Sovetsky Sport. September 27, 1966. Let's return to Saturday's events. That evening, our golden women's team, undefeated since 1952, became silver, giving way to the gymnasts of Czechoslovakia.
The Czechoslovakian team was excellently prepared and demonstrated modern high-class gymnastics. Its recognized leader Vera Caslavska was, without a doubt, the best in the all-around - 78.298. Led by her experienced hand, the team came to victory, managed to beat our team on the vault and, most importantly, on the floor exerise, losing only crumbs on the other two apparatuses. As a result, the Czechoslovakian team scored 383.625 points. Our girls scored 383.587, and the Japanese, as expected, came in third with 380.923.
In the all-around, the silver medal went to Natasha Kuchinskaya (78.097). This is a huge success for this 17-year-old. Ikeda received the bronze medal with 76.977 points.
Can we say that our girls did less than they could? The answer to this question is given by the last day of the championship, which we will tell you about separately. The team was generally well prepared and staffed correctly. The only reproach that can be made against the coaches is that they did not always have the right tactical alignment of forces.
I would like to mention something else. The decision of the women's technical committee to split the four teams that were vying for the top title - Czechoslovakia, the USSR, Japan, and the GDR - into different shifts caused general surprise. Thus, the judges were deprived of the opportunity to compare the skill of the sportswomen with their own eyes. Hence the lack of a consistent line in the scoring. The men's committee made a more correct decision which, as before, united the athletes of the USSR and Japan in one shift, thereby ensuring the visibility of the fight.
There were other troubles at the championship. The athletes suffered from them first and foremost. For example, shortly before the Czechoslovak gymnasts went out on the platform, an unprecedented incident in the history of gymnastics championships occurred in the arena. The audience, having observed an inaccuracy in the judges' assessment of the one of the athletes, staged a deafening obstruction. The competition was stopped for almost an hour. Only the much belated announcement that the teams would leave the arena if normal conditions were not restored in the arena finally calmed the unbridled passions of local fans.
S. TOKAREV and A. CHAIKOVSKY