"The goal is to show the possibilities and prospects for the development of rhythmic gymnastics." The draw for the Sky Grace tournament was held in Moscow
Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva made a welcoming speech.
The Sky Grace tournament has already, in fact, begun. On Monday, December 6, the draw of the competition with online connection of representatives of the participating countries took place in Moscow. Recall that the tournament itself will be held on the initiative of Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva on December 16-17 at VTB Arena. The organizer is the Alina Kabaeva Charitable Foundation. Gymnasts will perform in the all-around according to unique rules based on those that were in effect in 2001-2005, and those that will be relevant from 2022 to 2024.
Kramarenko was the last to perform
On the eve of the draw, the author of the idea of holding the Sky Grace, Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva, made a welcoming speech, who told about the unique rules of the competition and wished all the gymnasts good luck.
— Thank you all for your participation! We will have a tournament, but there will be no losers," Alina Kabaeva began the draw ceremony with these words. — We are looking forward to everyone. I really want to hear your opinion and your suggestions later. We want to make the tournament an annual event. The purpose of the tournament is to show the possibilities and prospects for the development of rhythmic gymnastics. I understand that modern rules, in my opinion, simplify all the elements and do not allow athletes to fully reveal their talent and capabilities. Unfortunately, this leads to the fact that rhythmic gymnastics ceases to surprise and delight. Once again I want to say thank you for accepting this challenge. Elena Nefedova will be the chief judge, I am sincerely grateful that she agreed to take part in this project. Thanks to my sports friend Vera Sesina — even after the end of her career, we communicate well with her. Anna Sagai is also taking part. Let's make a wonderful sports holiday together!
After that, there was a roll call of all participants — representatives of all countries were in Zoom. The tournament will be attended by athletes from different parts of the world — from Canada and Mexico to Croatia and Kazakhstan.
— This is not just a tournament, — Elena Nefedova, the chief judge of the competition, the judge of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), Vice—president of the Technical Committee of European Gymnastics (EG) summed up a peculiar result. — I think it will be a holiday tournament that has a sporting component. It will be very interesting for the participants, coaches, and spectators. Gymnasts have the opportunity to show themselves from all sides. Special thanks to the Charitable Foundation of Alina Kabaeva for giving the opportunity to take part in such a holiday.
After that, all attention was turned to the big drum on the table, in which colored balls were placed. In each of them was hidden a note with the name of the country. They randomly fell out of the drum. As a result, the "artists" will show exercises with four different objects (traditional hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon) in accordance with the following order: Canada, Hungary, Ukraine, Italy, Kazakhstan, Israel (subsequently withdrew from the competition), Uzbekistan, Australia, Belarus, Georgia, Cuba, Croatia, Mexico, Russia.
The last one to perform was the main star of the tournament, Lala Kramarenko, who also celebrated her 17th birthday on December 6. This turned out to be a kind of gift to all the spectators who will watch the unusual exercises of gymnasts. Lala's programs promise to be especially complex and interesting, as eyewitnesses have already told.
The main features of the tournament rules
Immediately after that, the composition of the judging team was determined — the referees will be the same at all exercises. And immediately followed a small explanation of the experimental rules of the Sky Grace tournament. All judges will partially get acquainted with the exercises of the "artists" for the first time on December 15 at the official testing. The referees will be given cards of participants with previously planned elements of body difficulty. But in fact, gymnasts can perform more than what is indicated on the cards — if they do so, the difficulty will increase. But mistakes will also be strictly evaluated. The most important feature is that the assessment will remain open — athletes will be able to perform as many elements of body difficulty as they can during the exercise. The entire "cost" was taken from the 2001-2005 rules, but some elements had to be evaluated separately. For example, Kramarenko's rotation, which appeared only this year.
The second part of the assessment is the difficulty of the subject, which will already be looked at from the point of view of the new rules. Artistry and performance will also be evaluated according to the rules of 2022-2024. The only exception is that gymnasts will need to perform one dance track in the exercise. Her absence will be punished by withdrawal of 0.5 points. The elements of the difficulty of the subject will already have to be evaluated by judges without cards. At first glance, the rules may seem difficult, but the organizers of the tournament are ready to answer all the questions of colleagues from different countries. Real experiments will be performed at the Sky Grace, which will certainly advance rhythmic gymnastics forward.
Source: Sport-Express.