Sovetsky Sport. December 12, 1967. Today is Gymnastics Day in Kuibyshev. The city, unknown on the map of this sport, welcomes participants of the USSR Cup. This time the Cup is being held simultaneously with the Olympic reserve team match and the youth championship of the country. Therefore, not only sixteen men and sixteen women - the leading gymnasts of the country - but also all athletes from the Olympic reserve teams of Dinamo, Burevestnik, Soviet Army, the Trade Union team, and participants of the youth championship will compete for the possession of the honorary trophy.
A distinctive feature of these prestigious competitions is that only the best six young gymnasts (boys no older than 20 and girls no older than 18) are admitted to the finals in each individual all-around event.
It should be stated right away: neither Mikhail Voronin nor Natalia Kuchinskaya will be on the platform. We will not see any of the participants of the Olympic Week in Mexico City. The fact is due to inconsistencies in the domestic calendar; the team's rest period (necessary, of course) coincided with the Cup. There was no other way out of the situation.
But we don't think gymnastics fans will be upset by the absence of our stars. And here's why.
If the selection cycle for the 1968 Olympic team begins in the spring and ends in the fall, then, as you yourself understand, today and every day before our eyes there is a longer (and no less important) process of preparing reserves for future world championships and Olympic Games. Therefore, if we had the authority to change the officially approved names of sports events, the current 'triple' competitions could be called the "Cup of Hope."
The calculation of talent in gymnastics is sometimes like a flash. For example, who heard of such a name - Lyubov Burda - last year? In Kuibyshev, the girl from Voronezh will already appear as a Spartakiad medalist. Lyudmila Turischeva from Grozny and Lyudmila Lapistova from Tbilisi, Vyacheslav Fogel from Kemerovo, and many others will appear before us in a halo of expectation and hope.