Gymnastics is Happening at Luzhniki

April 1, 1976  Today in the Luzhiniki Sports Palace begins the international gymnastics competition, the Moscow News Prize.

Male and female gymnasts from 21 countries will participate in this competition.  This is a record number for the tournament, which is being held for the third time.

In this Olympic season, everyone is interested in the competition.  We are looking forward to seeing those gymnasts who will be summoned to Montreal and to the 1980 Olympics.

In sunny Moscow we go to the Sports Palace.  The opening ceremony is being rehearsed and we hear the powerful voice of the stage manager.  We go up to the second floor.  It's narrow and loud.  We see the coaches of our girl gymnasts.  Svetlana Grozdova, Masha Filatova, Natasha Shaposhnikova, Lena Aleksyutina, Lyubov Yudina, Lena Mukhina - these sportswomen are preparing for the competition.  They made a lot of "thunder" at the recent championships of the country.

The senior trainer of the junior team, Lidia Ivanova, presents to us still another competitor - Stella Zakharova, a sixth-grader from Kishinev.  "Nobody knows this girl yet, but I think that she will please the spectators."  Stella's coach, Vladimir Kuksa, has prepared complex routines for her.

We hurry to the CSKA gymnastics hall.  There we run into the smiling gymnasts from Cuba.  Their coach, Carlos Garcia, explains the training plan to the girls.  At the same time, the gymnasts from Algeria and North Korea hurry to the bus.

Thus, today begins a big gymnastics festival.

This page was created on February 18, 2006.
© Gymn Forum