Natalia Shaposhnikova (URS)
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Photo used with the expression
permission of Oleg Katchinski
1976 Druzhba: 3rd AA
1976 Moscow News: 3rd AA
1976 USSR Cup: 2nd FX
1976 USSR Championships: 3rd AA
1977 Chunichi Cup: 3rd AA
1977 Moscow News: 1st UB, 2nd AA, 2nd V, 2nd FX
1977 USSR Cup: 1st AA, 1st V, 2nd UB, 2nd B, 2nd FX
1977 USSR Championships: 3rd AA
1977 World Cup: 3rd AA, 1st V, 5th UB, 4th FX
1978 World Championships: 1st Team, 3rd AA, 6th V, 8th BB
1978 World Cup: 3rd AA, 1st V, 2nd BB, 3rd FX
1979 European Championships: 1st B, 2nd FX, 3rd AA, 3rd V, 6th UB
1979 Moscow News: 2nd AA, 1st UB, 1st B, 2nd FX
1979 USSR Spartakiade: 1st AA, 1st B, 2nd UB, 2nd FX
1979 USSR Cup: 1st AA
1979 USSR Championships: 1st AA
1980 Olympic Games: 1st Team, 1st V, 3rd B, 4th AA
1980 USSR Cup: 2nd AA
Shaposhnikova performed some of the most daring skills of her day, but unfortunately lacked the consistency to win a major AA title.
Indeed, Tourischeva, who once coached Shaposhnikova, said of
Shaposhnikova, "She's prickly like a hedgehog. You never
know what to expect from her." As an example, in the 1980 Moscow Olympics she was tied
for first place with Comaneci after the compulsories, but sank to
fourth place after the optionals. According to Yuri Brokhin
though, author of The Big Red Machine, the real
competition between Comaneci and Shaposhnikova probably would
have occurred at the 1976 Olympics, not the 1980 Olympics.
Brokhin notes that
Larissa Latynina, legendary three-time Olympic gymnast,
was the senior coach for the Soviet women at the 1976
Olympics. In this role, she had been influential in
selecting the team, demanding that several girls be
included in the team at the expense of others more
worthy. Left behind were Shaposhnikova and the future
1980 Olympic champion, Yelena Davydova. Shaposhnikova and
Davydova were described as equally competent as Comaneci,
but like Comaneci, Shaposhnikova and Davydova were
representatives of the new "atheletic" school
of gymnastics and Latynina demanded to uphold the
"classical" gymnastics tradition. Later,
Latynina was informed that she had brought the wrong team
to Montreal. My guess is that Latynina was probably NOT
the senior coach for the Soviet women at the 1980
Olympics...!
Although coached at times by
Tourischeva, Shaposhnikova's primary coach (as of 1972) was
Vladislav Rastorestkiy (sometimes spelled Rostorotsky
or Rastorotskii), who also coached Tourischeva and Natalia Yurchenko. Rastorestkiy was the one who perfected the vaulting technique of
setting the springboard at the correct distance, i.e., Gymnasts head
resting on the "legs" of the horse, then stretch out
straight-going toward where you run from and set the board under
her heals and this is the correct distance.
After retiring from competitive
gymnastics, Shaposhnikova married (fellow gymnast and former 1981
World team member Pavel Sut) and moved to Minsk, where she worked
as a choreographer at the Olympic Reserves training center. The
two eventually moved to Germany for awhile, before settling in
New Jersey, USA. For awhile the couple coached at the US
Gymnastics Development Center in Englewood, NJ. Now they coach at
a gym called Gymnastika, which is situated in Little
Falls, NJ, about 20 minutes from New York City.
A friend of mine visited
Shaposhnikova at her gym. At the time, she had two children and
was expecting a baby. My friend brought along a ton of gymnastic
books and magazines. Shaposhnikova hadn't seen any of the photos
of herself from the books or magazines. Upon finding one of
herself from the 1978 Worlds she called Pavel over and said,
"look at me, how cute!" She found every photo of
herself in each book and magazine, signing next to each in
Russian and English. What a wonderful lady!
Shaposhnikova was born on June 24th, 1961.
. This page was created on March 24, 1999 and last updated on December 22, 1999.
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