Sovetsky Sport. September 26, 1982. Dear Editors!
I closely follow all gymnastics competitions and I noticed that recently I have not seen Maxi Gnauck, last year's world champion from the GDR, among the participants. Will she be seen on the gymnastics platform this season? What are her plans for the future? These questions are of great interest to me and my friends.
I. Voskresenskaya, Moscow
1981 was certainly a very successful year for the little Berlin gymnast Maxi Gnauck, who will turn 18 on October 18 this year. In Madrid she became a four-time European champion and in Moscow - a three-time world champion. True, she dreamed of bcoming a four-time champion in Moscow, but an injury to the Achilles tendon of her left leg immediately before the trip to Moscow, which almost prevented Maxi's participation in the world championships, put her in a dilemma when it was her turn to compete in the team event in floor exercises: perform the entire routine, again risking injuring the Achilles tendon during the back somersault, or perform only part of the exercise in order to score 2.5 points, sufficient for the team competition. During the first diagonal tumble, instead of a moon salto, she only performed a tucked somersault and ended the exercise there.
1982, the end of summer. The author of these lines visited Maxi Gnauck, who had just returned from a vacation she spent with her parents outside Berlin. She completed her first training session under the guidance of coach Jurgen Heritz, thanks to whom Karin Janz, Angelika Hellmann, and Annelore Zinke have already achievced world fame and gold medals at international competitions.
It seemed to me that Maxi had gotten taller. She confirmed this. Now her height is 1.55m. Gymnastics fans all over the world are very interested in when Maxi's next competition will be, whether she will compete at the World Cup in Zagreb at the end of October or not.
Maxi pauses from training to give a short interview.
HJZ: How's your leg?
MG: It seems that everything is going for the better. In floor exercises, I'm already doing a double somersault and double twist again, and I'm practicing a triple twist with a foam mat.
HJZ: What do you expect from the World Cup?
MG: One question is still relevant: how will my leg behave during a triple twist in floor exercise? Actually, our doctor Albrecht is an optimist. He believes everything should be fine by the end of October.
HJZ: Who is training with you now?
MG: Sylvia Rau. This year at the Junior European Championships in Ankara, she placed fourth in the all-around and won a silver medal on the uneven bars. She is a very cheerful person, and she trains well and diligently.
HJZ: Maxi, what are your grades in school?
MG: My grade average is 1.7 (in the GDR, the best score in school is 1). Now, of all the subjects, I like German and history the most.
HJZ: Will your future study be related to these subjects?
MG: I would love to study sports science. However, I don't intend to become a coach. Maybe some other speciality will pique my interest.
HJZ: How long will you continue to compete?
MG: At least until 1984. Or maybe I'll hold out for one more season and try to take part in the 1985 European championships and the world championships, which will take place in the same year.
HJZ: What are you thinking about ahead of your performance at the World Cup in Zagreb?
MG: About the fact that I have never participated in competitions in Yugoslavia, that in 1980 at my first World Cup in Toronto I won two gold medals - on uneven bars and in floor exercises, that these competitions will not be so psychologically intense like the world championships, because only 2-3 gymnasts compete from each country and there is no team championship.
HJZ: What can you say about the 1983 world championships in Budapest?
MG: I have never been to Hungary in my entire life. That's why I want to compete there. Maybe I will be able to make up for what I failed to do in Moscow - win the all-around.
HANS-JURGEN ZEUME, Deutsches Sportecho correspondent