This evening we are seeing off Lyudmila Turischeva from the gymnastics platform. Here, in the Sports Palace, we saw her among adult athletes for the first time. It was at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1967. The years seem to have flown by in an instant, but they included three Olympics, two world championships, four European Championships, and many tournaments in which our country was worthily represented by the captain and Komsomol organizer of the national team, member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, holder of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Lyudmila Turischeva.
Lyuda, what did you feel when you finished your final routine in your life?
My soul was light and pure. I did everything I could, and if I didn't achieve something, it meant that it was beyond my powers. In general, I felt relief, because nine years in the national team are nine years of responsibility on my shoulders. I felt satisfaction, but not sadness, no.
But you still shed a tear there in Montreal...
And not just one. On the last day of the Olympic competition, my coach Vladislav Stepanovich Rastorotsky had a birthday, and I really wanted to give him a gold medal for the floor exercises. And I couldn't. And when I realized that I would never, ever be able to give him my medal for his birthday, of course I cried.
What did sport give you first and foremost?
It gave me the foundation for the rest of my life. It taught me not to be discouraged. The years before my last Olympics were the hardest in a moral sense - the years of withdrawal. I could no longer train as much as before. I wanted to, but I couldn't - my body protested. And I was in a training group with very young students of Vladislav Stepanovich: Natalia Shaposhnikova and Lyuba Yudina. They were ready to work from morning to night. It was beyond my strength to keep up with them and I was afraid to reduce my training load: I had never experienced these sensations before, and my coach had never observed anything like this - he, as a coach, navigated the experience with me... And far, far away in my soul the thought arose: "Maybe it's time?" Vladislav Stepanovich and I endured this breakdown because we were always extremely frank with each other, shared our doubts to the end, and together we sought the right path to Montreal. I have this example to make it clearer what sport taught me: not to lose heart, no matter how hard it is now - forgive me for being pompous - no matter what happens to me, I will say that life is wonderful.
Imagine there is a little girl in front of you who wants to follow a similar path in gymnatics as you. What advice would you give her?
Learn to be patient. Always trust the coach and be sincere in your relationship with him. I will advise her to try to think less about how no one feels sorry for her in difficult circumstances. I will advise her to look for and find joy in training and remember that when everything is over, the most vivid memories will be of the joyful days.
You talk a lot about your coach. What can be considered his main quality, what is the main thing in a coach in general?
Humanity. It seems to me that a sports teacher should not be above children, but in their environment, respect them with all the peculiarities of their age, be their older friend, on whom you can always rely. I am grateful to fate that I met such a person as Vladislav Stepanovich. Now I am an adult, but i am still frank with him in everything and consult him in everything - not out of habit, it's just easier when you can compare your thoughts with the views of a person you trust.
How and in what ways has your life changed now?
First of all, I want to say that on February 3 I stood as a candidate for the Party, which I am very proud of. And my life has not become less stressful than before, perhaps more so. Before, it was filled with training and study, I put this above everything and I sacrificed other things. Now I have a lot of public duties, Komsomol affairs. For example, I recently returned from Tyumen and Nizhnevartosvk, where I spoke before the youth of shock constructions sites, and in this sense I am indebted to many other people... Then there's the fact that I am a budding researcher, I am very interested in the topic of my future Ph.D. dissertation, related to the emotional impact of a gymnast's pre-competition state on competitive performance... And I train a group of girls aged 11-12, try to demand from them the same as they demand from me. In short, just as before, there is not enough time, but I am used to it. In my opinion, if there is a feeling that time is short, then the rhythm of life is normal, and everything is according to plan. And, therefore, at the end of each day you can rightfully account to yourself for that day.
I don't understand, Lyuda, what you'll decide to do - to study sports science or practical, coaching work?
I haven't made a final decision yet. One day, a girl athlete gave me her diary to read, and there I found this entry: "Gymnastics is my life and a little more..." So it seems to be that I have already lived one life and another is ahead - much longer, and in it I still need to find myself, so that it also turns out to be difficult, and joyful, and useful to people.
Let's consider that the farewell celebration is simultaneously the celebration of Lyudmila Turischeva's entry into a new life for her, and our farewell is only a tribute to tradition, while we are talking about a rendezvous.
S. TOKAREV