By Kyrylo STADNYCHENKO, The Day
The second international European Masters of Gymnastics Tournament took
place in Pa/trai (Patras), Greece. It was a team competition, the special
feature of which was its including both classical and modern rhythmic gymnastics.
The tournament graphically demonstrated the union of gymnastics for which
this sport's international federation is striving.
In fact all the strongest European athletes competed. Suffice it to
say that in the very first leg the Ukrainian national team faced a most
serious rival, Belarus. In any case, the Ukrainians won, as they also did
against France and Italy. Russia's very strong national team awaited our
women gymnasts in the finals. The tournament's favorite won.
Still, let us agree that second place in the European gymnastics hierarchy
is also a grand event for our school. This success became possible thanks
to classical gymnasts Oleksandr Svitlychny (Luhansk), Ruslan Mezentsev
and Olha Teslenko (Kyiv), Inha Shkarupa (Ternopil), and rhythmic gymnasts
Olena Tkachenko and Iryna Kobets (Simferopol).
Let me especially praise our rhythmic ladies. Liubov Serebrianska's
pupils have in fact recently been unable to take part in official competitions
and only contented themselves with second-grade international tournaments.
But in Greece, the Crimean girls showed their class, with Olena being twice
awarded ten, the highest grade in gymnastics. In the unofficial classification,
Tkachenko ranked fourth among all rhythmic gymnasts at this tournament.






