Legendary coach Vladislav Rotstorotsky, genius, innovator, and 'infinitely kind' according to top Russian sports journalist Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, died yesterday aged 85.
Vladislav coached Soviet heroes Lioudmilla Tourischeva, Natalia Shaposhnikova and Natalia Yurchenko amongst others, including 1981 Soviet team member Alla Shishova. His creative work shaped much of the art of gymnastics on show today. On vault, bars, beam and floor his gymnasts innovated and amazed. The names of Yurchenko and Shaposhnikova are engraved in the sport's vocabulary.
Rotstorotsky believed in gymnastics as an end to itself. Gold medals were not the only aim. A favourite saying of his was 'Do not shame gymnastics'. He encouraged his athletes to participate in the arts and to enjoy literature, encouraging them to borrow books from his own private library. 'If those with whom I work grow up to be good and truthful people, it has been worth it all', he said.
After a spell of coaching in France in the 1990s, Vladislav returned home to the suburb of Voronezh where he had been born, Liski, where a gymnasium was named in his honour. He continued to train young gymnasts, but without the rigour of old. Once a coach had reached the point that he could no longer ask the impossible of the gymnast, he said, it was better not to try. There were no more champions, but doubtless Vladislav helped many happy young gymnasts to grow up healthy.
Elena Vaitsekhovskaya has written a lovely obituary of this man. I'm sad that I never had the chance of speaking to him. The Soviet legacy of gymnastics is slowly drifting away, and the art of sport is becoming lost with time. There will never be another Rotstorotsky, but we remember him with respect, love and amazement.