Sovetsky Sport. April 22, 1984. The men competed in the individual event finals on the last day of the tournament.
As a rule, the individual apparatus finals are attended by true virtuosos, who have their own twists in their routines and who achieve the utmost complexity on their favorite apparatus and strive for originality.
Take 22-year-old Igor Lebedev from Vilnius. He was only 12th in the all-around. But on floor exercise he demonstrated unique tumbling combinations - a double somersault with two twists, and in the second diagonal (!!) a double layout somersault. Eduard Gevorkyan from Yerevan and Yuri Porplenko from Simferopol also performed rich routines on the floor. Such brave guys from our second echelon "move" gymnastics forward, force the leaders not to stand still, to adopt everything that the "specialists" are learning on individual apparatuses.
Merited Master of Sports Boris Shakhlin, a membedr of the FIG technical committee, said it well:
"In Donetsk,we were able to analyze the training of notonly the strongest gymnasts, butalso the so-called middle-level athletes. In general, the level of skill performance of the young people has clearly increased, which now allows them to achieve strong stability on this technical basis. Eighteen out of 72 participants fulfilled the standard of Master of Sports International Class - and this is with more stringent judging than international ones. You know, this figure is impressive. In fact, this is a triple national team! yes, we have a choice of gifted guys. And it's gratifying that so many high-class masters are vying for the main team. Not everything is going smoothly, of course, even for leading athletes. Many started the season for the first time, and gaps were discovered in technical and psychological preparation, roughness was also visible in compositional structures. However, these shortcomings can still be corrected..."
Needless to say, in the finals some athletes tried to rehabilitate themselves for a mistake in the previous days. Let's say, Chelyabinsk resident Rodion Gabitov, who failed on the high bar in the all-around final, now performed brilliantly on this apparatus. He succeeded perfectly in both the Delchev somersault and the original "spinner" on one arm. A triple salto topped off his unusual routine.
Now let's listen to a statement by Vladimir Safronov, Master of Sports International Class and silver medalist of the 1974 world championships:
"Despite the abundance of high scores, most gymnasts have not yet reached their peak form.It feels like the guys have untapped reserves. I was most impressed by Yuri Balabanov's performance, who pleased me with his stability; Vladimir Artemov, who has practially no weak points; and Stepan Martsinkiv, who has three impact events - parallel bars, pommel horse, and high bar, where he has the most modern routines. I believe these three gymnasts can be included inthe main team (however, Artemov's candidacy is in no doubt). Mikhail Kokorin, Alexander Tumilovich, and Valentin Mogilny also made progress."
It seems like difficultyis growing by leaps and bounds. A triple somersault in a dismounton the rings and high bar is almost a "compulsory" element. Perhaps we will soon see a triple somersault on the parallel bars, although it's more likely that someone will perform a double somersault with a twist first. Great progress is noticeable on floor.
Yesterday the winners in individual events for women were: O. Kondratieva (Minsk) on vault; O. Mostepanova (Moscow) on uneven bars; N. Ilienko (Alma-Ata) on beam; O. Omelyanchik (Kiev) on floor.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
50th USSR Individual and Team championship in gymnastics. Donetsk. 20 April.
Men. Event finals. Half the sum of the compulsory and optional rounds, plus final score (in brackets).
FX: 1. I. Lebeved (Labor Reserves) - 19.325 (9.8); 2. E. Gevorkyan (Trud) - 19.3 (9.7); 3. Yu. Porplenko (Dinamo) - 19.275 (9.8).
PH: 1. V. Artemov (Burevestnik) - 19.425 (9.8); 2. M. Kokorin (Dinamo) - 19.075 (9.65); 3. R. Gabitov (Trud) - 18.85 (9.5).
RG: 1. M. Kokorin - 19.45 (9.8); 2. E. Gevorkyan - 19.075 (9.6); 3. P. Sut (Trud) - 19.05 (9.5).
VT: 1. M. Barinev (Army) - 19.35 (9.75);2. Yu. Porplenko - 19.35 (9.7); 3. G. Stepanyan (Spartak) - 19.15 (9.625).
PB: 1. V. Artemov -19.45 (9.75); 2. R. Gabitov - 19.0 (9.45); 3. A. Tsirulnikov (Trud) - 18.875 (9.45).
HB: 1. R. Gabitov -19.55 (9.9); 2. M. Kokorin - 19.445 (9.8); 3. E. Gevorkyan - 19.425 (9.75).