Yesterday, Andrei and Valentina Rodionenko told the media that Nikolai Kuksenkov has retired. This followed the drama surrounding his participation in the Russian Championships where he was told he had not been selected to compete for his federal district team. Kuksenkov opted to leave Penza instead of competing as an individual (national team members do not need to represent the district teams in order to compete at the championships) and wrote a post on his VK page telling his side of the story. He claimed that he would leave his federal district after what happened. Yesterday, while Rodionenkos announced his retirement, Kuksenkov deleted the posts about the championships drama.
However, when asked for a comment by R-Sport, Kuksenkov said he has no plans to retire right now:
“It was only about stopping to compete for the Central Federal District at the Russian Championships. I’m not retiring.”
So, there’s still hope. Unfortunately, in the past, when Rodionenkos “retired” someone it often meant that the gymnast in question stopped getting camp invites regardless of whether they actually retired.
Photo: Elena Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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