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szdaily -> Sports -> 
Russian rhythmic dynasty topples, Bulgaria gets the gold
    2021-08-09  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

THE Russian rhythmic gymnastics juggernaut collapsed at the Tokyo Olympics, with dramatic back-to-back losses that sparked furious allegations of injustice.

Russia had won every gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics since 2000. But its total defeat this year began Saturday, when Linoy Ashram of Israel won gold in the individual competition, edging out of a pair of Russian identical twins who were the favorites heading into Tokyo. Dina Averina placed second and her sister, Arina, fell to fourth.

In yesterday’s group competition, Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) tumbled into second place, losing the gold to Bulgaria. Italy took the bronze medal.

“It’s so unreal, we cannot believe it. I don’t know what to say,” Bulgarian gymnast Stefani Kiryakova said.

As the scores appeared on the arena’s screen, the Russian gymnasts wept, one dropped her head into hands as the Bulgarians jumped in shocked triumph.

“We have very mixed emotions, of course there is joy but there is also sadness,” Russian gymnast Anastasiia Maksimova said after the competition, tears still in her eyes. “We competed at our maximum and we were fighting for our country, we were fighting for our individual gymnasts, we were fighting for our team, and we were fighting for our coaches. We did what we could.”

Social media discussions back home in Russia have been full of allegations of a conspiracy to hurt Russia’s medal count and some lawmakers have weighed in with their own theories. Head coach Irina Viner-Usmanova told the RIA Novosti state news agency that “everyone understood perfectly well that this was meant to happen, that Russia’s hegemony had to be stopped.”

The very night an Israeli won the individual competition, ROC president Stanislav Pozdnyakov called on the International Gymnastics Federation (IGF) to do an inquiry into the judging.

“Our staff and lawyers have already drawn up a request and sent it to the leadership of the IGF,” Pozdnyakov wrote on Instagram on Saturday. Dina Averina, the 22-year-old gymnast who won the silver medal, also said shortly after the competition that she believed the judges had not been fair to her from the very start. (SD-Agencies)

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