Natalia Yurchenko - I-G.TV profile

I-G.tv has just launched a gallery of Soviet and Russian gymnasts with a profile of Natalia Yurchenko. This is the first in a regular series.  There are some beautiful pictures of Natalia today and in her competitive hey day, a preface by Vladimir Zaglada, and a table detailing most of Natalia's major competitive achievements. 

Vladimir has done a beautifully rendered Russian language translation for I-G.tv.  You can read a Google translation of it in English there if you wish, or view the original below.

Natalia Yurchenko: ‘a synthesis of risk and beauty’

Queen Elizabeth

I will always remember Natalia Yurchenko’s face.  Those brooding, dark eyes somehow expressed a whole rainbow of feeling that I could never put into words.  Yurchenko began her floor exercise that way; eyes cast down, head to one side.  The music animated her gymnastics, at one time emotional but never over-gestured.  Facially impassive and inscrutable, you could read the world in her gymnastics.

World All Around Champion in 1983, Yurchenko combined the lyricism of the 1970s with the adventure of the 1980s.  She personified the values of Risk, Originality, Virtuosity that were embraced by the Code of Points at the peak of her competitive career, but her ultra-difficult routines were performed in an almost painterly fashion.  1968 Olympian Larissa Petrik said it most concisely,

‘Yurchenko is the synthesis between risk and beauty of composition, between

tricks on the apparatus and expressive artistry’ (1984)

Yurchenko’s career spanned three generations of Soviet champions across the 1970s and the 1980s.  Her international career saw her mature alongside greats such as Nelli Kim, Maria Filatova and Elena Mukhina, flower during the early 1980s with Olga Bicherova and Olga Mostepanova, and lead youngsters Elena Shushunova, Oksana Omelianchik and Elena Shevchenko to their eventual triumphs at the 1985 World Championships and, beyond, the 1988 Olympics.   Her first competitive appearances took place at a time when the Soviet Union’s dominance of the sport was threatened by the revolutionary Romanians.  But by the time she retired the 1980s all but belonged to what had become her team.

Yurchenko, born in Norilsk, Siberia, on the 26^th January 1965, was trained by Galina Khasanova through the early part of her career, but moved to the Dynamo Sports Society in Rostov-on-Don at the age of 12 to work with the legendary Vladislav Rastorotsky.   Rastorotsky became like family to the uprooted Yurchenko.   His bear-like physique and somewhat fearsome facial expression belied his philosophy of coaching,

‘People must be treated not only according to the rules, but also according to their soul’ (Tokarev, 1985)

He encouraged his gymnasts to take an active interest in literature and art, accompanying them on visits to art galleries, and welcoming them into his home where they could enjoy his personal library of several thousand books and a warming cup of tea (Shakhin, 1984). 

Rastorotsky, formerly coach to Olympic Champions Ludmilla Tourisheva and Natalia Shaposhnikova, taught Yurchenko that

‘Elements must be executed!  They must be drawn like a picture!  You must seek to draw brilliantly, like an artist’ (ibid)

Yurchenko followed her mentor’s advice closely; the silky quality of her movement often gave the impression that she was working in slow motion, and her performances had an emotional depth that went beyond mere entertainment.  She was the epitome of artistry, but is remembered most frequently for her technical innovations: the revolutionary vault which she created with Rastorotsky, as well as her never-to-be repeated, heart-stopping bars combination of Tkachev to Delchev and her Yurchenko loop across the beam.

A quiet gymnast who never sought publicity, Yurchenko is often forgotten in the story of 1980s gymnastics, despite her pervasive influence.  She was a member of the Soviet team for eight years at a time when leading gymnasts often competed for less than four.   The vagaries of world politics meant that Yurchenko never had the chance to compete at an Olympic Games, yet her contribution to gymnastics was truly Olympian. 

Married to footballer Igor Sklyarov, Yurchenko has one daughter, Olga.  The family has just (August 2011) returned to Russia where they will pursue a new life after more than ten years living in the USA. 

Bibliography and video links

Neue Berliner Illustrierte (1984) ‘The New One’ Neue Berliner Illustrierte 37:1984 accessed at http://www.gymn-forum.net/library.html

Tokarev, S (1985) ‘A Real Coaching Talent’ Soviet Life October 1985 accessed at http://www.gymn-forum.net/library.html

Shakhin, S (1984) ‘Captain’, Smena No 1380, November 1984, accessed at http://smena-online.ru/archive/1984/1380

Soviet television documentary on Natalia Yurchenko, circa 1984, accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKlIRO59YP0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ck-7ENw0ok&feature=related

Chubakova, T (1984) ‘All over again’ Documentary on the role of the coach featuring Natalia Yurchenko, Albina Shishova and Vladislav Rastorotsky, accessed at http://www.net-film.ru/ru/film-8948/?sp=ru&s=%D0%93%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0

Soviet Sport in 1983: Natasha Again (1983) Newsreel featuring Yurchenko and Rastorotsky, accessed at http://www.net-film.ru/ru/film-14090/?sp=ru&s=%D0%93%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0