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The Lost Generation of the Olympics: Gymnastics and the Holy Grail

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Once upon a time, there were six little girls ...

The little girls became gymnasts, and the gymnasts became Champions - but never Olympic Champions.

Politics got in the way. 'Their' Olympics, the 1984 Los Angeles Games, disappeared as their country boycotted the Games for political reasons. History vanished. They became a lost Olympic generation.

Irina Baraksanova



Tatiana Frolova



Natalia Ilienko



Olga Mostepanova



Natalia Yurchenko



There was one exception. Elena Shushunova went on to compete at a second Olympics, becoming All Around champion at the Seoul Games in 1988



The 'little gymnasts' (in fact they were extraordinary athletes) competed at the Oloumoc Friendship Games instead of the Olympics. At these Friendship Games, Olga Mostepanova became Champion in the AA, Floor, Vault and Beam, scoring an unequalled total of 40 in the All Around; a level of perfection never seen before or since. There is very little video of this competition available, and what does exist is very poor quality. This competition is known to gymnastics fans as the 'Holy Grail' of gymnastics.

Some video of the 1984 Friendship Games



The Russians are not threatening a boycott of the 2016 Olympic Games. Nevertheless, if their gymnasts missed the Games this year it would be for political reasons outside of the gymnasts' control. Clean athletes would be suffering because of political games, history would once again disappear. In gymnastics, few, if any, of the athletes - particularly the women - ever get a chance to compete at a second Games. And history is irreparably damaged as Olympic potential vanishes into thin air.

Irina Baraksanova, born 4 July 1969, Tashkent. Soviet national team 1983-86 0 Olympics
Tatiana Frolova, born 26 April 1967, Bryansk. Soviet national team 1980-85 0 Olympics
Natalia Ilienko, born 26 March 1967, Alma-Ata. Soviet national team 1980-84 0 Olympics
Olga Mostepanova, born 3 January 1969, Moscow. Soviet national team 1984-87 0 Olympics
Natalia Yurchenko, born 26 January 1965, Norilsk. Soviet national team 1980-85 0 Olympics
Elena Shushunova, born 23 April 1969, St Petersburg. Soviet national team 1984-88 1 Olympics
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Comments

  1. Anonymous21 July 2016 at 20:38

    "Now let all these foreign pseudo-clean sportspeople sigh with relief and win their pseudo-gold medals in our absence," Isinbayeva wrote on Instagram
    John

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous22 July 2016 at 15:04

    Political boycott also took away the greatest American male gymnast chances of winning Olympic medals. Kurt Thomas won silver in AA at 1979 worlds. He also won gold medal in floor event final and in horizontal bar event final. Finally he also won silver in parallel bars and in pommel horse while helping team win bronze. He also has a gold in floor in 1978 worlds.

    Todd

    Let's hope cooler heads prevail in this current situation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22 July 2016 at 15:31

      Just wanted to include/add Thomas did compete in 1976 Olympics but won no medals. His greatest shot for medals was in 1980 which US boycotted.

      Todd

      Delete
    2. Queen Elizabeth23 July 2016 at 12:24

      I haven't even begun about this generation of Soviet gymnasts - all game changers who influenced the direction of the sport. Should do a parallel post with the work of such all time greats as Balabanov, who was just so underrated because of his lack of Olympic exposure. Hey ho - very busy just trying to keep pace with what's happening today :-)

      Delete
  3. D.V.22 July 2016 at 20:13

    Gymnastics needs Russia

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous23 July 2016 at 08:02

    Ugh. I understand there are a million reasons why this was never going to happen - and it might not have made some people any less bloodthirsty - but I really wish Russia would've cut their losses on the 60+ track athletes and moved on. They're (still) trying to make them into the big martyrs and that was NEVER going to happen with the level of drug use uncovered in that program.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous24 July 2016 at 10:28

    I think the ban would be ok . Sports are basically finished as we know them & like the markets after sanctions they never come back. Sport will limp on without Russia but its the end of the international era. Its time we loked at what is taking over the world.Sport is just a diversion.

    ReplyDelete

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