Sovetsky Sport. April 25, 1973.
Vladimir Smolevsky, Head of Delegation: The idea to invite Soviet gymnasts to the United State arose at the Olympic Games. This, of course, was facilitated by the huge success of our athletes in Munich. The invitation came from the Amateur Athletic Union and the United Stated Gymnastics Federation.
The increased interest in gymnastics in the United States and the attention to the Soviet athletes by the Americans was not the only reason for the organization of such brilliance of Olympic gold. This visit reflects the desire of the general U.S. public to expand contacts with our country. Evidence of this was the benevolent tone of coverage of the tour in the American press and on television, and the reception by President R. Nixon of the Soviet delegation, and the desire of the organizers to make the visit of our girls the most pleasant. In each city they had the opportunity to get acquainted with its sights. In Houston, for example, they visited the space research center, from Buffalo they went to Niagara Falls, from Los Angeles - to Hollywood and Disneyland, and at the Miami Beach resort they attended a concert by the popular singer Humperdink.
But the biggest impression on me, of course, was made by meetings with the audience, with ordinary Americans. Every appearence of our girls on the platform was met with enthusiasm everywhere, the audience greeted the gymnasts standing up, and saw them off with long standing ovations. Excited crowds waited for the gymnasts near the buses and literally tore the flowers that our girls gave them on their way out of the arena for souvenirs.
It's plesasnt that the attitude of the audience to our gymnasts was not a tribute to the short-term fashion that often overwhelms the expansive Americans. They showed a fairly deep understanding of gymnastics, especially warmly welcoming the most difficult elements - Korbut's somersault on the balance beam which, by the way, was performed with the same ease by Lyubov Bogdanova, and Rusiko Sikharulidze's flying somersaults and flicks and double twists in her floor program, and her uneven bars and beam dismounts.
"Fantastic!" - every now and then the arena chanted. They were not surprised by such a reaction of the audience to the most difficult elements of modern gymnastics routines. We know that our colleagues in America also support the innovative athletic direction in women's gymnastics, searching for new connections. The Korbut somersault is already within the power of the strongest American gymnast, Moore. In America, as you know, the national championships have long been dominated by individual apparatus competitions, and it is only recently that the all-around competitions have gained legitimacy. By the way 'all-arounders' are increasingly gaining the upper hand over specialists in individual disciplines. But our colleagues do not give up narrow specialization either, because they see it as an opportunity to borrow interesting acrobatic tricks invented by them in the performance of such 'one-liners.'
I had the impression that the audience and the tour organizers were very impressed by the unselfishness with which the Soviet gymnasts shared with the audience everything they had learned themselves. Mutual aid, reciprocity, and team camaraderie baffled many Americans accustomed to an atmosphere of fierce competition.
Renald Knysh, coach of Olympic champion Olga Korbut: In America, our gymnasts were given a truly grandiose reception. On trips around the city, they were accompanied by an honorary escort; there were no red traffic lights for them. Our girls have become excellent sports ambassadors for their country. And it was no coincidence that the U.S. President received them, emphasizing that in their person he welcomes Soviet youth, and it was no coincidence that they became honorary citizens of Chicago. Several hundred 'Olga Korbut Clubs' appeared in the U.S.A, and March 26 was proclaimed the day of the Olympic Champion [Olga Korbut Day] in Chicago.
Regarding the performances of Olga herself, I can say that due to the constant moving and saturation of the program, we did not have time to 'clean up' the elements, which we always do before each competition, and because of this they lost their sharpness and brightness from time to time. The audience probably didn't notice this, but I was dissatisfied. They enthusiastically accepted the most difficult elements of Olga's program, ahthough I personally do not agree that these elements are called 'the most difficult.' Her routines consist of well-known, maybe forgotten elements, but they are original and fresh, and therefore impressive. In twenty years, the gymnastic world will look at them with completely different eyes, and they will seem unpretentious to them, suitable only for teaching beginners. And if today the somersaults and flacks of Korbut delight the audience and frighten some gymnastics specialists, this only indicates that skeptics look at what is happening in modern women's gymnastics from the position of thirty years ago.
As for the noisy reception for Olga Korbut in the U.S.A., I explain this not by the fact that she is better than her teammates as a gymnast, but by a completely different one. America, like air, needs purity of feelings and purity of sports. The found such a 'medicine' in a small, open, direct-in-showing-her-feelings girl from Grodno.
Lyudmila Turischeva, Team Captain: The trip through eight cities of the U.S.A. was very intense, voluminous, and required a lot of nervous and physical stress. But we knew that thousands of Americans came to see us, and had to forget about fatigue, smile when it was very difficult and when it seemed that there was no strength anymore. At such moments, the support of friends and their understanding helped a lot.
Our trip helped many Americans to get to know the characters of the Soviet people better, and for us - to broaden our horizons to see and understand a lot. After each of our performances, the teams of American gymnasts, who also demonstrated their skills to the audience, presented us with flowers. Then, hand in hand, we left the arena together. The audience greeted this friendly gesture with a standing ovation and we realized that it was not only about us, the athletes. The points is the desire of ordinary Americans to strengthen contacts with our great country, with our multi-million people.
Olga Korbut: Our performances were called demonstrative. There were no usual scoreboards around the platforms. There were no judges. But we still performed our exercises as best as possible. Because the most important assessment was made by new acquaintances - the American viewers. I felt what our girls felt: everything needs to be like at the Olympics, because we are Olympians, Soviet Olympians. American sports should appreciate and understand this.
And they understood us. As soon as I put my finger to my lips, for example, asking them to keep quiet and give me the opportunity to concentrate before performing a difficult exercise, the crowd, which had just shouted and whistled, held its breath and waited patiently, without moving, for me to finish my performance. But after the end of the exhibition that was when the temperament of the Americans broke out.
Rusudan Sikharulidze: It was a joy that the American audience greeted us very warmly, praised our performances and chanted our names - difficult and different - without end. The Russian, Belorussian, and Georgian names. Seeing our good, friendly relations, the Americans began to call us sisters...
Tamara Lazakovich: Many things made us happy, and many things surprised us. We were surprised by the contrasts of American life. Perfect technology at the Space Center in Houston, intelligent people who understood us well. And a street in Buffalo: meetings with residents amazingly limited in their idea of the outside world, of our country... The sleek and handsome Los Angeles, the royal palm trees protected by the residents, and other cities littered with papers. Of course, I really wanted to see America, and I'm glad I saw it. But honestly, I expected more skyscrapers and much more. I cannot, for example, agree with American fashion. In my opinion, it is tasteless and provocative. But these are particulars.
We had the strongest impressions from meeting with spectators, gymnastics fans and Soviet gymnasts from how keenly they felt the complexity of our routines and how vigorously they rewarded each of our successes with applause.
We are all glad that this tour serves to establish close sports contacts between the USSR and the USA.