Category: 1967

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1967 Universiade WAG

1967: The Women’s Competition at the University Games

In 1963 and 1965, the Hungarian team won the team titles at the University Games. They were unable to defend their title because Hungary boycotted the competition in support of North Korea:

The Tokyo 1967 Summer Universiade certainly had its challenges even before the competition started, with the Eastern bloc nations such as the Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Cuba boycotting the Games because of the political dynamics at the time. The first to boycott was North Korea, who demanded that it be referred to as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during the Universiade, a request that was denied. The countries from the East then rallied around their communist ally and also pulled out.

Source:  Spotlight: Remembering the Tokyo 1967 Summer Universiade

Reminder: At other competitions, there was controversy over referring to the German Democratic Republic as East Germany.

As a result, the 1967 University Games were a rather small competition that ended with Japan winning easily over the United States, and Matsuhisa Miyuki winning the all-around comfortably. (Yes, there was a time when the U.S. women sent teams to the University Games.)

Here are the results, as well as a translation of Japan’s Official Report on the 1967 University Games.

Caption: Matsuhisa Miyuki, winner of the women’s individual all-around, with her excellent form on floor exercise (left) and balance beam (right). (女子個人総合で優勝した松久ミユキ選手の床運動 (左)と平均台 (右)のみごとなフォーム)

Source: Japan’s Official Report on the 1967 University Games
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1967 MAG Universiade

1967: The Men’s Competition at the University Games

At the 1967 University Games, the Japanese men were able to repeat the results of the 1963 University Games, where they won every medal possible — the team gold medal and all three all-around medals. But there was one difference in 1967: the Eastern bloc countries boycotted the 1967 University Games in support of North Korea:

The Tokyo 1967 Summer Universiade certainly had its challenges even before the competition started, with the Eastern bloc nations such as the Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Cuba boycotting the Games because of the political dynamics at the time. The first to boycott was North Korea, who demanded that it be referred to as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during the Universiade, a request that was denied. The countries from the East then rallied around their communist ally and also pulled out.

Source:  Spotlight: Remembering the Tokyo 1967 Summer Universiade

Reminder: At other competitions, there was controversy over referring to the German Democratic Republic as East Germany.

In other words, Japan’s biggest opponent, the Soviet Union, was not present. Nevertheless, the competition was important partly because it gave the world a glimpse at Kato Sawao, who would go on to win the all-around at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics.

What follows are the results and a translation of Japan’s Official Report on the competition.

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1967 Japan Universiade

1967: Japan’s Selection for the University Games

In 1967, Japan’s men’s team was coming off three consecutive all-around gold medals and two consecutive team titles at the University Games. (The 1961 University Games did not have a team competition.) Needless to say, the pressure was on the Japanese men to maintain their dominance, especially since Japan was hosting the 1967 University Games.

As for the Japanese women, they sent only two gymnasts to the University Games in 1965, so sending a full team in 1967 was progress. (Spoiler: The Japanese women ended up winning team gold.)

Here’s how Japan selected its artistic teams for the Universiade.

From: Japan’s Official Report on the 1967 University Games
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1967 Interviews & Profiles MAG

1967: Miroslav Cerar, The Last of the Greats

By 1967, Miroslav Cerar had been a major player on the international gymnastics scene for nearly a decade. His first major international competition was the 1958 World Championships in Moscow, where he finished thirteenth in the all-around and third on pommel horse. He was 18 at the time, and as the 1960s progressed, he watched as many of his fellow competitors retired from the sport. In 1967, he was the last of the men’s artistic medalists from the 1958 World Championships to continue competing.

What follows is a translation of an interview that ran in Stadión, a weekly Czechoslovak sports magazine.

Note: The Mohicans were an indigenous tribe from the area that the present-day United States occupy. The title of this article comes from James Fenimore Cooper’s 1826 novel by the same name, the last line of which is, “I have lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans,” referring to Chingachgook. Nowadays, the phrase “the last of the Mohicans” refers to the last survivor of a noble race. I recognize that it’s problematic to call a white European the “last of the Mohicans,” but I can’t go back and change the title of the piece.

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1967 Czechoslovakia Interviews & Profiles WAG

1967: A Profile of Marianna Krajčírová after Her Bronze Finish at Euros

Unlike much of the Czechoslovak team, Marianna Krajčírová was Slovak — not Czech. She was part of the 1964 Czechoslovak team in Tokyo, as well as the 1966 World Championships team that won gold. On a personal level, 1967 was her break-out year. At the 1967 European Championships, she finished third in the all-around and third on bars. Then, at the 1967 “Little Olympics” in Mexico City (essentially an Olympics Test Event), she finished second behind Soviet gymnast Natalia Kuchinskaya.

Here’s a 1967 profile from Stadión on Krajčírová, whose father built her a balance beam to train on at home. Plus, there’s a translation of a short interview with Krajčírová (Némethová at the time) from 1970.

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1967 Czechoslovakia WAG

1967: The Czechoslovak Championships in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics

No surprise: Věra Čáslavská won the Czechoslovak Championships in April ahead of the 1967 European Championships. The big news was that she had upgraded her routines, adding a front handspring to needle scale on beam, as well as a full-twisting hecht dismount from the upper rail on uneven bars.

Let’s take a look at what happened at the 1967 Czechoslovak Nationals.

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1967 Czechoslovakia Interviews & Profiles WAG

1967: Coach Matlochová Discusses Čáslavská’s Preparation for Mexico City

At the end of 1967, Věra Čáslavská was on top of the gymnastics world. She had won the all-around at the 1964 Olympics, the 1965 European Champions, the 1966 World Championships, and the 1967 European Championships. In fact, at the 1965 and 1967 European Championships, she swept the gold medals, and in 1967, she scored two perfect 10s.

But how do you ensure that a golden gymnast stays golden? That was the question that the reporter Robert Bakalář posed to Jaroslava Matlochová, Čáslavská’s coach, in an interview published at the end of 1967.

Note: Matlochová would become a part of the Women’s Technical Committee in 1968.

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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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1967 Japan Training

1967: Training MAG and WAG in Japan

What was it like training in Japan in the late 1960s? How many hours did they train? How was the Japanese gymnastics system set up? Did they use spotting belts?

Let’s take a look…

TOKYO, JAPAN – JULY 14: Kazue Hanyu competes in the Balance Beam during the Artistic Gymnastics Mexico Olympic Qualifying at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on July 14, 1968 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
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1967 Training USSR

1967: Training in the Soviet Union

What was it like to train in the Soviet Union in the 1960s? At what age did they start? What were their gyms like? What did their training manuals look like?

Let’s take a look at some documents from the archives to find out…

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