Sovetsky Sport. August 15, 1975. Our newspaper has already reported on the pre-Olympic gymnastic competitions in Montreal. After our delegation returned from Canada (however, some athletes went on tour in the United States), a correspondent of Sovetsky Sport met with the senior coaches of the country's national teams Larisa Latynina and Leonid Arkaev and asked them to talk about the pre-Olympic tournament.
Larisa Semyonovna, the first question is for you. We know that the European champion, Romanian Nadia Comaneci, also won the all-around in Montreal. But in the individual event finals, she got only one gold medal while Nelli Kim won the other three. How do you assess the gymnasts' training, and how is Comaneci's compulsory program?
Forty-six sportsmen from fifteen countries took part in an important rehearsal before the Olympics. From our country, eighteen-year-old Nellie Kim, sixteen-year-old Antonina Glebova, and thirteen-year-old Olga Koval competed. Of course, everyone was interested to learn how the second face-to-face meeting between Kim and Comaneci would end.
Here are the scores of the gymnasts in the compulsory competition. Comaneci: vault 9.35, bars 9.5, beam 9.6, floor exercise 9.6. Kim scored 9.45, 9.45, 9.4, and 9.6 respectively. Nadia beat Kim by 0.2. In my opinion, the Romanian didn't have an advantage in the compulsory program because she made a big error on the uneven bars (she hit her foot on the bar), but still received 0.1 more than Kim.
In the optional program, Comaneci gained another 0.15 points. She was excellent on the uneven bars, as was Kim on floor exercise. In general, the fight was equal. Third place was taken by Romanian Teodora Ungureanu, who performed stably and quite confidently. She is fifteen years old. Curiously enough, the routines of Comaneci and Ungureanu are very similar.
Koval and Glebova had one fall each in the optional program, but they made a good impression with their difficult and intense exercises. But they still lack competitive experience.
Event finals were dramatic. On vault, the gymnasts had to show two vaults, and the best score was counted. Comaneci did an excellent Tsukahara but her landing was bad - 9.5. On this vault Kim received 9.4. Comaneci's second vault was limited to a simple handspring, which is judged from a 9.7, and she had to be content with 9.1. Kim didn't simplify her vault and got 9.6 for her handspring with 540-degree twist. There is the gold medal! Koval shared second place with Comaneci.
When they went to the uneven bars, it was clear that Comaneci was nervous, as her coach was shouting something loudly from the stands. Nadia didn't succeed in the warm-up, but she managed to perform excellently - everything was done at the highest level for 9.8. Nellie earned 9.6 and the silver medal.
Comaneci wobbled on the beam. She fell after a flickflack and made several mistakes - 9.2. Ungureanu worked great - 9.6! How important it is to be a stable gymnast! Kim proved that stability was what she thought about and she performed her routine in a high class. And she won on floor, the European champion on this event, beautifully. Comaneci was second here.
Leonid Yakovlevich, please share your impressions of the men's competition.
We decided to enter these athletes: Nikolai Andrianov, Alexander Dityatin, and Vladimir Tikhonov. But Nikolai was slightly injured in training and we didn't want to take risks.
The competition was attended by such celebrities as the Japanese Mitsuo Tsukahara, Shun Fujimoto (world champion in the team competition), world champions in individual events Hungarian Zoltan Magyar and Eberhard Gienger (FRG), and some of the strongest athetes in Europe Andrzej Szajna (POL) and Imre Molnar (HUN). The Japanese took the first two places, Dityatin was third, and Tikhonov was fourth.
Our guys have not yet mastered the compulsory program very well. But in the optional program, they made up for lost time, because their routines were distinguished by increased difficulty. If Fujimoto didn't show anything special (except for his high bar routine), then the veteran Tsukahara again showed a number of original elements. He modernized this own Tsukahara vault, and his flight was very effective. He showed a new routine on the floor. In general, Tsukahara is now in excellent shape - he won four events in the finals.
Dityatin won pommel horse, although it must be said that the world champion Magyar fell while performing a completely new element. Both Tikhonov and Dityatin fought the eminent one boldly, and they impressed everyone with difficult dismounts. Alexander also won two bronze medals (parallel bars and high bar).
Yes, the Japanese are technical and it will be very difficult to beat them. But the advantages in difficulty, as it was before, they no longer have. I think that our leaders should pay special attention to the compulsory program - this is where the lag lies.