Sovetsky Sport. June 7, 1981. It happened four years ago, in the autumn of 1977. At the Palacio de los Deportes in the historic Spanish city of Oviedo - the city of coal miners and matadors - the World Cup in artistic gymnastics was drawing to a close. The solemn moment of the awards ceremony had arrived. On the podium stood only our guys: on the top step, Nikolai Andrianov and Vladimir Markelov; on the third, Alexander Tkachev. Slowly, our red flags began to rise. Thousands of eyes were fixed upon them, awaiting the national anthem. But the loudspeakers remained silent - a technical failure in the sound system...
In the silence, soft, swift footsteps were heard - those of a man who had stepped away from a group of Soviet athletes and coaches. He walked over to the grand piano, and beneath the vaulted ceilings of the Sports Palace, the majestic strains of the State Anthem of the Soviet Union rang out.
The national team's accompanist, Evsey Vevrik, had never been accorded such thunderous applause - such an ovation - not even during the years of his finest solo concerts!
...He made unexpected decisions on more than one occasion. For instance, on December 15 - during the grim year of 1941- amidst a fierce battle near Moscow, a Red Army recruit named Vevrik, upon seeing his commander killed, shouted: "Squad, heed my command!" And on January 29, 1943, on the Volkhov Front, Lieutenant Vevrik threw himself over a bursting mine, shielding his regimental commander with his own body.
Gdaliy Vevrik - a chorister at the Rostov Opera who had been unable to complete his studies at the Kiev Conservatory due to the First World War - dreamed of seeing his son become a fine musician. By the age of four, the little boy - endowed with an exceptional ear - could pick out on the piano any melody he heard.
At the age of six, he entered music school; later, he attended a music college. A professor from Moscow recommended that the gifted young man be sent to the conservatory. And so - Moscow. He decided to sit for entrance exams for two departments simultaneously: Composition and Piano.
The Great Patriotic War began while Evsey was away on tour. Upon returning to Moscosw, he headed straight for the military enlistment office. On March 3, 1942, he sustained his first wound and was sent to a hospital. Next came the Yaroslavl Military School; six months later, he was commissioned as a lieutentnt. He served first as a platoon commander, and later as a regimental adjutant. In 1943, he joined the Communist Party. On more than one occasion, Evsey Gdalievich was offered the opportunity to lead the division's song and dance ensemble. He, however, preferred the front lines...
In 1955, Evsey Vevrik was invited to join the national artistic gymnastics team.
The first test was the Games of the XVI Olympiad in Melbourne. Then would follow six more Olympic Games and just as many World Championships, ten European Championships, and hundreds of friendly matches and exhibition performances in every corner of the globe.
Evsey Vevrik became a trendsetter among the world's sports accompanists. A floor exercise routine can only be created through the collaborative creative efforts of the choreographer, the musician, and the performer - and the role of the accompanist in this trio is immense. Gymnastics enthusiasts still remember such masterpieces as Larisa Latynina's Impromptu, Larisa Petrik's The Gypsy Girl and Carmen, Olga Karasyova's Russian Kaleidoscope, Maria Filatova's Aragonese Jota, Svetlana Grozdova's I Remember a Wondrous Moment, and Lyudmila Turischeva's Exit March.
Our gymnasts performed magnificently at the 1980 Olympics. Among the many coaches involved, Evsey Vevrik also deserves credit for this success.
...To his two Orders of the Red Star and numerous medals - among them the soldier's "For Combat Merit" - Vevrik added yet another award: a medal for his devotion to gymnastics - the "For Labor Valor."
E. AVSENEV