Ludmilla Tourischeva

Ludmilla Tourischeva
— Gymnast —

Tourischeva at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Full name Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva
Country represented  Soviet Union
Born (1952-10-07) October 7, 1952
Grozny, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Hometown Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Elite
Head coach(es) Vladislav Rastorotsky
Medal record
Representing  Soviet Union
Olympic Games
1968 Mexico City Team
1972 Munich Team
1972 Munich All-Around
1976 Montreal Team
1972 Munich Floor Exercise
1976 Montreal Vault
1976 Montreal Floor Exercise
1972 Munich Vault
1976 Montreal All-Around
World Championships
1970 Ljubljana Team
1970 Ljubljana All-Around
1970 Ljubljana Floor Exercise
1974 Varna All-Around
1974 Varna Team
1974 Varna Floor Exercise
1974 Varna Balance Beam
1970 Ljubljana Uneven Bars
1974 Varna Vault
1970 Ljubljana Vault
1974 Varna Uneven Bars
World Cup Final
1975 London All-Around
1975 London Vault
1975 London Uneven Bars
1975 London Balance Beam
1975 London Floor Exercise
European Championships
1971 Minsk All-Around
1971 Minsk Vault
1971 Minsk Floor Exercise
1973 London All-Around
1973 London Vault
1973 London Uneven Bars
1973 London Balance Beam
1973 London Floor Exercise
1971 Minsk Uneven Bars
1971 Minsk Balance Beam
1969 Landskrona All-Around
1969 Landskrona Uneven Bars
1969 Landskrona Floor Exercise
1975 Skien Floor Exercise

Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva (Russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Тури́щева; also transliterated as Ludmilla Turischeva, Ludmilla Tourischcheva, and Ljudmila Turichtchieva), born October 7, 1952, is a former Russian gymnast and a nine-time Olympic medalist for the Soviet Union.

Career

Tourischeva began gymnastics in 1965, at age 13, and began competing for the Soviet team in 1967. Coached by Vladislav Rastorotsky (who later trained Natalia Shaposhnikova and Natalia Yurchenko), she represented the Soviet Union at the 1968 Summer Olympics, just after her 16th birthday. She won the gold medal with the team and placed 24th in the all-around.

Two years later, Tourischeva became the leader of the Soviet team. From 1970 to 1974, she dominated almost every major international competition, winning the World Championships all-around gold in 1970 and 1974, the European Championships in 1971 and 1973, and the World Cup in 1975. She was considered to embody the classic Soviet style: grace, elegance, impeccable form, and strong technique.

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Tourischeva won the all-around gold medal but was overshadowed by the sudden popularity of her younger compatriot Olga Korbut. She qualified for all four event finals, and won a silver and a bronze. Tourischeva was one of the first female gymnasts to use two separate pieces of music for her floor routines at an international competition. For the team competition, she used "March" from the film Circus by Isaak Dunaevsky, while for the all around, she used the music to the film Die Frau meiner Träume by Franz Grothe.

At the 1975 European Championships, Tourischeva placed third in the all-around behind 13-year-old Nadia Comăneci of Romania (who also won the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam apparatus finals) and her own teammate Nellie Kim (who placed second and won the floor exercise final). However, Tourischeva rebounded later that year to sweep the World Cup.

After struggling with a back injury, Tourischeva competed in her third Olympics, the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal, where she won her third team gold with the Soviet squad. In the all-around, she finished third behind Comăneci and Kim. She won silver medals on vault and floor exercise in the event finals, losing to Kim but overcoming Comăneci, bringing her total Olympic medal count to four gold, three silver, and two bronze.

Tourischeva was known for her calm demeanor in competition. In 1980, British journalist David Hunn wrote that she "never had the cheek of some of her rivals, but for serenity she was supreme".[1] This was famously illustrated during the 1975 World Cup at Wembley Stadium in London, when a broken hook holding support cables of the uneven bars caused the apparatus to fall apart and crash to the ground just as Tourischeva landed her dismount. Saluting the judges, she walked off the podium without even turning around to look at the remains of the apparatus. She went on to win the all-around and all four event finals. Years later, she said of the incident that, at that moment, she had thought only one thing: she must complete her routine and "stick it".[2] Rastorotsky, her coach, said, "Ljudmila would fight to death in any situation."[3]

She was also known for her gracious manner. At the 1976 Olympics, she walked around the podium to personally congratulate champion Comăneci and shake her hand before accepting her own medal.[4]

Tourischeva is one of only three women (Yelena Shushunova and American Simone Biles being the other two) who have won the "grand slam" of all-around titles: Olympics, World Championships, World Cup, and European/National Championships. She is also one of only two women to win four gold medals at a single World Championships (in 1974). The other is Simone Biles of the United States, who won four in 2014 and 2015.

Post-gymnastics life

In 1977, Tourischeva married the sprinter Valeriy Borzov, a two-time Olympic champion in 1972. She was elected to the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in 1981,[5] and has remained involved in gymnastics as a coach, an international judge, and an official with the Ukrainian gymnastics federation. One of her protégés was Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine, the all-around gold medalist at the 1996 Olympics.

Tourischeva has received various honors for her gymnastics career, including the Women in Sport trophy from the International Olympic Committee. In 1998, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[6]

Medals (non-Olympic)

Year Event AA Team VT UB BB FX
1967USSR Cup1st
1968USSR Cup3rd
1969European Championships3rd3rd3rd
USSR Championships3rd2nd2nd2nd
USSR Cup1st
1970World Championships1st1st3rd2nd1st
USSR Championships1st1st
USSR Cup3rd
1971European Championships1st1st2nd2nd1st
USSR Championships2nd3rd2nd
USSR Cup1st
1972USSR Championships1st1st1st
USSR Cup2nd
1973European Championships1st1st1st1st1st
USSR Championships1st1st
USSR Cup1st
1974World Championships1st1st2nd3rd1st1st
USSR Championships1st
USSR Cup1st
1975World Cup1st1st1st1st1st
European Championships3rd
USSR Championships3rd1st
1976USSR Cup2nd

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hunn, David; (1980). The Complete Book of Gymnastics. London: Ward Lock Ltd. ISBN 99903-963-2-9.
  2. ↑ "And the steel was broken". Olympic Panorama (3): 33–34. July–September 1990.
  3. ↑ "National Property". Novaya sportivnaya gazeta. 2003-03-26.
  4. ↑ Comăneci, Nadia (2003). Letters to a young gymnast. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-01276-0.
  5. ↑ "Within International Federations" (PDF). Olympic Review (162): 253. April 1981. Retrieved 2006-04-11.
  6. ↑ "LUDMILLA TOURISCHEVA". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
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