France. Rhythmic World Championships Montpelier . Individual Competition Hoop & Ball. EVGENIA KANAEVA. Alan Edwards/Actionplus/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: apsphotos078853
UPDATE 8/13/2012: We’ve put together a collection of the best photos of rhythmic gymnastics from the London Olympics. You may be interested in some of the new photos posted there.
I’ve spent the better part of the last hour completely entranced with pictures of rhythmic gymnastics – so you’re getting a blog post about it. Everything started quite innocently when I signed into Newscom to find a few photos for another blog and came across some pictures from today’s Rhythmic (I believe that the sole reason the sport isn’t more popular is that it’s nearly impossible to spell correctly) World Championships. From there it was a quick spiral into searches for more pictures and my new one-and-only-thing-I’ve-ever-wanted-to-do-in-my-whole-life: become a rhythmic gymnast.
This week marks the 2011 Rhythmic World Championships in Montpellier, France – Sept. 19-25, and we’ve got loads of photos coming in about it.
First, a brief introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the sport. Rhythmic gymnastics – or RG as those of us in the know call it – combines elements of ballet, gymnastics, and dance and adds its own element: the apparatus. The apparatus ( I think of it as a prop) could be a ribbon, rope, hoop, ball or clubs. You can compete as either an individual, or in a group of five. It’s all very difficult, as you’ll see from these pictures, and athletes can aspire to competing in the Olympics. While I intend to jump whole-heartedly into RG, I may have to pin my Olympic hopes on curling …. I’m not very rhythmic.
There are a few reasons I got hooked on these pictures and decided to share them with you, the dear reader. On the one hand, the pictures are breathtaking and inspiring. Everything, from the girls to the costumes, to the ribbons and other props to the beautiful way they can bend and move, and – at least in the pictures – seem to float through the air takes my breath away. Seriously, I find everything about these dancers absolutely incredible and some of the pictures are awe-inspiring.Watch this video and then try and tell me that you don’t find it absolutely inspiring. Then you can go check out this site to see some behind-the-scenes photos for the RG video clip (beware, it’s all in french).
On the other hand, I find it impossible to believe that someone could get their body in that shape. With some of the pictures it took some time to even figure out where the arms and legs went. And, finally, there are headless pictures.
Since it’s all far too cool to just include one set of images, I’m going to break the photos for this blog into three different sections: beautiful, headless, and somewhat inconceivable. That means there will be a lot of pictures in this post, and hundreds more back at Newscom.
So first, the beautiful pics:
Rhythmic gymnastic star ANNA BESSONOVA of Ukraine wins Silver in All-Around at 2004 European Championships. Tom Theobald/ZUMA Press/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: zumaphotos703024
Olga Kapranova of Russia performs her programme with rope during the 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, Tuesday 04 October 2005. YURI KOCHETKOV/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree142873
France. Rhythmic World Championships Montpelier. Individual Competition Hoop & Ball. DARIA KONDAKOVA, Russia. Alan Edwards/Actionplus/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: apsphotos078851
Group All- Around of Poland performs their programme during the 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, 07 October 2005. YURI KOCHETKOV/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree144241
Shuo Zhang of China performs her programme with ribon during the 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, 06 October 2005. SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree143866
France. Rhythmic World Championships Montpelier . Individual Competition Hoop & Ball. Milena MILACICA. Alan Edwards/Actionplus/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: apsphotos078858
Anna Bessonova of Ukraine performs during the XXI European Championship in Rhythmic Gymnastics in Moscow, Sunday 12 June 2005. ANATOLY MALTSEV/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree083072
Group All- Around of Russia performs their programme during the 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, 07 October 2005. YURI KOCHETKOV/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree144223
Yevghenia Kanayeva of RUSSIA during qualification at 2011 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Montpellier. imago sportfotodienst/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: imagosports440118
Katanin Kiss of Hungary performs her programme with ribbon during the 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, Wednesday 05 October 2005. YURI KOCHETKOV/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree143107
Daria Dmitrieva of Russia performs her Individual final programme with a ball during the 30th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Moscow, Russia 23 September 2010. Daria Dmitrieva won a Silver medal in the ball programme. SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosfour459193
Laura Young during Qualification at 2011 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Montpellier. imago sportfotodienst/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: imagosports440326
Members of team Italy perform their Group All-Around final programme during the 30th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Moscow, Russia, 25 September 2010. The Italian team won the gold medal. SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosfour486612
Now the headless ones, just because they’re cool … and funny. Just to give you fair warning, this may be its own blog someday soon.
First placed Alina Kabaeva of Russia performs with the hoop in the gymnastics rhythmic individual all-around qualification at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Thursday, 26 August 2004. Gero Breloer Deutsch Presse Agentur/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: dpaphotos007248
Samira Mustafayeva of Azerbaijan performs her Individual Qualifications programme on the Ribbon during the 30th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Moscow, Russia 22 September 2010. SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosfour457568
Simona Piecheva of Bulgaria performs her program withthe clubs during 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, Thursday, 06 October 2005. SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree143808
Eleni Andriola of Greece performs with the ball in the gymnastics rhythmic individual all-around qualification at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Thursday, 26 August 2004. Gero Breloer Deutsch Presse Agentur/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: dpaphotos007215
Now the pictures that kind of blow my mind. I had no idea the human body could even get into some of these shapes.
Valeria Kurylskaya of Belarus performs her programme with ball during the 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, Tuesday 04 October 2005. YURI KOCHETKOV/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree142856
Raquel Muro e Silva of Portugal performs her ball routine during the qualification round of Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Budapest on Wednesday 24 September 2003. The 26th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships started in the Hungarian capital with 274 athletes from 52 countries competing for Olympic qualification. ANTONIO BAT/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotostwo764853
Evgenia Kanaeva of Russia performs her individual qualification programme on the hoop during the 30th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Moscow, Russia 21 September 2010. SERGEI ILNITSKY/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosfour456191
Natalia Garcia during Qualification at 2011 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Montpellier. imago sportfotodienst/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: imagosports440321
Newscom is your best source for photos of rhythmic gymnastics, so go check it out.
See more blog posts you might be interested in:
Pictures of the Week: Stunning Modern Dance Photos
Pictures of the Week: Under the Water
Just for Smiles: National Fitness and Sports Month
10 Beautiful Photos of Windmills
Tags: 2012 olympics, gymnastics, headless photo, rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic world championships
Nice picture. Actually Rhythmic Gymnastics is the best part in any Athletics event. I know little about IK School of Rhythmic Gymnastics in Miami, Florida. They arrange indoor practice and I am trying to attend here for my personal entertainment.