CANADIAN
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REPORT GYMNASTICS REPORT - OLYMPICS 1968 By WI LL Y WEI LER Nationa l Coach The first of the three trial s to selec t five men and five women gymnasts to represe nt Canada in Mexico were held in Ottawa in June. The competition was well orga ni ze d. Thirteen senior competitors in the men 's competition fought for the places: the women a lso had a stiff competition with nine seniors in the tri als. The second tri a l was in conjunction with the Canadian cha mpion ships in Quebec C ity in July . The number of both women and men had increase d in the senior class over the year before. Gilbert Larose proved to be the steadiest gymnast by winning the title of Canadian champion. Sandra Ha rtle y was the women's champion for 1968. Immediatel y after the competition the eight bes t men a nd th e 10 best women took part in a two-week tra ining camp held a t the Universit y of Ottawa's summer camp. The girls were instructed by th e nation a l coach Mrs. Ma ril yn Savage a nd the men were tra ined by Will y We ile r the nationa l men 's coach. It proved to be a fruit fu l tra ining pe riod but it should ha ve been later in th e year since its main purpose was as preparation for the Olympics. The women had another training period after the last tri a l but the men were not able to because it would necessi tate requesting more leave of abse nce. A final tria l was he ld in Toronto in August to select the five men and five women to represent Ca nada in Mexico. The competition was a tough one especially for the 5th pl ace on the men 's team. The men selected were: Gi lbert La rose of Montrea l, Sidney Jen se n of Montreal, Roger Dion of Quebec C ity, Ba rry Brooker of Toronto and Steve Mitruk of Ha milton who edged out Rick Kin s men in what proved to be a very close and inte resting du al competition for 5th place. More than a month passed before I was able to see the men 's tea m again since they could not get together for tra ining. The team arrived in Mexico on the 29th of September. Training sta rted the next day. We were a ll otted a da ily three-hour work-out schedule , which we did not a lways completely use s ince some tea m members found it difficult. Barry Brooker unfortun ately injured himse lf the seco nd aay and had difficulty training from then on . As we had on ly five instead of the usual six members on our tea m I was a little worried. If Barry had been unable to compete I would have been forced to pull out one more tea m me mber as a country is only allowed to compete with three individuals if it can 't produce a full tea m. Ba rry howe ve r did compete. He was still not recovered from hi s injury and was unde r much pressure with the awarene ss th at eac h of the member's scores mu st be counted towards the tea m total , so Ba rry did not sco re too we ll. Roger Dion a lso see med unable to perform as well as hoped. Ou r compulsOlY program at the competition was weak in comparison with most of th e European countries. The optional competition was sati sfactory. We began with pa ra llel bars and made a fair showing. The next event (high ba r) had a few frightening moment s when Gilbert Larose, our las t competitor up , pelformed flawl ess ly right up to the dismount where he released hi s grip too late , did a fly12
away di smount but st ru ck hi s leg on th e bar. The following eve nt s - floor , sid e ho rse, rings , and va ulting he performed und er seve re pain. G il proved him se lf to be a tough and re li able competitor. Three qu arters of a point prevented him from recei ving an F .I. G. pin. The pin is awarded to the gymnasts who pelform a 9.0 average in Ol y mp ic or World competitions in recognition as a world class gy mn ast. Sid Jen se n, the younges t gy mnas t on the tea m, did a fine all-around competition and was the second best on the Canadian team mi ss ing the 9.0 average by onl y 2.4 points. A surpri singly steady perfo rma nce was shown by Steve Mitruk in thi s his first big internation al meet as a sen ior. S teve shows much promise fo r the future. Transportation to training sites was quite sati sfactory . All our tra ining was don e at the competition building, to which regular bus se rvice was run . However, tra nspo rt ation for the officials from th e ir vill age was ve ry poor. The facilities were for the most part sati sfactory. T wel ve of us- gy mn asts a nd cyc lists we re toget her in an apartment. This proved to be a strain on tempers on the odd occasion. Mea ls were very good. Security in our building which hou sed variou s nation s was a lmost nil. The last two weeks th at we were there the vi llage was opened to the public to a certa in degree. Therefore, it was necessary for each country to make so me a rra nge ment s for the sec urit y of its building. Canada did not do thi s a nd , consequently , ma ny items were stolen from the rooms. Thi s shou ld be remedied at future competitions . Some of the 1964 re port recommendations
were followed through. There were fo ur offic ia ls acti ve in judging. However, th ey were not finan cially or materially aided by th e Oly mpic Association . F ay We il e r, Mari a Medveck y. Albert Dippong, and Jacqu es C houin a rd dese rve gre at credit for their fine showing in judging. The biggest step towards internat iona l recognition has been achieved as our judges proved to be well qu al ifi ed and did an excellent job. It is recommended that Canada ~end full gymnast ic team s to internationa l meet s, i.e. 6 me n, 6 women , plus I s pare each . Most tea ms in Mexico had 2 spa res. With a sixth me mber Ca nada would have had the chance to beat some cou ntries. With only 5 members it is too di ffic ult. In order to co mpete in the next Olympics we must ha ve some dual matches aga inst European teams during the next 4 years. Our biggest achieve ment, especially wit h only 5 competing gy mn as ts , was to have atta in ed fo r the first time a tea m total of over 500 points. I wo uld like to credit a ll the competitors for th e ir cooperation a nd behavior throughout the entire stay in Mex ico. They worked well togeth e r a nd trained industriou s ly. It made me please d a nd proud to be th eir coach .
MEXICO OLYMPICS - 1968 By SANDY HARTLEY Women 's N ationa l Champion Wh at a thrill to be an Olympic athlete' My most exc iting moment s came during th e actu a l Olympic Ce remonies, a nd Co mpetition . There