Sovetsky Sport. August 8, 1975. Our newspaper reported that at the Druzhba tournament of young gymnasts of the socialist countries in Romania, Soviet athletes won in the team championship. The correspondent of Sovetsky Sport asked the senior coaches of the youth teams of the USSR, Lidia Ivanova and Andrei Rodionenko, to talk in more detail about what interesting things were shown at these competitions by gymnasts from different countries - future Olympians.
Andrei Rodionenko: Gymnasts from Hungary, the GDR, Bulgaria, Cuba, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania (two teams) and the USSR competed. Since the boys were not older than 18 years old, it was very important for us to see the readiness for future serious starts of today's juniors. I would like to mention Fyodor Kulaksizov, the bronze medalist of the VI Summer Spartakiade of the Peoples of the USSR, in particular. Both in Leningrad and here, in the Romanian city of Baia Mare, he was a fighter and showed strong-willed qualities. His result in the all-around (optional program only) was 56.25 points. The second and third places were also taken by participants of the Spartakiad, Muscovites Vladimir Markelov (55.25) and Gennady Krysin (55.1). Moreover, Krysin won the high bar event (19.1), parallel bars (18.8), and shared first place on floor exercises with Cuban J. Roche (18.7 each). I will note that J. Roche has excellent acrobatics, and he can eventually become a leader in this apparatus. Markelov was the best on the pommel horse (19.05).
Despite the fact that Vladimir Achasov from Minsk took 9th place with 53.85, he impressed the specialists with his difficult program. Vladimir beautifully won the rings (18.8) where he showed the famous Azaryan crosses. Sergei Lashin from Voroshilovgrad won the vault (18.8).
Each team had a leader, and the average skill level of the young gymnasts increased significantly. For example, in the Romanian team, K. Szilier stood out with a good class of work, sharing fifth place with Anatoly Saifullin from Voroshilovgrad (54.25 each). An excellent pommel horse exercise was performed by the Hungarian I. Fekete (remember that the world champion on this apparatus is Zoltan Magyar).
We made sure that our guys are on the right track, because they all showed modern and original routines.
Lidia Ivanova: I'll talk about the fact that women's gymnatics in different countries has reached new frontiers, which was confirmed at these competitions. Our girls faced tough competition. In the all-around, Lidia Gorbik from Minsk took the lead with 38.15, and she also won the uneven bars exercise with 19.2. The second place was taken by Romanian M. Constantin (37.6). She was the strongest in the floor exercises (19.45). In third place was Masha Filatova from Leninsk-Kuznetsk (37.5). She received a silver medal in vault and uneven bars, and a gold medal on the balance beam. On the first day, Masha impressed everyone with her routine on the floor, where she had both a double somersault and a double twist, but she went over the allotted time by one second. The judges took off 0.3 points for this, and with a score of 9.5 Filatova didn't make it into the final. Can you imagine what a struggle broke out!
Other results testify to the same struggle. Fourth place was taken by Romanian G. Gabor (38.3), Alla Zelenko from Minsk was 0.05 behind her, and Elena Primak from Chelyabinsk was five hundredths behind her. The eighth place was taken by Larisa [sic] Yudina from Rostov - 37.15. All of our gymnasts participated in the Spartakiad. We also looked at 13-year-old girls - Muscovite Lena Aleksyutina and Natasha Shaposhnikova from Rostov-on-Don. They performed unevenly, of course, because they lacked competitive experience.
But, by the way, the youngest gymnast of the competition was the Romanian Dana Craciun. She is only 11 years old. In general, the Romanian coaches head for a very early specialization. In the second Romanian team, we saw 12- and 13-year-old-girls who already have a pretty decent program. I will note the competent technique of most athletes and the obvious desire to learn super-difficult elements. An excellent vault (one and a half forward somersault piked!) was performed by a gymnast from the GDR, C. Dombeck (19.2).
In general, the task for our coaches is clear - to look for original, effective routines. But it is necessary that all this be performed at a high level like Lidia Gorbik does.