Sovetsky Sport. October 27, 1970. The USSR women's gymnastics team achieved brilliant success. After a four-year break, it regained the title of world champion. The title of all-around world champion was won by 18-year-old student from Grozny Lyudmila Turischeva. Our athlete Zinaida Voronina also received a bronze medal.
There are things in life that are not forgotten, forever engrained in the memory: the hands of a mother, the house where one was born, the birth of a child... And in the same way lives in every person a wonderful feeling of love for the Motherland, for one's country. No matter where you are, you are always filled with pride when a big victory comes, when ours are called the best in the entire world.
There was Dortmund, and there was the triumph of Natalia Kuchinskaya. But our set of awards lacked the main one - for the team and all-around individual championship. It was Mexico City, there were gold team trophies, but again an athlete from another country was named the prima of gymnastics. Now our girls have both highest ranks!
Our dear girls, what intensity of struggle they withstood, what excitement they experienced! They are so young, so beautiful, and happy about it. Vladislav Stepanovich Rastorotsky, the coach of the new all-around world champion, in response to congratulations, told me: "We have been working for this for five years." And turning to his pupil, he exclaimed: "Everything will be fine, Lyuda!" Such meager words, and tears of joy in the eyes, and bitten lips that bleed. Years of tireless, daily work, failures, doubts - everything paid off handsomely.
They are very friendly, our gymnasts. We are used to saying that the team should be one whole, subordinating everything to one desire - for the team to win. But you must admit that it is not always possible to put together a friendly team. Different characters, different views, hopes for their own success. The coaches of the USSR women's national team managed to do this. At a press conference, Lyudmila Turischeva was asked: "Who was considered the leader in the team, who were they counting on in particular?" She replied: "Each of us could win. We were rooting for each other, each felt the support of her friends. We thought about one thing - to get the title of champions back."
You remember that young Tamara Lazakovich fell from the beam during the compulsory program. The girls hugged Tamara touchingly, reassured her, and that nothing was lost yet, we just had to pull ourselves together and bring the competition to the end...
"How's it going, captain? Did we get ours after all?" - I approached Larisa Petrik.
"And that's how it should have been! I'm a happy captain!" - Larisa smiled dreamily...
Two small details. But how much they talk about the true friendship of the gymnasts, their cohesion.
In the optional program, according to the draw, our team received an excellent order of apparatus: they started with the vault and ended the competition with floor exercise. Gymnasts from the GDR, Japan, and Yugoslavia also performed in this last stream. So, the rivalry took on a special meaning. It was possible to directly compare the skills of the best. Only the 1966 world champion - the Czechoslovakian team - was already resting by this time. Its results were already known.
The Soviet team regained the lead on the very first rotation - our athletes vaulted well. The GDR athletes performed floor exercises at this time and showed everything they could. But I note that this event is lacking for them. The German gymmasts had good acrobatic training but their compositions were not so great. The only exceptions were K. Janz (9.6) and E. Zuchold (9.35).
These two athletes were 0.1 behind Turischeva after the compulsory program. Since Lyudmila also received a 9.6 for her vault, a gap remained.
Then our team switched to the uneven bars, and here the gymnasts showed that they were not going to give in. Everyone worked on a high, and inspiration was felt in every performance. Only once did my heart sink when Turischeva bent her legs while dismounting. But the numbers flashed 9.8. This means that this was the only error in her exercise.
In terms of entertainment, exercises on the uneven bars can already be compared to floor exercises. The gymnasts have made tremendous progress on this apparatus. American K. Rigby, Romanian E. Ceampelea, M. Nemethova from Czechoslovakia, L. Burda and L. Turischeva, K. Janz and E. Zuchold literally fascinated the audience with spectacular routines.
The audience oohed and aahed, was frightened and delighted, and rewarded those who were braver and more skillful with thunderous applause.
Turischeva went ahead by another 0.1 (Janz competed on the vault at the same time for 9.75). Now everything depended on how our team would do on the balance beam. This time no one wavered or lost control, and the team victory was just a stone's throw away. But the question of the champion in the individual all-around remained open. Although Turischeva performed her routine perfectly, the judges gave her 9.5 points. This was a blatant injustice. The Soviet delegation immediately filed a protest, but the appeal jury rejected it. Before the final event, Janz was ahead of Turischeva by 0.15 points (the German athlete earned 9.8 on the uneven bars).
Floor exercise is our gymnasts' element. They gave a real gala performance. It was a concert of world gymnastics stars. Both Carmen by Petrik, and Toccata by Burda, and Russian Kaleidoscope by Karaseva delighted the audience. It should be said that four of the six arrangements belong to the choreographer A. Selezneva. Burda's routine ws staged by Yu. Shtukman in collaboration with T. Stolbova, and Lazakovich's routine was staged by G. Savarina.
Finally, Turischeva appears on the platform to the sounds of the Entrance March by Dunaevsky from the film Circus. She still doesn't know that at that moment Janz is crying bitterly near the platform - while jumping onto the beam, she missed her foot and fell to the mat. Only 8.7! Turischeva will receive 9.9 - the highest score at the championship! She is first in the all-around!
And our team is first. Sharing their well-deserved success with their students is L. S. Latynina, V. S. Rastorotsky, V. N. Schkovnikov, Yu. E. Shtukman, K. S. Karakashyants, S. I. Muratova, V. D. Dmitriev, acrobatics coach V. N. Sofronov, and accompanist E. G. Vevrik.
Now I'll tell you how the men's competition in the compulsory program went on Saturday.
Before the Olympics in Mexico City, it seemed that we had a team that, according to all objective data, could compete on equal terms with the Japanese. However, a different picture emerged. For the first time, Soviet gymnasts lost by a significant margin: 4.8 points. Psychological instability was the main reason for the failure.
Two years have passed. Five of our Olympians are currently competing in Ljubljana. But, again the participants' nerves failed them. After the compulsory program, we can confidently say that we will not be able to defeat the Japanese team this time. It's no joke: the Japanese lead is 4.25 points. How did this happen?
The balance of forces was as follows: V. Karasev was the first gymnast on four events, and G. Bogdanov was first up on the other two. M. Voronin was the last gymnast to perform on all apparatus. We started on the parallel bars, and there was an immediate failure - Karasev missed the dismount. He had done it poorly before. Valery was afraid of this element. He thought about it constantly, and finally got nervous. Sensitive to failure, he got upset and also failed to complete a sequence on the high bar. Here V. Lisitsky also performed unevenly, although the high bar is one of his best events.
The Japanese team went through floor exercise and pommel horse. As always, they showed off their acrobatic jumps and careful fixation of static poses. The Japanese emphasized simple elements with some graceful movement of the hands or body. In general, improvisation reigned on the mat within the strict framework of the compulsory exercises. E. Kenmotsu was especially good. A. Nakayama stumbled on the pommel horse. And how! He received 8.3 for the horse 'throwing' him off. It was precisely this fall, as it seemed to me, that affected the psyche of our guys. One of the leaders 'left the road,' and tempting prospects opened up for us.
Our team performed on floor exercises worse than usual. Lisitsky lost his balance. Bogdanov, Karasev, and Diomidov made a lot of mistakes. Voronin was academic and a little cautious, but the class of his work remained high. He led the competition after three rotations, which is quite natural.
The pommel horse dealt harshly with our best gymnast. Voronin, doing an excellent routine, suddenly lost his rhythm, and only enormous willpower saved Mikhail from falling. 8.75 points. The situation became tense. Everything was mixed up on the gymnastics platform.
V. Klimenko took the lead - after all, he performed brilliantly on the parallel bars, high bar, and floor. Now the main thing was not to lose the lead. But the Japanese went to the vault and significiantly strengthened their standing. Almost all of them landed accurately, and the judges were very impressed by this. In the confusion of the fight, Kenmotsu and Tsukahara quietly captured the leading positions. However, Klimenko was far ahead of Kenmotsu, who was behind him.
An unfortunate and irreparable accident happened to Klimenko on the rings. After a giant swing, Viktor did not reach the handstand. A big mistake! Punishment followed - 8.45. The leaders changed with kaleidoscopic speed. Kenmotsu took the lead and held it until the end of the day.
As a result, the Japanese were in first in all the apparatus in the compulsory program against the Soviet athletes: 1.05 points each on floor and high bar; 1.15 on vault; 0.65 on pommel horse; 0.1 on parallel bars; and 0.5 on rings. Japan's gymnasts presented another surprise - in preparation for the world championships, they placed the main emphasis on flawless mastery of the compulsory exercises. This is evidenced by the fact that during exhibitions during their European tour, the Japanese often included exercises from the Ljubljana championship.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Compulsory program. Men. 1. Kenmotsu (JPN) - 57.0 (9.55, 9.5, 9.35, 98.4, 9.65, 9.55); 2. Tsukahara (JPN) - 56.65 (9.45, 9.25, 9.5, 9.6, 9.4, 9.45) and Honma (JPN) - 56.65 (9.3, 9.4, 924, 9.45, 9.55, 9.7); 4. Voronin (URS) - 56.4 (9.35, 8.75, 9.45, 9.34, 9.75, 9.65); 5. Hayata (JPN) - 56.2 (9.05, 9.25, 9.3, .35, 9.6, 9.65); 6. Kato (JPN) - 56.1 (9.55, 9.0, 9.2, 9.5, 9.6, 9.25); 7. Klimenko (URS) - 55.9 (9.45, 9.4, 8.45, 9.4, 9.65, 9.55); 11. Diomidov (URS) - 55.74 (9.2, 9.35, 9.1, 9.2, 9.0, 9.3); 14. Lisitsky (URS) - 55.2 (8.95, 9.14, 9.15, 9.2, 9.45, 9.1); 18. Bogdanov (URS) - 54.75 (9.1, 9.25, 8.8, 8.8, 9.45, 9.35); 41. Karasev (URS) - 52.75 (9.1, 9.2, 9.35, 9.15, 8.15. 7.8).
Team standings. 1. JPN - 284.1; 2. URS - 279.85; 3. GDR - 275.3; 4. YUG - 272.35; 5. POL - 271.3; 6. SWE - 269.0.
V. GOLUBEV