Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

No sooner had I posted yesterday's chronicle of the best women gymnasts of the Olympics than I received a request for a similar collection of the men. So here is a look at the wonderful Soviet men, focussed through the lens of the Olympics. Remember that what you are seeing here, particularly from the early 1980s through to the early 1990s, is but a fraction of the entire body of Soviet gymnastics. The women were always outstanding, but at their best the men were absolutely phenomenal. 1952, 1956 - Viktor Chukarin Chukarin was all around Olympic Champion at two consecutive Olympics, winning four medals at each and leading his team to gold in both. In 1952 his team mate Grant Shaginian took another two golds for the Soviet team; while in 1956 Albert Azarian went home with a gold on rings. Videos of individual routines are thin on the ground, but here is a brief documentary of Chukarin at work, demonstrating some of the heroic personal and gymnastic qualities for which t...

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This weekend my friend Tracey said to me that she felt that Nabieva’s stoop Tkachev-Pak combination, performed on Saturday at the World Championships for the first time, was quite possibly the most revolutionary moment in gymnastics history since Korbut stood on the top rail of the asymmetric bars in Munich and premiered her unique loop. Those of us of a certain age will remember Korbut’s impact on the sport and the tidal wave of admiration and affection she evoked. Most speak of her amazing ability to communicate and perform, of the unique charm and charisma she projected through her floor routine, of the astounding back somersault on beam. But it was perhaps on bars where her genius shone most brightly. Here she was an amazing innovator and risk taker. The trajectory of that loop is still imprinted in my brain and I have a visual image of it as I speak to you now. Few have had the courage to attempt it since; Mukhina, of course, added a twist, but that was more than thirty yea...