Sovetsky Sport. May 24, 1974 The USSR team and individual gymnastics championships began here [in Rostov-on-Don]. The women opened the competition. After the compulsory program, Lyudmila Turischeva (Dinamo) is in the lead with 38.45 points. In second is Olga Korbut (Army) with 37.7, and in third is Elvira Saadi (Dinamo) with 37.6.
On the eve of the competition, almost all the gymnasts - participants in the championship - were sitting at the hotel in the evening watching TV and the film Joys, Sorrows, and Dreams of Olga Korbut. And then, on the second channel, a film from Voronezh television 20 Minutes about Gymnastics was shown. Both of these films were enjoyed by all. They became like a prelude to the opening of the championship.
In the morning, at 10am, the athletes of the first shift took to the platform. Among them we saw the Tbilisi schoolgirl Nina Dronova (competing in the individual competition) and two Leningraders - Flora Gilmutdinova and Nina Voronina. Dronova is well known to everyone. She shone earlier in junior tournaments. But last year, Nina somewhat reduced her result. Now, she performed unsuccessfully on beam (8.75) and scored even less on uneven bars (7.9). Dronova was very upset. But, perhaps, her coach S. Burdzhanadze was more worried.
Gilmutdinova and Voronina worked smoothly on the apparatus, showing the famous Leningrad school - artistic and confident. Both of them scored the same amount - 37.1.
The championship brought together the entire constellation of national gymnastics. All of our Olympic champions in Munich competed, except for Lyuba Burda. However, in the two years that have passed since the Olympic Games, our very young gymnasts have grown up, and they are also determined to fight for the title of all-around champion of the country.
All the experts have said with confidence that Lyudmila Turischeva and Olga Korbut would lead the main dispute. But who will be behind them? Elvira Saadi, last year's USSR champion, or Antonina Koshel, the second-place winner? Or maybe Svetlana Grozdova, a schoolgirl from Rostov-on-Don, who in March won the international Moscow News competition? All of the predictions were resolved after the gymnasts from the strongest teams finished competing.
The strongest team was Dinamo. Here are Turischeva, Saadi, and Tamara Lazakovich who was injured for a long time but now has returned to competition. It's a pity, of course, that at the last training session she was injured. But she firmly promised the Dinamo head coach M. Voronin that she would compete and not let the team down even though they tried to persuade her not to. However, Lazakovich is Lazakovich - she will do everything not to lose face. Tamara limped a lot, but she didn't fall anywhere and scored 36.3 in the all-around. The result, of course, is not the best.
E. Saadi started out unevenly. But in the end she was rescued by the floor exercise, where she earned 9.7 points. Elvira on floor, as always, is dramatic, and everyone thought that no one would do better. But, as it later turned out, this assumption was wrong.
Turischeva and Korbut entered the platform at the same time. Lyuda was on vault, and Olga was on uneven bars.
Turischeva landed her vault, and Korbut froze after her dismount from the uneven bars. The arena exhaled: stoi! Korbut - 9.7, Turischeva - 9.3. But on her second attempt, Turischeva managed to add another tenth to her result.
After the first rotation, the gap turned out to be a solid one - 0.3 points. Korbut jumped off the podium, took off her leather hand guards, and immediately began to repeat movements from the beam routine. Turischeva remained calm and confident, and performed her compulsory routine on the uneven bars - 9.6. True, she was not able to repeat the score of her rival. But Korbut made some mistakes in the beam routine, getting 9.3.
Turischeva did an excellent job on beam (9.7) and on floor (9.75). Korbut wasn't able to catch up with Lyuda, because she received only 9.2 on vault.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
USSR gymnastics championships. May 23.
Women. Compulsory program. 1. L. Turischeva (Dinamo) - 38.45 (9.4, 9.6, 9.7, 9.75); 2. O. Korbut (Army) - 37.7 (9.2, 9.7, 9.3, 9.5); 3. E. Saadi (Dinamo) - 37.6 (9.2, 9.5, 9.45, 9.7); 4. N. Kim (Spartak) - 37.55; 5. L. Savina (Labor Reserves) - 37.35; 6. A. Koshel (Labor Reserves) and L. Bogdanova (Burevestnik) - 37.2.
Team standings. 1. Dinamo, 2. Labor Reserves, 3. Armed Forces.
V. GOLUBEV and N. SEROV