A brief history of those who have fallen in Soviet and Russsian gymnastics history
Gymnastics genius rarely goes hand in hand with consistency. When I say 'rarely', you need to take that in context; there are myriad gymnasts who had the difficulty, originality and virtuosity to become legendary, but who never won the Olympic or World all around title. Then there are the few whose names appeared at the top of the roster. They are generally the ones whose consistent light shone all too briefly, like a firefly on the horizon, at precisely the right single moment that mattered.
They all make mistakes. Mistakes are human. Mistakes are also life blood to learning. There is not one gymnast ever in the history of gymnastics who did not fall. Not only do gymnasts need to fall to be able to continue to develop and learn, falls also often define competitions and memories.
In 1989 the new life rule came to stay in all around competition, emphasising the importance of staying power on the day. Not falling has since become even more important, with the introduction of the three-up-three-counting format for team finals.
Those flawless moments of perfection are often what the public remembers, but memory is also often formed when the fallible nature of gymnasts comes to the fore.
Olga Korbut's legend was founded on a fluffed bars routine that reduced her to tears and played on the public's heartstrings. She never defeated her more reliable compatriot, Liudmlla Tourischeva, in major international competition, but her renown is generally greater.
1980 Olympian Natalia Shaposhnikova was notoriously inconsistent.
Now hear this, team mate Elena Naimushina, judged to be the most reliable beam worker on the 1980 team, would sometimes be woken at 3 am in order to demonstrate her beam routine - and she could do it without error. 1992 Olympian Tatiana Lyssenko began every workout with an early morning, first thing, full performance of her beam routine. Such are the tough measures that create consistency- it's a reality in gymnastics.
1982 World Cup and 1983 World Champion, Natalia Yurchenko, admits that she found consistency incredibly difficult. She hit on the two occasions that really mattered.
Elena Shushunova, 1985 World Champion, fell twice on bars on her way to her first major all around gold. She fell again on bars in the 1987 European Championships. But at the 1988 Olympics, where Shushunova again won gold, she scored '10' on her best apparatus - bars - not once, but twice.
Long time Queen of gymnastics, world champion x times, Svetlana Khorkina was notoriously unreliable. She would either shine like an asteroid or plummet like a stone. There was no middle way.
Arguably the best Russian Olympic team, 2000, lost an almost certain gold when both Elena Zamolodchikova and Ekaterina Lobaznyuk took falls from beam. Zamolodchikova, who had a legitimate shot at AA gold, fell during her floor routine the following day to end out of the medals. It didn't stop her from winning gold on floor and vault though ...
I could go on, and on ...
But what is clear is - falls are part of gymnastics and that will never change. Competition formats may alter, but falls do not have to define a gymnast - they are merely part and parcel of the sport. Gymnasts who fall are not 'headcases', they are merely human beings having a bad day, or learning their skills. And very difficult skills they are, too. Let's give them a little credit for what they do, instead of label them for what they don't!
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