Monday, July 25, 2016

Ksenia Afanasyeva Retirement

I haven't been blogging here for awhile so I'm a bit rusty. According to Russian media the Rodionenko's has said Afanasyeva retired due to health issues. To my knowledge Afanasyeva has not said anything about her retirement yet. I wish she would say something or the media would at least have a quote from her. But for sure she will not be in Rio 2016.

Afanasyeva has been a huge part of the reason why I am a gymnastics fan. Without Afanasyeva not competing I will still find joy in watching gymnastics. I have so many reasons why I adore Afanasyeva but I don't know where to begin and explain. Sometimes you don't have to explain so much. I just know that I had a lot of fun watching Afanasyeva compete. She is definitely my favourite gymnast. And I am glad that I have gotten to know this gymnast existence. I wouldn't know what I would have been doing all these years if I have never known about Afanasyeva. But I have no regrets that I have became a huge fan of hers. I wish her all the best.

One of my favourite moment was when she debuted her Amanar at age 21! I never thought it would be possible. It was definitely one of my favourite highlight of this quad too. In a lot of ways she kept gymnastics pretty entertaining and exciting when she did this.


She's mostly known for floor and beam but she was truly an All-Around gymnast. She doesn't get much credit for her bar routines but she was pretty good on this event. I still always remember her as the first Russian gymnast to do the Van Leeuwen or toe shap 1/2 on bars. In many ways her bar routine composition started all the craze for the standard Russian bar routines we see today.


And now for the floor routine that is widely known and respected for being the best floor routine of the 2012 quad. It's not so much about the tumbling. It's about the artistry and style. There's not much to explain but many fans from this quad will understand why this floor routine was named the best floor routine of 2012. She had lots of history and so did that quad. When I saw her perform this routine for the first time I knew I would love it forever. So badass with the Kill Bill sirens. So badass.

Thank you Ksenia Afanasyeva.