Sovetsky Sport. April 27, 1971. Riga, 26 April (our special correspondents). When the first winners of the individual apparatus finals were awarded, three national flags rose to the same height - Soviet, Japanese, and American. Three people stood shoulder to shoulder on the top step of the podium: V. Komissarov, A. Nakayama, and J. Crosby. The proverb "in cramped conditions, but not offended" suited them perfectly.
Crosby opened the final day of the tournament. His floor exercise was clean and he showed off a spectacular ending - a somersault with a double twist. Nakayama confirmed the dignity of the Japanese school - if the tumbles were almost to the ceiling, he earned the applause of a rather restrained audience with a rare element: from a high pike position on his fingers, a press with straight arms to a handstand. Komissarov seemed to be drilling the air above the mat. His routine included three twisting somersaults, once with a double twist. The judges almost gave the Riga resident first place, but after a rather lentghy conference they reduced the already-announced score by 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds. And then all three were equal.
The situation repeated itself on the rings. Power elements predominated in Nakayama's routine. V. Boiko flew into a handstand using giant swings. The most interesting routine, in our opinion, was shown by the Korean Sin Hin Do, which combined features of both directions in an unusually harmonious manner. It was obvious that the judges' decisions were influenced by the not-entirely-accurate landings during the dismount. All three received 9.65 points. And since they came out of the all-around competition with the same luggage [preliminary score], they had to cram together again on the podium.
N. Andrianov, the youngest member of the Soviet team, won two victories on the day of the finals. On the pommel horse, his routine looked the most modern, and his vaults were both the most difficult and the best in terms of cleanliness. For his first vault, he pushed off from the far part of the horse and did a twist. In the second vault, he pushed off from the near part and perfectly performed a double somersault and froze in his tracks. The Japanese S. Kasamatsu tried to do something similar, but upon landing he literally sat on the mats. In general, the finalists' vaults were distinguished by both difficulty and variety. Only Nakayama who apparently no aspirations for this particular apparatus, risked performing the rather tiresome Yamashita vault, while everyone else showed both somersaults and twists.
And then Nakayama's hour came. The fact that the Olympic champion on parallel bars is still the best on this apparatus is not surprising. His routine, laconic as an aphorism, was at the same time surprisingly harmonious in its composition. On the high bar, he again performed an incredibly difficult exercise and eventually beat - by 0.3 points - his compatriot F. Honma, who scored 19.15 points. For the men, there was no other such a gap between first and second places on any apparatus. It's not in vain, appartnely, that the day before at the press conference Nakayama said that, in his opinion, in the near future the greatest progress can be achieved precisely on the high bar.
The male gymnasts probably still harbored a grudge deep down in their souls: at the women's finals, the Sports Palace was overcrowded. What can you do - women's gymnastics is more popular and more accessible to the inexperienced viewer.
All of the women's finalists vaulted a Yamashita. But only T. Lazakovich and N. Dronova had real piking. Naturally, they received higher scores.
During the all-around competition, everyone gasped when Dronova performed a large arc on the top bar with a 540-degree turn on the uneven bars. And then she managed to insert another spinner into her routine, which is chock-full of elements of the highest difficulty. Even Lazakovich, who is doing great on the uneven bars now, couldn't do anything about the high difficulty. We were surprised afterwards: to score 19.25 and not win - what a rival that must be! In general, the girls' bars turned out to be similar to the men's bars: the routines were very interesting and all different.
Lazakovich, however, was again in for a slight disappointment: she had an even higher total on beam - 19.3. And again, it was not enough to win. Blonde little C. Rigby showed a very bright routine and a unique handwriting, which is noticeably different from the handwriting of European gymnasts. However, Tamara should not be upset. A victory in the all-around at such a tournament is worth a lot and, most importantly, her new highly difficult optional program looks more and more convincing with each performance.
The day before, three gymnasts tried to perform a front aerial on the beam. Only S. Brazdova (Czechoslovakia) did not fall. In the finals, she decided not to take risks and threw away the insidious element. As if on the fly, the Japanese M. Matsuhisa picked it up and stood quite confidently on the narrow path.
Dronova, having fallen from the beam the day before, shed a sea of tears. But a child's memory doesn't store grief for long. She came out onto the floor exercise mat with a radiant smile. The kind genius of our gymnasts, accompanist E. Vevrik, composed for her a marvelous musical accompaniment of two Strauss pieces. Nina's smile does not leave her face even while performing the most complex acrobatic stunts, even during a double twist, it seems. We dare to assure you: next to the masterpieces of L. Turischeva, O. Karaseva, and L. Petrik there now stand the optional works of N. Dronova.
We asked the senior coaches of the national teams to sum up the results of the tournament, and L. Latynina was a woman of few words: "The benefits are enormous!"
V. Smolevsky spoke in more detail: "We wanted to have a tournament in which young people would feel free and at the same time feel the breath of a strong and experienced opponent. I think we achieved this goal in Riga."
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Women. Optional program. All-around. 1. T. Lazakovich (URS) - 38.5 (9.5, 9.65, 9.65, 9.6); 2. T. Schegolkova (URS) - 37.9 (9.45, 9.4, 9.6, 9.45); 3. C. Rigby (USA) - 37.65 (9.25, 9.5, 9.65, 9.25); 4. M. Matuhisa (JPN) - 37.4 (9.3, 9.35, 9.4, 9.35); 5. N. Dronova (URS) - 37.55 (9.4, 9.7, 8.45, 9.8); 6. J. Moore (USA) - 37.1 (9.3, 9.3, 9.25, 9.25).
Individual Apparatus Finals (score on the day of the final competition in brackets)
Vault: 1. T. Lazakovich - 19.1 (9.8); 2. N. Dronova - 18.95 (9.55); 3. T. Schegolkova - 18.9 (9.45); 4. A. Neugebauer (GDR) - 18.85 (9.5); 5. R. Pierce (USA) - 18.7 (9.35); 6. M. Matsuhisa - 18.6 (9.3).
Uneven bars: 1. N. Dronova - 19.5 (9.8); 2. Lazakovich - 19.25 (9.6); 3. C. Rigby - 18.95 (9.45); 4. T. Schegolkova - 18.9 (9.5); 5. E. Saadi (URS) - 18.85 (9.45); 6. R. Pierce - 18.8 (9.4).
Balance beam: 1. C. Rigby - 19.4 (9.75); 2. T. Lazakovich - 19.3 (9.75); 3. T. Schegolkova - 19.15 (9.55); 4. M. Matsuhisa - 18.95 (9.55); 5. S. Brazvova (TCH) - 18.65 (9.35); 6. J. Moore - 18.5 (9.25).
Floor exercise: 1. N. Dronova - 19.6 (9.8); 2. T. Lazakovich - 19.25 (9.65); 3. M. Matsuhisa - 18.9 (9.55); 4. I. Bekesi (HUN) - 18.8 (9.4); 5. S. Brazdova - 18.7 (9.4); 6. E. Saadi - 17.95 (8.5)
Men. Floor exercise: 1. V. Komissarov (USA) - 18.8 (9.36), J. Crosby (USA) - 18.8 (9.4), and N. Nakayama (JPN) - 18.8 (9.4); 4. S. Kasamatsu (JPN) - 18.75 (9.35); 5. F. Honma (JPN) - 18.65 (9.25); 6. K. Koste (GDR) - 18.6 (9.3).
Pommel horse: 1. N. Andrianov (URS) - 19.1 (9.55); 2. A. Nakayama - 18.9 (9.5); 3. M. Brehme (GDR) - 18.7 (9.35); 4. V. Komissarov - 1.65 (9.3); 5. M. Bruhweiler (SUI) - 18.6 (9.3); 6. V. Boiko (URS) - 18.4 (9.65).
Rings: 1. V. Boiko - 19.2 (9.65); 2. A. Nakayama - 19.2 (9.65); 3. Sin Hin Do (PRK) - 19.2 (9.65); 4. Li Son Sob (PRK) - 18.95 (9.35); 5. A. Maleev (URS) - 18.85 (9.45); 6. M. Brehme - 18.7 (9.35).
Vault: 1. N. Andrianov - 18.975 (9.475); 2. V. Komissarov - 18.75 (9.25); 3. V. Boiko - 18.575 (9.075); 4. S. Kasamatsu - 18.575 (9.075); 5. M. Brehme - 18.275 (8.825); 6. A. Nakayama - 18.225 (8.625).
Parallel bars: 1. A. Nakayama - 19.05 (9.6); 2. V. Komissarov - 18.8 (9.4); 3. Li Son Sob - 18.7 (9.35); 4. F. Honma - 19.45 (9.0); 5. K. Koste - 18.35 (9.0); 6. S. Kasamatsu - 18.1 (8.75).
High bar: 1. A. Nakayama - 19.45 (9.65); 2. F. Honma - 19.15 (9.55); 3. Li Son Sob - 18.95 (9.45); 4. S. Kasamatsu - 18.8 (9.2); 5. S. Fujimoto (JPN) - 18.75 (9.3); 6. V. Boiko- 18.25 (8.85).
R. REKUN and M. SUPONEV