Elena Shushunova - grace, power, complexity

Her career spanned two different eras of gymnastics, each symbolic of their times.  Her earliest international competitions as a junior (1981/2) showed Shushunova to be a daring trickster, typical of the generation of female gymnasts who emerged in the late 70s and early 80s - tiny acrobats, technicians with dynamite.  Later in her career, especially by the time of the Olympics in 1988, her technical prowess was enhanced by an expressive presence that positioned her firmly in the next generation of artist-acrobats who dominated the sport to 1992.  Drawing on what Gavrichenkov described as a 'hidden depth of emotion', her floor performances embraced at once the pride, dedication and humour that were characteristic personal and professional traits, while her bars, beam and vault, original and innovative, leveraged her talent for daring flight to create sharp, angular and twisting shapes performed with fast-paced syncopation and rhythm.   If ever there were shock and awe in gymnastics, it belonged to Shushunova.

Her first major individual international medal was a bronze overall at the 1984 Friendship Games, the alternative Olympics in Oloumoc.  So effectively Shushunova won her gold medal overall at her second Olympic Games, a feat matched only by her compatriot, 1972 Olympic Champion Liudmilla Tourischeva.  The Cold War affected sport directly at this time with two consecutive Olympic boycotts by the USA (1980) and Soviet Union (1984) respectively.  Sport was often used as a metaphor to describe the state of relations between East and West.  Thus, political tensions created media hype that saw young gymnasts portrayed as machines and robots engaged in a sporting war with the West.  This partially explains the portrayal of Shushunova in many sources as a stoney-faced Soviet housewife programmed to seek victory for the motherland.  The reality was in fact closer to the fearless adventurer Lara Croft embodied in the frame of a nice schoolgirl who wanted to try her to lead her team to victory.  Shushunova was both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. 

In fact those who watched closely could see clearly that Shushunova had grown during President Gorbachov's era of glasnost (openness).  Her communications with coach Gavrichenkov were plainly frank, candid and full of humour, even on the competition floor.  While 1972 Olympic Champion Tourischeva's relationship with her coach Rotstorotsky was portrayed as involving at times brutal discipline and command, Shushunova's equal part in the coach-gymnast relationship spoke volumes of a shifting sporting attitude.   Tourischeva's mid 1970s narrative had embraced such concepts as self-sacrifice and national pride, while Shushunova spoke of a liking for whipped cream and a love for family dachshund Natka.  Later, however, as fierce team captain she did leverage the prevailing political narrative.  'We'll roll right over them like a tank' she said, explaining how the Soviet team would defeat their opponents in Seoul.