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1968 Books Czechoslovakia Olympics

Čáslavská on Defending Her All-Around Title in The Road to Olympus

What’s it like to try to defend your Olympic all-around title? At the time of this writing, only two female gymnasts have done it: Larisa Latynina (1956, 1960) and Věra Čáslavská (1964, 1968). Many are betting that Simone Biles will become the third.

Below, I’ve translated a portion of Čáslavská’s The Road to Olympus (1972), in which Čáslavská recalled her quest to defend her all-around title in Mexico City. She discussed everything from the inane questions of journalists to rivalries to intimidation tactics to nerves to bad lighting in arenas to difficulty adjusting to the bars during podium training.

Enjoy this excerpt from her book!

Czech Vera Caslavska performs her routine on the beam at the Olympic Games in Mexico, on October 23 1968. The Czech gymnast won the all around individual title in gymnastics competition in Mexico City. Vera Caslavska, one of the most titled gymnast switched from ice skating to gymnastics as a 15 year-old, and went on to win 22 Olympic, World and European titles. She won three Olympic gold medals in 1964, and four in 1968. (Photo by – / EPU / AFP) (Photo by -/EPU/AFP via Getty Images)
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1972 FIG Bulletin WAG

1972: The Women’s Technical Committee’s Report on the Munich Olympics

In 1972, Berthe Villancher stepped down as the president of the Women’s Technical Committee (WTC), but she gave one final report on the Olympic Games in Munich. 

All in all, she was pleased with the progress on floor and uneven bars. Vault was a different story. She was the most worried about this apparatus, noting that it had fallen into a “rut” and that the WTC would need to study that apparatus closely.

Reminder #1: The WTC followed through. Prior to the 1974 World Championships, the WTC changed the requirements for vault finals — as did the 1975 Code of Points.

Reminder #2: Men’s gymnastics had its own vaulting crisis after the 1968 Olympics.

As for the judging in Munich, Villancher felt that there was partiality shown towards gymnasts with “a name,” and she alluded to the emotional nature of the women’s uneven bars final. 

My thought bubble: The emotional nature of the uneven bars final could be a veiled reference to the tight competition between Janz and Korbut and to what some believed was the impartiality of Sylvia Hlavacek, who, according to the Soviet press, was to be sanctioned after the competition. (If she was sanctioned, it did not last long, as Hlavacek was a judge at the 1974 World Championships.)

Tourischeva, 1972 Olympics
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1975 Code of Points WAG

1975: The Women’s Code of Points

In 1975, the Women’s Technical Committee published a new version of the Code of Points. Below, you’ll find some of the updates, as well as the complete English text.

Happy gym nerding!

In Some Ways, Execution Started to Matter More in 1975.

Compared to the 1970 Code of Points, the 1975 Code of Points put slightly more emphasis on execution, making it worth 5.0 points (rather than the previous 4.0 points).

19701975
Composition of
Exercise		6.00 Total5.00 Total
-Value
of Difficulty*		4.003.00
– Originality and
Value of Connections		1.501.50
– Value of General
Composition		0.500.50
Execution4.00 Total5.00 Total
– Execution and
Amplitude		1.50 for execution
1.50 for amplitude		4.00
– General
Impression		1.001.00

But More Elements of Superior Difficulty Were Required in 1975.

19701975
4 elements of
medium difficulty
(0.50 each element)		4 elements of
medium difficulty
(0.30 each element)
2 elements of
superior difficulty
(1.0 each element)		3 elements of
superior difficulty
(0.60 each element)

Related: According to the 1975 Code of Points, the “final phase should contain an element or acrobatic series of superior difficulty” on floor exercise.

Changes to Vault

  • During optionals, two different vaults had to be performed.
  • During vault finals, two different vaults with turns had to be performed, one of which must have at least a ½ turn. Both vaults must be valued at 10.0 points.
    • In other words, gymnasts could not perform a handspring + front tuck in finals because the vault did not have a turn.
    • They could, however, perform a tucked Tsukahara and a piked Tsukahara because both vaults had turns and were out of a 10.0.
    • Note: This rule was edited in 1978, and the turn requirements were removed. As indicated in the appendix of the PDF below, the updated language stated: “During the Finals the gymnast must perform two different vaults. The counting mark will be the average mark of both vaults.”
  • Reminder: The rules for vault finals had begun to change in 1974.

Notable Changes to Beam

  • Length of the Routine
    • In 1975, the routine had to be between 1:15 and 1:35
    • In the 1970 Code, beam routines were longer — between 1:20 and 1:45
  • Do you hate full turns on beam? You have the 1975 Code of Points to blame! In 1975, a full turn became a requirement.
  • Large leaps or hops also became a requirement in 1975.

As You’ll See…

  • The Code of Points included some aspirational skills. For example, it included a vault entry with a front 1½ salto onto the table.
  • But difficulty in the 1975 Code of Points was largely uneven. For example, the floor section does not include a double full — a skill that was becoming increasingly common.

One More Thing

  • Falls
    • The 1975 Code was more lenient, making a fall a 0.50 deduction.
    • Note: Previously, in the 1970 Code of Points, falls off the apparatus received a 1.0 point deduction.
      • In this sense, the MAG and WAG Codes of Points were in harmony. Both disciplines gave 0.5 deductions for falls.
      • They weren’t in harmony when it came to risk, originality, and virtuosity (ROV). The women’s Code of Points wouldn’t include ROV until 1979. Meanwhile, the men’s Code of Points introduced the concept in 1968.

With No Further Ado…

Here’s the 1975 Code of Points for Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

1975-WAG-Code-of-PointsDownload

More on the Code of Points

1979: The Men’s Code of Points
1979: The Women’s Code of Points
1975: The Men’s Code of Points
1971: The FIG President’s Thoughts on Men’s Optional Exercises
1958: The Men’s Code of Points
1954: The Men’s Code of Points
1971: The Supplement to the 1968 Men’s Code of Points
1970: The Women’s Code of Points
1949: The History behind the First Men’s Code of Points
1958: The Very First Women’s Code of Points
1964: The Women’s Code of Points
1968: Věra Čáslavská’s Beam Score and the Problems with Judging
1968: Villancher’s Commentary on the Women’s Code of Points
1968: The Women’s Code of Points
1968: The Men’s Code of Points
1949: The Very First Men’s Code of Points
1964: Questioning the 10.0 Again
1964: The Men’s Code of Points
1962: Questioning the 10.0
Categories
1975 Code of Points MAG

1975: The Men’s Code of Points

In 1975, the Men’s Technical Committee published a new version of the Code of Points. Below, you’ll find some of the updates, as well as the complete English text.

Happy gym nerding!

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FIG Bulletin WAG

1975: Tsukahara Vault Wins Medals

Pure gym nerdery. That’s what we have here. 

In 1975, the FIG reprinted an article that analyzed three Tsukahara vaults by three gymnasts: Lyubov Bogdanova, Ludmilla Tourischeva, and Alina Goreac. It includes drawings and tables that compare every fraction of a second of their vaults.

Context: Keep in mind that, in 1973, when the aforementioned vaults were performed, Tsukaharas were relatively new. Tsukahara himself performed the vault at the 1970 World Championships. Two years later, at the Riga International, East German gymnast Beate Gehrke did one of the first Tsukaharas in women’s artistic gymnastics. By the 1974 World Championships, Tsukaharas had become commonplace in WAG.

Have fun looking at this document from the archives.

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1974 Romania WAG

1974: Comăneci and Ungureanu Win the Junior Masters Championships

Batman and Robin.
Simon and Garfunkel.
Woody and Buzz Lightyear.
Abbott and Costello.
Bert and Ernie.
Nadia and Teodora.

Nadia Comăneci and Teodora Ungureanu form one of the most iconic duos in gymnastics history — partly because of video footage like this:

And photos like this one:

(Original Caption) Romania’s brilliant young gymnast Nadia Comaneci, (front), and her teammate Theodora Ungureanu, who is almost as good as Nadia, enjoy a break from training at the boarding school they and other members of their Olympic team attend. The curtain was parted and you could get a glimpse of their life by watching the CBS-TV special, Nadia–From Romania With Love, on November 23, 1976. Flip Wilson was the host.

Did you know that, before their Olympic debut, the dynamic duo tied for the all-around title at the 1974 Romanian Junior Masters Championships? What follows are the results, as well as the newspaper coverage of the competition.

In the appendix, you can find a few articles on Comăneci and Ungureanu from the newspapers.

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1974 USSR World Championships

1974: Sovetsky Sport’s Recap of the World Championships in Varna

After the 1974 World Championships in Varna, Stanislav Tokarev, Sovetsky Sport’s special correspondent in Varna, took a step back and reflected on the trends in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics. In so doing, he asked a question that the gymnastics community continues to ask itself 50 years later: Should participation at major competitions be limited to only the best of the best? 

Tokarev rejoiced in seeing up-and-coming gymnastics programs participate in Varna, and he criticized the FIG’s qualification process for the 1976 Olympics, which would limit the number of teams in Montréal. 

Here’s a translation of his column.

Olga Korbut taking part in the World Gymnastic Championships in Varna, Bulgaria. Original Publication: People Disc – HG0074 (Photo by D Deynov/Getty Images)
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1974 Czechoslovakia Interviews & Profiles WAG World Championships

1974: Božena Perdykulová and Her “Vault to Glory”

For over three decades Czechoslovakia was a powerhouse in the world of women’s artistic gymnastics. From 1936 until 1968, Czechoslovak women’s artistic gymnasts always won at least one medal at the Olympics, and, except for 1950, from 1934 to 1970, they won at least one medal at the World Championships. (Czechoslovakia did not attend the 1950 World Championships.)

In 1972, that streak ended. No Czechoslovak gymnast won a medal in Munich, which led to much soul-searching.

Two years later, at the 1974 World Championships, the winds of fortune changed, and Czechoslovakia was on the podium once again. Božena Perdykulová, a newcomer to the international stage, came to Varna with an impressive Tsukahara and won a bronze medal.

Because Perdykulová is relatively unknown to English-speaking gymnastics fans, I translated two articles about her, as well as an article about the place where she trained.

Stadión, no. 51, 1974
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1974 FIG Bulletin MAG WAG World Championships

1974: The FIG’s Reflections on the World Championships in Varna

What did the leaders of the FIG think about the 1974 World Championships?

For starters, none of them was thrilled about having to move the location of the competition. As you’ll see, both presidents of the technical committees and the president of the FIG mentioned the challenge of choosing a host for the 1974 World Championships. (More on that decision here.)

Valerie Nagy, the president of the Women’s Technical Committee, was generally displeased with the level of the gymnasts, writing: “Even without preliminary qualifications, the national federations should have been more severe when making their selections.”

In addition, she didn’t like the direction of balance beam, where she felt that gymnasts were trying to perform too many difficult acrobatic elements, which impacted the flow of the routine.

In that same vein, Arthur Gander, the president of the FIG, railed against the emphasis on risk and difficulty at the expense of execution.

Below, you can find Gander’s comments, as well as those of the MTC and the WTC.

My thought bubble: Yup, this is pretty nerdy stuff, but most people who read this site are pretty nerdy people. 🙂

A little trivia: Did you know that there were three score protests during the men’s competition? Guess how many of those protests were rejected.

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1974 MAG World Championships

1974: The Men’s Event Finals at the World Championships

The Japanese men were unable to dominate on the final day of competition in Varna — in part because Kasamatsu withdrew from several events.

As clear as the Japanese won team and individual victories, they could not assume this dominant role in the apparatus final, especially as Kasamatsu had to forego competing on rings, parallel bars, and high bar due to a shoulder injury.

Neues Deutsches Turnen, No. 12, 1974

So klar die Japaner Mannschafts-und Einzelsieg erkämpften — im Gerätefinale konnten sie diese dominierende Rolle nicht spielen, zumal Kasamatsu an den Ringen, am Barren und am Reck wegen einer Schulterverletzung auf den Start verzichten mußte.

Six different gymnasts won gold medals, representing five different countries (Japan, the Soviet Union, Hungary, Romania, and West Germany).

Below, you’ll find snippets of newspaper reports, as well as videos from the 1974 men’s event finals, which took place on Sunday, October 27.

Enjoy!

Eberhard Gienger, 1974
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