Sovetsky Sport. May 30, 1967. There is nothing sensational in Vera Caslavska's victory. The outstanding Czechoslovakian gymnast is in excellent shape and she has significantly updated her programn with a a clear eye on the Olympic Games. The second step of the podium in the all-around championship was taken by Zinaida Druzhinina. She has undoubtedly grown as a master, rising from tenth place in the world hierarchy. We had high hopes for Natalia Kuchinskaya but, frankly speaking, we (and not only us) overlooked some cracks in the development of her young, not yet formed talent. Natasha herself loves and is devoted to gymnastics. She did everything she could in Amsterdam - today - but the girl doesn't have nerves of steel, and she had to endure too much stress recently, and her nerves couldn't take it.
But it is not a matter of the individual failure of the team leader.
Everyone is used to the fact that we have no shortage of talented female gymnasts. They exist, and they appeared in 1964-1965: L. Petrik, N. Kuchinskaya, Z. Druzhinina, O. Kharlova. They appeared according to the logic of gymnastic events, and not thanks to a targeted search on the part of the leadership of the national team. Namely, it should have looked several years ahead and thought through the growth prospects of the new team, recalling at least the methods of training the brilliant six of Rome. Unfortunately, recently it turned out that the fingers were not clenched into a fist, but simply V. Reison worked with Kuchinskaya using his own method, V. Shelkovnikov with Druzhinina using another, S. Muratova with Kharlova using a third, and V. Dmitriev with Petrik using a fourth. And their methods, like the methods of Yu. Shtukman, V. Smirnov, A. Alexandrov, R. Knysh, I. Zhuravlev and others, were not studied, generalized, and systemized.
We have also done little to study the experiences of our friends and rivals. And now we are reaping the bitter fruits - not a single gold medal! At the Sovetsky Sport roundtable in Tashkent at the end of last year, it was said that in the GDR there is a comprehensive study of the issues of vaulting methodology. It is characteristic that in Amsteram, 15-year-old K. Janz showed vaults of the same character and the same polished technique as B. Radochla, U. Starke, and E. Zuchold had done before her. So, there is a school, there is a system in this matter. What are we missing?
Let's recall one more thing. M. Krajcirova entered only one event finals in Dortmund, and at this championship - she competed in all four and has two medals, not counting the bronze in the all-around. Last year, she did not stand out in her preparation in the team, where B. Rimnacova, J. Sedlackova, J. Kubickova, and others were her equals. This creates a solid foundation for the Czechoslovakian team to fight for the team championship.
That's how things stand on the European continent. We don't know exactly what the Japanese can bring in a year, but we know their athletic character and their well-thought-out approach to business.
All this talk is about the fact that Mexico is a little over a year away, and if the defeat in Amsterdam does not give reason for panic, it is still symptomatic. It shows that the growth curve of the vanguard of our women's gymnastics is not as steep as that of our strongest rivals, and this is alarming.