Sovetsky Sport. September 3, 1972. The floor exercise final was opened by K. Koste from the GDR - a strong and experienced gymnast, but one who hadn't achieved any particular sucess in this event. He didn't make any great claims to victory here either. After him, N. Andrianov took to the mat. He started his first diagonal pass, soaring high in a double somersault... Perhaps no one had such a technically demanding program. Andrianov finished his routine with a double twist, although his landing wasn't entirely precise. He received a score of 9.65. At that time, it was still unclear whether that was a high or low score. All that remained was to see what the Japanese gymnasts would show. The young S. Kasamatsu was the first to present his calling card. He made good use of his height to increase the amplitude of his movements. In the Arabian somersault, he seemed to float above the mat. However, his mistakes were noticeable, and his score of 9.5 did not allow him to compete with Andrianov, although their preliminary scores were the same.
Kasamatsu replaced A. Nakayama as captain of the Japanese team. He immediately set a furious pace, effectively varying it with combinations such as a high angle handstand. The audience even groaned with delight. However, perhaps his routine lacked some modern difficulty or a unique touch. Therefore, his score was slightly lower than Andrianov's - 9.5.
Then something strange happened. The all-around Olympic champion S. Kato almost exactly replicated Andrianov's tumbling passes, only his double somersault was lower. Going back in the other direction he sat down on the mat after a piked Arabaian. Of course, there was no longer any talk of a high score. And finally, E. Kenmotsu flew high in the air in a triple twist and also fell to the floor.
So Andrianov took the gold medal. Frankly, we'd been counting on it before, but the Japanese seriously shook our confidence. And then the falls pushed their leaders far back. The Soviet team's coach, Merited Master of Sports V. Chukarin, suggested after the competition that the Japanese lacked the stamina to last four days. The new regulations require specialized physical training, and no one has the experience yet. Nevertheless, Chukarin and Japanese coach Yukio Endo believe the new system is progressive.
Meanwhile, complications continued on the pommel horse. Kato made numerous mistakes, and Kenmotsu made even more errors. V. Klimenko emerged as the leader, performing a clean routine designed in a modern style. He earned the best score in the final - 9.6. I'm especially pleased for Viktor, because after last year's serious injury he lost a lot of time, his sore leg kept bothering him, he trained less than his teammates, and still managed to catch up with them.
M. Tsukahara, now a strong all-around athlete, performed a very difficult and unconventional routine on the rings. Nakayama was also excellent. His program perfectly combined swinging, tempo-based elements with strength-based, static ones. He received an excellent score of 9.65 on this apparatus. M. Voronin wasn't chasing tricks. We saw a calm, well-executed routine done with Mikhail's characteristic purity. The 9.65 was enough to beat everyone else, but not Nakayama. Mikhail finished in second place, and in the highly competitive Olympics, this is a success.
None of the the Japanese could do anything on vault. As if to confirm this, Kenmotsu, finishing the vault named after his compatriot Tsukahara, landed firmly on all fours. The other vault was a sideways somersault with a 180-degree twist. You won't get much for that. Klimenko again demonstrated the most difficult vaults and again received the best score of 9.425. But a low preliminary score prevented him from rising above second place.
Koste took first place. With his victory, he once again confirmed that GDR gymnasts were becoming trendsetters in vaulting. Koste himself was modest about his success. He said he was already pleased to have reached the final in this event, and his placement there didn't particularly matter. It was a polite gesture to Andrianov, who was confidently leading the final. He'd performed the vault well, but stumbled and received a 9.5. It seemed the gold medal was in his grasp. Even a primitive (by today's standards) flexion and extension, executed with sufficient precision, would have put him in first place. But Nikolai attempted a front somersault and...landed on the mat. True, the difficulty earned him an overall score of 9.2, and Nikolai ended up with a bronze medal, but he'd been hoping for more.
There were also some breakdowns on the parallel bars. First, Nakayama suffered, making a major mistake at the start of his interesting routine, and then Andrianov failed to execute an entire element. But Kato finally excelled. He started the routine spectacularly and unconventionally, with a jump over the bars. He immediately attracted attention. The finish was just as impressive - a double back somersault in a tuck position. The Olympic champion's score was better - 9.8. But here's what's surprising: long-known elements that had already begun to be forgotten - the Diomidov spin, the one-arm handstand - sounded fresh here and were greeted by the audience no less enthusiastically than most of the dizzying dismounts.
And yet, the most exciting final was the final one - on the horizontal bar. Five Japanese athletes competed, along with Andrianov. Nikolai tried hard, landing high on his dismount and yet the comparison between his routine and the five from the Olympic champions' team favored the latter. Kenmostu, Nakayama, Kasamatsu, and Kato all performed with original, distinct exercises, literally chock full of 'Ultra-Cs'. However, they all were overshadowed by Tsukahara. His routine is superb, and his dismount is simply stunning. As one of our specialists aptly put it, it's something from the gymnastics of rht future. Tsukahara himself admitted that he lost a year and a half mastering it, suffering injuries, but at least he didn't arrive at the Olympics empty-handed. He again earned the highest score of the day - 9.9.
So, not a single gymnast managed to match his feat twice in the finals. Six apparatuses - six champions. This means that there are now many gymnasts in the world who are roughly equal in strength, gymnasts of the highest caliber. It's gratifying that our athletes are among them. This means that we have the strength to lead Soviet gymnastics forward.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
September 1. Individual event finals.
Floor exercises. 1. N. Andrianov (URS) - 19.175 (9.65); 2. A. Nakayama (JPN) - 19.125 (9.6); 3. S. Kasamatsu (JPN) - 19.025 (9.5); 4. E. Kenmotsu (JPN) - 18.925 (9.4); 5. K. Koste (GDR) - 18.825 (9.3); 6. S. Kato (JPN) - 18.75 (9.2)
Pommel horse. 1. V. Klimenko (URS) - 19.125 (9.6); 2. S. Kato - 19.0 (9.5); 3. E. Kenmotsu - 18.95 (9.4); 4. S. Kasamatsu - 18.925 (9.4); 4. M. Voronin (URS) - 18.875 (9.45); 6. V. Kubica (POL) - 18.75 (9.4)
Rings. 1. A. Nakayama - 19.35 (9.65); 2. M. Voronin - 19.275 (9.65); 3. M. Tsukahara (JPN) - 19.225 (9.7); 4. S. Kato - 19.15 (9.6); 5. E. Kenmotsu and K. Koste - 18.95 (9.4 and 9.45)
Vault. 1. K. Koste - 18.85 (9.375); 2. V. Klimenko - 18.825 (9.425); 3. Andrianov - 18.8 (9.2); 4. E. Kenmotsu and S. Kato - 18.55 (9.15 and 9.05); 6. P. Rohner (SUI) - 18.525 (9.15)
Parallel bars. 1. S. Kato - 19.475 (9.8); 2. S. Kasamatsu - 19.375 (9.75); 3. E. Kenmotsu - 19.25 (9.6); 4. V. Klimenko - 19.125 (9.5); 5. A. Nakayama - 18.875 (9.25); 6. N. Andrianov - 17.975 (8.45)
Horizontal bar. 1. M. Tsukahara - 19.725 (9.9); 2. S. Kato - 19.525 (9.75); 3. S. Kasamatsu - 19.45 (9.7); 4. E. Kenmotsu - 19.35 (9.65); 5. A. Nakayama - 19.225 (9.6); 6. N. Andrianov - 19.1 (9.5)
M. SUPONEV