Sovetsky Sport. June 22, 1980. After the second day of competition Alexander Dityatin is still confidently leading (115.45). In second place is Eduard Azaryan (114.75), and in third is Fedor Kulaksizov (114.35)
For places from second to sixth - for each of the steps - the fights were in full swing. Few people avoided mistakes. On the first apparatus, those who were younger could not cope with their nerves. A. Akopyan, after a moon salto, ran forward and almost poked his face into the mat. B. Makuts, after the same element, simply sat down on the carpet.
Here, on the floor, A. Tkachev famously showed himself. Saturated with elements from the highest group, his tumbling pass of a double layout somersault was performed high and crisp, in a position similar to a crescent moon, and was simply a treat for the eyes. With a score of 9.7, he jumped from fifth to third place.
He is a sight to behold himself, amazingly soft and elastic, as if weightless. But he, too, went into the handstand with difficulty. And Kulaksizov pushed him from the third spot. The farther he is, the more sympathy this focused and broad-shouldered guy gets from the public. To think, for the first time he shone the year before at the last Spartakiad, where he was third in the all-around. Then, due to injuries, he was in the shade for a long time, but now the sun is shining on him again. He and his coach Yegor Kolesnikov. One must see how long, carefully, I would say, and earnestly Kulaksizov kneads the impressive muscles of a hammer thrower. There is a sense of security in every approach.
Slowly but surely V. Markelov walked up the stairs that evening, but E. Azaryan satunchly and unmistakably defended his second place.
The struggle was for all places except the first. Dityatin didn't allow anyone to approach him. It was as if he was walking, immersed in some thoughts, not paying attention to the passions that were seething behind him. I talked about this amazing gymnast with his countryman, international-category judge V. Silin. "You know," Silin said, "sometimes it seems that he just has superhuman strength. It helps him out of the most difficult situations on the apparatus. It gives him self-confidence, and how cleverly he takes care of it, how prudently he disposes of it."
I thought about Dityatin's reticence, remembered my interviews with him, during which he smiled a half-dreamy, half-mocking smile and sparingly answered, as if protecting his soul from the slightest interference. Obviously, the law of energy conservation is Dityatin's law of life. Let him, I thought, continue to remain silent, but let him compete the way he does today.
Here's who is in the top fix before the all-around final: 1. Dityatin - 115.45; 2. Azaryan - 114.75; 3. Kulaksizov - 114.35; Tkachev and Markelov - both 114.3; Makuts - 114.0
After two days of competition, the women's leader is N. Shaposhnikova - 77.95.
S. TOKAREV