Sovetsky Sport. May 25, 1974. At the USSR gymnastics championship, after the compulsory program, a student from Voronezh Nikolai Andrianov leads the way - 56.4 points. He is followed by Viktor Klimenko (Army) from Moscow - 56.2, and Alexander Maleev from Minsk - 55.55
Since the men and women competed in the compulsory program on the same day, let's first turn to the women's competition and briefly summarize their performances.
We are pleased to say that in the year of the world championships our leaders have mastered the compulsory exercises well. The top six included four Olympic champions: Turischeva, Korbut, Saadi, and Koshel. Lazakovich is out of the game due to injury. In the optional program, Tamara apparently will not compete on all events.
The performance of Nelli Kim from Chimkent and Lyudmila Savina from Minsk left an excellent impression. These girls have recently stood out in junior competitions and now they are proving that it was not in vain that they were included in the country's main team.
What did the 15-year-olds Svetlana Grozdova from Rostov and Lida Gorbik from the Belorussian city of Baranovich show? Grozdova, like Sikharulidze, scored 37.0 points (Svetlana was unsuccessful on vault - 8.8). Gorbik managed to not get excited and although she did not have any falls, she received a score below the leaders. But her scores were all above 9 points. In general, it seems to us that at the championship we are witnessing the emergence of a new wave in our women's gymnastics.
If only it were the same for men. But the time has come to talk about the events in the men's competition. We looked into the warm-up gym. The guys literally worked on the compulsory exercises with sweat on their brows as they carried out their last training session. There was only one hour left before the start of the competition. One characteristic detail is that the gymnasts are no longer afraid of getting tired or 'overtraining' as they used to be, because the current training loads have increased several times. Our famous massage therapist V.L. Schuster, who has been at almost all summer and winter Olympics, wearily sat down on a bench: "Ugh, I'm so tired!"
We turned to him. "Tell us, please, if it's not a secret, what do you talk about with the guys when you treat them?"
"I never mention the competition. Although, for example, Kolya Andrianov or Vitya Klimenko are not particularly worried since they have experience and titles. The other guys can get so worried, thinking about the upcoming rivalry that their muscles even start to cramp. So I talk about life and remember funny cases from practice."
Merited coach of the USSR Nikolai Grigorievich Tolkachev, Andrianov's mentor, successfully expressed the general mood. "Do you remember the recent Moscow News competition? The Japanese were there. After all, even Kenmotsu and Tsukahara, aces of world gymnastics, made a lot of mistakes. Some thought the Japanese weren't properly prepared. But I can tell you for sure - they are cunning. For example, Kenmotsu on parallel bars performed such a difficult element that if he were not in shape, he could never have done it. And then he suddenly completed the routine so casually. Yes, they can be cunning... But we can't be! We have no right. We are still catching up with them. And Kolya will show everything he is capable of here. Yes, I think the rest will also give their all."
Just as the women have two leaders (Turischeva and Korbut), so do the men - Andrianov and Klimenko. They guide the rest. Both Nikolai and Viktor were at their best again. Andrianov has mastered the compulsory program at the level of world standards, as they say. We do not praise him, we remember at the Olympics he was second after the compulsory round, losing only five hundredths to Sawao Kato. Today, the Vladimir gymnast has beaten himself with amazing clarity. Yes, he had scores of 9.25 and 9.35, but this is because there are special requirements for the fulfillment of some elements, and these requirements are 'super requirements.' We are completely convinced of this. But no one complained about it. Dufficulties are there to be overcome.
Andrianov was in the lead from start to finish. Viktor Klimenko won minimally on some apparatus, and on others he was inferior by one or two tenths of a point. In the end, the gap was quite small - 0.2 points.
Alexander Maleev is already 27 years old, but we habitually call him young. This is because he made his way to the big platform rather late. However, Maleev is in no way related to a veteran: in his movements there is youthful enthusiasm and freshness. Among the young, we include Vladimir Marchenko from Grozny and Paata Shamugiya from Tbilisi. This year they were included in the national team for their achievements last year - Shamugiya won the USSR Cup, and Marchenko took fifth place in the European championship. They feel more confident in their optional program; their compulsory one is 'still lame.' Marchenko was not among the leaders for a long time, but in the end he came out in fourth place. The Tbilisi gymnast didn't make it into the top six.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
USSR gymnastics championships. May 23.
Men. Compulsory program. 1. N. Andrianov (Burevestnik) - 56.4 (9.2, 9.5, 9.35, 9.45, 9.5, 9.4); 2. V. Klimenko (Army 1) - 56.2 (9.35, 9.4, 9.4, 9.5, 9.3, 9.25); 3. A. Maleev (Army 1) - 55.55 (9.3, 9.3, 9.25, 9.3, 9.3, 9.1);4. V. Marchenko (Dinamo) - 55.3; 5. V. Fogel (Army 1) - 55.25; 6. E. Mikaelyan (Burevestnik) - 55.1.
Team standings. 1. Armed Forces 1; 2. Dinamo; 3. Armed Forces 2.
V. GOLUBEV and N. SEROV