Alina Kabaeva: "The Sky Grace is the foundation of the past and a springboard for a jump into the future"

The Sky Grace international experimental tournament ended on Friday. The Olympic champion and the initiator of the tournament answered questions about the development of rhythmic gymnastics after its end.

The Sky Grace was staged on the basis of the rules of 2001-2005 and 2022-2024. Russia’s Lala Kramarenko was the winner, who overtook her closest rival Anna Kamenshchikova from Belarus by more than 14 points. Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva, the initiator of the contest, summed up the results of the tournament and spoke about the further development of rhythmic gymnastics after the competition and the gala concert.

Connecting the past with the present

— Did you succeed with everything at this tournament?

— The Sky Grace is the foundation of the past and a springboard for a jump into the future. The rules of our tournament were developed on the basis of proposals from Egle Abruzzini, the former President of the Technical Committee with the International Gymnastics Federation. They argued with her, did not agree, but it turned out she had been right. The level of rhythmic gymnastics and its popularity became much higher at that time. It was called the golden age of rhythmic gymnastics. We combined the past with the present at the Sky Grace tournament. But there is still a lot of work ahead. We indeed suggest reviewing the value of elements and increasing the value of complex elements. We saw both the upsides and downsides of the rules at this tournament. We will be waiting for recommendations from the judges who worked at our tournament in order to offer their vision to the Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation for evolution of the rules.

— Did Lala Kramarenko manage to show everything she intended?

— Lala Kramarenko is great, she did an excellent performance. I can say these rules seem to have been created for her. The whole world should reach after the ideal. Lala did something incredible because she is a unique gymnast. I congratulate her on her victory.

— What was the feedback from the judges?

— The day before, the judges told us that body difficulties are not missing, that only the subject works now and it would be good to find the balance. We will discuss and think about making our sport as spectacular as it used to be.

Everything was at a high level

— Is it really possible to change the rules in the next Olympic cycle?

— I would like to believe that after the next Olympic cycle, gymnastics rules will value body difficulty more. Noha Abou Shabana, the new head of the FIG Technical Committee, wrote to us. We invited her to our tournament but unfortunately she was unable to attend. But she asked us to send her a letter with ideas on how we see the development of rhythmic gymnastics. Therefore, we will definitely meet her after the tournament, communicate and give our recommendations.

— What are your emotions after the tournament?

— I was so nervous when I gave my final speech. I was worried in general that something might not work out. This is because we have proposed rules that are really difficult for modern gymnastics. And some countries even said, "Alina, sorry, we really want to come to the tournament, but we are afraid of failing and looking ridiculous. We will definitely come to you next year." All in all, I was hesitant and anxious, but everything worked out. I appreciate everyone involved in our sports festival. Everything was at a high level.

Source: Sport-Express daily.