One of the finest rhythmic
gymnasts in history, Marina Lobatch was, paradoxically, an
Olympic Champion who had never been crowned European or World
Champion. Her timing seemed to be all wrong - until the 1988
Olympic Games.
Born in Smolevicki, USSR on June
26, 1970, Lobatch first made an impression at the 1985 World
Championships, placing 7th all-around behind the unstoppable
Bulgarians, two of her own veteran teammates, and a rising East
German star. But the slight Soviet would catch the eye of the
crowd here, as well as at the following year’s European
Championships, where she performed a beautifully subtle rope
routine choreographed to music that had been written especially
for her. Her competitive fire and theatrical expression were
remarkable for the girl noted to be painfully shy. At the 1987
World Championships, Lobatch performed almost flawlessly, yet
found herself again behind the home-favorite Bulgarians, this
time just out of the medals in 4th (tied with teammate Anna
Kotchneva). As she stood beside the podium, her face revealed
both her disappointment and disbelief.
1988 found Lobatch battling to get
into the medals again with a 4th place finish at the European
Championships. The judges and audience adored her balletic lines,
wonderfully expressive movements, and cutting-edge difficulty,
but the Bulgarians-whose 80s heyday was coming to a close-- were
still ahead in the race. Finally, at the Seoul Olympic Games,
Marina seized the moment and capitalized on mistakes from the
other gymnasts. A perfect 40.00 in both preliminaries and finals
assured her the gold medal, despite stiff competition from
Adriana Dunavska (BUL) and new Soviet standout Alexandra
Timochenko. At last Marina would have her day, and a
well-deserved gold for this supreme athlete/artist who probably
should have won several other major titles.
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Lobatch
(left) and Lukyanenko (right) at the
1997 World Championships in Berlin.
Photo courtesy
of Rhythmic Gymnastics
Interestingly, IngMar (of IngMar's
Rhythmic Gymnastics Pages)
reports that Marina nearly lost the gold medal in Seoul when she
came within one second of exceeding the time limit during her
clubs routine. Fortunately, her pianist, Anatoly Vekshin, began playing faster at the end of her routine and Marina finished just
as the gong sounded.
Marina Lobatch retired soon after
her Olympic triumph and turned to coaching. She has
made a great impact on the Belarussian team, coaching
Larissa Lukyanenko and Tatiana Ogryzko for several
years before turning them over to national team coach
Galina Krylenko (one of Marina’s own coaches). Lobatch, who is both a judge and coach for the
Belarussian Federation, lives in Minsk with her
husband, Dmitry Bogdanov, and daughter, Irina.
Update
(August 27, 2000). According to Rhythmic
Gymnastics World, Lobatch recently gave birth to her second child.
Lobatch
was born on June 26, 1970
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