Gymn Forum: Sport in the USSR

The Youngest Champion

By L. Kuleshov

Sport in the USSR, November 1979 The European Championship in men's gymnastics has been held 13 times. Only ten sportsmen have been able to win the gold medals of all-around champion. They are B. Shakhlin of the USSR (1955), J. Blume of Spain (1957), Y. Titov of the USSR (1959), M. Cerar of Yugoslavia (1961, 1963), F. Menichelli of Italy (1965), M. Voronin of the USSR (1967, 1969), V. Klimenko of the USSR (1971, 1973) N. Andrianov of the USSR (1975), V. Markelov of the USSR (1977) and S. Deltchev of Bulgaria (1979). Stoyan Deltchev's victory marks the first time that an athlete under 20 has mounted the top step of the European victory dais.

Four and a half years ago, in May 1975, I met an old acquaintance, Moscow gymnast Yevgeny Zemskov, at the European championship in men's gymnastics in Bern. He was wearing a coach's costume with the Bulgarian emblem; he had been working with Bulgarian sportsmen for several years already and had come to Bern as the trainer of the Bulgarian team. "Keep your eye out on that lad," said Zemskov, indicating a short, skinny youth. "Soon he will be a European champion." I admit it was hard to see a future champion in the frail boy, who was not yet 15 at the time.

Back in Bern the youthful gymnast did not do particularly brilliantly, except on the horizontal bar: he amassed only a very modest number of points and did not make the finals in a single event. But he had passed his baptism in sport, did not exhibit the least timidity and made it seem as though European championships were a matter of course to him. His self-assurance and calm, unusual in a beginner (he did not make a single blunder), made Zemskov's words worthy of attention.

I again met Deltchev two years later in Vilnius at the next European championship. The young Bulgarian gymnast's performance astounded both the well-wishing fans and the severe judges. His combination on the horizontal bar was received as a discovery (he was awarded a gold medal for it). It is characteristic of youth to dare, to strive for what is new and unknown, for they still lack the fear of losing or stumbling.

Stoyan's original element on the horizontal bar immediately entered gymnastic terminology as "Deltchev's sommie." There in Vilnius he also proved to be an all-round gymnast, taking fifth place overall. The press took note of him and specialists expressed their interest. But his ascent to the heights of glory had only begun, and it proved to be rather steep.

At last year's world championship, Deltchev's first, everything turned out far less successfully than he had wished. After the first day his overall standing was 18th place, and only on the following days was he able to pull himself up to eighth. But he did learn the value of medals at a world championship: the two bronze he won -- for his exercises on the horse and horizontal bar -- are among his most precious. In Strasbourg, Stoyan learned to draw conclusions form his failures. Then, full of a new critical understanding, he said: "My struggle with the great gymnasts is only beginning."

By that time Yevgeny Zemskov had already returned to the Soviet Union. Deltchev continued to train with Nikola Nikolov, a merry, talkative man who did everything in a relaxed way, as though playing. He was the complete opposite of his pupil: a smile is rarely to be seen on Stoyan's face, more often than not he is thoroughly concentrated.

In May 1979, Gruga-Halle in Essen (FRG) received the participants in the 13th European championship. Here occurred the event with which we began our story. The 19-year-old Bulgarian gymnast, who was 20 on July 3, won over the public: each of his compositions, made up of super-difficult elements, was the finished study of a master. He came away with two gold, one silver and one bronze medal. That fact that he was the only contender who made it to all six finals testifies to the stability of his performance.

Thus did Bulgarian gymnastics gain its first all-round champion of the Old World. After accepting Nikola Nikolov's congratulations, Stoyan immediately sent a telegram of thanks to his first coach, Yevgeny Zemskov, straight from the sports palace.

During our last conversation I asked Stoyan why he likes gymnastics. "For its beauty. A gymnast should bring joy with his performances. And therefore I will always be true to gymnastics." It remains to be said that Deltchev has enrolled at the Higher Institute of Physical Education in Sofia. He wants to become as good a trainer as his own.