Sovetsky Sport. April 4, 1972. How do you question the level of performance of the compulsory program for men at the current stage of pre-Olympic training? What, in your opinion, should the coaches of the national team pay special attention to in the months remaining before the Olympics?
These questions are answered by Merited Master of Sports V. I. Chukarin at the request of the special correspondent of Sovetsky Sport.
"Regarding the overall impression, I can say that since the Spartakiad, our men have made significant progress in their performance of the compulsory program. Moreover, the gymnasts were generally enthusiastic about it, but as for the quality of execution, in my opinion, it still leaves much to be desired. It's sad to say it, but not all of our leading gymnasts, on whom we hoped, came to the championship in proper shape. Judge for yourself: the first and tenth places, according to the results of the compulsory program, are separated by 2.3 points (56.2 - 53.9), and the first and second by 1.2 points. The density of the results of the strongest gymnasts, as we can see, is clearly insufficient for positive conclusions. Of course, if Klimenko, Voronin, and Fogel had not failed, the results of the leaders would have been denser. But breakdowns always testify to insufficient thoroughness of preparation, and insufficent volume of training."
"The hero of the compulsory program became Andrianov, but he, after competing in exactly four events, did not look very good on the rings and on the floor exercises. Indeed, what kind of score on the rings is that for the leader - 9.05! On the other hand, it should be noted that if Andrianov had received at least "his" 9.5 points on this apparatus, then his compulsory total would have been something just under 57.0. That would already be quite a decent score for a medal-winning place, even in the Olympic competition. Let's hope that this will be the case in Munich, but what Andrianov still lacks is more expressiveness. He works on the apparatus confidently, even easily, but how an ordinary smile would decorate his performances!"
"As long as I'm talking about leaders, I will say a few words about Voronin and Klimenko. I believe in Voronin, in his talent, rich experience, and fighting spirit. At one time we used to say: "Iron Shakhlin." Now, if one of our gymnasts can be called 'iron,' then it would be Voronin. Of course, having lost as many as eight tenths of a point on the pommel horse, he fell back, but this failure, I think, will not embarrass either the coaches or Mikhail himself. But he should still pay special attention to the controversial vault in his future training. Voronin's vault turns out to be clearly worse than the compulsory exercise on the high bar or on the parallel bars. By the way, he is not alone in thie: other candidates for the Olympic team also have a weak vault. If I may say so, they are all 'flying at different altitudes' in this exercise. Different altitudes, which should be the same altitude."
"It's difficult to place high demands on Klimenko right now: he's recovering from a serious injury. But while his caution in floor exercises and on vault is understandable and justified due to his injured leg, he should be able to show more on the other events. Let's be honest: at this state of pre-Olympic preparation, scores of 9.3-9.4 points are not acceptable for such a master. 9.5 is the minimum score from which he and our other top gymnasts should be starting to build up their competitive Olympic form."
"I might argue that the judging in Kiev is very strict. That's right, strict. And it's very useful and necessary. But let's remember that at one time our head coaching council developed special requirements for the Olympic compulsory program. For example: the height of the leg lift in relation to the fulcrom of the gymnast - not lower than 45 degrees; the turn on the parallel bars must be performed almost in a handstand; in the vault, the height of the flight of the gymnast's body over the apparatus is not lower than 35 degrees, and landing not closer to it than 2 meters 20 centimeters, and so on. Who coped with these special requirements? On vault, only Andrianov. On rings, only E. Mikaelyan."
"In general, our leaders have a lot of work ahead of them. And I would like it to be smaller, so that instead of eliminating gaps in basic training, they and their coaches could now properly deal with such components of mastery as entertainment and artistry of performance. Now they will have to combine work on the quality of the compulsory exercises with concerns about expressiveness. This is connected with certain difficulties, but there is no other way out."