Sovetsky Sport. October 28, 1973. Lyudmila Turischeva, raising the goblet high above her head, smiles proudly and happily. From now on, she is a two-time European champion. We are already accustomed to her being on the top of the podium. We saw her as the winner at the previous European championship, the world championship, and the Olympic Games. Let no one think that this victory was easier for her than the previous ones.
However, let's return to the events on which our last report was interrupted. Recall that in the first shift, athletes from the GDR and Czechoslovakia were considered the favorites. And Hellmann, now quite an experienced athlete from Berlin, got 9.55 on the uneven bars. However, on the next apparatus, the beam, she had noticeable errors, and her score was only 9.1 points. It was then that her teammate K. Gerschau bypassed her. On floor exercises, Gerschau also kept the advantage, and on vault she was only 0.05 points behind Hellmann. Before our girls, who performed in the second shift, there was a landmark: Gerschau had scored 37.4 points.
Our gymnasts started on floor exercise. This event has always been a strong one for Soviet gymnasts. For a long time our girls have not had rivals here. Was the draw successful? Opinions on this matter differed. On one, it is beneficial to start with high marks (and no one doubted that they would be received). But, on the other hand, the most difficult apparatus was at the finish line - the balance beam.
Turischeva landed her double twist not very confidently in her first diagonal. But she did not have any serious flaws in the remainder of the routine and received a good score - 9.6. Korbut, whose ankle hurt, had to simplify her routine a little. She cared more about the expressiveness of the choreographic details than about the difficulty. But the judges noticed. She was given 0.15 less than Turischeva.
We moved to the vault. Both of our athletes adhered to the same tactic. In the first attempt, they performed vaults that they had performed for a long time: Turischeva - a handspring full, and Korbut - a Yamashita. In the second attempt, they both showed novelties. For Turischeva, it was a Tsukahara, and for Korbut, it was the first such vault ever performed by a woman: a 360-degree twist in the first flight phase before putting her hands on the vault, followed by a handspring. They both received the same scores - 9.3 - the same score given to the gymnast from West Germany, U. Schorn, who performed a simpler vault but landed flawlessly.
On the third apparatus, bars, there was again a balance of power. The scores of our girls were the highest of the whole day - 9.65 points. Turischeva showed the most difficult routine, which included three turntables [Burda twirl] and a dismount with a twist. Korbut again conquered the audience with her famous loop. She was ahead of her friend Turischeva by 0.2 points. But the beam was ahead - the same apparatus where Korbut has her own 'signature' element - a back flip into a front flip and where she won a gold medal at the Olympics. Connoisseurs immediately began to recall the situation that had developed in the previous European championship, when Turischeva and T. Lazakovich scored the same amount of points in the all-around and both were awarded gold medals. Well, it would not be out of the question.
However, Korbut's injury made itself felt more and more, and she was again forced to do without her famous somersault. The risk was great - in the event of a fall, one could lose a medal altogether, and this was by no means part of the plans of the delegation. Korbut got a low score, 9.25, and left the arena, limping.
Turischeva, quite unexpectedly, had to worry about more than the situation that had cleared up required. Lyudmila didn't have time to warm up on the beam and only repeated the most difficlt elements on the floor several times, which is far from the same thing. But it was here that the firm, truly champion character of our wonderful gymnast showed up. Tacticallly, she did the absolute right thing. Without removing a single element from her routine, she decided to perform it not as such a wide amplitude as usual, but at a slow pace. The judges, of course, noticed this, but there was nothing to complain about. The score, 9.55, looked quite deadly and well deserved.
So, in general, rather unexpectedly, the gap between the winner has increased significantly. But the main task was solved confidently and with dignity. Two European championship medals to our gymnasts. They convincingly proved that the Soviet gymnastics school retains its leading position on the Old Continent, which practically means the world.
Some change in the alignment of forces on the European gymnastic platform did not hide from our specialists, either: the successful performance of the GDR gymnasts, whose traditions are long and strong. Romanian gymnastics has grown noticeably. But there was no 12-year-old N. Comaneci among them, with whom our coaches have already competed in junior competitions and rate her abilities extremely high. W. Schorn already progressed rapidly. Suffice it to say that she is armed with a double twist on the floor exercise, which in London, besides her, was only performed by Turischeva, and quite modern combinations on the balance beam.
The relative failure of the gymnasts from Czechoslovakia lies in the fact that for various reasons they were not able to bring their strongest athletes. In general, our leaders have enough rivals on the European continent. They are talented, ambitious, and will certainly seek out our leaders. Our girls are ready for it.
On the second day of the championship, when the individual events were awarded, Lyudmila Turischeva had to compete alone. Olga Korbut, on her first vaulting attempt, hurt her injured ankle more and could not climb onto the platform again. Turischeva's performances on the individual apparatuses ended in her complete triumph. She won four gold medals out of a possible four events. Here are Turischeva's scores on the individual apparatuses: vault - 18.85 (A. Hellmann of the GDR received the same score); bars - 19.3, beam - 19.1, floor - 18.9. All-around Olympic champion Lyudmila Turischeva proved today that she remains the strongest gymnast in the world.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
All-around. 1. Lyudmila Turischeva (URS) - 38.1; 2. Olga Korbut (URS) - 37.65; 3. Kerstin Gerschau (GDR) - 37.4; 4. Alina Goreac (ROM) - 37.3; 5. Angelika Hellmann (GDR) - 37.2; 6. Ute Schorn (FRG) - 36.9
M. SUPONEV