A Glass of Water for the Coach
Sovetskii Sport
November 1977 The competition at the World Cup of gymnastics had not yet ended. But the winner was already determined.
In the noisy sports palace, the spectators discussed the small gymnast in the yellow leotard who had just performed. Maria Filatova climbed the steps into the stands, where some Soviet tourists were sitting. She was carefully carrying two cups of lemonade. "Lilia Nikolaeva, this is for you. Thank you for my floor exercise." I saw the happy face of Lilia Sokolova, choreographer of the team, and thought there is nothing nicer for a coach than to receive thanks from a pupil. The next day Masha gave Sokolova one of her medals.
If you ask me what is the most humane feature of Maria Filatova, I wouldn't have to think but would answer immediately, "kindness." She looks at people with a steady benevolence. She has a natural need to help, to do things for her friends.
The girls are polite and well mannered but sometimes friends aren't considerate towards each other. Not Masha. Even if it's her turn to mount the podium, she's thinking about her colleagues -- who needs some extra attention, who needs an elastic bandage.
At the Madrid airport we waited for the plane for a long time, because the bus from Ovideo arrived much too early. Lena Mukhina, Natasha Shaposhnikova, Lena Ponomarenko and Masha slept in chairs. We looked at them with tenderness -- so small and tiny, so unprotected, like little children. Many people spoke of these girls as a "kindergarten on the podium". Yes, they are not tall. But they are not children.
Masha has left childhood behind. She is very clever at press conferences. She reads a lot and does well in school. At age 16 she has developed maturity.
In every competition Masha exudes warmth. She doesn't perform to beat her rivals, but she performs for the spectators. She wants to make them happy. She's a small busybody, she's efficient in training, she's clever. She's constantly in motion, like a small top.
In March of this year Filatova competed in the Paris Grand Prix. The newspaper l'Equipe wrote "Maria Filatova is a wonderful gymnast. She beats all records of virtuosity."
At the beginning of April Filatova won the big international tournament Moscow News, then the Riga-77 tournament. And three weeks later she won the title absolute champion of the USSR for the first time. At the European championships in Prague she was 5th all-around and took the gold medal on floor exercise, tied with Mukhina.
Five months later -- failure at the USSR Cup in Minsk. Masha didn't think she would be chosen to compete at the World Cup. But she prepared for this competition with four of her teammates. Everyone trained in a frenzy. And in that frenzy Masha felt an obligation to work hard for her coaches Galina and Innokenty Mametyev.
And Masha was successful in Ovideo. She gave inspired performances. Masha genuinely loves to compete and she becomes stronger and more confident with her competitors challenge her. When Mukhina and Shaposhnikova fell behind, when Steffi Kraker of the GDR and Marta Egervari of Hungary began to close in towards the end, Filatova was magical.
Filatova debuted in adult competition in the spring of last year at the national championships in Tbilisi. She finished in 4th place. Her performances reminded me of Olga Korbut's debut in 1969. She was also the smallest competitor in the meet. And the Rostov sports palace, like the Tbilisi sports palace, sighed in delight: it simply isn't possible to create such a good little gymnast!
Two months later, we met Innokenty and Galina Mametyev in their room at the Sputnik hotel. And both of them talked and talked about Masha. This training duet is led by Innokenty Ivanovich. In our gymnastics world he's a well-known guy. Well-known not only for teaching champions but also for his passionate character. Mametyev can be quarrelsome and sharp at times.
Leninsk-Kuznetsk has the best gymnastics training center in Europe, perhaps in the world. The gymnastics palace has around 800 students. There is a hostel for sportsmen. The local soviet declared, "There will be a champion so our city will become known worldwide..."
In kindergarten he saw her, in a group of beginners. Blond, smart, attentive, and cheerful. Mametyev frequently looked at that kindergarten group and thought to himself, "Maybe that's her..."
"Oh, Maria's character!" Mametyev loves to repeat. "It's hard working with such a girl, but it's also interesting. You must understand, this is an amazing and courageous girl. Very intelligent. Do you think she listens to me all the time? No! She argues with us until we are all hoarse."
After kindergarten Masha entered the first grade at School No. 18. She also entered the gymnastics section at the Children's and Youth Sports School, in Galina Mametyeva's group. After four months, Mametyeva noticed that Masha was skipping training. Why? She went directly home from school. An explanation: Masha was invited to participate in the New Year's Eve celebration and she enjoyed it. There were spectators, presents, applause. But in the training hall it was boring, there were no games... Mametyev knew how to persuade Filatova to return. She was allowed to bring her dolls to training, and she played with them between events.
After three years, something else happened. An excellent student, Masha suddenly saw that training was interfering with her studies. She didn't like to receive marks lower than "5". Again she neglected her gymnastics training. Mametyev told her about Turischeva -- "excellent in school." Masha was pleased with this model.