Sovetsky Sport. April 8, 1971. "A note was printed in Sovetsky Sport stating that All-Union competitions of gymnastics in the individual events were held in Tbilisi. Please tell me more about this competition: who took part in it, who emerged victorious, what was interesting?" - A. Samozvanov, military man.
Our correspondent asked Alexander Ivanovich Sobolev, senior coach of the gymnastics department of the USSR Sports Committee, to respond to the reader's letter:
All-Union competitions in individual events or, in other words, a competition for the most original routine, were held for the second time. Already last year in Kiev, experts unanimously declared the benefits of such competitions.
A competition jury was created, which included famous judges and coaches. A table of competition points has been developed, according to which you can evaluate the performance skills of the participants, the difficulty of the exercise, the originality of the elements, or the entire routine. Gymnasts who have passed the qualifying rounds in republics and societies are invited to the competition. In Tbilisi, twenty women and twenty-nine men participated. For unknown reasons, N. Duplyakova and T. Pavlova from Leninsk-Kuznetsk and N. Andrianov from Vladimir did not arrive. The coaches of these young athletes did not take important competitions on al All-Union scale seriously enough.
So, Alexander Ivanovich, we must assume that the main task of the competition is to evaluate the purely creative work of coaches and athletes looking for new elements. Apparently, vibrant, rich routines built in a non-standard way are also of interest. In the reports from the national championship I have repeatedly had to note the monotony of optional routines, especially for men. Is there any progress?
The coaches working with female gymnasts presented exercises to the jury that were much more interesting than those of the men, and some of the exercises aroused genuine delight. Most of the participants specially prepared for these competitions. For example, national members V. Klimenko and L. Petrik came to Tbilisi to try out new routines. Klimenko showed a spectacular routine on the parallel bars, but unfortunately he didn't work it out sufficiently, there was a breakdown, and Viktor took second place. Petrik showed her recently-learned vault. True, an uncertain landing prevented Larisa from winning this event, but we hope that Petrik will polish her interesting vault by the USSR Cup competitions.
The good thing about the competition is that here you can present your findings to a discerning jury. The 'gala performance' of fourteen gymnasts on the uneven bars was impressive. This apparatus apparently receives special attention from coaches: we saw a lot of new things. O. Voroshilina from Voronezh (coach I. Vecherskaya), who scored the highest amount of points, performed an excellent routine which included a unique element. Larisa Semyonovna Latynina believes that Voroshilina, having eliminated minor mistakes, will soon be able to compete with the best uneven bars performers in the world.
Not far behind Voroshilina was N. Dronova, a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl from Tbilisi (coaches S. Burdzhanadze and V. Klimova), who showed an exceptionally dynamic routine at a high level. But Dronova's greatest success was on floor exercises - first place. Many experts (and even more so the spectators) were amazed at the extraordinary difficulty of the routine. In general, four gymnasts performed double twists (!), and Rostovite G. Parshintseva (coach V. Levshin) did a double twist at the beginning and end of her routine.
What you reported is probably just a surprise even for gymnastics connoisseurs. Double twists! Men have not yet mastered this acrobatic jump properly. However, now in women's floor there is a fashion for long, energetic acrobatic movements. But such difficulty... By the way, I know that Muscovite A. Katkov was learning a triple twist. Did he manage to repeat the world champion E. Kenmotsu's record-breaking trick?
He managed to repeat it (which, of course, is commendable), but Alexander took only fifth place: the performance level was low. The girls traditionally have a high choreographic culture (the many years of work of our best choreographers are bearing fruit), and therefore the inclusion of the most difficult elements occurs gracefully, without disturbing the overall design of the routine. It seems to me that it is urgent to resolve the issue of choreographic training with men.
So, show tricks but don't forget about 'school'?
Exactly. We decided to increase the requirements for the next competition. We don't care about the trick or tricks, but it needs to be shown in conjunction with all the other parts of the routine.
Still, what's the deal with finding original routines from the men on other events?
There is not much to be happy about. Routines on the parallel bars and high bar are especially upsetting. But there was a diversification of the vault - Selifanov, Katkov, and V. Postyakov (Frunze) were performing dizzying flights over the horse. On pommel horse, eighteen-year-old K. Krupelev, a military service member of the Moscow Military District, won for the second time in a row - he has a very interesting routine. Yu. Ninoshvili distinguished himself on the rings: there were ten (!) elements of the highest difficulty group in his routine.
Interview was conducted by V. GOLUBEV, Master of Sports