Sovetsky Sport. July 1, 1984. The big gymnastic competition has ended at the Luzhniki Sports Palace. After the USSR Cup, the tournament participants competed for awards at the USSR championship in individual events. Gold medals were won by: Yuri Korolev from Vladimir (FX), Stepan Martsinkiv from Lvov (PH), Yuri Balabanov from Minsk (RG and HB), Mikhail Barinov from the Moscow region (VT), Alexander Pogorelov from Volgograd (HB), Olga Mostepanova from Moscow (VT and BB), Natalia Ilienko from Alma-Ata (UB), and Irina Baraksanova from Tashkent (FX).
When there is a contest between gymnasts in the individual events, the picture of the most striking achievements on a particular apparatus immediately becomes clear. Here, the main roles are played, so to speak, by narrow specialists who cannot prove themselves in all-around competitions but, having their crowning appearance, show off unique things.
For example, Mikhail Barinov from the Moscow region, is a student of the young coach Valentin Turbanov, who recently finished competing himself. Twenty-two-year-old Barinov won the top award on the vault for the first time. Here he is an innovator - a handspring and two and a half forward somersaults - is considered a record for difficulty. Of course, soon other gymnasts will master this flight over the horse, but for now the vault performed by Barinov looks very cool.
The gymnastics masters have made great progress in pommel horse exercises. All finalists have the most spectacular and beautiful routines. It's very important to emphasize that they are beautiful, because it's so difficult to come up with anything original on such a "conservative" apparatus. But they came up with it! And our gymnasts hold the lead in this innovation.
Stepan Martsinkiv won here for the first time, thanks to coach Evgeny Paitra, who led his other student, the Olympic champion Makuts to the USSR Cup. If Makuts has lost a little freshness, then Martsinkiv is clearly progressing, rising to the top from season to season. Merited Master of Sports Sergei Diomidov, himself (1966 world champion on the parallel bars) said that at one time he never dreamed of such an unusual modification of his element.
Alexander Pogorelov had no luck on the last day - he made a mistake on the pommel horse, on the rings, and on the parallel bars. And, surprisingly, he became very agitated. Is is possible that he, who won the USSR Cup, would be left without a championship medal? Then he told me that before going to the high bar he was afraid of falling again. But suddenly he remembered his tiny son Sasha, who was born on December 31, and imagined him asleep in his small crib at a late hour, and immediately calmed down. His high bar exercise was amazing. 9.95 - first place!
For the girls, in addition to the winners, I will note the performances of 15-year-old Anzhela Schennikova from Izhevsk, a student of Galina Sazonova. She has excellent balanced routines on bars and beam.
On the floor, Marina Kalinichenko from Frunze showed a so-far unique acrobatic move - a piked double somersault with a twist. In general, the work of coach Galina Dolgopolova deserves praise. She used to have a strong gymnast in Elena Nikolaetseva and now she has Kalinichenko.
The junior European all-around champion, Irina Baraksanova, finally competed on the floor. As the famous choreographer from Kishinev, Larisa Robu, noted, she achieved a sucessful alignment of difficult acrobatics and choreography. Everything resulted in the the harmony that gymnasts should strive for.
I would like to speculate further on this topic. Sports live on the spectators. The performances of athletes is always festive when the stands are completely filled. The experience of the spectators is an additional emotional stimulus for the competition participants. But in Luzhniki there was no contact between gymnasts and fans due to the half-empty stands. Have Muscovites really stopped loving gymnastics? Also, there are clearly not enough local coaches there. Perhaps someone is on vacation or working at sports camps. But specialists have a lot to learn from the masters of the platform.
TECHNICAL RESULTS
44th USSR Championships in gymnastics in the individual events. Moscow. 29 June.
Men. Half the sum of the compulsory and optional programs plus the final score (in brackets).
FX: 1. Yu. Korolev (Vladimir) - 19.175 (9.6); 2. A. Tikhonkikh (Leninsk-Kuznetsk) - 19.075 (9.55); 3. M. Kokorin (Moscow) - 19.05 (9.6)
PH: 1. S. Martsinkiv (Lvov) - 19.55 (9.8); 2. A. Tumilovich (Vitebsk) - 19.225 (9.65); 3. P. Sut (Minsk) - 19.2 (9.65)
RG: 1. Yu. Balabanov (Minsk) - 19.7 (9.9); 2. S. Martsinkiv - 19.35 (9.7); 3. V. Samofalov (Minsk) - 19.225 (9.65)
VT: 1. M. Barinov (Moscow region) - 19.275 (9.7); 2. A. Morozov (Moscow) - 19.125 (9.575); 3. Yu. Korolev - 19.125 (9.575)
PB: 1. Yu. Balabanov - 19.6 (9.9); 2. Yu. Korolev - 19.525 (9.8); 3. V. Artemev (Minsk) - 19.275 (9.7)
HB: 1. A. Pogorelov (Volgograd) - 9.7 (9.95); 2. Yu. Balabanov - 19.525 (9.8); 3. A. Tumilovich - 19.425 (9.75)
V. GOLUBEV