The following year she competed at the World Sports Fair, taking the AA gold with, by her standards, watered down routines. Sadly she was not named to the Soviet Olympics team and her competitive record then runs dry - does anyone know any more?
In the picture, taken in 1985, Elena would have been only twelve years old. This was the first time that I saw her compete at international senior level, at Wembley in the Champions All competition.
Elena trained in Moscow at the same CSKA club as Elena Shevchenko, Olga Chudina and, later, Anastasia Grishina. She shared the same meticulous approach to her technical elements, was especially powerful on bars and beam and is one of the gymnasts credited as having competed the double twisting Yurchenko first. Her coaches, Viktor and Irina Razumovsky, still work at the same club today and look after one of Moscow's leading gymnasts, Daria Mikhailova.
You can watch Elena's 1987 floor routine here.
This young woman was SPECTACULAR in the 80s ... on youtube, check out her performances at the 1987 Chinichi Cup and Tokyo International. I thought for sure that she would be the next World Champion on floor -- so few gymnasts were doing such difficult tumbles. Alas, it just wasn't in the cards. Please let her know that gymnastic fans in the US really respect her efforts and remember her still.
ReplyDeleteStratovich will take a surgery in Germany as soon as posibel according to Alfosov and Rodionenko , Ivan will miss Russian Nationals and Euros http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170121/1115218505.html and Nagornyi will start full trainings only in the end of january http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170121/1115219527.html
ReplyDeleteI had once read that she had a brief stint with judging. But apparently she was said to now be an office employee of some sort in Moscow. But that was a while ago. Who knows what she is doing now.
ReplyDeleteShe was so good from 1984 to 1987 but after that, she really seemed to struggle with growth and body changes. Still, she left a great body of work.
I thought her first international appearance was in 1984 at the DTB Cup. She also competed in Druzhba that year finishing second to Silivas (due to Gurova having a poor beam routine).
ReplyDeleteLove this photo. The Black and White of Shushunova was wonderful. I too would cut out any scrap of information about the Soviets from the time of Olga Korbut. I did not know what gymnastics was before 1970 Olympics.
ReplyDeleteWould subscribe to Euro gymn mags, it looks like the newspapers in Britain did much more on the Soviet Tours even before the two boycotted Olympics.
Have been painting and doing computer graphics of Natalia Frolova, Baraksanova and Ilyenko and Shaposh for a number of years. So glad for the gymnternet to see these performances again and again and again.
I love Queen Elizabeth's comments on grace and artistry. It seems like they have tried to destroy all the emotion in all the arts. The Guardian has an article online about a book called The CIA and modern art. Art Renewal, the most visited museum online for realistic art has some great articles on this subject to do with the visual arts.
https://www.facebook.com/Movement-Works-Studio-470457819669706/
Linda, your art is beautiful and I have shared your page on RRGās Facebook site. Do you ever sell your art?
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