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Baby Shushunova - Beam, 1982

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Lupita sent me this link to a beautiful quality video of young Elena Shushunova on the beam in 1982, all beribboned and full of Shushunova's trademark concentration.



Shushunova is a legend of the sport - an innovator (just look at that full twisting double back dismount) who combined power with great fluidity and harmony (that arabesque was peerless throughout her career). Her artistry on floor belied the idea that a gymnast needs to be slender and long to have good line, and her expression went beyond a big smile to encompass something more - the 'emotional depth' her coach, Viktor Gavrichenkov, referred to at one point.

She was World, European and Olympic all around Champion, World Cup champion, and World Student Games Champion (winning all five golds in the form of her life in 1986). She contributed something new to all four pieces of apparatus, and evolved visibly throughout her career.

One day, I will publish something substantial about Shushunova that can attempt to convey the breadth of her contribution to the sport. In the meantime, I will provide here a link to her floor routine in the 1988 Olympics. A routine of great emotional power, and one that comes from one of my favourite Olympic gymnastics competitions ever.



I love Shushunova, and hope that one day I will remember a Russian gymnast at the London Olympics with similar affection and awe.
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