Category: World Championships

1966: Voronin Remembers His All-Around Victory at the World Championships

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date January 12, 2023
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What does it feel like to be in the lead after the first day of competition? And what does it feel like to hang onto that lead to win the all-around title?

In his book, Number One (1976), Mikhail Voronin recounts what he was thinking and feeling during the World Championships in Dortmund, where he won the all-around title.

In addition to insights into his inner state, Voronin’s autobiography provides a few details that were not reported widely at the time. For example, the Soviet team had a new coach on the floor during the optional competition in Dortmund because the other coach was too nervous during the compulsory competition. And there are gossipy tidbits like this one: Sergei Diomidov had a fight with his coach before the 1966 World Championships, which made him want to quit the sport.

Below is a translation of the first chapter of Voronin’s book.

Note: The first chapter of Voronin’s book was translated into Estonian for the newspaper Spordileht (published January 4 and 6, 1978), and I have translated the chapter from Estonian into English.

Datum: 20.09.1966 Copyright: imago/ITAR-TASS Dortmund. The world competitions in gymnastics. Mikhail Voronin (first place, UDSSR, C), Tsurumi (second place, Japan) and Nakayama (third place, Japan).

1966 Books Czechoslovakia MAG World Championships

1966: Czechoslovak Coverage of the Golden World Championships in Dortmund

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date January 11, 2023
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At the 1966 World Championships, the Czechoslovak women’s team finally defeated the Soviet team, and Čáslavská won the all-around title, defeating Kuchinskaya, who reportedly stated before the competition, “I will share the medals with Čáslavská!”

Stadión, a Czechoslovak sports magazine, dedicated several pages to the competition. The article’s tone was blunt in places. It criticized the complacency of the Czechoslovak men’s team, as well as the judges during the women’s event finals and Villancher’s interventions in the judging.

Note: Berthe Villancher, the President of the Women’s Technical Committee, was known for her interventions. For example, she intervened during Čáslavská’s beam routine at the 1968 Olympics and during Tourischeva’s beam routine at the 1969 European Championships.

It also provided interesting tidbits of information. For example, there were spies at the competitions in Czechoslovakia before the World Championships; the Czechoslovak pianist may have been the key to victory; and the Czechoslovak gymnasts’ shoes were believed to have magical powers.

1962 Czechoslovakia Interviews & Profiles MAG World Championships

1962: A Profile of Přemysl Krbec, the Last Czechoslovak MAG World Champion

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date January 7, 2023
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At the 1962 World Championships, Přemysl Krbec of Czechoslovakia won the gold medal on vault. This was the last time that a Czechoslovak gymnast was a world champion in men’s artistic gymnastics. Since there hasn’t been much written about Krbec, I translated a profile that was published after the 1962 World Championships in Prague.

Like many gymnasts, gymnastics was not his first love. Even though both his parents were gymnasts, he loved soccer.

Heads-up: Holub, the author of this profile, tended to be a bit fanciful in his profiles of gymnasts.

1962 MAG Perfect 10 WAG World Championships

1962: Czechoslovakia’s Coverage of the World Championships in Prague

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date January 5, 2023
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In 1962, Prague hosted the World Championships, and, all in all, it was a successful competition for Czechoslovak gymnasts. On the women’s side, the team finished second, and Čáslavská defeated all the Soviet gymnasts except for Latynina in the all-around. She also was the gold medalist on vault and the bronze medalist on floor, while Bosáková was the gold medalist on beam and the silver medalist on bars. On the men’s side, the team took home bronze, and Krbec won gold on vault.

Here’s what the Czechoslovak weekly sports newspaper Stadión reported. As we’ll see, there were 10s being thrown out by individual judges. (No gymnast received enough 10s to receive a final score of 10.) At the same time, the newspaper noted that there were some “thoughtful mistakes” by the judges, but it did not dive into what those mistakes were.

Even if you don’t read the text below, enjoy the photos. Stadión was a highly visual periodical.

1966 Books Czechoslovakia WAG World Championships

Čáslavská’s Reaction to the 1966 Worlds in “The Road to Olympus”

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date December 7, 2022
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Even though Čáslavská won the all-around and vault titles, and even though the Czechoslovak team defeated the Soviet team, the 1966 World Championships were still a low point for her — one that she hardly remembers. When she returned home from the competition, she received many letters, some of which were hate mail.

What follows is a translation of The Road to Olympus (Cesta na Olymp), Čáslavská’s 1972 autobiography. Here’s how she remembers Dortmund…

Note: You can read the main article on the 1966 World Championships here.

(GERMANY OUT) Die tschechische Kunstturnerin Vera Caslavska auf dem Schwebebalken, aufgenommen bei den Kunstturn-Weltmeisterschaften in Dortmund am 24.09.66. . (Photo by Schirner/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

1958 Books Czechoslovakia WAG World Championships

Čáslavská’s Early Years in “The Road to Olympus”

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date December 6, 2022
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In 1972, Věra Čáslavská published her autobiography, The Road to Olympus (Cesta na Olymp). It provides a detailed recounting of her early days through the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

As a child, Čáslavská was a mischievous and funny child. Though a performer at heart, she struggled with stage fright until her mother helped her work through it, and as an adult, she came to see it as an asset.

Čáslavská started with ballet, then added ice skating, and finally found gymnastics. Initially, she trained under Czechoslovak gymnastics legend Eva Bosáková, and when Bosáková was away with the national team, Čáslavská used to sneak into the gym to train. Given her relationship with Bosáková, Čáslavská found it difficult to beat her mentor.

From the start, the international crowd loved Čáslavská. At the age of 16, during her first World Championships in 1958, Čáslavská wowed the audience in Moscow — so much so that the public demanded a performance by Čáslavská, even though she didn’t make the floor finals.

Below, I’ve translated sections of Čáslavská’s autobiography, tracing her early years in sports through to her first World Championships in Moscow in 1958.

1970 Gym Nerd Trivia World Championships

1970: Gym Nerd Quiz about the World Championships

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date October 19, 2022
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If you’re reading this site, you’re a gym nerd at heart. Now, it’s time to see just how much of a gym nerd you are. Take the quiz below to find out how much you know about the 1970 World Championships.

To study, you can review the posts on the 1970 men’s competition and the 1970 women’s competition.

1970 Hungary World Championships

1970: The World Championships from a Hungarian’s Perspective

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date October 18, 2022
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The Hungarian delegation’s reaction to the 1970 World Championships is fascinating. As you’ll see in the articles below, they envied the organization and financial resources of the top countries, and after a sixth-place finish for the women and an eleventh-place finish for the men in Ljubljana, they certainly would not have predicted the future: a team bronze medal in women’s gymnastics at the 1972 Olympic Games.

In addition, the second article raises an astute question: Had the era of long careers in women’s gymnastics ended? It’s a question that would re-emerge in several articles during this time period.

What follows is a translation of two articles printed in Békés Megyei Népújság on January 6 and 7, 1971. They were written by József Lukács, who would go on to become the Hungarian women’s head coach from 1983 to 1989.

Copyright: imago/Frinke Vorstellung der Turnerriegen

1970 Romania World Championships

1970: Reflections on Romanian Gymnastics after Worlds in Ljubljana

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date October 16, 2022
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At the 1970 World Championships, the Romanian women’s team took 5th place while the men’s team took 8th. Afterward, Constantin Macovei, a reporter for the Romanian sports periodical Sportul, wrote a series of reflections. He criticized the unfair judging in Ljubljana and praised the women’s program for being on track, particularly Ceampelea and Ioan.

As for the men’s program, Macovei provided several concrete suggestions, including scheduling matches that will push the gymnasts rather than give them a guaranteed victory. In addition, he looked forward to the performances of upcoming gymnasts like Adrian Stoica, who would one day become the President of the Men’s Technical Committee at the FIG.

1970 WAG World Championships

1970: The Women’s Competition at the World Championships

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date October 13, 2022
1 Comment on 1970: The Women’s Competition at the World Championships

The 1970 World Championships are often overshadowed by Čáslavská and Kuchinskaya’s rivalry in 1968 and by Korbut’s pyrotechnics in 1972. But the competition in Ljubljana was exciting in its own right.

First, there was the changing of the guard. Czechoslovakia was once the Soviet Union’s biggest rival. But East Germany assumed that position in 1970, and at one point in the competition, it seemed like East Germany might win team gold.

Second, the all-around competition was thrilling. The title was Karin Janz’s to lose, and well, unfortunately, she ended up losing it during the final rotation.

Let’s take a look at what happened…