SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
THE lAND OF
By John Arends Photography By Dave Black
he 1988 Summer Olympics came to Seoul, South Korea, the "Land of the Morning Calm." But in the center of the city's serenely beautiful Olympic Park, the competition in the Gymnastics Hall brought both calm and controversy, spectacular athletics and spirit-sapping politics, perfect tens and imperfect judging. Consider the contrasts:
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The calm, icy demeanor of Soviet women's coach Anatoli Rodioencko and the infectious enthusiasm of American coach Bela Karolyi. The porcelain beauty of Romania's Aurelia Dobre, masking the pain of a visibly scarred knee, and the fierce, focused concentration of Elena Shoushounova. The calm, seamless swing of Vladimir Artemov, scoring the first perfect 10.00 of the 1988 Olympics on compulsory parallel bars, and the bottled intensity of teammate 26
Dmitri Bilozertchev, slapping the pommel horse into submission for another 10. The surging talent of the American women's team and the struggle of the U.S. men, battling the worst draw of the meet and an off day by Olympic veteran and team captain Scott Johnson. The steely professionalism of American judge Jacki Fie, facing off against the stormy presence of East Germany's Ellen Berger, whose intervention robbed the U.S. women of a bronze medal.
When the chalk dust settled beneath the sky-blue canopy ceiling of the Gymnastics Hall, and calm returned, the men and women from the Soviet Union had written another superlative chapter in the history of gymnastics. And the United States had opened a new era in its history - an era where a new standard of interna-