Sovetsky Sport. July 24, 1971. It's difficult to recall a gymnastics tournament that is similar to the current one in terms of its incredible intensity, the number of surprises and, I would say, the mystery of the events. This applies to both the all-around and team competitions. And, although the events are developing simultaneously, I am inspired to separate them for the sake of clarification.
So, the teams. There were three favorites (I name them in the order of preliminary predictions). The Russian team, led by L. Turischeva and Z. Voronina, was somewhat weakened by the absence of L. Burda (Lyuba is in the arena; she left the hospital after surgery, but has not yet started training). The Moscow team - led by O. Karaseva and L. Petrik. And almost the youngest team - Belarus, consisting of T. Lazakovich, O. Korbut, and A. Koshel, who appeared rapidly last year and whom experienced gymnasts simply asked at the final training sessions - who is she, this Koshel?
The Russian sextet are in the lead after the first round. This is natural - they were on floor exercise. Not a single score lower than 9 points, and Turischeva's 9.6 is the highest score. Behind them is the Belarusian team, competing on the beam. There are two scores below 9 that count. Don't be surprised, in this strongest group (24 participants) there are only five scores in the 9s on this apparatus. The Moscow team is on vault, and they are third. Four scores below 9 are counted. Petrik scored 8.8.
Then it started! The Belarusian team comes out ahead, and the RSFSR team falls back to third place, having stumbled on the ill-fated vault. Then the RSFSR is suddenly even with Belraus, pushing the Muscovites into third place, who suffered a familiar, purely gymnastic attack of a chain reaction on the beam - all of them, one after another, staggered and swayed on the narrow ten-centimeter beam, and the coaches grabbed their heads in despair. In the end, after the compulsory program, the Belarusian team was first. They finished on the uneven bars, and even beforehand, in training, everyone ran to see how bravely and flighty the girls from Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, and Grodno flew between the bars. The Muscovites are second, since they improved things on floor, and the Russian team finished on the balance beam, where their highest score was 9.0.
Now, the all-around competition. At first, Turischeva takes the lead. She peforms on floor exercises, and her tumbles, in which she simply hangs and floats in the air above the mat, are amazing. She gets 9.6, followed by Voronina, who is always graceful on the mat - 9.45, and the experienced Muscovite S. Buzina (who that evening received a unique score for the tournament - 9.45 on her vault (I will come back to her vault again).
After the second apparatus, Turischeva is no longer in the lead - her vault got 8.9, and from that moment she does not appear among the leaders. So far it's difficult for me to explain where the dog is 'buried' - in the not-quite interpretation of the compulsory program or the fact that the form of the all-around world champion is now far from ideal. The answer to this question is given by the optional program. The tiny Korbut, skipping like a sparrow across the beam and floor, takes the lead. Karaseva is 0.05 behind and accurately calculates her capabilities - on vault she can win, and on the uneven bars she can push herself forward. Voronina and Lazakovich are 0.1 behind her. Tamara carefully painted a light watercolor on floor and earned a score to match the world champion: 9.6.
A new apparatus, a new leader. Karaseva. She was the only one among the panic-stricken Moscow team to break the sad fence of '8s' on the balance beam, receiving 9.2. And, perhaps, the only one of everyone who did the vault as it should be done - in a light and accurate twist vault. But in terms of points, she is only equal to the leader of the previous, weaker group - Uzbek Elvira Saadi. Voronina, for whom everything comes easily and naturally, is 0.05 behind.
And here are the day's results. Karaseva is in the lead, proudly alone. Although she was not satisfied with her floor exercise, she could have done better than 9.55, but the judges somewhat thwarted her for her hiccup at the end. A decent interval - 0.3 - separates her from Lazakovich, matured and unrecognizable in her new hairstyle. The range of her scores is also smooth and confident: from 9.0 to 9.6. Next comes Koshel, who surged into third place after a routine on the uneven bars that was simply dazzling. There is such a detail there - a 'false flight,' in which the gymnast needs to break away from the lower pole, fly up and again cling to the lower one. Koshel, having bent into an arc, soars so that it seems that her waist is as the level of the upper pole, and the stability of the execution of the element, the key to the routine, will amaze.
It was on this element that Korbut snapped. She was alone on the platform, all eyes were on her, and she missed with her hands. Now she will not be in the finals, with her unique and wonderful optional routine - what a shame.
Of course, the new compulsory program has not been learned by heart. In addition, its judging at the Spartakiad is provided with a large number of scrupulous 'special requirements,' which are stricter than international ones. For example, the cartwheel flip vault has long been familiar to everyone. Nowadays, you need to do it like this: pushing off from the vaulting board, fly straight into the air, clearly perform a turn at the highest point of ther first trajectory, hit the vault in this position, accentuate the push and in the second trajectory, again at the highest point, turn again and fly straight. And all this happens in a fraction of a second and, despite all the sophisticated equipment used by V.I. Kalognomos, the judge's eye is a simple human eye, an imperfect instrument, which makes it incredibly difficult to judge.
Let's say that Voronina, one of our best vaulters, is vaulting. The first phase, the second phase, the landing - everything seems to be fine. But the score is 9.1. This means that somewhere she under-twisted or over-twisted something.
So, when a team performs, the question is not only about its technical readiness, but also whether all the coaches and each of them individually interpreted the exercise correctly, whether they understood the intricacies, whether they were able to explain them to their students and, finally, whether they will be able to do everything the judges want to see. Hence, some of the nervousness that reigned in the arena, the fever of adulation, bewilderment, falls...
It won't be more difficult on the international platform. Perhaps it will be easier. For it's hard in learning, easy in battle.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Moscow. 22 July. Women. Compulsory program. 1. Karaseva (MOS) - 37.45 (9.3, 9.4, 9.2, 9.55); 2. Lazakovich (BLR) - 37.15 (9.2, 9.35, 9.0, 9.6); 3. Koshel (BLR) - 36.95 (9.0, 9.55, 9.05, 9.35); 4. Voronina (RUS) - 36.85 (9.15, 9.25, 9.0, 9.45) and Saadi (UZB) - 36.85 (9.0, 9.4, 8.95, 9.5); 6. Turischva (RUS) - 36.6 (8.9, 9.15, 8.95, 9.6); 7. Voroshilina (RUS) -36.5 (9.0, 9.25, 8.95, 9.3); 8. Schegolkova (LAT) - 36.45 (8.85, 9.3, 9.0, 9.3).
S. TOKAREV