Sovetsky Sport. September 1, 1974. Vinius (our special correspondents). The all-around champions of the country this year are Lyudmila Turischeva and Nikolai Andrianov, who also won the Cups of the Soviet Union. The Rostov resident won the Cup for the fifth time, so the silver trophy will remain with her forever.
They marched in formation to the warm-up, and Korbut winked at us. What was it - confidence or bravado? You already know that she fell off the beam. She fell when it seemed that the Cup was just waiting for a minute to find itself in her tiny steel palms. Earlier, she performed her unique vault (full twist on, full twist off) perfectly and got 9.7. Turischeva had barely managed her Tsukahara, and Rastorotsky grabbed his chest. Earlier she was like a bird flying on the uneven bars.
Logically, Korbut should have won this time. As we've already said, Turischeva is only coming into her best form. But, besides logic, there is also psychology in sports, and in this Turischeva has no equal yet. You should have seen how she tuned in before her routines - long and carefully programming herself. Exactly like the great masters of self-tuning: Shakhlin and Voronin.
Yes, she was wrong. There are probably no infallible gymnasts; they are not robots. But the one who makes the least mistakes wins.
Korbut did not cry, but at one point it looked like she would. She made a mistake on the floor exercise, a serious one. It caused a long judges' conference. She received only 9.25 and fell back to fourth place.
Nelli Kim went into second - from thirteenth after the compulsory program. In two days, she got 9.4 once, a 9.6 three times, and a 9.5 four times. No one had such a surprisingly smooth series. A graduate of secondary school in Chimkent and a student of coach Vladimir Baidin, she proved that her bronze at the national championship was not accidental. Kim is, of course, a fighter.
Elvira Saadi also showed herself to be a fighter; she fell off the beam on the first day. But Saadi has such a striking presentation on the floor exercise, and has such a routine for which she was able to receive 9.75 and 9.7 (and not everything has been polished yet).
It is striking that in the top ten are very young athletes: Svetlana Kudinova from Belorussia, and Irina Tsarik and Elena Kolesnikova from Ukraine. It seems that the youth team of Lidia Ivanova is stepping on the heels of Larisa Latynina's senior team.
When, just before the start of the finals, we learned that Viktor Klimenko, citing an injury, withdrew from the competition and left Vilnius, we turned to the head of the gymnastics department of the USSR Sports Committee, Yu. Titov, with a request to express his point of view on this matter. "I think that Klimenko could have continued the competition at least in the individual events," said Yu. Titov.
So Andrianov was left without a rival, because currently no one but Klimenko can compete with him. It remained to find out who would be the winner of the USSR Cup. E. Mikaelyan, A. Maleev, V. Marchenko, and P. Shamugiya lagged behind the leader by a fairly solid distance, and they failed to organize a chase. But in the dispute for second place, each of them tried to outdo the other in their best events.
For example, Shamugiya performed a triple twist on the floor mat so easily that it seemed as if there was only one twist in this high and lightning-fast spin. The element was first demonstrated by the world champion E. Kenmotsu four years ago, and apart from the two of them, no one has dared to do this trick yet.
Marchenko is generally the world's first performed of the 'moon salto' on the floor. This is also an achievement that even acrobats will envy. Although the Olympic champion in this event, Andrianov, if not with difficulty then cleanliness, surpassed his score in the final, we note a clear progress in our young gymnasts.
Andrianov did not stand out much on pommel horse and rings, but his scores were still higher. Nikolai vaulted unsuccessfully - after landing he fell to the mats. Coach Tolkachev forced himself to smile, but his eyes were uneasy. Andrianov, as if nothing had happened, calmly went to his placce. After all, his favorite events were still ahead - the parallel bars and the high bar.
The result was this: Nikolai outstripped Marchenko and Mikaelyan, who tied for second place, by 1.225 points. Joyful, but restrained as always, Tolkachev remarked: "I'm afraid that Kolya is too well prepared..." The chief judge of the competition, V. Silin (who, by the way, did an excellent job with his duties) said with conviction: "The moment has come when Andrianov is able to really compete with the Japanese and fight for the title of world champion. There is still time before the world championships, but Kolya won't burn out. I saw him in training and realized that he is a shrewd gymnast, knows himself well, and has learned to distribute his training sessions rationally."
Thus ended the evening, full of trials and worries. And the next day, the gymnasts have to compete for awards in the individual events.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Women. All-around finals. 1. Turischeva (RSFSR) - 76.15 (9.65, 9.5, 9.45, 9.6); 2. Kim (KAZ) - 75.675 (9.5, 9.6, 9.5, 9.6); 3. Saadi - (MOS) - 75.4 (9.35, 9.25, 9.45, 9.7); 4. Korbut (BLR) - 75.375; 5. Dronova (GEO) - 75.1; 6. Sikharulidze (GEO) - 74.95; 7. Kudinova (BLR) - 74.8; 8. Tsarik (UKR) - 74.4; 9. Builova (KAZ) - 74.375; 10. Kolesnikova (UKR) - 74.35.
Men. All-around finals. 1. N. Andrianov (RSFSR) - 112.25 (9.55, 9.0, 9.45, 8.85, 9.4, 9.2); 2. Marchenko (RSFSR) - 110.025 (9.4, 8.85, 9.4, 9.15, 9.1, 9.05) and E. Mikaelyan (ARM) - 111.025 (9.15, 8.95, 9.25, 9.15, 9.25, 9.35); 4. Shamugiya (GEO) - 110.675; 5. Safronov (UKR) - 109.525; 6. Maleev (BLR) - 109.425; 7. Boiko (RSFSR) - 109.35; 8. Kozeev (MOS) - 108.45; 9. Razumovsky (BLR) - 108.4; 10. Ganin (MOS) - 108.375.
V. GOLUBEV and S. TOKAREV