Australian gymnast Kiroy-Bogatyreva: “The Russian school moves our sport around the world”
Australian gymnast Alexandra Kiroy-Bogatyreva told Sport-Express what she felt when she received an invitation to the Sky Grace tournament in 2021.
“I countless number of times watched the video of Alina Kabaeva's performances. So when the invitation to her tournament arrived, the coach and I were very delighted,” the gymnast said.
She went on to say that holding these types of competitions is a significant part of developing rhythmic gymnastics. “I am grateful to Alina for raising the level of Russian rhythmic gymnastics. It is still the strongest school that pushes our sport ahead around the world.”
During the tournament, the gymnast got the opportunity to work with Anna Dyachenko, the personal trainer of four-time world champion Alexandra Soldatova. Kiroy-Bogatyreva thanked the coach in her social networks and admitted that she learned a lot. She also found the experimental rules of the tournament to be interesting.
According to the competition results, he Australian became the seventh. “It was a special experience, the last few weeks have been very eventful, exciting and full of love!” she said.
Kiroy-Bogatyreva is 2018 British Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, multiple Australian champion in the all-around, in exercises with individual objects and in the team event (2018, 2019),as well as the absolute champion of Australia (2019).
The Sky Grace Academy tournament is organized by the Alina Kabaeva Charitable Foundation.
The competition uses a special judging system. The assessment is open, without restrictions, and athletes can perform as many complicated elements as they can during the exercise. The score based on the complicated elements is calculated according to the rules of 2001-2005, when gymnastics was more difficult and spectacular, and the difficulty was much higher. The rest of the assessment - such as the difficulty of the object, artistry and performance - is judged according to the 2022-2024 rules.