Sovetsky Sport. July 20, 1975. The day of the women's all-around was dramatic and full of surprises. No Spartakiad gymnastics competition has known such intensity of passions, such twists of fate, such moments of despair and outbursts of jubilation. The amazing fight on the platform will never be forgotten.
Episodes, monologues, and comments on the most poignant situations. Before the start of the all-around final, all the gymnasts warmed up on the platform, and only Lyudmila Turischeva left alone for the training room. Then her coach Vladislav Rastorotsky would say: "We didn't lose hope..."
Olga Korbut, leading after the first two rounds, was excited and tremulous, having brilliantly started her unique routine on the balance beam, suddenly falls to the mat performing an indecipherable element that was included in the international classification as the "Korbut somersault." The world's first performer of a trick that has already become an ordinary phenomenon in general, shook her pigtails in annoyance, and found the strength to complete the routine to the end. Coming off the platform, Olga looks confused and lost. And no one knows what is going on in her soul. Someone gives her a bouquet of daisies, and she almost bursts into tears. Then Korbut said: "I ordered myself - I need to work more. And on the floor, I had no choice but to smile and turn on the audience."
Nellie Kim got worried before the balance beam exercise. "Now something will happen to me." It happened not with her, but with Korbut. Then Nellie's coach, Vladimir Baidin, said: "We were determined to show stability and only stability. When Nelie came forward after the balance beam, I realized that the task was completed." Vladimir Borisovich himself, during Kim's routine (where almost everything was decided), calmly clicked his camera. "These pictures are needed for the sports school, in memorium." Baidin continued: "I wasn't afraid of floor exercise, and I was sure that Nellie would not let us down. And so it happened. But Korbut is still inimitable on the floor. Still, Kim caught up. Everything is OK."
Lyudmila Turischeva could turn the tide in her favor on the uneven bars. It seemed that from her numerous 'turntables' there was a hum in the arena - her body, stretched into a string, cut through the air so quickly. But the dismount, this ill-fated 'fly' with a twist from the lower pole, failed. She missed the twist. Later Lyudmila said: "I am very pleased with my performance. I did not compete for myself, but for the team." Vladislav Rastorotsky added: "I saw that Lyuda wasn't ready to fight for the championship. She was tired after the European Championship, she didn't regain her strength. But you should never lose hope. The Spartakiad is the most important competition, and everything personal had to be discarded for the sake of the team interests."
The alignment of forces, or who is who? Neither Olga Korbut nor Nellie Kim have ever been the all-around champion of the country. Both in the field of struggle, when the prospect of winning against Turischeva herself opened up before them, they could lose control and, as they say, mess things up. But Kim, who will turn 18 on July 23, proved that she is the most stable gymnast on the national team. And 20-year-old Korbut showed the best qualities of a fighter, having managed to pull herself together after a failure on the balance beam and perform floor exercise with such brilliance that it brought a lump to one's throat.
In the constant updating of exercises, the progress of men's and women's gymnastics is laid. And in this sense, the Olympic champion sets an example for other athletes, leading them and demonstrating risk, originality, and virtuosity - the three most important criteria for modern gymnastics.
Sixteen-year-old Lidia Gorbik, who has never been in the top six at the national championships, had, according to coach Viktor Khomutov, her best performance. She has huge potential and, wait a bit, she will certainly become the leader of the international platform. The following places were taken by gymnasts who are well known to us, but the girls from the youth team (Elena Primak, Marina Lev, and Antonina Glebova) are stepping on their heels. They are the forward detachment of the nearest reserve of our women's gymnastics.
What is happiness? The all-around champion of the Spartakiad, Olga Korbut: "I have never been as happy as I am today. And I think about how my cocah, a wonderful person - Renald Ivanovich Knysh - will be delighted." All-around champion of the Spartakiad, Nellie Kim: "I stayed in gymnastics because I liked to win competitions. I strive to be the first - doesn't make make one happy?"
S. TOKAREV
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Leningrad. July 18. Women. All-around. 1. O. Korbut (BLR) - 76.825 (9.8, 9.6, 9.1, 9.85) and N. Kim (KAZ) - 76.825 (9.8, 9.6, 9.6, 9.7); 3. L. Turischeva (RSFSR) - 76.4 (9.8, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6); 4. L. Gorbik (BLR) - 75.875; 5. E. Saadi (MOS) - 75.4; 6. L. Bogdanova (MOS) - 74.875; 7. R. Bichukina (MOS) - 74.85; 8. E. Primak (RSFSR) - 74.275; 9. M. Lev (MOS) - 74.125; 10. A. Glebova (RSFSR) - 73.85.