Unit 8: Gymnastics

The story of a fighter.
The Russian female gymnasts dominated the Olympics in 1960 in Rome, their muscles were iron, their technique was brilliant, their stamina inexhaustible. It seemed there was no one who could stop the red wave. Yet a woman from a small country in the middle of Europe, Eva Vechtova-Bosakova showed the level they set is beatable. Born in a provincial town of Mlada Boleslav in that time's Czechoslovakia to the gymnastics-loving parents she was trained from a very early age. Although she originally started figure skating, she soon discovered a passion for a different sport passed from her parents on to her. Gymnastics was an inevitable choice. After the 2nd world war she started exercising on apparatus. During her training she introduced a lot of innovations, such as the three-phase training or exercising in PVC clothes for larger weight loss. Her first large victory was 1958's championship in Moscow where she won the gold medal after performing, at that time unseen element, a back somersault on the floor. Then she started to introduce more innovative features in her routines. She courageously introduced many acrobatics and dance figures for which her points with conservative judges went low, however her qualities were so evident and her effort so persuasive, that at some point a break came. The greatest moment of her career came one hot day in Rome in the Caracalla spa. "She performed an unseen cartwheel on the balance beam, and after performing several more elements she continued with a handstand followed by a planche, a completely unusual routine," her old coach remembers the event. "And that was it. Hah, hah. The Russian hegemony at the Olympics in Rome was over. She was an unforgettable personality." he closes. After several more years of success she was forced to stop her career for unclear reasons. She died unexpectedly just two years after the fall of communism in 1991, half-forgotten by the public.

Tkatchev is a bar release move in which the gymnast swings around the bar, lets go just before reaching a handstand, straddles or pikes his or her legs while flying over the bar, then leans forward to re-grasp the bar. Swedish fall is a move in which a gymnast does a free-fall drop straight onto the ground, with hands shooting out at the last second. Somi-and-a-half is another way of saying one and a half somersault. Shaposhnikova is a free hip circle after which the gymnast lets go of the low bar and grabs the high bar.

The Russian female gymnasts dominated the Olympics in 1960 in Rome, their muscles were iron, their technique was brilliant, their stamina inexhaustible. It seemed there was no one who could stop the red wave. Yet a woman from a small country in the middle of Europe, Eva Vechtova-Bosakova showed the level they set is beatable. Born in a provincial town of Mlada Boleslav in that time's Czechoslovakia to the gymnastics-loving parents she was trained from a very early age. Although she originally started figure skating, she soon discovered a passion for a different sport passed from her parents on to her. Gymnastics was an inevitable choice. After the 2nd world war she started exercising on apparatus. During her training she introduced a lot of innovations, such as the three-phase training or exercising in PVC clothes for larger weight loss. Her first large victory was 1958's championship in Moscow where she won the gold medal after performing, at that time unseen element, a back somersault on the floor.

The back walkover was preceded by a perfect wolf hop. She went from the giant through the pirouette to the cartwheel.

Yurchenko is a vault in which a roundoff is done onto the springboard followed by a back handspring onto the vault and a back flip. Miller is a beam manoeuvre in which the gymnast does a back dive with a quarter twist into the handstand followed by a half pirouette.

She performed an unseen cartwheel on the balance beam, after performing several more elements she continued with a handstand followed by a planche.