Sovetsky Sport. April 19, 1984. The women's team of the Armed Forces won gold medals: Olga Bicherova (Moscow), Elena Shushunova (Leningrad), Irina Baraksanova (Tashkent), Natalia Ivankova (Minsk), Lilia Kharisova (Alma-Ata), and Martynenko (Lvov). Going into the all-around final, Muscovite Olga Mostepanova still retains the leading position.
The day of the optional program turned out to be quite varied in events - there were both top scores and disappointing falls from the apparatus. And all this, of course, influenced the team dispute: the teams chasing the six Army gymnasts either approached them or fell behind.
The national championship gave us many pleasant moments that day. Three athletes received 10, and all three on vault. By the way, it was for the Yurchenko vault that is coming into fashion. It ranks high on the difficulty scaleand, with its beautiful flight and precise landing, it is impressive. Elena Shushunova, Vera Kolesnikova from Voronezh, and Olga Kondratieva from Minsk performed their vaults no worse, probably, than Natasha Yurchenko herself, who is not competing due to an injury.
Zhanna Kozulina from the city of Khmelnitsky, showed such a vault for the first time in world: a forward handspring onto springboard to a piked front salto (9.9). Even though her run up is not quite perfected yet, the judges encouraged her daring and innovation.
For Olya Mostepanova, the world champion on the beam, this favorite apparatus suddenly turned out to be "naughty." While performing, Olya suddenly lost her balance and jumpedoff the narrow blade of the beam - 9.2. Meanwhile, Shushunova earned 10 points on the vault and, of course, took the lead.
In turn, Elena, Also on her signature evcent (uneven bars), made a lot of mistakes, and the score came out very modest - 9.05. Mostepanova shone on the floor with her famous Grenada, in an elegant and dramatic production by Elena Kapitonova, and the most difficult acrobatic movements were a success for her. A 9.9, and now Olya didn't give up the lead to anyone.
All our leading gymnasts, carefully preparing for this season, have modernized or completely updated their exercises. Not everyone has yet managed to achieve maximum purity of performance and stability. For example, last year's world team champions Olya Bicherova, Albina Shishova, and Tatiana Frolova from Bryansk entered the optional program with breakdowns. They did not have the same confidence. True, Frolova made fewere mistakes, but there are still some shortcomings. Bicherova, as always, tried very hard to make contact with the audience. This is important for her - then inspiration comes to her. But this did not happen this time. The falls upset her,and she even cried a little, butit was a momentary weaknedd. At the end of the evening, Olya told her coach Boris Orlov: "Don't worry, the final is still ahead."
Ira Baraksanova, an eighth-grader from Tashkent, was really on a roll. She started studying with Valentina Yakovleva only in the second grade (according to today's witnesses, it's very late!), but now everyone can see how unusually gifted this little girl with the beautiful lines is. Ira's technique is so advanced that it has allowed her to create some of the most complex routines in the world. It sseems that there are no elements in modern gymnastics that are inaccessible to Ira. Baraksanova's routines are meaningful and harmonious on all apparatus.
The performances of world champion Natalia Ilienko from Alma-Ata and young Kiev resident Oksana Omelyanchik also left a pleasant impression.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
50 USSR All-Around and Team championship in gymnastics. Donetsk. 17 April.
Women. Sum of compulsory and optional programs. 1. O. Mostepanova (Dinamo) - 77.5; 2. I. Baraksanova (Army) - 77.05; 3. N. Ilienko (Dinamo) - 76.9; 4. E. Shushunova (Army) - 76.75; 5. V. Kolesnikova (Spartak) - 76.65; 6. O. Omelyanchik (Spartak) - 76.25; 7. T. Frolova (Trud) - 76.15; 8. O. Bicherova (Army) - 75.85
Team results. 1. Army 1 - 379.1; 2. Dinamo 1 - 377.5; 3. Spartak - 377.2; 4. Trud 1 - 374.1; 5. Dinamo 2 - 366.8; 6. Zenit - 364.5
V. GOLUBEV