Sovetsky Sport. August 22, 1984. The coincidence turned out to be interesting. The organizers of the international gymnastics competition in Olomouc accommodated the participants in the dormitories of the university or, as they say here, "high school."
Yesterday, the men started their competition with the "school" - the compulsory program in the team championship. More than twenty champions and prize winners of the last two world championships, the Moscow Olympics, and winners of the European Championships came to Olomouc.
The USSR team started on vault. The opener was 22-year-old A. Tumilovich from Vitebsk Dinamo. He seemed to be a reliable table-setter.
It must be said that in general the USSR team passed its debut of this event, as well as the rings exercise, in a single breath. It won the highest totals in these events - 49.35 and 49.45 points. On vault, there were three scores of 9.9 (V. Artemov, Yu. Balabanov, and D. Bilozerchev). Yu. Balabanov received the highest score - 10 points - on rings. Bilozerchev received 9.95 twice (high bar and rings).
USSR champion Artemov received 9.9 points twice (rings and parallel bars). In a word, the USSR national team has repeatedly pleased with its clear, effective handwriting in the "school" exercises, performed with large amplitude, beautifully and powerfully. As a result, our team had the highest scores in four of the six events. Only on floor and horizontal bar did the USSR team lose to the friendly GDR team, where the best that day was 19-year-old S. Kroll.
It's not difficult to guess that in the first shift the fight for leadership was between the teams of the USSR and the GDR. This heated debate was not without its bitterness. S. Martsinkiv made a mistake on the high bar. He couldn't get into the handstand successfully - the result was 9.0. A few minutes later, the horizontal bar silver medalist A. Pogorelov performed 3 elements unsuccessfully. He got only 8.1 points. So Martsinkiv's 9.0 went into the team standings. Finally, on pommel horse, Balabanos suddenly stumbled - his hand slipped and he sat down - 8.9 points.
However, our young team did not flinch; all the guys fought the rest of the competition with concentration. After six difficult tests of the "school" they are confidently in the lead with 293.15 points.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
Druzhba-84 international gymnastics tournament. Olomouc.
Team Standings. Men. Compulsory program. 1. URS - 293.15; 2. GDR - 291.35; 3. TCH - 288.7; 4. BUL - 288.6; 5. CUB - 288.4; 6. HUN - 287.75
Individual competition. 1. D. Bilozerchev (URS) - 59.15 (9.75, 9.85, 9.95, 9.9, 9.75, 9.95); 2. V. Artemov (URS) - 59.05 (9.75, 9.8, 9.9, 9.9, 9.9, 9.8); 3. S. Kroll (GDR) - 58.7 (9.9, 9.9, 9.5, 10, 9.5, 9.9); 4. H. Behrendt (GDR) - 58.25; 5. Yu. Balabanov (URS) - 58.2; 6. C. Suarez (CUB) and U. Hoffmann (GDR) - 58.15.