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A few reflections on Zaglada's Journey from East to West

The book arrived on Thursday and I couldn't wait to get started on it.  It's also too large to fit into my handbag, so I won't be able to take it to Berlin, and therefore have the perfect excuse to read it now.  Which I'm doing in my typical butterfly manner, skipping from section to section, from back to front to middle in no particular order.  This ease of reading is facilitated by the author's style, in which the main central thread is his stream of consciousness, leading to the feeling that you are involved in a rather one-sided conversation with your loquacious long-lost Russian (or Ukrainian?) uncle full of stories of his rich life in gymnastics.

I'm not even going to attempt a full review of the book until I've had a chance to read it through twice or three times as there is much to absorb, and sometimes what is left unsaid leaves you feeling you haven't quite got the point.  There are some intriguing cliff hangers in the book, especially a brief section on the talents of Viktor Gavrichenkov which is rather frustratingly cut off mid-stream as he is said to be working on top secret stuff for the London Olympics at present.  I do like it though when Russians go all James Bond.  Is it me or is there subtle humour in all this ...

The book's undercurrent is Zaglada as a deeply sociable individual who has befriended many people on his journey through gymnastics.  A few unsung heroes get their moment of glory here, including choreographer Yelena Kapitonova, whose name is familiar to me but about whom I've known next to nothing till today.  His profiles and discussions of heroes and anti-heroes are punctuated with words coming direct from their mouths, so we hear Elvira Saadi's personal advice for gymnastics coaches, and a long interview with Kapitonova.  Zaglada rates both of these women as having reached the very top of their professions.  There are also appraisals of the work of Yuri Titov, Viktor Chukarin and Zaglada's own coach during his career as a sports acrobat, Alexei Chernyavy.

Through all this Zaglada seems to follow my mother's advice: 'if you can't say something good, say nothing'.  Leonid Arkayev and Vladimir Aksyonov (Olga Mostepanova's coach) are characterised as 'contradictory' characters; Arkayev is given significant benefit of the doubt and the author acknowledges that he was never particularly close to him.  Vladislav Rotstorotski (coach to Ludmilla Tourischeva, Natalia Yurchenko and Alla Shishova) was a 'very kind and caring person'.

There is an example of a political struggle within the Soviet team in the 1980s.  An anonymous 'denunciation' made on the 26th March 1986 against Soviet Junior National Coach Anatoly Kozeev and coach to Svetlana Boginskaya, Liubov Miromanova describes Boginskaya as 'mediocre' and alleges minor acts of corruption.  1986 was the year Boginskaya was crowned Junior European All Around Champion.  The denunciation makes reference to a critical article in Soviet political newspaper 'Soviet Russia', which was the then official press organ of the Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation.  I would love to get into this more deeply to try to understand the various pressures and perspectives, and who were the key protagonists.

My first sighting of Svetlana Boginskaya was in a photo story about the Soviet junior team that appeared in Soviet Sport magazine in about September 1984 (I need to rifle through my loft to find the exact bibliographic details).  I never guessed till today that this  narrative of 'Svetlana Boginskaya's Tsukuhara' (the title of the article) and its analysis of the working relationship between Kozeev and Miromanova was part of a poisonous dialogue that could have resulted in foreshortened careers for both coaches and gymnasts.  The moment I heard Boginskaya's name and read that article I sensed that she would be amazing and felt I had privileged access and information on the development of a new champion.  It's an insight into what was not only powerful international PR for the Soviet sporting machine, but also internal political propaganda.

The book provides a personal idea of the scope of the gymnastics migration from East to West.  There is an epilogue of people who have been important to Zaglada, so many of them now working in the West, having begun their sporting careers in the former Soviet Union. 

I will come back to this title as it merits significant deeper consideration.  In the meantime, enjoy now the floor routine of that mediocre young gymnast, Svetlana Boginskaya, at the International Junior championships in 1985.



Youtube link is here.

Zaglada, V (2010) One Coach's Journey from East to West: How the fall of the Iron Curtain changed the world of gymnastics Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse

See also: 'Coaches and gymnasts of the former Soviet Union'.

Comments

  1. ... I will come back to this title as it merits significant deeper consideration...

    I got some more questions about Ukraine... It's looks like I touched some of them which was really bothered me. Never mind, Queen...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More please ... This comment is too mysterious :-)

      Delete

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