Sovetsky Sport. November 7, 1973. How do I see women's gymnastics of the future? Beautiful and perfectly technical. A difficult or simple element must be executed technically perfectly. Do I see coaches who are fluent in both of these components? V. Rastorotsky, R. Knysh, Yu. Shtukman, V. Dmitriev - these are the people I grew up with, learned a lot from, but there are gaps in everyone's coaching baggage, and I don't consider it appropriate to follow their path completely. Knysh likes to say, "He who follows the train will never be first," and I agree with him.
Not everyone comes across their own originality, a personal style in the work of gymnastics. On the balance beam, Tonya Koshel and I adopted Knysh's clarity, but we also adopted a peculiar rhythm - I would like to see her do somersaults and leaps in such a rhythm. A long time ago, A. Ibadullaev said to Tonya, "It's like you danced and jumped." He got it right.
Beauty, perfection of technique, and originality of handwriting are the basics. Don't think that everything is completely perfect in women's gymnastics. In my opinion, we are somewhat behind in terms of growth. Probably because we are closer to a certain conditional limit, our rivals later started from zero. Remember how beautiful the Romanian gymnasts looked at the European championship in London? And I saw them at competitions in May, and they were much weaker. This means that a lot of work has been done with them in a short period of time. We have so many talents that sometimes we are wasteful - we are disappointed before their time, we do not take from them all that they can give. And in those countries where there are a hundred or a thousand times fewer gymnasts, they are sometimes treated more sparingly, and as a result, an average (in our spoiled opinion) girl can grow into a star. As a team, we are unlikely to lose to anyone in the near future, but in the individual competition we have had and will have very strong rivals. This must be borne in mind. Especially the rivals in the optional program, which can be compiled individually, highlighting the advantages and obscuring the shortcomings.
The stronger the gymnastic traditions in a country, the higher the national school's level of performance of the compulsory program at the national school, and in this sense, there is hardly anyone who can compete with us. This explains the attempts of some of our rivals to achieve, if not the abolition of the compulsory, at least the reduction of its specific performance. This would damage the basis of the fundamentals of gymnastics, beauty, and perfect technique.
When Viktor Sergeevich Khomutov was a first-year student of the Belorussian Institute of Physical Culture, he came to the lecturer and stated that he intended to devote himselt to science, that in this regards the level of the lecture did not suit him and asked for free attendance for independent studies. A former orphanage boy, a former border guard soldier, Khomutov wanted to be but didn't become a musician, and wanted to be but didn't become an elementary school teacher and researcher, either. He started coaching solely to earn money and then realized he was made for it.
Khomutov is self-confident and isn't short for words. He is energetic and sharp - he considers this a must for a women's coach. In the gym, he gets wound up and is loud. True, according to him, he is calmer now. "Before, I didn't know how much time was needed to learn an element optimally; it seemed that the girls were being lazy. Now I know. With my second generation, I'm not like that anymore."
Dear, kind Tonya Koshel, "Toshka," - is from the first Khomutov generation. From the second generation is Lida Gorbik, who is lithe as a needle.
Khumotov's life has so far totaled 33 years, and he believes that he's got it right for this stretch of time.