How do foreign specialists work at the Sky Grace Cup? Judge Ekaterina Belyavskaya from Belarus tells us about it

At two interregional Sky Grace Cup competitions, the head judge was a foreign specialist. Never before have judges from abroad judged rhythmic gymnastics tournaments within Russia.

Ekaterina Belyavskaya is a coach of the Belarus national team, and worked at the International Association competitions in Ivanovo and Odintsovo.

She highlighted the features of the Sky Grace rules.

“The Sky Grace rules differ. Firstly, by elements, because there are plenty of elements there that were forgotten. And there are a bunch of elements that have higher scores there under the Sky Grace rules than according to international rules. Certainly, one can see when a gymnast attempts to perform and show that she is indeed performing under the Sky Grace rules. And this is nice,” Ekaterina said.

In addition, the specialist spoke about controversial issues in judging and how they are resolved.

“Probably, there are no competitions without disputing points occurring. Certainly, these are also present here. Especially that all the gymnasts are competing to qualify for the finals that will be held in Sochi. And only three teams in group exercises will be invited to the finals, and only five individual gymnasts. Therefore, naturally, the struggle is there sometimes even for tenth parts. And controversial issues arise. We have minor disagreements in panels but we have an excellent video replay. And when such moments arise, we look again, watch the video and make the decision — what score was actually correct and what points should be put,” she said.

She also noted that being the head judge at these competitions is a great honor:

“It is a great honor, and my huge gratitude to Alina Kabaeva for offering such a position. Naturally, it was my pleasure to help her with that because I had already attended Sky Grace competitions before. In Beijing and in Sochi. I know what a competition it is. I see how it is evolving. And therefore it was a great honor to accept this invitation and to come here in a capacity like this and with a role like that,” she said.

The International Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Clubs Association conducts exams and, upon successful completion, gives the right to obtain levels for both Russian and foreign judges. Ekaterina Belyavskaya passed the exam and is licensed to work at International Association tournaments.