Randomly scanning Youtube for items of interest, I came across this video of 1990 World Cup All Around Champion and 1992 Olympic Beam Champion, Tatiana Lyssenko.
'The beam obeys me' is one of the most memorable quotes by a champion gymnast. Lyssenko pronouced this some years before she won the beam gold medal in Barcelona and performed this rhythmic, well balanced routine at the 1993 World Championships in Birmingham, UK. She went on to take the bronze medal all around in a closely matched competition behind Romania's Gina Gogean and USA's Shannon Miller. She was a remarkable gymnast : as precise and powerful as Podkopayeva but with the spontaneity and line of Omelianchik and a haughty pride that was all her own, Lyssenko is one of the most underrated gymnasts of that time. If only the Ukrainians could produce her like once more.
It was a time of change for gymnastics. Not only had the team of the Soviet Union (well, technically, the hastily assembled Commonwealth of Independent States) competed for the final time at the Olympics the previous year, but also a brand new Code of Points had been installed, drafted for the first time in the English language as its native tongue. For many years the Code had been 'owned' by the Russian language. Rumours have it that the first fully translated version of the Code only reached the various East European camps weeks before the championships began. Under the circumstances, Lyssenko's bronze was probably worthy of a super-gold reward, hampered as it was by an apparent backlash against the dwindling power of the former Eastern bloc nations.
The 1993 World Championships were a dog leg in gymnastics history where a corner was turned towards a more athletic model. The Soviet Union's cultural model of the sport had dominated, more or less, for 40 years. The positive legacy of artistry and great performance is now gradually dimming.
When will we see the next turning point?
'The beam obeys me' is one of the most memorable quotes by a champion gymnast. Lyssenko pronouced this some years before she won the beam gold medal in Barcelona and performed this rhythmic, well balanced routine at the 1993 World Championships in Birmingham, UK. She went on to take the bronze medal all around in a closely matched competition behind Romania's Gina Gogean and USA's Shannon Miller. She was a remarkable gymnast : as precise and powerful as Podkopayeva but with the spontaneity and line of Omelianchik and a haughty pride that was all her own, Lyssenko is one of the most underrated gymnasts of that time. If only the Ukrainians could produce her like once more.
It was a time of change for gymnastics. Not only had the team of the Soviet Union (well, technically, the hastily assembled Commonwealth of Independent States) competed for the final time at the Olympics the previous year, but also a brand new Code of Points had been installed, drafted for the first time in the English language as its native tongue. For many years the Code had been 'owned' by the Russian language. Rumours have it that the first fully translated version of the Code only reached the various East European camps weeks before the championships began. Under the circumstances, Lyssenko's bronze was probably worthy of a super-gold reward, hampered as it was by an apparent backlash against the dwindling power of the former Eastern bloc nations.
The 1993 World Championships were a dog leg in gymnastics history where a corner was turned towards a more athletic model. The Soviet Union's cultural model of the sport had dominated, more or less, for 40 years. The positive legacy of artistry and great performance is now gradually dimming.
When will we see the next turning point?
Comments
Post a Comment