Sovetsky Sport. May 16, 1971. One after another, they ascended the high pedestal - the bright-eyed and smiling Viktor Klimenko, the focused and serious Mikhail Voronin, and the beaming-with-happiness Kolya Andrianov. According to our old tradition, unfamiliar to the local audience, they shook hands and embraced. And the multi-thousand-strong audience appreciated this gesture of friendship and sportsmanship with applause as loud as when they first appeared in the arena during the parade. Then the president of the International Federation, A. Gander, presented them with medals, and tiny young ladies presented them with lush bouquets.
Then, turning sharply, as only gymnasts can, they froze, their gazes fixed on the flagpoles, on which three scarlet banners with a hammer and sickle were slowly rising.
Everything was different three hours earlier. Voronin sat silently in the locker room, his legs stretched out, only the muscles in his jaw twitching under his skin. Young Andrianov hid his anxiety behind unusual talkativeness. And Klimenko later honestly confessed:
"You know your whole program by heart, it seems there's no way to stumble, but before going out on stage your knees start shaking. It's no joke, it's the championship..."
The young men never forgot for a moment that in this country with its complex and difficult history, they represented their homeland - a powerful and benevolent nation. Not everyone is given the strength to bear such a burden of responsibility. But for them, it helped them find the strength to overcome their perfectly understandable anxiety.
They were performing in the second subdivision, and while their competitors from the first subdivision were competing, time seemed to drag on endlessly for them.
And so the competition began. By lot, the Soviet athletes were assigned to the floor exercise as their first event. This is not considered a particularly strong event in their program. Voronin scored 9.25 and Klimenko got 9.4. The experienced gymnast from the GDR, M. Brehme, received the same score, and as expected the best was the winner of the previous European Champion in floor exercises, the Bulgarian R. Hristov. Slender and graceful, he competed in shorts, like the famous Italian F. Menichelli once did. His routine was full of interesting combinations and he received a score of 9.6.
However, after the second rotation the Soviet athltes took the lead and the subsequent battle for the championship title unfolded between Klimenko and Voronin.
They both received the same score on the pommel horse, 9.55. Next came the rings. For Voronin, this apparatus is a strong point, while for Klimenko it's relatively weaker. Relatively, because Viktor has become much stronger physically, and the strength elements of his routine have become easier for him. However, he still couldn't complete a full rotation but he skillfully extricated himself from a difficult situation. The score of 9.35, as it turned out later, was the lowest limit of his results. Voronin, as in his best days, performed his exercise powerfully, with deliberate slowness, beautifully holding the static positions, during which the spectators could admire the powerful musculature of his arms and shoulders. He received the highest score of 9.6 here, although he simplified the dismount for added reliability. He pulled ahead by 0.1.
In the vault, young Andrianov from our team shone, performing an original vault culminating in a somersault, scoring 9.35. Our strongest duo performed well, although neither landed perfectly. Voronin scored 0.1 less than Klimenko - perhaps this wouldn't have happened if the two-time European champion hadn't touched the dividing line of the apparatus with his palms on his second attempt.
Voronin's routine on the parallel bars is well known and loved by spectators. He performed its key element, the handstand, very precisely. It's worth noting, however, that he used to bring his legs together in this position, which looked especially beautiful. However, as you know, Voronin was recovering from an injury for a long time, and his performance in Madrid this season is his first. This probably explains why his dismount was elementary, although precise. He received 9.45. Klimenko made his routine more difficult, keeping the Diomidov spin, which he performed brilliantly, as well as the ending with a twist. The impressive routine, scored at 9.6, put him ahead by 0.15. Only the horizontal bar remained.
Here, he competed before his opponent. He impressed with new elements that he unveiled at the USSR Cup in Leningrad, landing cleanly after a double somersault, but the scoreboard showed only 9.4. Our coaches shrugged their shoulders - the score was clearly too low. Voronin's routine, performed quite well, perhaps with only a slight loss of tempo in the middle, earned him 9.55. So, the top step of the winners' podium is shared?
It turned out that wasn't the case. There was an error on the scoreboard - Klimenko actually had 9.6, but the correction flashed by so quickly that almost no one noticed it.
So, twenty-two-year-old Muscovite Viktor Klimenko, an officer in the Soviet Army and a fourth-year correspondence student at the Institute of Physical Culture, won the European championship title for the first time. Viktor's name was first heard on the all-Union stage four years ago, during the IV Spartakliad of the Peoples of the USSR, where he competed in the adult final. Klimenko is an Olympian from the Mexico City Games, he finished fifth at the World Championships in Ljubljana, and was second at the European Championships, behind Voronin. Viktor began his sporting career under coach Vladislav Brezhnev, but the person who shaped his image (the image of a truly modern gymnast, as he was called last year by the president of the FIG, A. Gander) was coach Konstantin Karakashyants. It was Karakashyants who taught Klimenko to be a thinking athlete, with a serious, thoughtful, and intellectual approach to his work. When Konstantin Sergeevich switched to teaching last year, his older brother Mikhail Klimenko took over from him.
Mikhail Voronin, the successor to the glory of Boris Shakhlin and Yuri Titov, became European champion twice in a row. He proved that he remains one of the strongest gymnasts in Europe and the world, and his rivalry with Klimenko, which will undoubtedly continue, will benefit all of our men's gymnastics.
And finally, we are especially pleased with the success of the bronze medalist, nineteen-year-old Nikolai Andrianov. We know that Kolya stepped onto the platform at the last moment, replacing Georgy Bogdanov, who had suffered an injury. He only recently appeared on the scene - he first competed among adults last year. Here in Madrid, Kolya Andrianov showed himself to be a young man with a true fighting spirit, and this was thanks to his intelligent sports mentor, Nikolai Tolkachev, the director of the specialized gymnastics sports school in Vladimir.
The medal competitions on the individual events are still ahead. All of our athletes have qualified for all of the finals, but the competition will be very tough.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
European Gymnasticsh Championships. All-around. 1. Klimenko (URS) - 56.9 (9.4, 9.55, 9.35, 9.4, 9.6, 9.6); 2. Voronin (URS) - 56.7 (9.25, 9.55, 9.6, 9.3, 9.45, 9.55); 3. Andrianov (URS) - 56.25 (9.3,9.45, 9.35, 9.35, 9.35, 9.45); 4. Koste (GDR) - 55.75 (9.25, 9.2, 9.1, 9.25, 9.45, 9.5); 5. Szajna (POL) - 55.7 (9.2, 8.95, 9.3, 9.45, 9.3, 9.5); 6. Mossinger (FRG) - 55.35 (9.35, 9.2, 9.15, 9.15, 9.25, 9.25).
M. SUPONEV, our special correspondent