Both USSR Gymnastics Teams Defeated the Hosts

557.95-557.05 for the Men; 377.75-370.65 for the Women

Neues Deutschland, 22 May 1978  At the 17th gymnastics friendship competition between the GDR and the USSR, the Soviet guests won the men's competition (557.95-557.05) in Cottbus after an unusually exciting race. The individual winner was Michael Nikolay of Berlin with an excellent 113.35, ahead of Valery Lozhkin (112.70) and Nikolai Fedorenko (both USSR/111.90). The women's competition was also dominated by the Soviet guests. With 377.75-370.65, they had the largest victory in the 12-year history of the women's meet. In the all-around competition, World Cup champion Maria Filatova asserted herself with an excellent 76.95 points ahead of her compatriots Valeria Zhidunova (75.85) and Tatiana Arzhannikova (76.00). Sylvia Hindorff was the best GDR gymnast (75.10).

With a small lead of 0.90 points, the proteges of coach Vyacheslav Boiko had the closest result since 1966. The USSR squad came to Cottbus without any big names. Along with Valery Lozhkin, who gave Michael Nikolay an exciting fight for the all-around title, Vitaly Golyayev and Nikolai Fedorenko had placed in the top 10 at this year's USSR national championships. The guests earned the victory due to their better compulsory performances. In optionals, the GDR team was inferior by a tiny 0.05 points. Although the GDR team suffered its 13th defeat in the 20-year history of this friendly fight, the positive aspects outweighed the negatives. After a series of injuries, Michael Nikolay presented a stable performance, showed a world premiere - the transverse flying scissors on pommel horse - and received the highest score of the competition (9.80). He was also given deservedly high ratings on parallel bars (9.6) and high bar (9.7).

The USSR women's team, led by Maria Filatova, showed itself to be superior to its competitors even without such world-class gymnasts as Nelli Kim or Elena Mukhina. The young selection of guests, in which 16-year-old Filatova was the senior and 13-year-old youth champion Tatiana Arzhannikova was the youngest and lead-off gymnast, gave impressive performances. The team competition had practically been decided in their favor after the compulsories; they put their stamp of excellence on the optionals. The guests had a 3.85 point lead after the compulsory round. The biggest difference was on balance beam (1.80 points), and the smallest was on floor exercise (0.35 points).

Maria Filatova, in particular, roused the knowledgeable audience to storms of applause. This was her impressive series of scores: 9.8 on bars and floor exercise, and 9.65 on the beam and vault. Next came 15-year-old Valeria Zhidunova, who showed world-class routines, especially on uneven bars.

The GDR team couldn't keep up with these performances, especially since GDR champion Steffi Kraker sustained a foot injury on the bars after a fall during a Korbut loop and had to withdraw.

This page was created on November 15, 2020.