We've heard about what the romanians were going through at the time and how the culture in the us was shaped and with china news doesn't make it our way as organically but given the prevalence of abusive coaching it almost seems strange to me that there hasn't been the same volume of allegations against soviet coaches. I can't think of any specifics other than korbut's coach renald knysh and mukhina's coach mikhail klimenko. Don't get me wrong, of course i desperately hope this means that it wasn't widespread but considering the size of the soviet program it's something that has been on my mind
The 1964 Olympics featured an epic showdown between Caslavska and Latynina. But it was the results of of a minor competition two months late
In this era of Soviet gymnastics the highly prestigious USSR Championships were held after the Olympics. For Latynina, this competition would be nothing more than an easy win and a mere formality as she took a post-Olympic victory tour. But to the surprise of everyone, Latynina would finish in second place. More shockingly, Latynina didn’t lose to one of her fellow Olympic teammates.
She lost to a complete unknown.
Larissa Petrik was described as “junior-class” and hadn’t even been awarded a “Master of Sports” title that is bestowed on Eastern Bloc athletes before they compete in elite international competition. But all of this was inconsequential to the most shocking thing about the upset. Petrik was only 15 years old.
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But the following year at the 1967 USSR Championships it happened again. There was another upset. This time Astakhova came in fourth place. She had been knocked off the podium entirely by a 14 year old named Lyubov Burda who took bronze. And like Latynina, Polina’s athletic career came to an end.
But with the end of one legendary career came the start of another. At the very same competition another 15 year old would emerge, Ludmilla Turischeva. And soon the 1968 Olympic team would be complete. Voronina, Karaseva, Kuchinskaya, and Petrik would be the older members of the team. Joining them would be Burda and Turischeva. In just one Olympic quad, the average age of a Soviet Olympic gymnast had dropped by seven years.
