only athlete in history to win five Olympic gold medals, competing under the Russian flag, and the only five-time Olympic champion in the history of synchronized swimming. At the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Ishchenko and Romashina will carry the flag of Russia.

In the medal standings, Russia is fourth with 54 awards (18 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze). The Americans are still in the lead, the US team already has 118 medals (43 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze). In second place is Great Britain (66 awards, including 27 gold). In third place is China (70 medals, including 26 gold).

Snatch of the Bengal Tigress. The winning double of Mamun and Kudryavtseva
The first victory of Margarita Mamun in personal all-around came at the Olympics in Brazil. Yana Kudryavtseva dropped her mace and was left with silver.

Someone had to lose...

All four years of the Olympic cycle, Russian gymnasts Yana Kudryavtseva and Margarita Mamun trained and performed side by side. For two, they won almost three dozen world championship awards and Olympic Games ah prepared to win gold and silver medals. The goal was achieved, but the result of the competition still turned out to be somewhat unexpected for fans of artistic gymnasts.

For four years, Kudryavtseva performed better in personal all-around. Margarita has never won a serious international competitions in this discipline, and Yana had four victories in a row. But already following the results of the qualification in Rio de Janeiro, it became clear: Mamun was not going to give up without a fight - at the Olympics she was going to compete with her friend for the gold medal of the competition.
According to the results of the first day of the competition, Margarita became the first, and everyone froze in anticipation of the sharp struggle of the Russians.

When the final began, there was no free space in the stands: thousands of fans came to enjoy the beauty and grace of artistic gymnasts. And Russian spectators came to celebrate the victory. The first two items - a hoop and a ball - showed that Margarita and Yana will not be equal in this final: four marks for 19 points out of four made them inaccessible to competitors. There was a battle of girlfriends for gold. Yana, a three-time world champion in the all-around, allowed a moment of relaxation and dropped her mace. Many finalists can only dream of a score of 17.883, but Kudryavtseva almost cried, because she realized that she had missed the chance for gold.

In order to win, Margarita, who performed under the first number, had to not flinch in the exercise with the ribbon. She understood: the victory at the Olympic Games was close, she was worried, she tuned in for a long time and intensely, and in the end she did everything brilliantly. The judges rated Margarita's performance with 19.233 points, and the Russian woman became the Olympic champion, without waiting for the performances of her rivals. Even theoretically, no one could catch up with Mamun. She won the all-around for the first time, and she did it at the Olympics!

Yulia Barsukova, Alina Kabaeva, Evgenia Kanaeva, and now Margarita Mamun - these are a number of our glorious Olympic champions who do not give anyone Olympic victory for 16 years in a row ... And five minutes later Yana Kudryavtseva gathered her strength, performed brilliantly with the ribbon, securing silver for herself, and then gave vent to her emotions. Both of our girls were worthy of gold, but today one of them had to lose.

Bengal Tigress on the hunt

Not all fans who were worried about Margarita today know where she got her colorful appearance, with an oriental bias. And the casket is easy to open. The gymnast's father is from Bangladesh. Arriving to study in Russia, he met his love here, and the future champion was born. As a child, Margarita visited relatives in the Asian republic more than once, learned Bengali, and once at a tournament she even played for the Bangladesh national team, going down in history as the only artistic gymnast in the country. In 2010, Margarita was offered to compete at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, but she chose a more difficult path and remained in the Russian team. And, as it turned out today, she was 100% right.

Spectators often note the special expression of Margarita during performances. This largely explains the nickname Bengal Tigress, which Irina Viner called the ward. However, few people know that outside the carpet the gymnast is very calm and modest. Moreover, the vivid emotions that became the hallmark of the athlete were brought up in Margarita with difficulty by the coaches. Amina Zaripova and Irina Viner had to work pretty hard, because the girl started doing rhythmic gymnastics at the age of seven, while usually people come to this sport at the age of three or four. However, the talent for that and the talent to break through obstacles.

Margarita publicly announced herself in the current Olympic cycle, when Evgenia Kanaeva announced her retirement. But, frankly, Mamun has never been "number one". Yes, she won the world championships in exercises with individual objects four times, and in 2014 and 2015 she took gold medals in the team, but her friend Yana Kudryavtseva performed stronger and more consistently in the all-around. When Margarita, a year before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, was asked if she would agree to a guaranteed silver award if Yana took gold, she answered modestly and evasively: "It's worth getting to the Olympics. Any medal from there is a success." But for sure the athlete thought of gold.

When number one becomes number two

Outside of the competition, Margarita and Yana are not rivals. On the contrary, big friends, communicate closely, live in the same room at competitions, and even a dog at the base in Novogorsk brought one for two. “We have been together for four years, shoulder to shoulder. If we also competed in life, it would be very difficult,” says Yana. However, there was no equal fight on the carpet between the friends. Since 2013, Kudryavtseva, albeit behind the scenes, has taken the place of the first number in the eyes of fans and specialists. national team and was considered as a contender for victory in any start.

This attitude is easy to explain: since 2013, Kudryavtseva has been churning out victory after victory. First she became a three-time European champion, then she won five medals at the World Championships in Kyiv, three of which were gold, two were silver. However, recently even silver awards have become a rarity - almost all starts in which Kudryavtseva took part ended in her victories. And for the Olympic Games in London, Yana was the main favorite, having behind her 13 victories at the world championships, nine at the adult European championships, as well as four gold medals at the European Games in Baku. The lion's share of these victories was won in the all-around.

And few people know that one of the most titled gymnasts on the planet in sports school was at first among the laggards. “I came to the hall at the age of five. At first, I didn’t succeed, for a long time I was among the very lagging behind. And then - once - I won the Russian children’s championship. sports biography. At the age of 15, Kudryavtseva became the youngest absolute world champion in rhythmic gymnastics in history. Then she, of course, already dreamed of an Olympic medal, but publicly preferred not to talk about it, limiting herself to the fact that she needed to qualify for the Games and get there without injury.

Yana has always been distinguished by iron nerves and the absence of errors. However, today she still trembled. And the mistake robbed her of her chances for first place. In sports, this is not the case. I would very much like to give Kudryavtseva a second gold award, but, alas, this is impossible. Someone has to be first and someone has to be second.

Bronze medalist of the Games, gymnast Rizatdinova: "I fought with the Russians to the last, but gymnastics is a very subjective sport"

The Ukrainian athlete commented on her performance at the Rio Games.

Ukrainian athlete Anna Rizatdinova summed up the rhythmic gymnastics tournament at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and commented on her own performance, an UNIAN correspondent reports.

“Of course, I am happy with this medal. If four years ago, after the Games in London, I felt that I didn’t work somewhere, didn’t finish something, now I can’t blame myself for anything. I gave it my all and, as you can see, my work was rewarded. I won an Olympic medal,” said the Ukrainian.

When asked why it is not possible to fight on equal terms with the Russian athletes Mamun and Kudryavtseva, who were about three points behind, Rizatdinova replied: “I fought them, fought to the end. But, unfortunately, gymnastics is a very subjective sport "Nevertheless, I have a medal. It doesn't matter if it's gold, silver or bronze. I have a medal, that's the most important thing."

And when asked by UNIAN about whether the Korean woman Song, with whom Rizatdinova fought for bronze, was very nervous, she answered: “I was rattled. The tension was very strong. I would even say that more than one Korean woman. Five people really claimed the bronze award today. One loss of the apparatus could cross out all the efforts. Fortunately, everything turned out very well for me. The Russian Kudryavtseva lost the apparatus? I didn’t see this, I don’t follow my rivals at all. I always concentrate exclusively on my performance."

Kudryavtseva: after the fall of the maces I wanted to finish the performance

Yana Kudryavtseva - about fallen maces, tears and shame, the invisible presence of Wiener, a pseudo-talisman and getting used to the platform.

Yana Kudryavtseva throughout four years was the undisputed leader of rhythmic gymnastics, and therefore went to Rio de Janeiro as a favorite. An unfortunate mistake in an exercise with maces nullified all her efforts, although in the remaining three exercises Kudryavtseva received the highest marks. In a conversation with journalists, among whom was the correspondent of the "Championship", Yana tried to smile, but it was noticeable that she was emotionally devastated
.

- Are you more happy with silver or upset that you didn't make it to gold?
- “I’m glad for the“ silver ”, and the fact that everything is over. Of course, there is a disorder, but we will be content with what we have, because this could not have happened. Considering how the year went, what kind of injuries I had this Olympics might not have happened. Therefore, I am glad and a silver medal.

- What happened to your maces?
- By the end of the speech, the forces were already running out. I threw them badly, and didn’t have time to realize that they didn’t fly well. That is, I could have done something, but I did not have time.

- Is this mistake related to the fact that this is your debut Olympics?
- I don't think. All the mistakes that were due to the fact that we are performing for the first time happened yesterday. I was even a little ashamed of my performance, but the coaches reassured me, saying that this was only the first day and only the beginning, and today it would be better. We tested the hall and today it was much calmer. I think that this is my personal mistake, and not because of the debut.

- How do you like the platform, atypical for rhythmic gymnastics, here?
- Thanks to Irina Alexandrovna Viner, we began to prepare for the platform in advance. For two months it stood with us in Novogorsk, and now there was also a platform at the final training camp, so we are quite used to it. Thank you so much for this, because without it it would be hard to perform.

- Before the last exercise, did you manage to throw out negative emotions?
- I managed to cry a little after the clubs, to say that I won’t go anywhere else, to show my character. But, after talking with the coach, she gathered herself, went out and was able to calmly speak. The coach told me to calm down, explained that we are no longer fighting for the gold medal, but we must hold on and let go of all emotions. I acted calmly and relaxed.

- Compared to the qualification, did you complicate the program?
- Not. We cannot change the program during the competition.

- Did you have a mindset that it doesn't matter who wins, who comes second, the main thing is that Russia has gold?
- I say from the bottom of my heart that I am extremely happy with this medal, this “silver” is golden for me. After all, I could not get here at all. Insanely happy for Margarita Mamun. It's unfortunate that it didn't work out as expected, but still glad.

Are you already thinking about the next Olympics?
- I'm not going to make any plans yet, I'll have a rest. God willing, I'll reach next Games and I will speak to them. I'm 19, so I have time to think.

- Why did you have problems with the hoop in qualifying?
It's hard for me to do it usually. Firstly, it is always difficult to start with a hoop, but in the finals she coped well with it.

- They say you have a talisman dog that stayed at home. Maybe you didn't have enough support?
- He never went to competitions with us, so he always waits for us at home. At first he lived in Novogorsk, where we train, and now with my mother.

- The absence of Irina Viner at the Olympics does not create problems for you?
- No, because Irina Alexandrovna was always in touch after each type of program. We trained, we were recorded on video, then she analyzed all the mistakes and made adjustments. You could say she was in complete control of the whole process.

Margarita Mamun: I love, I am loved, I am a happy person

Almost at the same time, the Russian team won four gold medals. Margarita Mamun won the individual all-around in rhythmic gymnastics.

Mamun beat her friend, 13-time world champion Yana Kudryavtseva, who made an unfortunate mistake in the clubs exercise. This story is about how forever the second at the right time became the first.

I didn’t look at the grades, I didn’t know who was going to what. The day passed in a very fast schedule: we changed clothes, went to warm up, then to perform. I tried to be absolutely concentrated, to do my maximum.

- What did the coach Amina Zaripova tell you?
- She told me to be extremely concentrated.

- This is the debut Olympics for you. What are the feelings?
- I haven't realized what happened yet. I didn’t realize that everything was over, how it ended ... In general, I was very calm. As Irina Aleksandrovna (Wiener. - Approx. ed.) says, we should have Olympic calmness.

- Have you seen Yanina's mistake?
- Of course not. She didn't follow anyone but herself. I already learned from Yana after she did the last exercise with the tape. We were waiting for the performances of the other girls, she sat down to me and told me.

- You had the same mistake in qualifying.
- Yes, I was distracted literally for a split second.

- You are friends with Yana. How do you manage to maintain friendly relations with such intense competition?
- We have such a sport that there is no direct competition. There is no need to compete, to be ahead of someone by a split second. I went out on the carpet, if I made a mistake, then it's your fault and no one else. On the carpet, we fight with ourselves, with our excitement.

- Do you cry on each other's shoulders in case of failures?
- We always support each other. We are together at the base in Novogorsk, we go to competitions together. We are just family. We are often asked about competition, about the situation in the women's team. I don’t know, maybe we have such characters: we are complete opposites and that’s why we communicate so well.

- What did you say to her after the end of the tournament?
- I asked: “Everything ?! Is it over?! And she asked me the same thing.

Did the fact that you constantly lost absolute superiority to Yana leave some kind of imprint? Did you realize that you have the worst starting position?
- I knew that Yana, like no one else, knows how to gather for responsible tournaments. I tried not to think about all these past years.

You once said that you have such a quality as the fear of making mistakes. When you went to the finals for the exercise with clubs, were you not afraid to make a mistake again?
- Not. She performed completely from scratch. As Irina Alexandrovna told us, in qualifying it was the last test, the last call. I tried to forget yesterday, not to transfer yesterday's problems to today.

- Did a good performance in qualifying, with the exception of the clubs exercise, give you confidence?
- Certainly. Even before the start of the tournament, the coaches told me that I was well prepared. It seemed to me that everything was wrong, everything was not right.

- Do you want to continue your career for another Olympic cycle?
- I don't want to guess, but I just adore Tokyo. We go there every year for competitions, for the World Club Championship. I think they will hold the Olympics on highest level. I would like to go there, of course.

- Where do you draw inspiration, emotions from?
- It comes from itself. Of course, my relatives help me. I love, I am loved, I am a happy person.

Anna RIZATDINOVA: “After the hoop, Irisha was just a beast”

Ukrainian gymnast told how she taught samba before Rio 2016 and about men in the “artist”

Rhythmic gymnastics is such a subjective sport and so pro-Russian that it was difficult to expect more bronze for Anna Rizatdinova. Something incredible must have happened for the judges to rate our gymnast higher than Kudryavtseva and Mamun. Did not happen. Well, okay. But her samba was appreciated by the Brazilian public, who awarded Rizatdinova with a loud ovation.

I fought to the last. But we have a very subjective sport, everyone knows that. Believe in rhythmic gymnastics Olympic medal- even if it is "silver" or "bronze" - it is rated as gold. We believe that the top three winners are given three gold awards.

- Your "bronze" is doubly valuable, because in London-2012 Ukraine was without awards. You then had only tenth place.
- After the 2012 Olympics, to be honest, my conscience was not very clear. In terms of work. But when the new Olympic four years began, I realized what was waiting for me. If I consciously prepare for the Olympic Games, as the first number, then Ukraine needs to bring a medal. And today I did my best for this. Honestly. I gave everything I could, all my strength and emotions. When I went out to the last view - the tape - I understood that I could be the third. But we have such an insidious sport that if I put the tape on the floor once, my “bronze” would not exist. I trusted God and did my job. I did everything honestly and God rewarded me.

- You have prepared a new program for the 2016 Games.
- I am very happy that this Olympics was held in Brazil. Because our sport is connected with music and dancing. This is what they love in Brazil. Here people, like no one else, feel the rhythm. I tried to specially make a bright, memorable program for Rio. Happened. And they have been amazingly supportive today.

- Your tape turned out to be especially rhythmic.
- A year ago, we specially came to the tournament in the Brazilian city of Vitoria to feel the climate, to see how objects behave in this humidity. And there we took samba lessons from a local coach. For about three hours they danced, learned the movements, and upon arrival home they put on a tape with elements of samba.

- In the fight for the third place, the Korean gymnast ruffled your nerves a little.
- Yes, all the nearest five could be on the podium. I didn't watch her last performance. It is distracting and morally oppressive. You need to be self-centered.

- You went out into the hall with Blokhin. Is she Irisha or Irina Olegovna for you?
- Iris. But strict Irisha. From the 2013 World Championship, which was held in Kyiv, Irisha fully entered coaching. Since then, she has been working closely with me. For me, before leaving, it is very important that there is a person nearby who will be my support, support, who can understand, calm, feel your condition without words. And Irisha understands and feels me very much. And I myself asked her to go out with me, because Irisha and I are comfortable.

You say Irisha will calm you down, but her joy simply overwhelmed after each performance. What could throw you off the mood.
- Yes, she is very emotional, positive. But behind the court, after the hoop, when I was in fourth place, Irisha was just a beast. I understood that if I don’t correct the situation now, I will feel bad.

- There is talk that it's time to let men into rhythmic gymnastics at the Games.
- Well no. Rhythmic gymnastics is not for men. It's very elegant, it's feminine, it's music, dancing. No, I don't see men in rhythmic gymnastics.

Gold for Rita Mamun behind the black curtains of Rio
Our columnist Irina Stepantseva reports from Brazil

Yana, still saddened, will say that she is very happy for Rita. And it will be true. Rita - stunned, when asked about the first words that she had already said to Yana, she will exhale: “What, is it all over?”. Margarita Mamun - champion, Yana Kudryavtseva - silver medalist of the Olympic Games in individual all-around in rhythmic gymnastics. Both should have been on a pedestal. Nobody doubted it. But no one would have said in advance whose medal would be gold.

Irina Viner-Usmanova was able to inspire them: someone will be the first, and someone will not. Notice, not the second, but just like this: "someone - no." Here in Rio, one had to either make a mistake or build up the advantage a little bit. Yana and increased. Yana made a mistake - dropping the mace.

I threw the mace badly and did not have time to realize that it was flying badly, although I could have done something, but I did not have time. I managed to get upset, sit down, cry, say that I won’t go anywhere else - as always, show my character. But we talked with the coach (Elena Lvovna Karpushenko - I.S.), she said: let go of all emotions, give a smile and go ahead.

Clubs were the third type. After two, Kudryavtseva was in the lead, the third - not only gobbled up the advantage, but also threw it back by almost a point. The last view, the tape, could no longer correct the situation. But it was necessary to do everything - unmistakably. With this, Kudryavtseva again entered the Olympic carpet. On which, as he will repeat several times after the award, he might not have appeared at all. Therefore, silver is happy. And saddened. And - "we will be content with what we have." “Releasing emotions”, Yana in this form received the highest mark of the competition.

Insanely happy with silver - it is gold for me. The most difficult thing before the start? Emotionally, I am always attuned, as it should be, I go and go myself from view to view. It was very difficult to warm up here, usually I never worry, but here there was still jitters, and it was difficult to go out into the first view. Of course, I wanted to approach the Games in the highest form. But - as they approached, so they approached.

She will suddenly say: she cried, having finished Olympic performance, not because of the loss, but rejoicing that it was all over. And he will pick up that characteristic - “good enough” ended. It is not by chance that she will pick up - on September 30, on her birthday, Yana underwent an operation. After that World Championship, in which she performed with a shattered leg and won.

After all, in training, while we were preparing for the start here, I did not do all the jumps that I should jump. Only when she arrived for testing, she jumped for the first time - they were afraid for her legs. Because of the stress, they sometimes hurt. I broke off a piece of the navicular bone on the rise. I was told that I have such an abnormal foot, there is an additional bone in it. And she, in turn, pressed on the bone, which eventually crumbled. This was not visible on the pictures, and only in Germany after the World Cup, when I had a rest, and the inflammation had passed, did the doctors see the fragmentation. They immediately said: go to the operation. The bone was removed, small tears were sanded. I had necrosis, everything crumbled ... At first I was offered to bolt something. But then it would be under threat sports career. Dad's acquaintances athletes advised another clinic in Germany. The doctors had doubts about the further stability of the foot. But we didn’t have much choice, so we decided to do so. Done, began to recover from crutches. At the same time, I could not jump at all until March. In the middle of the exercise, she stopped and fell - her leg could not stand it.

What are her years, and silver received today, so that the incentive remains for the new Olympic cycle - such thoughts haunted many that day. Many were also happy and - saddened. And many will remember how at one time Alina Kabaeva, who was going to win, made a serious mistake at the Games in Sydney, then Yulia Barsukova won. But if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have competed at the Athens Olympics. When the undisputed leader loses, and the second number wins, for one - annoying, for the second - joyfully: endured, waited! And Yana, Yana, who won all the world championships in a row, is only 18 years old!

And after the operation, after I already looked like in a cast, I weighed three kg less than at the World Championships. First, on a nervous basis, of course. And secondly, my dad is very strict - he won’t allow cakes or sweets. He is an Olympic champion in swimming and, first of all, he was worried about his legs - so that on them excess weight did not exert pressure, because the extra 100-200 grams is very difficult for the operated leg. I am grateful to him for this. Although, of course, as a child, he felt sorry for me.

... And Amina Zaripova, the coach of Margarita Mamun, clearly did not want to take off her gold medal. So I walked around the mixed zone in it, waiting Olympic champion, for her in many ways - just Ritka.

We walked in a fast schedule, after the next kind we warmed up, changed clothes, there were large warm-up mats, we had to move from one to another, - said Margarita. I didn't know who was following who. I had to be extremely concentrated. I still do not understand that it all ended and how it ended. But in general, everything was calm. No, I didn't see Yana's mistake. And I found out about it only after her last exercise, when Yana came and sat next to me, where everyone was sitting, who had already finished performing. Yes, this is common with me - the fear of making mistakes. In qualifying, not everything was smooth, I tried to forget about it.

Oh, no - Mamun did not just try to forget about the mistake, also, by the way, in the exercise with clubs, but made every effort to do so. Here, no matter how hard you try, the gymnasts will not open their souls wide open even at the moment of triumph. I had to recall personal trainer Amina Zaripova aside.

It's good that she made a mistake on the tryout. I did a complex element and - relaxed, Irina Aleksandrovna and I calmed her down: calm down, this is a test. Yes, mistakes stick in memory - did you notice that she wore a different swimsuit today? I also asked to rewind the tape on the maces so that everything was from scratch for real. For the "bad" to go away. This is important not for female psychology, it is important for Mamun. Yana Kudryavtseva, a true athlete, fighter, athlete with a capital letter, probably does not pay attention to such things. And Rita is so soft, sincere.

The coach again clutched the medal in her hands, which she never took off. And suddenly she herself said something that is somehow embarrassing to ask the winners.

Honestly, I did not believe in the gold medal, because we always lost to Yana. Rita and I did not win a single European Championship, not a single World Championship - we were both second and fifth. Yesterday I told her that 20 years ago I went out to open the individual all-around at the Atlanta Games, which she will do too. She said: you must go out and understand: you did everything so that it would not hurt that day. I still remember that day, and it's not very pleasant and not very good for me - because of the fourth place. And you should wake up and remember him as the happiest.

It turns out that it was she, Zaripova, who asked the masseurs, choreographers, all those who were from our people around to be silent and not talk about how the girls go from type to type, who is the first and who is the second.

We did not know anything, I asked not to say anything. Why do I need it? I can't change anything. I won’t suddenly put an element more complicated, we have a proven program that rolls over more than one day. And I am an emotional person, from the information my hamstrings would begin to shake, something would happen to me. Thank God I didn't know. And that we were absolutely closed in those black curtains. True, I heard two types, that the first is Yana, then Rita. And then - everything is in a fog. I am learning from Elena Lvovna Karpushenko all the time - patience. I'm crazy myself, what I think is what I say. Rita is having a hard time with me. On the other hand, she's used to it. And for such an emotional assessment that Irina Alexandrovna can give out, she is already prepared through me. Yes, Rita?

And Rita Mamun at that moment could, it seems to me, also give out anything. However, no. School of Russian rhythmic gymnastics - these are manners for which you are not ashamed.

For some reason, no one believes that Yana and I are friends. But we have such a sport - you went out, if you did everything, then you did it, if you made a mistake, you made it yourself. Yana and I are family people. Yana always knows how to pull herself together and perform very well. All these years I tried not to think that I was second, just to work on myself and complete the program to the maximum. The coaches told me even before the training camp that I was well prepared. It seemed to me that everything was wrong and everything was not right. More visible from the side. In general - I love, I'm loved, I'm a happy person.

...Two medals in rhythmic gymnastics in individual all-around, as in London 2012. Of course, we were waiting for them. We were accustomed to this, the athletes were prepared. Irina Viner-Usmanova did not come to Rio, but she was in touch all the time - she gave an assessment of all training sessions, talked with the athletes. And they probably remember these words of the coach: “I always tell gymnasts: if you were immediately hanged a medal - Olympic, world, European, and you would not do anything for this, would you be pleased? No. It's called the bread of shame. And so - when they worked, went through everything, this is a glorious victory.

Olympic Games in Rio. Chronicle of events
Irina Stepantseva

On Saturday, in strict accordance with the forecast, two awards at once - gold and silver - were won by Russians following the results of the Olympic tournament in rhythmic gymnastics in individual all-around. The victory went to Margarita Mamun, and the 13-time world champion Yana Kudryavtseva, who was considered the favorite, remained with silver due to an error in the clubs exercise. And on Sunday, the Russian team won gold in group exercises. Thus, for the fifth time in a row, our team takes both gold medals at stake in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics. VALERIA MIRONOVA - with details from Rio de Janeiro.

In a similar situation to the one in which the super champion of those years Alina Kabaeva found herself at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Yana Kudryavtseva got into Rio, who by the age of 18 had won the all-around at the world championships three times, and in total had already earned 13 top world titles. A hoop “ran away” from Alina Kabaeva in Australia, and with it the Olympic title. He then went to her teammate Yulia Barsukova. Kabaeva achieved her goal only four years later in Athens. In Rio, Yana Kudryavtseva, despite undergoing a complex operation on her foot at the end of last year (she had a completely crushed navicular bone in the instep area) and a three-month absence of competitive practice, arrived as a favorite. With all due respect to Margarita Mamun, who has also repeatedly won in her career certain types at the world championships, this brilliant 19-year-old gymnast was still considered the second number of the team. But it was she, and not Yana Kudryavtseva, who was destined to win here first the qualifying competitions, in which both of our athletes did not avoid mistakes, and then the final ones.

The main competitions in the all-around, in which ten finalists consistently performed exercises with a hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon, were opened by Margarita Mamun. However, after her two absolutely unmistakable exits, there was a feeling that the judges, despite all their impartiality (this fact was noted here by all the participants), still slightly, but kept their marks. Probably because then it was the turn of Yana Kudryavtseva. And how charmingly she knows how to do her exercises, the referees, of course, knew firsthand. And when, for her exits, first with a hoop, and then with a ball, Kudryavtseva received one and a half to two tenths more points than Margarita Mamun, the feeling that it was she who was being brought to the highest pedestal became stronger completely.

But everything changed in one second. With the final chord of the "cosmic" composition, under which Kudryavtseva launched, there were maces to the sky, but she could not catch back. Although she tried to hide her embarrassment, already lying in the final position and covering her maces with her hand. This mistake decided fate Olympic gold, which smoothly rolled from her hands to the hands of her trusted understudy. Ironically, Yana Kudryavtsev was let down by subjects for which she was less worried than others. “The most difficult exercises for me are with a hoop and ribbon,” she told Kommersant. “There you have to run, jump, jump and fly, which, given my injury, is not safe for me. Clubs are more calm. You work more with your hands there.”

It is noteworthy that the victory in the final form - in the exercise with a ribbon - was again for Yana Kudryavtseva. But she went out to him, knowing for sure that she would never become a champion under any circumstances.

Recalling the moment that became fatal for her, Yana Kudryavtseva said: “At the end of the performance, the forces were already running out, I threw the maces badly and did not have time to realize that they were flying badly. That is, I could have done something, but I did not have time. Of course, there is a disorder, but after all, silver could not have been.

Margarita Mamun (right) in the individual all-around ahead of her titled partner in the Russian national team, tournament favorite Yana Kudryavtseva

And Margarita Mamun, who purely performed all her compositions, staged by the head coach of the team Irina Zenovka and honed in collaboration with personal trainer Amina Zaripova, under the supervision of the President of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation and the head coach of the national team Irina Viner-Usmanova, was in seventh heaven. “In general, I was calm,” the Olympic champion recalls her feelings during the tournament. “I didn’t see Yana’s mistake and didn’t know who was in which of us. I found out about the mistake when Yana made the tape and came to me. After all, I also made a mistake in qualifying - I was distracted for a split second. But after yesterday's clubs, I was no longer afraid to make a mistake again. Our sport is like this: I went out and did it. I made a mistake - only your fault. Yana and I always support each other and have become family to each other.

Irina Viner-Usmanova believes that Margarita Mamun did all the exercises very cleanly. But a particularly prominent specialist noted her exercise with a ribbon. “The tape is the last kind on which everything could be decided. This is a very difficult subject, especially in Brazil where the humidity is very high. We were scared that the ribbons would be tied, but I told the girls right away - someone will be the first, someone not, and we worked calmly and correctly, ”Ms. Viner-Usmanova emphasized.

And she called the performance of Yana Kudryavtseva a feat and a huge victory, referring to everything she experienced after the 2015 World Championships, in which the gymnast won with a broken leg. “Yana underwent a major operation, was in a cast for a month, then recovered for a long time. And today we saw the highest score in three out of four events. In just one form, Yana did not finish the job, ”Ms. Viner-Usmanova expressed regret and wished Yana Kudryavtseva, drawing an analogy with Alina Kabaeva, to correct the situation at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Complete - for the fifth time in a row - the Olympic triumph of Russian rhythmic gymnastics was the next day, when group exercises took place. And this ending had a completely different plot than the personal ending. He even made me remember that there were times when someone else could challenge the Russian "artists", could get ahead of them.

In Rio, the challenge was thrown by the Spaniards, who prepared well for this Olympics. Just as cool as the 1996 Olympics, when the group got gold. They excelled in qualifying, and in the first final exercise - with five ribbons - a little, two tenths of a point ahead of the Russian group. Moreover, Bulgarians also wedged between the two favorites. Whispered in the stands about the sensation until the performance of the Russian five - Vera Biryukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Maximova, Anastasia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva - took place in exercises with three maces and two hoops.

It was an amazing program - in terms of dynamics, saturation with complex elements. And for her, the Russian group received an amazing score - 18.633. Against the background of her performances, even very, very decent performances by Spanish and Bulgarian women did not look good. They were very different universes. And points earned for hooped maces Russian girls, of course, it was quite enough to take the gold in total.

Vladimir RAUSH
from the Olympic Park

Writing about Russian rhythmic gymnastics is simple and difficult at the same time. Simple - because everything seems to lie on the surface. Fans are used to the fact that ours always win in this sport. Yesterday. Today. And tomorrow too. Any other outcome will be taken as news of the end of the world. As if the world had collapsed, or the earth had gone out of its orbit. The comparison may be banal, but no other comes to mind. If only because over the past twenty years Olympic history this has never happened.

The difficulty of reporting on rhythmic gymnastics lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to say something new. Everything has already been written before us. And about the most severe regimen of the day and nutrition of athletes who live at the base in Novogorsk, in fact, in the barracks. And about their grueling workouts. Not just physically heavy - any professional athlete will tell you about such. We are talking about training, exhausting mentally. Endless repetitions of individual elements and runs of entire programs - to brilliance, to automatism. Those who maximize the rating, but hit the psyche with a hammer and crumble the brain.

BESSREBRENITSA KUDRYAVTSEV

Going to write about competitions in the individual all-around, your correspondent thought: what place did Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudryavtseva in past games? Only after a few minutes of intense reflection, memory suddenly prompted - none of them performed there. Other Russians shone in London - gorgeous Evgenia Kanaeva and her teammate Daria Dmitrieva. It's not about my sclerosis, it's just that Mamun and Kudryavtseva were so accustomed to their constant victories that it seems that they were always on the platform.

It was no coincidence that I began to remember the performance of our athletes in London. One of the revelations recent months became an interview Kudryavtseva in "SE", in which the athlete said: it is not very important for her to win in Rio de Janeiro. The main thing that Golden medal got a Russian. When I heard this, I was amazed. This undermined the whole essence of elite sport. His main driving force has always been personal ambition, multiplied by the prestige of the title. Olympic champion. All athletes are always driven forward by one thing - the desire to become the best, to surpass, to prove.

And here a person voluntarily refuses the main thing in his life, sacrificing it in favor of partners. If there was a share of slyness in Yana's words, it was quite small - I don’t think that she was prevaricating, wanting to act as an unmercenary. This is just such a degree of physical and spiritual self-sacrifice, brought to the absolute. It is worth understanding this, and no other explanations are needed to describe the psychological portrait of Russian "artists" anymore. Although, perhaps, it is not given to us, mere mortals, to fully understand it.

Ill-FATED MACES

Prelaunch layouts seemed to speak in favor of Kudryavtseva. At the three world championships of this Olympic cycle, she invariably took first place in the all-around, each time leaving her teammate and main rival Mamun behind the back. However, during the Olympic qualification, Margarita brought a surprise. She confidently won the competition, breaking away from the second Russian woman by a solid 0.385 points. And this despite the fact that Mamun suffered a collapse in exercises with clubs - she lost the apparatus, received a serious deduction and took only 11th place in this discipline. You can imagine the level of her overall assessment, if there had been no failure!

In such a subjective sport as rhythmic gymnastics, qualification is always more than just selection. This is also an opportunity for judges to assess the level of athletes and their readiness in advance. It's no secret that the impression left in the qualification is often reflected in the marks received in the main competitions. And from this point of view, the Olympic all-around acquired a new intrigue.

However, as soon as the tournament began, everything quickly fell into place. Kudryavtseva noticeably added to the complexity of the programs in exercises with a hoop and a ball, and after the first two types, she won almost one and a half points from herself on Friday. Mamun, on the contrary, was slightly inferior to herself. In general, the two leaders of the tournament were separated by a rather impressive 0.275 points: 38.475 for Kudryavtseva against 38.200 for Mamun.

Mace exercises took on special significance in the light of what had happened the day before. Mamun to the famous song We will Rock You Queen really rocked the hall, and most importantly - the judges. 19.050 - with this score she would have won this event in qualifying. But Kudryavtseva had a real sports tragedy. Performing the last throw of the mace to the final chords of her musical composition, she failed to keep the slippery object in her palm and dropped it on the carpet.

In anticipation of the assessment, Yana sat with her head bowed low. Her body shook with silent sobs. 17.883 - these points kept her the overall second place, but deprived her of any hope of winning. At that moment, she was 0.892 points behind the other Russian woman - this is not recouped within the framework of one type.

FORGETTING THE PAIN

Exactly Mamun opened the final view of the program - exercises with a tape. The camera zoomed in on her face just before the exit - from nervous tension it turned into a mask. But Rita coped with her task: falling on the carpet at the end of the exercise meant not only a spectacular ending, but also a huge relief in her soul. Estimated 19,233 gymnast and her mentor, famous in the past Amina Zaripova welcomed in hugs. It was clear that the Olympic champion had just completed her performance!

Gotta give credit Kudryavtseva. She went out onto the platform, knowing full well that she could not rise above second place. And this is where the habit worked in right moments forget about the pain - both moral and physical. Yana not only completed her program flawlessly, but even surpassed her rival - 19.250. And although this did not affect her tournament position, for some reason I am sure that for the athlete herself this was extremely important.

Everything in the world was not in vain. It was not in vain.

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Olympic Games 2016.
Rhythmic gymnastics. August 20th.
Personal superiority. The final. 1. MAMUN - 76,483. 2. KUDRYAVTSEVA - 75.608. 3. Rizatdinova (Ukraine) - 73.583. 4. Song Yong-jae (Korea) - 72,898. 5. Stanyuta (Belarus) - 71.333. 6. Galkina (Belarus) - 70.932.