Sovetsky Sport. August 26, 1984. They stood on the podium, and the packed hall of the Winter Stadium in Olomouc unanimously applauded this beautiful trio in the uniforms of the USSR national team. They had just finished the most difficult tournament of the best gymnasts of the world for the all-around championship in the Druzhba-84 competition. These three - Muscovite Dmitry Bilozerchev, Vladimir Artemov from Vladimir, and Yuri Balabanov from Minsk - made up the first three winners of the individual competition, showing numerous spectators, specialists, and representatives of the press all the best that this beautiful sport now has. Or maybe they showed the future of gymnastics.
Each of them was a fighter, presented highly complex routines to the discerning audience, the handwriting of which was truly calligraphic. For example, Bilozerchev (coach A. Alexandrov), who once again confirmed that at 17 years of age he has a character of amazing strength, and did not allow himself to get scores lower than 9.9 (floor and rings). On the other four events he had 10s. His winning total was 119.3 points, a result that needless to say is excellent.
Vladimir Artemov (coach V. Firsov) proved once again that he rightfully occupies a leading place in the USSR national team. Volodya amazed me that evening with his ability to show what no one else could do. He carried out his routines clearly and at maximum amplitude, which were highly appreciated. He performed best on rings, where he earned 10 points. And on the other events, except for floor exercises, Artemov was at his best. He deservedly came second (118.875) and said after the competition that this was not the limit for him. This means that we can expect new high achievements from this talented athlete.
One of the brightest performers of this tournament was Yuri Balabanov (coach A. Ovsyak). He strives for maximum complexity and strictly monitors the purity of movement. If not for an unfortunate mistake on the high bar, where Yura received only 9.25, he could have scored higher. He finished in third place (117.525).
Our guys' competitors were very close. The representative of the GDR team was good this evening. U. Hoffmann was not much inferior to the Hungarian G. Guczoghy and D. Orlet from the Czechoslovakian team, who was vigorously supported by the audience. The rest of the participants, as a rule, performed gymnastics of the highest level.
After the competition, I talked with the senior coach of the USSR men's team, L. Arkaev. He said that a few hours before the final, several people had watched a video of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Everyone is convinced that the level of competition in Olomouc is noticeably higher. The routines of the winners of this tournament were more complex, more interesting, and more effective. "I want to congratulate Bilozerchev on his big victory," added Arkaev. "Dima is a great guy. His rivals also performed very successfully. They fought for every hundredth of a point, took risks - in a word, they were real men."
The local press, in its sports section, puts the success of the three Soviet gymnasts in the first place and emphasizes that one of them has a good chance of adding individual medals to their awards.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Druzhba-84 international gymnastics tournament. Olomouc.
Men's all-around final: 1. D. Bilozerchev (URS) - 119.3 (9.9, 10, 9.9, 10, 10, 10); 2. V. Artemov (URS) - 118.875 (9.75, 9.95, 10, 9.95, 9.9, 9.95); 3. Yu. Balabanov (URS) - 117.525 (9.9, 9.8, 9.9, 9.9, 10, 9.25); 4. U. Hoffmann (GDR) - 117.1; 5. G. Guczoghy (HUN) - 116.975; 6. D. Orlet (TCH) - 116.75.