Lioudmilla Tourischeva, 1972 Olympic All Around champion in artistic gymnastics, was held up as an example of the ideal Soviet citizen. Here she coaches one of the Soviet Union's leading gymnasts from the 1980 Olympics, Natalia Shaposhnikova The Soviet Union had a genius for lifting sport beyond the textbook, injecting the aesthetic where previously only goals had been in plain view. This was not only manifest in gymnastics. Do you remember the ‘Russian Five’, the players who elevated ice hockey to a creative sporting display, mesmerising their opponents and spectators with intricate patterns of play, so rhythmic and entertaining that they could have been set to music? In gymnastics, a sport where the aesthetic counted as much as the outcome, it was this ability to create spectacle out of competition that resulted in the most extraordinary athletic performances. The ‘Golden Era’, most commonly understood to cover the years from 1952-1...
Nice little interview. I always liked her.
ReplyDeleteHere is an interesting interview with Aliya and it seems her dad as well. If Lupita ever gets a chance to translate it that would be great :), even if it's only Musty's parts. From what I understand from google translate she had back pain from middle of february and all of March. Also seems she was to only do vault and UB. However, I am not sure.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link http://summer.sport-express.ru/gymnastics/reviews/24055/
Sad story to her as both her parents are dead and she is an only child but she has turned out really well, she's soo pretty. What an enjoyable gymnast she was to watch
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