Gymnastic Medals At Games Were Earned

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28260, 24 April 1957, Page 15

Gymnastic Medals At Games Were Earned

gINCE the last Olympics, there have been frequent suggestions about reducing the number of medals awarded for gymnastics. The reasoning is that medals should not be awarded for the individual events, but for the team event only. These are, in the men’s section, six different exercises to be performed. These are on the rings, parallel bars, horizontal bar, long horse, pommelled horse and the mat. Teams of six take part in these events, working as individuals, and the winning team is the one whose individuals give the highest total score. The “abolitionists” compare the present gymnastics situation to the decathlon, where points are given for performances ih 10 different events, but medals are only on the winning totals. The argument then runs that the winner of the rings section of the gymnastics has no more right to a gold medal than has the winner of the 110 metres hurdles section of the decathlon. Comparisons

What this argument (which has been advanced by Mr Avery Brundage, among others) does not take into account is that the winner on the rings is the best man on the rings at the Olympics, and as such is fully entitled to a gold medal. However, the winner of the hurdle? event in the decathlon would not necessarily be the best

man over hurdles at the whole Olympics, or he would presumably have won a gold medal for the individual hurdles championship. Spectacular Sport Those who are fortunate enough to see the gymnastics at the Games would agree that they were by far the most spectacular of all the sports. The Russian men, in particular did almost impossible things. The performance of Albert Azarian on the rings will stay in the minds of onlookers for a long time, so will the tense struggle between luri Titov (Russia) and T. Ono of Japan, for supremacy on the horizontal bar. This would have lost most of its interest had there not been a gold medal at stake for the winner of this individual event. Ono had a similar struggle with Boris Chakhline on the pommelled horse, though on this occasion he had to be content with the silver medal. If the link with the ancient Olympics is to be maintained, it is worth bearing in mind that physical culture was one of the main interests of the Greeks, and was best expressed in callisthenics and the like. Let the best man in the world on the parallel- bars have a gold medal, and the same with the best man in the world at mat exercises. That is what the Olympic Games are for. It should be remembered that, of the six parts of the men’s section mentioned above, each one was won by a different person.