by Larisa Latynina, Merited Master of Sports and Head Coach of the USSR Women's Team
Sovetsky Sport. November 28, 1974. The world championship was the main and most important event of this season. But, thinking about it and preparing for it, we naturally did not forget about the upcoming Olympics. Putting together a team for the world championship is one task, making it promising and not making a mistake in the selection is a more difficult task.
Judging by the results of the world championship, we are not mistaken. There were five world championship debutantes in the team (only one, L. Turischeva competed in Ljubljana), but O. Korbut and E. Saadi already had the title of Olympic champion. Practically only N. Kim, N. Dronova, and R. Sikharulidze received a real baptism of fire, although they participated more than once in international competitions. Thus, we did not have a gymnsat in the team that we would not be sure of.
The national championship, held in May, personally gve me rich food for thought. It put forward new candidates, not only for the Olympians, but also for the world championship team. It became clear that the Olympic version of the 1972 team would not be repeated. Consequently, it was necessary to find a replacement for them, and not just any replacement, but a worthy one. And this means to identify bright gymnasts. Such athletes with their own style, with a difficult program, appeared on the Rostov platform - Sveta Grozdova, Nelli Kim, Lida Gorbik, Lyuda Savina, Nina Dronova.
Actually, these girls have been known to us for a long time (relatively long). We were looking forward to seeing what they would show at the senior championship, how they would prove themselves. Although Gorbik and Dronova were not in the top ten, everyone liked their special sophistication of movement. We also had no right to dismiss these young ones - after all, they proved their skills and won a 'place in the sun.' However, everything was decided by the second round of selection: the USSR Cup in August.
Is it possible to talk about the overwhelming superiority of the Soviet team in Varna? The facts are as follows: our team beat the second-place GDR team by 7.6 points. In the individual medals, our female gymnasts lost only three medals to their rivals: 1 gold on uneven bars, 1 bronze in the all-around, and 1 bronze in vault.
If we talk about the Olympic prospects of our women's gymnastics, then first of all we need to take into account the growing skills of the Romanian team, which made a very good impression and which, according to our data, has a strong reserve; and the young Annelore Zinke from the GDR, the world champion in uneven bars, who in two years may become a magnificent gymnast. We will closely follow the young 'sprouts,' those who have already entered or will soon see the All-Union arena. They are - Ira Tsarik from Lvov, Lena Primak from Chelyabinsk, Marina Ostanina from Izhvesk, Sveta Kudinova from Vitebsk, Lena Kolesnikova from Voroshilovgrad, and Tamara Kazanina from Voronezh.
In the continuous replenishment of the national team, in the sharpest competition between athletes, is the strength of the women's team of the USSR.