Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

The 1974 World Championships , held in Varna, Bulgaria, were all about Ludmilla Tourischeva. As reigning 1970 World Champion and 1972 Olympic Champion, she took four golds, a silver and a bronze here, affirming her status as Queen of Gymnastics. She medalled on every event. Just look at her bars routine if you want confirmation of her genius - around 6.30 - the twists sparkle with perfection, the routine composed for beauty as well as complexity. The brooding presence of coach Vladislav Rotstorotsky intensely observes Tourischeva's finest competition. The Soviet WAG team took 13 individual medals here, grabbing all the honours available on beam and floor. Of the six competing team members, only Nina Dronova failed to secure an individual title, but she still had her gold from the team competition. Watch out for extracts from the floor routines of Elvira Saadi, Olga Korbut, Rusudan Sikharulidze, Nina Dronova and Ludmilla Tourischeva. The only gymnast not shown is Nelli Kim, w...

It's hard to believe that it is now 36 years since Nadia fought Nelli at the Montreal Olympics, since Maria unveiled that trademark cheeky charm, since Ludmilla broke her heart and Olga broke ours. The sport has come a long way since those heady days. Turn the clock back another 36 years and we pre-date the beginning of the 'new' era of gymnastics that began with the entry of the Soviet Union into Olympic competition in 1952. In that sense only, the sport was still in its infancy. Just think of all the twists and turns since. Gymnastics was on the cusp of an acrobatically led revolution. Just look at the bars routines of Saadi, Tourischeva and Grozdova and compare them to those of Filatova, Comaneci and Korbut. Comaneci looks well ahead of the field on bars, but Nelli Kim soars ahead on floor and vault. This video reminds us that Comaneci's victory in Montreal was not as emphatic as the legend may lead us to believe: her floor is unsophisticated and relatively ...

The book arrived on Thursday and I couldn't wait to get started on it.  It's also too large to fit into my handbag, so I won't be able to take it to Berlin, and therefore have the perfect excuse to read it now.  Which I'm doing in my typical butterfly manner, skipping from section to section, from back to front to middle in no particular order.  This ease of reading is facilitated by the author's style, in which the main central thread is his stream of consciousness, leading to the feeling that you are involved in a rather one-sided conversation with your loquacious long-lost Russian (or Ukrainian?) uncle full of stories of his rich life in gymnastics. I'm not even going to attempt a full review of the book until I've had a chance to read it through twice or three times as there is much to absorb, and sometimes what is left unsaid leaves you feeling you haven't quite got the point.  There are some intriguing cliff hangers in the book, especially a brie...