Sovetsky Sport. June 7, 1975. In the history of the European women's gymnastics championships, the tenth one, undoubtedly, will be marked by the fact that the name of a Romanian athlete was included in the list of winners there for the first time. It would probably be easier to say that the championship in the Norwegian city of Skien launched Nadia Comaneci's gymnastics career. Easier, yes, but is it more accurate?
Specialists have known about Comaneci for years. I remember that in Minsk, coach Viktor Khomutov told me about this amazing girl when he saw her at the international youth competition. He even started a kind of dossier on Comaneci, closely followed her progress and the improvement of her program. But Khomutov isn't some kind of clairvoyant at all. Nadia's rare talent couldn't hide from the keen eyes of other coaches, both Soviet and foreign. For them, the appearance of Comaneci on the 'big platform' was only a matter of time. In Skien, that day had come.
On my way to Norway, at the Copenhagen airport, where I had to transfer to Oslo, I met my good friend, the Romanian journalist Constantin Macovei. As usual, we immediately began to exchange information, and of course I asked: "Well, how is your Nadia?"
Usually cheerful, lively, and frank, Macovei immediately became serious and answered with restraint but, as it seemed to me, with excitement: "Fine. We are expecting a lot from her."
What explained both the excitement and restraint of my colleague became clear as soon as the competition began. The Romanians had the right to hope for their new leader, but at the same time they were worried that she might break somewhere - after all, it was her first time in such a major competition.
It's hard to say what was more surprising about Nadia - either her routines, so densely saturated with the most difficult elements that it seemed that one more could not be squeezed in, or with her amazing physical steadiness and psychological stability. At the warm-up, she could repeat her piked Tsukahara vault six or seven times, and into the 'meters' of the springboard every time. One vault differed from the other only in the height and length of the flight, but not in the landing. Comaneci's final apparatus in the all-around was the beam (and what a beam!), and we looked in her direction with curiosity: how will Nadia perform in this most difficult competition situation, will she really not falter here? The gold medal of the European championship - here it is, just stretch out your hand, and here is the beam. But there was no trembling in Nadia's mind. There was a thirst for competition, a thirst for battle - confidence and amazing clarity.
Where does all this come from in a thirteen-year-old girl? It's useless to ask Nadia herself. It's on the platform that she is a brave fighter, but as soon as she leaves it she becomes shy and silent. She listens to everything very carefully, but answers in monosyllables. And it's probably difficult at that age to demand a thorough understanding of what has been done, let alone generalization. (They say that the all-around European champion sleeps with a doll.) Therefore, it was worth trying to ask the coach some questions.
In the gymnastics world people are generally short, so Bela Karolyi stands out with his mighty figure, like Gulliver in Lilliput. In fact, it should be so, since Bela himself was involved in handball, and this sport is not for 'babies' as you know. After graduating from the Bucharest Institute of Physical Education, he worked in Petrosani and divided his coaching interests between handball and gymnastics. Then gymnastics took over. Probably, this was not without the influence of his wife - she was a gymnast of 'pure blood' as they say.
Seven years ago the Karolyis moved to the city of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. There, in one of the kindergartens, they found Nadia Comaneci.
"How did you decide to select her?"
Bela shugs his broad shoulders. "Actually, I can't say. Well, she was small, thin, and graceful. Yes, she now weighs 38 kilos with a height of 152 cm. She's a lively girl, this is true, but she didn't stand out among her peers with any other qualities. There could be no genetic inclinations, either. Nadia's father is an auto mechanic and her mother is a seamstress. Neither of them ever seriously went in for sports."
So the coach was lucky? Maybe so. However, let's pay attention to the bottom detail: Nadia was found in a kindergarten. It turns out that the coaches' search was incredibly thorough! By the age of 13, Nadia already has seven years of gymnastic experience - specialization, to be sure, is very early.
In the meantime, we continue our conversation. Karolyi understands Russian better than he speaks it, and often outpaces with his answers to the questions translated by our intermediary, Constantin Macovei.
"The working conditions in Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej are excellent. We have an excellent gym at our disposal, fully equipped for women's gymnastics."
Nadia, who is sitting nearby, looks at her coach with interest, smiles and nods her head in agreement: da da, of course, we have a wonderful gym.
Sovetsky Sport. June 8, 1975. We continue our conversation with Romanian coach Bela Karolyi. He says:
"We are practically not limited by time. We have as much as the school needs (note: not for Nadia Comaneci, but for the school). She trains once a day for two and a half hours, sometimes more, sometimes less."
I heard that his Romanian colleagues did not immediately accept Bela Karolyi and considered him a stranger at first. They said, some handball player got into gymnastics, and were not too willing to share their secrets, so it was hard to resist the question:
"Whose experience did you use in training Nadia?"
"I mainly turned to literature, and even then not very often. Obviously, a closer acquaintance with the Soviet school, in which I especially appreciate artistry and expressiveness, would teach me a lot. These are far from Nadia's strongest qualities. But I have not yet been to the Soviet Union, and it's difficult to meet with your coaches personally without knowing the language. In general, I had to teach myself a lot."
"Nevertheless, in a short time you were able to improve Nadia's floor exercises, giving it the missing expressiveness. (One of our coaches, who had seen Comaneci before, said in Skien: 'Someone taught her how to smile!'). How did it happen?"
"Nadia's training goes on sequentially. I believe that at the age of thirteen it's useless to try to achieve bright expressiveness from a young gymnast. It's just too early. And for the time being, we didn't make such demands on Nadia. Now her time has come. We have a choreographer in our school. So we jointly tried to give her freedom for greater artistry. On a good technical basis, this is less difficult. It seems like something worked out."
Karolyi was clearly being modest. Comaneci's floor routine is most interesting. There are two double twists - in the middle and at the end of the routine. And there was no trace of the former coldness. Everything was done fervently, even mischieviously.
I do not presume to assert that there are absolutely new elements in Comaneci's routines such as, say, the students of R. Knysh or Yu. Shtukman showed. But on the other hand, there are many original and completely unconventional interpretations of existing elements. So, Karolyi and Comaneci often use the straddle position, where past gymnasts only worried about keeping their legs together. It is used in both her floor execise and on uneven bars, and it looks fresh and unusual. As for new, unique combinations, there are more than enough of them on every apparatus, of course, except for the vault. For example, on beam, Comaneci does a combination of two high 'Menichelli' flickflacks and a double twist dismount. And her Tsukahara vault, she vaults high, far, and in a position somewhere between a tuck and a pike. Behind all this, the coach's bold and firm handwriting is clearly visible.
Does Nadia have a favorite apparatus?
Bars. [Nadia nodded happily.] Isn't it obvious?
And the most difficult one?
Also the bars. There, too much depends on the strength of the gymnast's hands and...the coach's imagination. So it's hard for Nadia and for me.
Can the current program of your student be considerd as the Olympic program for Montreal?
Basically, yes. We will add new elements in some places.
If it's not a secret, what are they? A triple twist, or a layout Tsukahara? Rumor has it that Nadia is already doing them.
That's correct. She does it in training.
So why didn't you show them in Skien?
It's early. In the competitive program, we include only those elements that are firmly mastered. And to show their weaknesses - who is interested in this? If we have time to achieve 100% reliability in the triple twist and layout Tsukahara by Montreal, they will enter her Olympic program, and if not we will wait. We have time.
Isn't this the secret of Nadia's exceptional stability and resilience?
Not only in this. We try to specifically develop psychological stability. I see the way to this in the strictest discipline at school. Our routine is as follows: everything that the coach instructed must be done accurately in training, to the specified extent and with maximum diligence. And the one who is accustomed to being extremely efficient in training, who does not indulge in the slightest lenience for herself, will be the same in competitions - I have not the slightest doubt about this. I don't think Nadia's fighting qualities, self-control, and psychological stability are innate. I believe these qualities are developed in the process of training.
Nadia and her coach accepted our congratulations on her victory calmly and even somehow even a little warily. Bela Karolyi later explained:
"Nadia is still at the very beginning of her journey. Therefore, we are not inclined to overestimate the significance of this victory, no matter how pleasant it was."
A sober, realistic assessment of opportunities and prospects is a precious quality for a coach, and Karolyi cannot be denied it. He perfectly understands that the Turischeva in Skien was not the same as she was seen and known everywhere, and of course, she hasn't had her last word. And he also remembers that Korbut was not there.
M. SUPONEV