Watching the Russian Cup this week, I was struck by the realization that Maria Kharenkova, at all of eighteen years old, was essentially the grandmother of the national team at this competition. Since the retirements (or at least longterm breaks) of Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anastasia Grishina, Anna Dementyeva, and so many more this last quad, the Russian program has started to look increasingly young. But juxtapose Russian Cup with the Universiade, and the youth of this Russian team starts looking a lot more artificial.

Here’s the thing: despite what it looks like on the surface, Russia is not in want of successful or dedicated “older” athletes. Most of you probably already know of one or two of these athletes. Tatiana Nabieva continues to train despite her retirement having been announced by national team staff. She usually places in the top ten all-around and picks up medals on bars and vault when she competes nationally. Maria Paseka refuses to retire despite doctors saying it might be better for her health to do so. She has now started taking criticism from national team staff of a kind I don’t think she has seen before. Anna Pavlova continued to train and compete for years domestically after her unofficial “retirement” from the national team.

But there are more: Eleonora Afanasyeva, nee Goryunova, a former member of the junior national team from the Grishina/Mustafina the Younger era (and Kristina Goryunova’s younger sister), placed fourth all-around at the Russian Cup with massive scores on vault and floor (14.575 and 14.2 respectively), and went on to actually win the vault title today. Afanasyeva is not a member of the national team, and I do not expect her to be added or invited to train with the team. You may have seen that recently, Daria Yelizarova, a former junior European all-around champion, competed at Universiade with a floor routine you would think the national team would kill for. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know: Daria trains mostly on her own, without a coach, at her home gym. Despite being a member of the reserve national team, she’s rarely invited to national team training camps, even though her personal coach works at Round Lake, which is the reason she’s forced to train without a coach most of the time in the first place. When she won floor at the 2014 Russian Cup, she couldn’t be sent to Worlds because the national team staff had not even bothered to get her a proper FIG license.

In fact, in many ways the Russian system is set up to encourage athletes to continue training after what is traditionally considered the “correct” age of an international elite gymnast. Russian athletes don’t have to worry about NCAA eligibility. They begin making money as soon as they start winning regional medals. Not only is there prize money attached to those medals, but as they move up through the ranks, they can actually start earning an income just by being members of the national team. The more successful they are, the more their stipends increase. A member of the national team who wins medals internationally at competitions like Euros or Worlds makes around 300,000 rubles (around 5000 USD) every month. This is about ten times greater than the average Russian salary, which has hovered around 40,000 rubles (just under 700 USD) per month for the last several years. In most cases that’s income from more than one source. So, you can see how, if you’re physically able to, continuing to train and compete is an attractive option. Even if you go to university, earn a degree, and get a good job, there’s no guarantee that you’ll ever be able to make as much money as you do simply by being a gymnast. Better to keep competing as long as you can and save up for the future.

So, considering all of this, why has the Russian program seemed so young in recent years? Brace yourselves and fasten your seatbelts, kiddos, because we’re about to go on a ride called “reasonably well informed speculation.” Why did Valentina Rodionenko announce Tatiana Nabieva’s retirement when she’s still training? Why was Daria Yelizarova not brought in to national team training camps back in 2014, when it became obvious she could be an asset to the national team? Why does no one know anything about Eleonora (Goryunova) Afanasyeva? Why has Maria Paseka suddenly fallen out of favor? Why was Anna Pavlova blacklisted for years? My guess is that, unless your name is Mustafina or Komova, there is an expectation among certain national team staff members that gymnasts retire, or at least stop being eligible for serious competition, at a certain age. I can’t decide whether it’s assumed that you can’t handle serious training or you’re just not considered to fit the image the national teams wants to project. But either way, it’s clear that the national team is systematically refusing to give older athletes the support they deserve. And given Russia’s depth problems, whatever the reason for the situation, it’s clear that it’s seriously hurting the team’s prospects.

Russia needs to stop running its national team based on a set of preconceived notions on how gymnastics is “supposed” to work and start running it based on the reality at hand. What they’re doing now—deliberately undermining older athletes, among other things, such as deliberately underconditioning their athletes out of an outdated desire that they look more “feminine”—is tantamount to self-sabotage. As long as they continue running things this way, Russia will never be able to compete with the United States. What’s more, they will continue to fall behind countries like Great Britain, Canada, and Italy. Russia’s national team badly needs a change in culture, and to be honest, they’re not going to get one as long as the people currently in charge remain in place.