Birthday Champions from St Petersburg- Alexander Detiatin and Elena Davydova

It had somehow escaped my attention that yesterday was the birthday of two Olympic Champions from Moscow, 1980 - Alexander Detiatin and Elena Davydova.  Happy Birthday to both of these amazing gymnasts!

Alexander Detiatin had competed at the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 as part of the Soviet Union's plan to begin to challenge the unbeatable Japanese team.  National coach Leonid Arkayev had faith in him as one of a new generation of ambitious young men, and his plans first came to fruition with a gold in the team event in the 1979 World Championships, the USSR's first since 1958.  Detiatin also made his mark, taking first in the all around competition.  His victory here asserted his leadership of the Soviet team, an incredible feat considering his team mates included such legends as Nikolai Andrianov and Alexander Tkachev.   Then in 1980, he became an international legend when he won the Olympic all around title.

Like Detiatin, Elena Davydova was one of a group of adventurous young gymnasts training to restore Soviet pride.  Her national team had suffered some serious setbacks in previous years - Comaneci's convincing victory in the all around of the Montreal Olympics was one; worse was the team's shock defeat by the Romanians at the 1979 World Championships; worse still was the life-changing injury of 1978 World Champion Elena Mukhina during a pre-Olympics training camp. 

Elena had competed extensively for the Soviet Union at such competitions as the Chunichi Cup and Coca-Cola International, but hadn't appeared at a major event (Worlds, Europeans or Olympics) to date.  Always highly touted by the team coaches, her innovative acrobatics finally earned her a place on the Soviet team at Moscow.  Elena was unique - a modern, acrobatic gymnast who possessed classical form and a dynamic, eye-catching presentation.  She was one of the first gymnasts to perform her floor exercise to orchestrated music, and knew exactly how to use it to best effect.  The Soviets showed the way in this respect, surprising the rest of the world with their grasp of multifarious musical styles,  taking artistry beyond the classical whilst maintaining the essentials.  This quiet gymnast made a significant and memorable impact on the sport.

Elena Davydova - FX, 1980 Olympics All Around



Alexander Detiatin - High Bar, 1979



Both Elena and Alexander trained in St Petersburg.  Alexander was St Petersburg born, while Elena had followed her coach, Gennady Korshunov, from her hometown of Voronezh.   St Petersburg, a candidate city for the 2028 Olympics, has a fine history of artistic gymnastics champions including, most noteably, 1988 Olympic Champion Elena Shushunova.  In the last month another St Petersburg champion, Elena Eremina, has taken gold and bronze medals at the European Youth Olympic Festival - thus underlining the city's proud heritage and current success in the sport of artistic gymnastics. 

Elena Eremina, FX 2015 - Russian Junior Championships



Recently, women's gymnastics has taken centre stage in St Petersburg, but we mustn't forget young Roman Lebedev, who is the subject of this fascinating documentary.  I wonder how he is doing today?