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Compulsory floor exercise 1985-1988

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A few of you have commented how much you love the compulsory floor from the 1985 cycle.  I've done my best to find videos of as many performances as possible.  Please do feel free to comment on their merits below.  This post is for the sheer hell of enjoying beautiful gymnastics. Some of the gymnasts may be repeated from one competition to the next, but take time to watch closely and see how their work varied and improved. This is the very essence of gymnastics.

Please also post links to videos missing from these sequences if you can - this posting is far from complete. It is sad to see how the quality of the video has deteriorated, some without sound even. In ten years' time, will there still be a record of this remarkable cultural heritage?

1985 World Championships

Natalia Yurchenko



View it on Youtube.

As Ludmilla has mentioned, it's impossible at the moment to find the routines of Baraksanova, Mostepanova, Shushunova, Omelianchik and Kolesnikova.

1987 World Championships

Svetlana Baitova



View it on Youtube.

Oksana Omelianchik



View it on Youtube.

Elena Gurova



View it on Youtube.

Tatiana Touzhikova



View it on Youtube.

Svetlana Boginskaya



View it on Youtube.

Elena Shushunova



View it on Youtube.

1988 Olympics

Natalia Laschenova



View it on Youtube.

Olga Strazheva



View it on Youtube.

Svetlana Baitova



View it on Youtube.

Elena Shushunova



View it on Youtube.

Elena Shevchenko



View it on Youtube.

Svetlana Boginskaya

View Svetlana Boginskaya's routine on Youtube.

In the absence of any Mostepanova, I am posting herewith a video of her unrepeatable compulsory beam from the 1985 World Championships



View it on Youtube.

There are many also who would argue that Romania's Daniela Silivas's interpretation of this compulsory floor was amongst the best. I post her 1987 rendition here for the sake of comparison.



View it on Youtube.

My motivation for attending my first world championships was to see a complete team of six Soviet gymnasts perform all their routines, including compulsories. I was prepared to spend more than I could afford, and give up almost all my holiday entitlement, to enjoy the privilege. It was worth it, and I hope these videos have made even just a few people happy.

With thanks to all the various Youtube posters who take the time and trouble to make these available to us.
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Comments

  1. Christina5 December 2011 at 19:49

    It may be heresy on a blog devoted to Russian gymnastics, but Daniela Silivas's compulsory floor from the 88 Olympics is still my very favourite thing I have seen in gymnastics, ever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lee19 August 2021 at 07:20

      Couldn’t agree more!!! Poetry in motion and absolute perfection!

      Delete
  2. Queen Elizabeth5 December 2011 at 20:11

    O:-) The routine was choreographed by a Russian. Silivas recorded a ten for this exercise. She was certainly at her best in 1987 and many people would agree her routine was the best.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9 June 2014 at 19:19

    Call me crazy but I thought many of the Romanian gymnasts did this routine better than most of the Soviet gymnasts from that era. On the other hand, the 89-92 compulsory floor routine was choreographed by the Romanians but I personally thought the Soviets did that routine better than the Romanians! And of course, I'm speaking in broad generalities.

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