The Finals Grew
1983 People's Spartakiade of the USSR

Pravda, 4 August 1983  Absolute champions of the VIII Summer People's Spartakiade of the USSR in gymnastics are Muscovite Dmitry Bilozerchev and Natalia Yurchenko from Rostov-on-Don.

The experts assumed, said the merited master of sport Valery Kerdemelidi, that at some stage Bilozerchev would bypass the leaders - Yu. Korolev, A. Akopyan, B. Makuts and others. The basis for this was his success at the All-Union and international competitions. Dmitry is a six-time junior European champion, and the absolute European senior champion. His skill level is very high, yet no one thought that Bilozerchev would become the strongest so quickly.

In the women's competition, Natalia Yurchenko took the lead on the first day and didn't concede to anyone. The silver and bronze medals were won by Natalia Ilienko of Alma-Ata and the Leningrader Elena Shushunova. It was a tight copetition among these three gymnasts as they went from one event to the other. Readers do not need to imagine Yurchenko and Ilienko as they are both members of the USSR national team and have won many competitions. But 14-year-old Lena Shushunova won the bronze medal of the Spartakiade and the USSR championships for the first time.

"When I was in first grade," Lena said, "a coach came from the sports school and invited me to train with him. I've been doing sports for 7 years now, which is half of my entire life."

At a press confrerence with the winners, journalists asked many questions. For example, this: Is it OK for you to perform ultra C elements, the highest complexity?

"When you start to learn them," answered N. Ilienko, "it's scary. Sometimes it doesn't work for a long time. But the more you repeat it, the more confident you feel, and you gain a new strength and sense of flight."

Merited Coach of the USSR, Vladislav Rastorotsky, summed up the performances of the gymnasts in the all-around: "Some sports fans incorrectly say that gymnastics is losing its femininity. Look at the winners of the Spartakiade - they are all very nice girls. And together with us, the coaches, they are looking for new complex elements. Sometimes there are elements of risk, and in this is the development and entertainment of gymnastics."

The sports marathon of the Spartakiade continues. Yesterday, the men competed for medals in the all-around. And today, on the final day, the women will compete for awards in the individual events.

This page was created on August 23, 2018.