Sovetsky Sport. October 19, 1971. Immediately after the competition, the all-around European champions, 19-year-old student of the pedagogical institute from Grozny, Lyudmila Turischeva, and 17-year-old technical school student from Vitebsk, Tamara Lazakovich, answered questions from our special correspondents.
What are your first memories and feelings as a gymnast?
Turischeva: After the first lesson, everything hurt and I couldn't sit down. Even ballet, which I did before, didn't help. Now I know that athletes call it "soreness," but them I just thought that it would go away soon.
Lazakovich: I entered the gym, and there were some grown girls standing on their hands. I thought, "I can never do this."
What was the happiest day of your life?
LT: October 25, 1970. Ljuljana. I became a world champion. And October 16, 1971 - my victory at the European Championship.
TL: There are four of them. I was happy when in 1968, at the junior national championships, I won the all-around and all the apparatus; this year, when I won the Spartakiad, and in Ljubljana when our team became first. And, of course, now.
What about the saddest day?
LT: Last year, at the national championship in Minsk. I spent a long time catching up to Lyuba Burda. Before the floor exercise, we were tied. But Lyuba finished the championship well, and I fell and lost. Of course, I cried. In general, I don't allow myself to cry.
TL: During the USSR Cup in Moscow, I was first after the compulsory round and then fell off the uneven bars and fell back to sixth place. I cried a little...
What qualities do you value in yourself?
LT: Willpower, and the ability not to give up after failure. Probably, every sportsmen strives to cultivate them in himself. I have them thanks to my coach Vladislav Stepanovich Rastorotsky.
TL: Perseverance.
What don't you like about yourself?
LT: There are probably no people who know exactly what their flaws are. I'm not bragging, but I don't think I have any obviously bad traits. Of course, there are mistakes, and I try to correct them.
TL: I don't know.
What do you value in other people?
LT: Above all, honesty and courage.
TL: Honesty, courage, and the ability to help those in trouble.
What do you not like about others?
LT: Subservience and insincerity.
TL: Conceit and envy.
What will you become in the future?
LT: I want to be a coach and help Vladislav Stepanovich.
TL: A coach.
What do you respect your coach for the most?
LT: For his perseverance. Because he knows how to make things work. If he hadn't, nothing would have come of me.
TL: For the fact that he instilled in me a love for gymnastics, and for his demanding nature.
What's your favorite apparatus?
LT: I like them all. When I first started in gymnastics there were still rings, and I loved them.
TL: The bars.
Do you believe in omens?
LT: I'm not superstitious, but sometimes I wonder about some amazing coincidences.
TL: I love it when I rains before competitions.
Do you have a good luck charm?
LT: No.
TL: No.
What's your favorite season?
LT: Spring. Especially here in the south.
TL: Summer. Because it's vacation.
What's your favorite way to relax?
LT: I like to actively relax, in motion, and after a difficult workout - with books or radio.
TL: Well, I never relax.
What's your favorite dance and song?
LT: I don't have a favorite dance, and my tastes in music change.
TL: I love everything, the shake, the twist...
What do you prefer: mini, maxi, or midi?
LT: I don't chase fashion, but I don't want to lag behind either. The main thing is that it would suit everyone.
TL: Midi.
What's your favorite color?
LT: Red.
TL: Blue.
What's your favorite perfume?
LT: "Forest Lily of the Valley."
TL: "Perhaps."
Your favorite writer and book?
LT: Nikolai Ostrovsky. "How the Steel was Tempered."
TL: George Sand. "Consuelo."
Your favorite actor or actress?
LT: Perhaps Sofia Loren.
TL: Alain Delon.
What made it possible for you to win?
LT: I didn't begin well, there were mistakes, but I managed to pull myself together and not lose my temper.
TL: Before the last rotation, I decided - that's it, I lost. I knew that Lyuda's vaults were brilliant. But the main thing is that I managed to remain calm.
Which of your loved ones would you like to see right now, and what would you like to pass on to them?
LT: My dad, mom, and sister. And I wouldn't say anything. They would understand everything without words.
TL: My whole family. And I would simply say to them, "Hello."