Sovetsky Sport. August 16, 1984. Representatives of gymnastics are aredy for the Friendship-84 tournament.
The senior coach of the women's team, candidate of pedagogical sciences Andrei Radionenko, set his choice on those gymnasts who managed to approach Friendship-84 in the highest form and who showed the most difficult, harmonious programs at the national championship or USSR Cup.
The team is led by 19-year-old student from Rostov-on-Don, Merited Master of Sports Natalia Yurchenko. The student of Merited Coach of the USSR Vladislav Rastorotrky has a solid track record of victories on the platform. She is the 1983 all-around world champion, winner of the 1982 World Cup (here Natasha shared the gold medal with Olga Bicherova), and champion of the VIII Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.
Sixteen-year-old Moscow schoolgirl Olga Mostepanova won the USSR Cup for the first time this year. Her performance at the Luzhniki Sports Palace was stable, and the audience liked her routines. Mostepanova already has experience in international competitions - at the world championship in Budapest she was second in the all-around after Yurchenko and won the gold medal in the beam exercises.
Eighteen-year-old Alma-Ata resident Natalia Ilienko, a student of coaches Natalia and Yuri Tsapenko, also performed confidently this season. The 1981 world champion in floor exercises, Ilienko won the title of all-around USSR champion for the first time this year. Her collection also includes two highest awards for team victories at world championships.
Seventeen-yeare-old Tatiana Frolova from Bryansk is performing better and better every season. Last year she was part of the team at the world championships. Now Tatiana has won silver at the USSR Cup for the first time.
The team also has two debutantes: 15-year-old Elena Shushunova from Leningrad and Irina Baraksanova from Tashkent. Lena won the USSR Cup last year, and this season she was third in a similar competition. In April, Irina performed excellently in the Italian city of Rimini at the junior European Championships, and in April she received a bronze medal for the first time at the adult national championship. The reserve on the team is 15-year-old Kiev resident Oksana Omelyanchik.
The men's team is headed by 17-year-old Muscovite, Merited Master of Sports Dmitri Bilozerchev. Last season, he surprised the gymnastics world with his sparkling skill, winning both the European Championships, the USSR Spartakiad, and the world championships. A student of coach Alexander Alexandrov, he not only won the all-around in Budapest but also won 3 more gold and 2 silver medals. Dmitri has healed his injury and performed his championship program at the last control evaluations.
At the 1983 world championships, Vladimir Artemov from Vladimir won the gold medal on the parallel bars. This year, the 20-year-old student of Viktor Firsov became the USSR all-around champion for the first time. Volgograd resident Alexander Pogorelov also competed in Bucharest, where he won silver for his routine on the parallel bars. Recently, the 22-year-old army man won the USSR Cup for the second time in a row.
The rest of the gymnasts are the debutants of the team: 21-year-old Minsk resident Yuri Balabanov and Lvov resident Stepan Martsinkiv, and 22-year-old Alexander Tumilovich from Vitebsk. Senior coach of the men's team Leonid Arkaev believes that all members of the team will be able to compete for the highest honors in Olomouc. The substitute is Yuri Korolev from Vladimir.