Words to a Champion (From a Champion?)

Pravda, 19 May 1984  Any athlete wants to win an Olympic medal. To my great regret, I wasn't able to perform on the Olympic gymnastics platform. But every competition brought me great happiness. I worry for our girls, I'm happy for their victories and sad for their failures. Gymnastics, in my opinion, is a sport that doesn't leave a single person indifferent. Strength, grace, and courage - everything is connected in a short program on the uneven bars, the beam, on the floor, and the vault.

The Soviet school of gymnastics has trained dozens of Olympic champions. They have studied and have been studied by gymnasts of many countries. And it becomes insulting and bitter that my young friends will not be able to show their skills at the XXIII Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Four years preparing for this sports celebration, spending so much time training - and not going. Of course, it's hard. But in an atmosphere of anti-Soviet hysteria, threats, and encouragement of criminal groups, it's impossible for an athlete to show his skills unbiased.

American athletes came to our country many times. And we always tried to greet them warmly, as befits hosts. But when the Olympic Games sell pins and t-shirts with the inscription "Kill the Russians" and the Olympians are called terrorists trained to destroy military bases, this causes surprise and annoyance. No, Olympic Games such as these aren't needed by athletes.

Elena Mukhina
World Champion
Recipient of the Silver Olympic Order from the IOC

This page was created on August 23, 2018.