Maria Filatova – the first ever picture taken of her doing gymnastics! By kind permission of Maria Filatova Kourbatova My first memory of Maria Filatova is a little girl with huge, white ribbons in her hair, so tiny she seemed to have to stand on tiptoe to be able to see over the balance beam. At 4’ 6” tall, she was the smallest competitor at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, yet she was already part of the Soviet senior team, competing alongside such established stars as Ludmilla Tourischeva, Nelli Kim, Elvira Saadi and Olga Korbut. The ‘Siberian Sparrow’, trained in Leninsk-Kuznetsk by Innokenty Mametyev since a very early age, celebrated her 15 th birthday on the 19 th July 1976, the day of the team final. That night, she slept with her first – not her last - Olympic gold medal beneath her pillow. For all her cuteness, Maria Filatova was a fearsome gymnast and competitor. If the crowd were awed by the pyrotechnics of Romanian technician Nadia Comaneci, they we...
I hope Komova wins the AA gold in Rio...
ReplyDeleteJohn
She has the talent and the skills to do it, but it will come down to physical health and especially mental stability. I hope she does it!
ReplyDeleteShe is the BEST gymnast ever.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely deserves the AA Olympic gold.
Hi! According to today's news from Valentina Rod. Aliya Mustafina maybe will compete at Stuttgart before RC http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20160226/898690992.html
ReplyDeleteI hope she wins the Gold in Rio!! She is truly, the best gymnast in the entire world. Yes, I know Simone is great, but I'm rooting for Viktoria!
ReplyDeleteKomova has the talent sadly I don't think she has the mental strength to back it up. What the Americans do so well like what the Soviets did back in the day was hit. As it currently stands Komova cant do a single beam routine without wobbles and major breaks.
ReplyDeleteshe has it all
ReplyDelete