Sovetsky Sport. April 4, 1972. The Army team, made up of V. Klimenko, S. Diomidov, V. Boiko, V. Komissarov, V. Shchukin, G. Bogdanov, and V. Fogel, won the USSR championships in gymnastics. The silver medal went to the gymnasts of Burevestnik, and Dinamo won the bronze.
After the compulsory program, the team of the Armed Forces had a very solid lead over the other teams, and therefore few doubted that they would be first at the finish line. But suddenly it became known that V. Fogel, who was seriously injured, would not be able to compete. Thus, the scores of each member of the team were taken into account, and any failure of a gymnast could throw them far back.
The first event. CSKA performed on the rings. Shchukin, Boiko, Bogdanov, and Komissarov completed their routines. Everything went well. Klimenko ended his routine with a double twist, which he performed for the first time in competition.
The results were announced: the Army team broke away from their rivals even more, and now only something out of the ordinary can deprive them of gold medals.
I go over to where the Dinamo gymnasts are sitting. They were at the pommel horse. Senior coach Yu. Tsapenko excitedly tells me: "Can you imagine how despondent we were after the first day? We were in fifth place! There has never been such a situation. Misha Bogus injured his leg, and Amiran Nozadze fell ill. We took a risk and put young Volodya Marchenkio and Paata Shamugiya in the team. The guys were nervous and made mistakes. But it's understandable - last year they competed as juniors."
Of course, the tone on the Dinamo team was set by M. Voronin. His high scores (9.5 on pommel horse and 9.7 on rings) spurred on his comrades. After the third rotation, the Dinamo team moved into fourth place, gaining 0.7 points on the second team of the Armed Forces. The gymnasts of Burevestnik, led by N. Andrianov, took second place.
On this day, when the team awards were contested, the gymnasts also solved a second problem - to be among the sixteen finalists. The distribution of places did not play a role, who will be first or second - just to become a participant in the final, where there will be a dispute for the title of national champion. Nevertheless, Andrianov, Voronin, Klimenko, and other leaders made every effort to bring their names to the forefront.
Andrianov was ahead all the time, and it was almost impossible to overtake him (afer all, he had a lead of 1.2 points). Nikolai was perfectly ready. But on the fourth apparatus, parallel bars, Andrianov tore off one element, got confused, and made a lot of mistakes. He received 7.0 and ended up in fifth place. That's what happened. It's good that this isn't the final...
In a bitter dispute over symbolic nervousness, Klimenko and Voronin also didn't do without breakdowns. Viktor earned only 9.05 on the high bar, and Mikhail scored even less on vault - 8.95. In the end, Voronin beat Klimenko by 0.05 points. How will it be tomorrow? Will Andrianov be able to keep his advantage acquired in the compulsory program?
However, I apologize for this digression, because we are primarily interested in the team competition today. And again the Dinamo team members are revitalized - after four events, they have moved into third place. It's no accident that I'm discussing teams in such detail. When an athlete feels responsible for the performance of their team, when they think not only about their own individual results, then this doubles - no, triples - the strength of the entire team as a whole. Viktor Klimenko said this well.
"Team spirit is a great force. when one for all and all for one, then no obstacles are terrible."
TECHNICAL RESULTS
USSR gymnastics championships. Team results. Men. 1. Armed Forces 1 - 660.3; 2. Burevestnik - 644.4; 3. Dinamo - 643.8; 4. Zenit - 640.3; 5. Armed Forces 2 - 638.6;6. Avangard - 623.9.
V. GOLUBEV