Sovetsky Sport. October 29, 1970. The final day of the world gymnastics championhsips ended with the men's competition. Japanese gymnasts won five gold medals in the individual events. A. Nakayama won three events (floor exercise, rings, parallel bars), M. Tsukahara won vault, and E. Kenmotsu won high bar. Yugoslav sportsman M. Cerar won pommel horse. Soviet gymnasts performed unsuccessfully - they won only two silver and two bronze medals.
The final competition can be called a meeting between the Japanese team and the rest of the world. This peculiar match ended with an overwhelming advantage for the Japanese. Once again Nakayama showed off his universal skills, repeating the success of the Olympic Games in Mexico City - he became a three-time champion. Unfortunately, our gymnasts did not receive gold medals. This is the biggest failure in all the years of the Soviet team's performances on the international stage.
As usual, the finals began with floor exercises. The country's champion in this event, Merited Master of Sports Vladimir Belyakov, comments on the progress of the fight.
"V. Klimenko and T. Kato had the best preliminary results. We could now count on one of the medals and, I believe, even a top medal. I confidently declare that the most interesting routine was shown by Klimenko. In terms of performance, it was not inferior to the exercises of any of the finalists; it contains original elements, wonderful acrobatic jumps, and it is well composed. When Viktor's routine was nearing the end, we all thought: 'Here is the new champion.' But - failure in the end! Klimenko shouldn't be reproached in particular. The gymnast worked at full power and with good anger. Viktor made a mistake because he wanted to do the best he could. Klimenko has fighting qualities; I have no doubt about it. It's a pity that an accident spoiled it.
One cannot help but admire Kenmotsu's triple twist. True, he performed this unprecedented element more successfully in the optional program than in the final. In general, I would like to note that many gymnasts became overly interested in acrobatics and placed emphasis on it, which caused damage to the compositional structure. Therefore, after all, the judges gave preference to Nakayama, whose routine differed from the others in a more logical pattern.
Among the Japanese, only Kenmotsu made it into the six finalists on pommel horse. This indicates that our rivals are lagging behind on this apparatus. However, only Klimenko represented the Soviet team. Never before have Japanese gymnasts had such a strong pommel horse worker as Kenmotsu. With his performance, he eclipsed even Cerar, who still won thanks to a one-tenth advantage going into the final. The Japanese gymnast demonstrated a routine of amazing difficulty. It's possible that Kenmotsu started a new direction. Thus, the authority of the European school of pommel horse exercises, if not completely fallen, was quite noticeably shaken. However, Klimenko has not yet fully revealed his talent, and he is capable of becoming an opponent to Kenmotsu.
It's not easy to perform in the finals of the world championship, because the '9.7 rule' applies here - three tenths are added to the gymnast's score for risk, originality, and artistry of the performance. If Voronin, performing on the rings, had landed accurately after the double twist, which he has been practicing for a long time, then he would have finished higher than third. Readers probably don't know one detail: Mikhail didn't train on the rings for almost two months because he had a shoulder injury. We must pay tribute to Voronin's courage and endurance.
Nevertheless, the Japanese took leading positions on the rings, and Nakayama's routine seemed to be the height of perfection. A successful combination of swing and strength elements is Nakayama's trump card. And I think it won't be long before athletes will be able to come up with a new solution to the problem unlike the one proposed by the winner. Rings were once considered the crowning apparatus of Soviet gymnasts. Now we only have memories of it.
Vault. Again, only Klimenko was there to protect our interests. Gymnasts had to show two different vaults, and the best score was taken into account. The Japanese vaulted the 'bend-unbend' well, but they didn't master the 'screws' well. Viktor's 360-degree twist turned out simply brilliantly; it's a pity that the judges did not appreciate Klimenko's high skill, whose vault was no less spectacular than Tsukahara's vault (a cartwheel and a back somersault)."
Merited Master of Sports Nikolai Miligulo shared his opinion on the parallel bars and high bar finals.
"We hoped that Voronin would be able to fight for the title of champion on these events. Yes, Mikhail did everything possible, but he won only one medal - he shared second place on the parallel bars with Kenmotsu. Speaking objectively, Voronin didn't lose to the Japanese in class, but those routines were much more difficult, full of interesting and catchy elements, and Voronin performed with his old routines. This played a decisivce role in the distribution of medals.
The pursuit of difficulty in men's gymnastics continued. But not everything difficult is beautiful and theoretical. Therefore, simple but winning elements also need to be used. For example, Nakayama does a simple flank to L on the bars, since it's difficult to invent something new here, but it looks great. We just have to think and reflect more, and we will be able to find the means to achieve victory."
The 17th world championship is over. It was joyful for us, and at the same time sad. Undoubtedly, the results of the championship will still be analyzed in detail by specalists and amateurs of gymnastics.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Individual event finals. Finals score is in brackets. Women.
VT: 1. Zuchold (GDR) - 19.45 (9.7); 2. Janz (GDR) - 19.35 (9.7); 3. Turischeva (URS) - 19.3 (9.65) and Burda (URS) - 19.3 (9.3); 5. Vachova (TCH) - 18.275 (9.65); 6. Hellmann (GDR) - 19.075 (9.5).
UB: 1. Janz - 19.55 (9.8); 2. Turischeva - 19.45 (9.7); 3. Voronina (URS) - 19.3 (9.65); 4. Nemethova (TCH) - 19.275 (9.7) and Burda - 19.275 (9.65); 6. Zuchold - 19.2 (9.6).
BB: 1. Zuchold - 19.2 (9.7); 2. Rigby (USA) - 19.05 (9.7); 3. Schmitt (GDR) - 18.9 (9.55) and Petrik (URS) - 18.9 (9.55); 5. Hellmann - 18.85 (9.5); 6. Matsuhisa (JPN) - 18.125 (8.65).
FX: 1. Turischeva - 19.65 (9.85); 2. Karaseva (URS) - 19.525 (9.8); 3. Voronina - 19.375 (9.75); 4. Janz - 19.2 (9.7); 5. Matsuhisa - 19.075 (9.6); 6. Burda - 18.225 (8.7).
Men.
FX: 1. Nakayama (JPN) - 19.025 (9.55); 2. Kenmotsu (JPN) - 18.975 (9.4); 3. Kato (JPN) - 18.9 (9.4); 4. Hristov (BUL) - 18.875 (9.4); 5. Tsukahara (JPN) - 18.8 (9.4); 6. Klimenko (URS) - 18.65 (9.15).
PH. 1. Cerar (YUG) - 19.375 (9.65); 2. Kenmotsu - 19.325 (9.7); 3. Klimenko - 19.05 (9.5); 4. Vratic (YUG) - 19.0 (9.45); 5. Brehme (GDR) - 18.875 (9.4); 6. W. Kubica (POL) - 18.4 (8.95).
RG: 1. Nakayama - 19.4 (9.7); 2. Tsukahara - 19.25 (9.65); 3. Voronin (URS) - 19.225 (9.6); 4. Kenmotsu - 18.9 (9.45) and Hayata (JPN) - 18.9 (9.45); 6. Lisitsky (URS) - 18.576 (9.25).
VT: 1. Tsukahara - 19.275 (9.6); 2. Klimenko - 19.15 (9.65); 3. Kenmotsu - 18.9 (9.4); 4. Nakayama - 18.7 (9.25); 5. Kato - 18.65 (9.25). 6. Honma (JPN) - 18.625 (9.25).
PB: 1. Nakayama - 19.4 (9.7); 2. Voronin - 19.25 (9.5) and Kenmotsu - 19.25 (9.55); 4. Kato - 19.2 (9.55); 5. Klimenko - 19.175 (9.5); 6. Diomidov (URS) - 18.925 (9.3).
HB: 1. Kenmotsu - 19.475 (9.8); 2. Nakayama - 19.375 (9.7); 3. Hayata (JPN) - 19.35 (9.7) and Koste (GDR) - 19.35 (9.7); 5. Voronin - 19.275 (9.6); 6. Honma - 19.25 (9.6).
V. GOLUBEV