MOSCOW, November 12 (R-Sport) - A Ukrainian gymnast who was a medal contender at London 2012 has decided to switch to Russia, a leading Russian coach told R-Sport Monday.
Mykola Kuksenkov, 23, finished fourth in the men's individual all-around final and fourth in the team final at the Olympics in August.
He decided to switch for family reasons and Russia made no moves to lure him away, Russian national team senior coach Valentina Rodionenko said.
“He has a lot of relatives here. A month ago he came here and told us he wanted to move to Russia," she said, adding she expected the process to go smoothly.
“No other problems should arise, we will gladly accept him in the team, he is a very strong gymnast," she said.
Kuksenkov's top senior honors so far are bronze medals at the European championships, in the all-around in Berlin last year and in the horizontal bar in Milan in 2009, while he also has one gold and one silver medal from last year's Universiade.
