Behind the Scenes of Achievements

02.08.1970 (Sports)

In Rezekne, the medals of the VIII Spartakiad of the Republic have already been divided among themselves by weightlifters. We reported on the winners in previous issues of our newspaper. Now we ask the head coach of the Republic's FK and SK, I. GRIGORJEV, to introduce not only the achieved results, but also the "sunny and dark" sides of the competitions.

First of all, I would like to mention one of our sports veterans, 39-year-old Anatoly Mayasin.

(Dinamo). This time too, the tireless welterweight athlete was a head and shoulders above his younger competitors. The result was worthy of a champion - 422.5 kg. In this weight category, the young Daugavpils athlete Valerijs Petrovs (coach V. Tarasovs) showed his excellent fighting qualities. Having only recently become a candidate for master, he achieved the result of a master of sports in these competitions. V. Petrovs won the big and two small bronze medals. Unfortunately, the candidate for the republican national team J. Baranovskis (ASK) started worse than in other times.

The spectators of Rezekne were a little disappointed not to see our famous middleweight athlete G. Ivanchenko on the podium. He had to prepare for the world championships as part of the USSR national team. And so our "five hundred" understudy V. Rogachevs won with a rather modest result of 420 kg.

I would like to dwell on one of the most exciting competitions between second heavyweight athletes Artūrs Sliede (multiple republican record holder) and Guntis Kalns. In the snatch, Kalns improved the republican record by 1.5 kg in his second attempt. So 150 kg. Sliede lifted 142.5 kg only in the third attempt. Guntis refused to continue the fight. However, Artūrs performed another excellent attempt with a 152.5 kg barbell. After weighing, it turned out that it weighed 153 kg! The republican record was beaten by 4.5 kg.  Thus, Guntis Kalns became the ex-record holder. It should be noted that Artūrs Sliede's start was even a certain sporting self-sacrifice - he felt unwell, because he caught a cold the day before the competition.

Analyzing the results of the competitions, it must be concluded that the results achieved by our republic's weightlifters are satisfactory. This is especially true of the men of the main team. They successfully compete in both domestic and international matches. Recently, V. Anikins (lightweight, coach N. Belousov, ASK), G. Ivanchenko (middleweight, coach M. Fraifeld, "Dinamo"), S. Poltoratskis (lightweight, coach O. Bergmanis, "Daugava") have made great progress. A. Dinnikovs (lightweight), V. Pērkons (first heavyweight), A. Sliede (second heavyweight) also competed successfully in the competitions. V. Lebedev (lightweight) had a less excellent result. But it should be taken into account that the 1968 USSR champion received an injury two years ago in the competitions in Tokyo. It still makes itself felt all the time. It is hoped that the athlete will have fully regained his form by the 5th Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.

This year, failures have stopped the multiple republican, USSR and world record holder Kārlis Pumpuriņš . But the experienced athlete is endowed with great willpower. This helps him to "take himself in hand" in big competitions and achieve excellent results. After the failure in the bench press, Kārlis tried to break the world record in the light heavyweight snatch. But this time too, the barbell did not obey our weightlifter.

At the USSR championships in Lviv in December 1969, Pumpuriņš pushed for a record weight, but was unable to fix it. Until this championship, it was believed that he was strong only in the press (he had set five world records!). The verdict of specialists was that the press was not Pumpuriņš's "role" and that high results should not be expected. But our weightlifter was able to prove the opposite. Let's hope that in the near future Kārlis Pumpuriņš will have fully developed all his abilities.

If the results shown by some of the main team athletes in the competitions were mediocre, it only showed that the athletes were tired. Starting in other responsible competitions has required a lot of strength. In the first half of this year alone, our weightlifters have already managed to set 35 republican and two world records.

Although the results of the new champions this time were not outstanding, unfortunately, it must be concluded that even they were unattainable for the men of the "second echelon" of the republican national team. Our republic is slowly progressing with the preparation of reserves. Many veterans became winners. There are still quite a few new weightlifters. We can only hope that with good work, M. Sibirevs (lightweight, ASK), the already mentioned Daugavpils resident V. Petrovs, V. Rogačovs (middleweight, "Dinamo"), J. Balgalvis (first heavyweight, "Daugava"), E. Breikšs (second heavyweight, "Dinamo"). They are not yet real competitors to the strongest athletes. Our sports associations "Daugava", "Dinamo", "Vārpa" should take more care of the preparation of new weightlifters, create suitable conditions for their training.

For unknown reasons, athletes from the republican national team J. Vītols, S. Alksnītis (both from Jēkabpils), S. Lomanovs (Balvi) did not start in the championships.

This time I would like to note the hospitality of the Hosts of the competition and the care with which they had prepared to welcome the best weightlifters of the republic. The chairman of the district FK and SK E. Kjakšte, together with the "Vārpa" district council (chairman T. Nazarenko) and the management of the sports house (director J. Langušs) had made every effort to ensure that the competition went smoothly. An unpleasant dissonance in the festive mood was the behavior of the athletes of "Lokomotive" (coach M. Rapoports). The winners from this association did not even find it necessary to come to the award ceremony. And if it were the first time...

The competition made us think about the scoring system. The team is awarded points based on the place they took. But in the lightest, lightest and lightest weight categories, the points were awarded to athletes who achieved a class III result and even without it (A. Krasovskis from Lokomotiv). However, in the middleweight category, the heavyweight athlete showed a class I result and did not even make it into the top eight.

The weightlifters' preparations for the V Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR are going on the right track, the tasks set in the perspective plans are being fulfilled. Only the coaches of the associations and also the senior coach M. Freifelds must ensure that the weightlifters reach their best athletic form precisely on the days of the Spartakiad. This is where the talent of a teacher must be revealed to lead his student to the cherished goal in time.

I. GRIGORJEVU