Sovetsky Sport. 21 June 1980. After completing the compulsory program for women, Natalia Shaposhnikova took the lead with 38.9 points. Only 0.05 points behind her are Stella Zakharova and Elena Naimushina. The compulsory of the girls worked out exactly. This time there were no falls at all, which is rare in women's competitions.
The arena was still dark, they had not yet begun to prepare for the evening's opening parade, and Masha Filatova ran headlong onto the platform. She jumped up, grabbed the upper pole of the bars, and began to rehearse something. A minute later, a multi-colored flock of girls was chattering around the bars, but Filatova ran out first...
I thought it was some kind of symbolism. Masha is the flagship in the current generation: four years ago, when she was not even 15, she flew like a bullet into the Olympic team in Montreal - at the last moment, after podium training. Mukhina, Shaposhnikova, and Zakharova - they sparkled the very next year. Filatova will turn 19 on the opening day of the Olympics but she is still the same - full of enthusiasm, hardworking like a bee, our kind-hearted Masha. You should have seen how she tried to prepare the bars for Shaposhnikova's performance, in whom she was not a competitor but a friend.
The first apparatus for the strongest group was floor exercise, which corresponds to our Olympic draw. The musical piece is called "Impromptu" and the composer, E. Vevrik, actually wrote it impromptu: in one sitting, on the eve of the competition of accompanists for the best music for compulsory floor. Here on the carpet, Shaposhnikova flashed - she marked each accent easily and gracefully, and hit every beat exactly. She got 9.8 and took the lead with Zakharova, whose interpretation of the routine was sharper but not spectacular.
Stella is athletic, a living muscle. On vault, she ran faster than anyone else, pushed more powerfully than anyone, and flew the farthest along a flat trajectory. With her 9.75, she took the lead after the second apparatus. As for Shaposhnikova, she sat down on her first attempt, had a poor landing on the second, and fell out of the top six. Again, her desperate, uneven character, capable of the highest take-offs and absolutely unexpected misses, had an effect.
Meanwhile, the cheerful girl Elena Naimushina and the graceful Svetlana Agapova approached the leaders. Filatova, selflessly trying her best, averaged 9.7 on the apparatus. And, finally, ex-world champion Elena Mukhina, running up to the vault, each time slowed down in front of the springboard. Coach Mikhail Klimenko clapped and encouraged her, but the previous leg injury, apparently still makes itself felt psychologically.
And here's the balance beam. Shaposhnikova is on it. She seems so tiny that the powerful sighs of her coach Vladislav Rastorotsky, who is clinging to the platform which all his huge mass, seem to lift Natasha up, helping her to jump and flip. She drew every pose, every turn. Her 9.85 was the highest score of the night.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
USSR Cup in gymnastics. Moscow. 19 June. Compulsory program.
Men. 1. A. Dityatin - 57.75 (9.45, 9.75, 9.7, 9.65, 9.7. 9.5); 2. E. Azaryan - 57.35 (9.5, 9.45, 9.7. 9.5, 9.6, 9.6); 3. B. Makuts - 57.2 (9.5, 9.6, 9.45, 9.6, 9.55, 9.5); 4. F. Kulaksizov - 57.05; 5. A. Tkachev - 56.95; 6. A. Akopyan - 56.65.
Women. 1. N. Shaposhnikova - 38.9 (9.5, 9.75, 9.85, 9.8); 2. S. Zakharova - 38.85 (9.75, 9.7, 9.6, 9.8) and E. Naimushina - 38.85 (9.75, 9.65, 9.75, 9.7); 4. M. Filatova - 38.8; 5. E. Polevaya - 38.75; 6. S. Agapova - 38.7.
S. TOKAREV