Sovetsky Sport. April 22, 1980 (our special correspondent). The gold medals of the USSR gymnastics championship were won by the sportswomen of the first team of Dinamo - Rostovites Natalia Shaposhnikova and Elena Ponomarenko, Natalia Ilienko of Alma-Ata, Elena Polevaya of Gomel, Elena Naimushina of Krasnoyarsk, and Tatiana Arzhannikova of Vitebsk. The silver medal was won by the team from Spartak, and bronze by the team of the Armed Forces. In the individual championship before the all-around, the leader is the all-around world champion Nelli Kim.
Today we will begin our report with a general assessment of the women's performances in the team competition. Here is the opinion of the Merited Master of Sports Polina Astahkhova:
"The day of the optional program turned out to be somewhat nervous, and passions were heated to the limit. Only two gymnasts perfomed smoothly: Nelli Kim and Elena Davydova from Leningrad. The others made mistakes and had errors. If I were now asked to name the composition of the future Olympic team, I would not dare - not all Olympic candidates are in the required readiness. Of the new names, I can mention 14-year-old Natasha Ilienko. Everyone really liked this girl. They started to talk about her at the Spartakiad, and here in Kiev, this student of Natalia Popva (who, by the way, coached Olga Koval earlier) clearly showed her unique talent. In Kiev, they recognized Ilienko."
Speaking objectively, the training of some of our well-known masters causes some concern. We understand there are still three months until the Olympics, and it's possible to correct things, but the national championship is not only a selection stage for the main team but is also an indicator of the skill of all participants in the tournament. It should not be forgotten that the women's team at the world championship lost to the Romanian team, who have made significant progress in recent years.
Gymnastics fans will probably remember that Lena Mukhina and Masha Filatova ended up far down in the rankings after the compulsory program due to mistakes. And in the optional program, they didn't even manage to get into the top ten. Hand on heart, we cannot scold them for their not entirely successful performances - they did a lot for Soviet gymnastics. And they continue to fight for places in the team. Lena, for example, apparently did not have time to restore her strength after her injury. A big break in training made itself felt. She was insecure on vault and floor, especially on landings, and she lost her balance and fell off the beam. Only on uneven bars did she show a rhythmic performance (9.6).
Filatova didn't fall anywhere and she fought hard but, except for her beam exercise (9.7), she could not be inspired to do her routines on a high note.
Kim performed coolly, with captivating dignity. You are spoiled by her stability. Every year, young assertive competitors try to beat her at the expense of mind-blowing difficulty, but Kim remains herself - beautiful, proud, unbeatable. Of course, she understands that one cannot live with old baggage, and all the time she pleasantly surprises us with new products. When talks begin that Nelli's routines are becoming obsolete, she unexpectedly includes original elements. For example, here, for the first time in the world, the Minsk resident performed such a dismount from beam - a double somersault with a turn of 180 degrees (9.7). Kim received the same scores on uneven bars (for a modernized routine) and for vault. On floor, Nelli learned a double pike somersault and even finished with a double tuck. Here is an example of a creative approach to training, to understanding the development of world gymnastics.
It's time to announce that the women competed according to the new international rules that came into effect this year. These rules are progressive and will further increase difficulty. The table of difficult elements has been revised - this is a very important step. Routines are evaluated from 9.5 points, and the judges have the right to add 0.2 for risky or original elements. For extra elements of the highest difficulty (that is, more than required for each event), another tenth is added for encouragement.
Lena Davydova used these innovations very successfully. She received credit for both originality and for risky elements. A student of the talented coach Gennady Korshunov, she performed an unusual vault perfectly - an improved version of Olga Korbut's vault: pirouette onto the horse and then a flip and somersault forward (9.9). In general, the Leningrad woman showed excellent readiness and combativeness. After a severe injury and after years of failures - there was such enthusiasm, such freshness, and such joy of communication with the audience!
What about the rest? There were failures by Muscovite Natalia Tereschenko, Natasha Karamushka from Kharkov, and Tatiana Arzhannikova from Vitebsk. Natasha Shaposhnikova, Stella Zakharova and Svetlana Agapova had minor but unpleasant errors on some events. Alas, the severity of the competition was not for everyone - this is in the sense that they are still far from psychological stability. Natasha Ilienko, a brave girl with an excellent program and a strong character, stood out against this "nervous" background.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
46th USSR gymnastics championship. Kiev. Sports Palace.
Women. Sum of compulsory and optional programs. 1. N. Kim (Army) - 76.9; 2. E. Davydova (Spartak) - 76.85; 3. S. Zakharova (Labor Reserves) - 76.3; 4. N. Shaposhnikova (Dinamo) - 76.25; 5. N. Ilienko (Dinamo) - 76.2; 6. E. Naimushina (Dinamo) - 75.85; 7. S. Agapova (Spartak) and E. Polevaya (Dinamo) - 75.8.
Team results. 1. Dinamo 1 - 402.65; 2. Spartak - 390.6; 3. Armed Forces - 385.9; 4. Labor Reserves - 381.1; 5. Zenit- 371.2; 6. Dinamo 2 - 270.2.
G. BORISOV
V. GOLUBEV