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GYMNASTICS IN THE US SR
By James Riordan
Gymn astics in Ru ss ia did not beg in w ith Olga Korbut - alth o ugh she has don e m o re than anyon e to foc us att ention upo n th e sport. It goes back wthe eMlies t da ys of organized spo rt in tsari st Russia . A ~ we d e , d e Pauli , ope ned th e fir st G ymna sti cs In stitut e i n SI. Pete rs!.J urg ba ck in 1B30; th e sport w as offi ciall y reco mm e nd ed to ' the nobility as " extremel y ben eficial for health and hygiene. " , Just as th e German Gymnastics Turnvereine, th e Czec h Sokol and th e Scand in dvian gy mna stics m ove m ent s of th e 19th century w ere at te mpt s to rege nerat e th eir peop le after mi litary di sasters, so Ru ss ian gymn as tics w as int end ed to refurbi sh th e Ru ssian ari stocrJcy, es peci all y after the Crimean War. The f irst gymna st ics circl e came into being in ~1. Petersburg in 'IU63 and was fo ll owed th e sam e yea r !.J y th e fam o us Palma Gymna s ti~ s So ciety w hi c h soon had bran che s in li ve oth e r c iti es. In 1Bbtl, th e Mosco w Gymna sti cs Soc iety w as fo rm ed and m et in .I larg e hall on 1 sve tn o i Ho ul eva rd (no w dd ays th e D ynamo Club Gy illn as ium - w he re Ludillilid Turi scheva train s). Pyo tl Les ga ft , th e! ' fath e r ' o f Ru ss ian ph ySl( .II education , introduced gymna stics on the Pru ss ian mod e l into th e Mill y in 1tl74 and , sho rtl y aft e r, establi shed gymna stics cou rse s fo r arm y o ffi ce rs and , in 1896, for civilians . first nation al federatIOn l o r an y sport - th e Russian G ymn asti cs Socie t}' w as cr eat ed in 1tltlJ, o n th e initi ati ve o f seve ral soc ial reform e rs, in c luding th e wr it e r A nt o n Ch ekho v; he ex pr essed th e hope , ch eri shed b y many intellectuals , that the Society's m em!.Jers w ere " the p eopl e o f th e futur e .. . th e time w ill com e wh en eve ryo ne w ill be as stro n g and fit ; th ere li e th e nati o n 's ho p es and hap pin ess." A s e lsew he re in ~ul o p e , gymn .tsti cs bec,lIn e til<' ba sis 0 1 ph YS ical ed u( .lIion in sch oo ls, althu ug h th ese we re confin ed to a sm.dl p ru purtiolt 01 th e popul,lilon,
soci al liberation o f w o m en and th e defense requir e m ent s. It wa s b eli eved , too, to sa ti sfy th at d es ir e fOI d higher artistic quality which w as w orth y of th e li be rat ed man and wo m an of th e first wo rk ers' stat e. M ass gymna sti cs di spl ays in th e 1920' 5 - no t to be co n f used w ith th e d irec ted ad ul ato ry parad es of th e '1930 's we re b ecomin g in crea singl y p o pul ar: some 1B,000 p eopl e, 10 1 exa mpl e, too k PMt in a vast
NEWLY WEDS
taken from "Sport in the USSR" l. KUlESHOV
photo by V. Safronov
The
lh ere ar e lour 10 1111> o f gy mnd sti cs )J UpUldl in th e USSR: "sp o lt i ng gymn as ti cs', " drti sti c g ymn as tIC s Ic all sth e nl c s)' ' dthl e tl c gymnastics " (body-budding) and " pro duction gymna stics' (ph ySl( "I l' xercise at wu rk ). 'I he fir st - "sportin g gy mna st ics" is refe r red tu in thi s articl e . With it s narro w base am o ng th e ari stoc ra cy .lIld spurr ed on b y th e ri sin g indu striali sts, gymn as ti cs had becom e po pul ar enu ug h .It th e turn 01 th e ce ntUl Y fo r a team to be s(!ntt u th e Ol ympi cs 01 191 2 and act uall y wi n Ill c ddl s. 1 he RU SS ian Revo lution o f 'l 'i'l 7 bro ug ht th e hopes of C hekhov nearer reali za tion. Leriin him sell wa s an ene rge ti c prop u n ent u f ph ys ic.d lit nes s; whd e III d SI. Petersburg pri soll he had w rttt en that he di d "gymn asti cs w i th g redt pl easUi e Jnd valu e every day " (Lc llin 's it ali cs) . He an-d other re volutionari es had often stressed the rol e o f gymna sti cs in th e new social ist state as contributing to the harmonious all -round developm ent of ever y individual: " Youn g peop le," h e w ro te, " need a zest for li ving; h ea lth y sport - gymnastics, swimming, hiking, all mann e r o f physical exerc ise - should be combin ed as much as possible with a va riety of intellectu al inte rests that w ill gi ve youn g peop le ... hea lth y mind s in healthy bodies. " gymn as tic s In thl' b ro ddes t sen se Ull<krld Y th e ph ySic al cultUi e ( all1p alg n: Hesid es requ irin g lilli e equlpnH,' n t u tiw i than th e " bes t pro letartan doc tUI S - Ih e su n , air and w dte r ", it was SUita b le as .I me diulll lu r su c i.d 1J0 l ieies such as the fitn ess an d h yg ien e ca mpaig n, th e
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Th ey say that all ha ppy famii iesa re ali ke. For thi s part icul ar famil y the road to ha ppin ess bega n in th e Ce ntral Russ ia n City of Vladimir. Th e co mbin ed ages of these newly-weds is onl y 40 years. Bo th ot th em are stud ents, bo th are gymn asts, both are we ll known in th e sportin g wo rl d and bot h are holders of Ol ympi c titl es. Th eir names - Lyu bov Burd a and Niko lai Andria nov! 1 he wil e, however, has th e edge on her hu sband who " on ly" wo n his first Ol ympi c gold medal in 1972. Lyubov's troph y co ll ection cont ain s go ld medals fro m both th e M uni ch and M exico Olympics, her first Olympic gold co min g at the age 01 15. Her ad mirers will long remember th at hot summ er da y in 19&7 whe n th e frai l-look in g and relati ve ly unkn ow n lass from Vo ronez h stepped on to th e winn er;' rostrum hav in g ga in ed third place in th e USSR Nat ional Games. Th e yea rs passed and her maturin g ta lent brou ght new success. But she has neve r let it go to her hea d and still works as hard as ever. Th at is why she has rema in ed a gymn astic star of th e first mag nitud e.
Niko lai Andri Jnov I,,'st made a name fo r himself in th e sportin g wo rl d at the 1971 Europea n Champi omh ips in Madrid. Altho ugh he onl y we nt as a rese rve, he ca me ba ck with a bronze medal in th e combi ned exe rcises and cha mpionship titl es in some 01 th e indivitiu,li events. ~in ce th at tim e he has won considerab le renow n fo r ~o v i e t sport by hi s Ilum e r o u ~ Vi c to ri es . As you Cd n see, then, th ese two youn g peo pl e alread y have a grea t record ot success behind th em. On e can only hope that th eir lamil y li fe will be equa ll y blessed by good lo rtun e. gy mn asti cs di spla y .1 t th e new Red St.1dium to mark th e o pe nin g 0 1 th e Second Cu ng re ss 01 th e 1 hird Int ert hltl o ndl in '1920. Lun.1 chdrsky, th e c...o mmJ ssJr 0 1 ~ nli g ht me nt , in vit ed Isad u r.1 iJu nC,l n to So viet Ru ss id in '192'1dnd h elped her se t up her o w n dc.t d emy in Moscuw (s he act uall y lOok ~o v l e t citiLenshi p , marri ed th e po et Yes e nlll and und o ub tedl y h.td d con sid erabl e Inllu enee on th e d eve lo pm ent of
"arti stic gymnasti cs" , although she o nl y stayed two years). Gymnastics, nev ertheless , had it s opponents - largely becau se of it s association with foreign systems, its nationalistic overtones ffrom the old Pan-Sla vist Sokol move m ent) and its lack of " team-work " . Som e antagonists, no tabl y the "h ygi enists ", argu ed th at it wa s irrational and pot entiall y injuriou s to m ental and ph ys ical health , encoura ging indi vidual rath e r than co ll ectivist attitud es and, hence, aga in st the soci ali st ethic. Du e to " hygi eni st" influ e nce in edu ca tion , gymn as ti cs w as barred from school s. Oth er opponent s, th e Pro letk ultists, rej ected all organized 'sports that emanated from bourgeoi s socie ty as re mn ant s of th e d eca d ent past and refl ection s o f d ege n erate bourg eois culture. A fr es h start had to be mad e through the "revolutionary innov ation of proletarian physi ca l culture " , w hi c h would tak e th e form of " labo ur gymna sti cs" and mass pagea nt s. G ymn as ti cs and it s ' bo urgeoi s' equipm ent would b e repl aced b y va riou s pieces of apparatus in which young people cou ld pracll ce th e ir ' Iabour mo ve m e nt s' . The First 1 rade Un ion Gam es, in 1925, ex cluded gymna stics, along w it h football , bo xing and w e ightlifting - even though these w er e th e four mo st popular pursuits o f th e itm e. With the onset of rapid industriali zation at the end of the 1920' s, however, opponents to gymn as ti cs w ere swe pt away (so m ellm es lit e rall y) and , by a resolut ion of '1933, it b eca me th e ba sis of th e sports mo ve m ent and of ph ys ical educ ation in sc hool. It w as u se d , too , as a cultural m edium to draw sport sm en into the orbit of culture, being linked to ballet and other forms of cultural expression. The aes th eti c va lu e o f human m ove m ent s e ngend e red in gymna stics was th o ught to be synonymous with that which emanates from art at it s b es t; a new and dynam ic cultural force wou ld emerge through graphi c symbolization of gymna stics, ca li sth eni cs , th e dan ce and ma ss formation-di splays, as In th e n ewl y-fo und ed Sp art aki ad s. By 1940, gymna stics wa s fourth among sport s in regi stered numb er of participants. Although no Sovi et spo rtsm e n (apart from chess Grandma ster s) to ok part in 'bourgeoi s intern ational tournam ent s pr ior to th e war , it is asse rt ed that , b y '194'1, So viet gymn ast s had allain ed Ih e top w o rld stand ards in tec hniqoe and res ult s.lhey did no t co mp ete aga in st for eign 'bo urge oi s' g ymn as ts, in as much as no Sovie t sport s asso ciation was affiliat ed to an y int e rnational fed e ration, Sov iet sport s po li cy largely b eing conducted thro ugh the Int ernationa l A sso ciati o n of Red Sport sGymnastics Organi zation which viewed " ph ys ical culture, gymna stics, gam es and sport as a m ea ns o f pr o letari an cl ass stru gg le and not an end in th e m se lves ." Alt er the w ar, circum stan ces and po lici es chang ed radicall y and th e So viet G ymn as tics ,Association affiliat ed to FIG in 路194B. ~o v iet gymnasts made .their international debut at the 1952 Ol ympi c G am es, winning 9 go ld m edals and both the team and indi vid ual titl es for men and w o men (a success repeated in '1956). The gal axy 0 1out standing g ymn asts wh o alte red th e w ho le compl ex ion of th e sport durin g th e 1950 's in c luded such stars as Galina Sh amrai, ~ o li a Murato va, Polin a A stakhova and Lari ssa Lat ynina among th e wom en , and Vi c tor Chuk arin , Hori s )h akhlin , Grant Sh agin ya n and Yuti 1 itov among th e m e n. Since th en, Soviet gymnasts have not monopolized th e sport t6 the same ex te nt ; Japanese m en and Czechoslovak and East German women have com e to the for e. Nonetheless, particularly
GYMNAST Apr. '74