Sovetsky Sport. December 7, 1985. When, before the world championship in Montreal, experts named the likely contenders for the crown of all-around champion, the name of 20-year-old Silvio Kroll was not mentioned. They only talked about his possible claims to awards in the individual events, say, vault, where the young and rapidly progressing gymnast had already achieved success both at Friendship-84 and the 1985 European Championship in June in Oslo.
Few people imagined that Kroll would compete with the best all-around athletes in the world. Silvio passed the compulsory round smoothly (almost with the highest score) and firmly took second position after Vladimir Artemov!
An accident? A coincidence? Not at all. The team competition ended, and Kroll rose even higher - going into the all-around final he shared first place with the same Artemov. Thanks to such a brilliant performance by its leader, the GDR team won bronze medals for the first time at a world championships.
Yes. Kroll became a true all-arounder. In the final, he fought courageously, and although our Yuri Korolev and Vladimir Artemov beat him, the third place of the tall blond gymnast from the GDR was regarded by everyone as an undoubted success.
Kroll presented another surprise on the day when medals were awarded on the individual events. It wasn't on the vault that he shone, but on the parallel bars and the horizontal bar. He shared the gold medal on the parallel bars with Valentin Mogilny, and on the horizontal bar he lost only to the Chinese gymnast Tong Fei.
How did you get into gymnastics?
I attended a kindergarten in Lubben, a small town near Cottbus. One day a coach appeared and asked the kids to do some simple exercises. Apparently, they didn't turn out so bad for me. In any case, I was invited to the gymnastics section of the training center, where my first coach was Guido Janz, the father of our Olympic champion Karin Janz. I studied with him from 1971 to 1975. Then I began training with Fred Newmann and in 1979 I won the junior GDR championship.
Did you think you would do well in Montreal?
Frankly, I devoted all my attention to working out my program on pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. I was calm about the vault, but it turned out the other way around. I felt confident in the all-around event, but the vault was a little off and I didn't make the apparatus final.
At the European Championship I was fourth and made a significant mistake on the high bar during the dismount, and in Canada I managed to reach the bronze medal. In general, I'm not on good terms with the high bar yet. It seems that my routine isn't difficult enough. But once at a France-GDR match I received a 10 on this very event. Of course, I'm very happy about gold on the parallel bars. Although such aces as 1983 world champion Vladimir Artemov, Tong Fei, Xiong Zhiqiang, and Koji Gushiken performed here, Valentin Mogilny and I managed to get ahead of them. I'm impressed by Mogilny's extraordinary ease of execution.
Who's rooting for you?
My parents and younger brother Marco always come to competitions and cheer me on.
What sport do you like besides gymnastics?
I like to watch athletics and swimming competitions. I think shooting is an interesting activity. I admire the shooters' ability to cope with nervous tension.
How do you spend your free time?
In this sense, I'm not very different from others. I love modern music, I go to discotheques, I also enjoy reading, and I study at the Institute of Physical Education.
Do you feel your popularity?
I do. I've started giving a lot more autographs. And young gymnasts look at me with different eyes. I would be glad to contribute to their progress by my example.