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1965 1967 Books Czechoslovakia European Championships

Čáslavská’s Remembers the 1967 Euros in “The Road to Olympus”

After Čáslavská’s disappointment in her performance in Dortmund, she debated if she should take a break from competing. Perhaps she had become too familiar to the judges, one coach suggested. (At one point in this section, Čáslavská recalls how the overly familiar Latynina was ignored during a press conference with Larisa Petrik in 1965.)

To make gymnastics exciting again, she and her coach Matlochová reworked all her routines, adding new elements to every routine. They made practice fun, with Matlochová riding a broom and trying to distract Čáslavská during her beam routines. They set her routines and training cues to music.

Čáslavská went on to compete at the 1967 European Championships. But Čáslavská had her doubts at the beginning of the competition. After a rough bar routine during the first rotation and an exceptional performance by Kuchinskaya on beam, Čáslavská was unsure if she would be able to defend her title. But right before beam, one of her superstitions happened. Someone broke a glass, and she had her lucky shards of glass. 

In the end, she became the only gymnast in the history of the European Championships to sweep all five events twice. She even scored two perfect 10.0s during the event finals.

Another interesting tidbit: For someone who ended up on top of the podium many times, Čáslavská disliked being on top of the podium. It made her feel awkward. 

So, with no further ado, here’s how Čáslavská recalls the 1967 European Championships in her autobiography from 1972.

Note: You can read more about the 1967 European Championships here and here.

European gymnastics championships, Vera Caslavska being jockeyed, May 28, 1967, championships, gymnastics, The Netherlands
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1965 Interviews & Profiles USSR WAG

1965: An Interview with Larisa Petrik, AKA Larisa the Second

In 1964, Larisa Petrik, who was 15 at the time, defeated Larisa Latynina at the USSR Championships. It was big news within the Soviet Union. Months later, both Larisas were set to attend the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where Latynina ended up finishing second in the all-around while Petrik was fourth. (Petrik tied for third on beam, winning her first medal at a major international competition.)

As you can imagine, the media enjoyed having two gymnasts with the same name. The Estonian newspaper Spordileht ran an interview with Larisa Petrik, calling her “Larisa the Second.”

What follows is a translation of the article.

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1965 European Championships Interviews & Profiles USSR WAG

1965: An Interview with Latynina before the European Championships

The gymnastics world had many questions for Latynina in the lead-up to the 1965 European Championships.

What did Latynina think about taking second place to Věra Čáslavská at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics? What did she think about taking second place to Larisa Petrik at the 1964 USSR Championships? Did she think she still had a chance to win the European Championships in 1965? What did she think of the current state of gymnastics with its ever-increasing difficulty, as epitomized by Čáslavská?

These are some of the questions that Latynina addressed in an interview printed in the Estonian sports magazine Spordileht on May 14, 1965, right before the European Championships in Sofia, where Latynina finished second behind Čáslavská.

Copyright: imago/United Archives; European Gymnastics Championships, 1965, Sofia, Bulgaria. Pictured on the podium are gold medalist Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia, silver medalist Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union (left), and bronze medalist Radochla of the German Democratic Republic. 22nd May 1965.
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1965 China

1965: Gymnastics at China’s Second National Games

In 1964, the People’s Republic of China did not compete at the Olympic Games, and the Chinese Gymnastics Association withdrew from the FIG. One year later, the country held its Second National Games, and the results make you wonder, “How would the Chinese gymnasts have fared at the Tokyo Games (1964) and the Dortmund World Championships (1966)?”

Let’s dive in.

Liao Runtian
Source: Wikipedia