1968 Olympics gymnastics Natalia Kuchinskaya floor exercise

Soviet gymnast Natalia Kuchinskaya performs on floor at the 1968 Olympic Games.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• gymnastics
• natalia
• kuchinskaya

[faeryquene]

True-though level 8's today do not compete on hard floors with no spring as those old school gymnast had to.

[TripThroughTime]

my grad uncle won a gold medal in the 1968 summer olympics in Mexico

[pelicanus11]

There was more elegance and fluidity then,much more beautiful to watch . Nowadays they are just trying to fit all the high tech movements in no matter what to gain points rather than making it look aesthetically pleasing and artistic.

[alfercabrera]

buen equipo, bellisima gimnasta, la novia de Mexico 68 le decian,para mi sigue siendo amabas cosas,,  donde quiera que estes Natalya, dejate ver, saludos. eres la mejor para mi.

[rustypolymath]

@danldunham These days there's just no grace, no artistry. It's all about the mechanical difficulty of the move. The result is that many of the moves are awesome in and of themselves, but the overall routine is sterile and unnerving.

Also, I wonder if the lack of beam shoes mean that not as much attention is paid to the feet apart from the precision of the landing, and so boosts the scores of people who don't have as good of "point work"? I can see this detracting from the "grace" factor.

[danldunham]

Ah, this is really grace and beauty. She has every move planned, every motion timed perfectly to the music. A beautiful woman performing flawlessly. Current women's floor routines have awesome tumbling passes but I am much more pleased watching this lady.

[primordialmuse]

I had to look to make sure the floor exercise area hadn't been replaced with a swimming pool; she moves with such easy grace that it's like she's doing the whole routine underwater! Truly beautiful.

[jaycrib]

@TripThroughTime congratulations to your grand uncle

[klava2810]

igotoher claases lol

[soapygirl83]

@BoraBoraGirl2001 not to mention that the training conditions were completely different, no pits, no tumbletrak, trampolines or anything. I'd say that the way gymnasts train today compared to45 years  is almost as much of a radical shift as the differences in how they competed!

[JAL747SR]

可愛らしい！

ソ連かあ。歯舞色丹国後択捉は日本国です。

[BoraBoraGirl2001]

@faeryquene People want to discredit the skill of these women, but we have to remember that this was 40+ years ago, at a time when the equipment was greatly lacking. Also, at that time, the sport was focused more on the ballet/dance aspect. There is a reason that Korbut's back flips caused a scandal in 1972; gym officials accused her of turning the sport into a "circus." LOL.