Sovetsky Sport. July 19, 1975. For the first time, the men's national team of the RSFSR became the winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in gymnastics. Team members are V. Boiko (captain), N. Andrianov, B. Kinev, F. Latypov, V. Marchenko, V. Tikhonov, I. Nefedov, and A. Trifonov. In second place were the gymnasts of Belarus and in third - Ukraine. They literally managed to get ahead of the five-time Spartakiad champions, Moscow, by 0.1, and literally on the final apparatus.
The defeat of the national team of the capital is, in general, not a sensation: the process of moving men's gymnastics from the center to the periphery has been going on for several days. But fourth place...
The winners and prize winners posed on the stage, an upbeat voice of the announcer sounded, pens rattled, and behind the scenes the coaches and leaders of the Moscow team slouched.
But there is no shame in losing to the Belarusian national team - over the past two years, men's gymnastics has grown stronger here than women's. But the team of Ukraine was something. They have only one eminent member, Vladimir Safronov, and he is not in shape, so 18-year-old Fyodor Kulaksizov practically turned out to be the leader. He was the only one who did without any 8s.
The backbone of the Russian national team were the gymnasts of the middle generation (25-26 years old) who are entering their golden years: Vyacheslav Boiko and Anatoly Trifonov, and Nikolai Andrianov who was the flagship. Yes, it was he who, on the second day after his unfortunate 'bagel,' gave the team counting scores everywhere. His lowest score was 9.4 and his highest was 9.6. On the second day he was splended and beat everyone.
What happened in the individual standings before the final? Alexander Maleev couldn't endure the day: he immediately made a mistake on the pommel horse and soon fell below the top 8. Once again, Dityatin became first, and again the conversation was about him. I have already mentioned that his handwriting has not yet developed. However, he shows much willpower, which is amazing. Sometimes you think - how much can he endure? Everyone makes mistakes except him, and he's the youngest.
Here's the pommel horse, where a loss of concentration can mean cruel vengeance. Sasha gets 9.6 here, the highest score. Here are the rings, where mighty force is needed, but he is a boy and he's tired. But he does everything that is necessary, and does everything right, and only on the dismount touches the floor with his hands. In general, he still has he most accurate dismounts, which is mysterious - how much work do you need to train landings like that?
My comrade, who wrote scripts about him (they are already planning a film - isn't it too early?), spoke about his conversation with Sasha: "Why is the film about me?" he asked. "This is wrong. There are others who are more worthy. It's not just about me? About my coach? Then it's OK. What am I reading? I like to read about how they catch spies and bandits, but quite honestly most of all I like reading about pirates. Why are you smiling? I'm too old for this? But I'm not 18 years old yet."
Yes, many were chasing Dityatin that evening, and Klimenko turned out to be the closest: the big gap of 1.25 points decreases in the final since it is divided in half. Klimenko showed almost everything he could do, but the judges are still strict to his shortcomings in the purity of performance left over from childhood. It's hard to fight with reputation: it seems that he did the floor exercise exactly and clearly, but - 9.2 (though taking into account the 9.4 from the head judge). I asked judge N. Miligulo - what's the matter? He replied: "He wasn't clean enough." The jury of appeal looked at the video recorder (it's very correct the control judges have this to help), and added 0.1 to Viktor's score. He finished on pommel horse and again (for the third, if not fourth, recent time in a row), the horse almost threw him off. Yes, it's perhaps very difficult for the two-time all-around European champion here - he must show that he can still be relied upon in the national team. But he still does lose his presence of mind - at least it seemed to me that way when we ran into each other at the long-distance pay phone: Viktor called Moscow to find out how his son was feeling.
Further, looking at the reslts, there is youth. Yakunin and Kulaksizov: you can now say it's the generation of Dityatin.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Leningrad. 17 July. Sum of compulsory and optional programs. Order of events: FX, PH, RG, VT, PB, HB. 1. A. Dityatin (LEN) - 111.1 (9.2, 9.6, 9.2, 9.25, 9.4, 9.35); 2. V. Klimenko (MOS) - 109.75 (9.3, 8.75, 9.2, 9.25, 9.1, 9.35); G. Yakunin (UZB) - 109.5 (9.25, 9.5, 9.05, 9.3, 8.4, 9.3); 4. F. Kulaksizov (UKR) - 109.45; 5. V. Kevlishvili (GEO) - 109.05; 6. P. Shamugiya (GEO) - 109.0; 7. N. Nedbalsky (BLR) - 108.95; 8. A. Maleev (BLR) - 108.85.
Team results. 1. Russian Federation - 654.3; 2. Belarussia - 651.7; 3. Ukraine - 647.4; 4. Moscow - 547.3; 5. Leningrad - 640.25; 6. Georgia - 637.25; 7. Armenia - 632.6; 8. Ubekistan - 622.5.
S. TOKAREV