In Spain, a man took the medal from a 15-year-old artistic gymnast. This is normal?
Tatyana Postnikova January 31, 2024, 12:15 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Marco Ruiz took the podium with the girls. That?!
Russian gymnasts, who refused to participate in international tournaments, perform at home, and Belarusian gymnasts receive neutral status and are already beginning to compete at the world level. The other day the leaders of the Belarusian national team Alina Gornosko and Anastasia Salos performed at the III Winter Queen Cup tournament in Spain. Talented athletes, of course, won medals.
But there is something more interesting: in one of the “Winter Queen” disciplines, they stood on the podium together with a man. What really happened?
Admission criteria for Russian gymnasts have been relaxed. But they still don’t go anywhere:
Admission criteria for Russian gymnasts have been slightly relaxed. But these indulgences change nothing.
How did the man end up on the podium?
More than 570 gymnasts from different countries, including Belarus, France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, participated in the Winter Queen’s Cup, held from January 24 to 28 in Playa de Aro. However, according to FIG rules, only 10 people competed in senior competitions: nine gymnasts and one gymnast. Marco Ruiz, 17, competed in the same category with women, as there were simply no other men in the tournament.
The Belarusians shone in all disciplines. Alina Gornosko won gold in both the overall and individual events with a huge lead. Anastasia Salos took silver awards everywhere.
The rest of the athletes could only fight for bronze. In the general test, in exercises with hoop, ribbon and ball, the French Stephanie Drozitis took third place. But in the stick exercises it was Marco Ruiz who finished in the top 3. In other tests, the Spaniard finished in fifth or sixth position.
But the award was given to the man who was on the same pedestal as the girls.
Marco Ruiz, 17 years old, competed in the same category as the women
Photo: Puntiocal
15-year-old girl left without a medal
After receiving an award like that, you understand that it shouldn’t be like this. And the point is not that men in rhythmic gymnastics are something unpleasant, no.
Nowadays, men’s rhythmic gymnastics is as normal as men’s singles figure skating or women’s boxing. Even in our country this sport is actively developing. We are talking about its Japanese direction, in which there are more powerful acrobatics than grace, and tracksuits without rhinestones. But there is also a Spanish direction, more sophisticated. Many do not perceive it because of its lack of visual appeal, but it is more a matter of tradition and taste.
The main complaint about the podium with a man is that even in this case, gymnasts should only compete with men, and not women! Otherwise, all this is reminiscent of the most vile stories about competitions between transgender people and female rivals. It is clear that rhythmic gymnastics has its own particularities, but questions still arise about the protection of women’s sport and fair competition.
Why is men’s rhythmic gymnastics great?
For the benefit of Russia? Why men’s rhythmic gymnastics is necessary in the Olympic Games
It is clear that the Winter Queen Cup is a rather modest tournament. But its organizers should have made a different decision. Let the athlete perform with girls, but his results should be placed in a separate category. Yes, he would have been there alone and would have calmly taken all the gold medals, but in that case he would not have deprived the girls of their prizes. In particular, because of Ruiz, the 15-year-old Lithuanian gymnast Skaiste Razokaite was left without bronze in the international tournament. It was very unfair for her.
