5. President's Applause
"The President of the USA shook my hand and congratulated me on my victory." Lilia Podkopayeva
The AA competition is the battle for the title of absolute Olympic champion. People arrived almost two hours before the competition
USA President Bill Clinton, wife Hillary, and daughter Chelsea took their seats in the arena. The President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, was ready to award the gold medal. 36 girls were divided into their rotation groups.
Losinskaya: The lot was favorable to us. Lilia started on vault and finished with her 'crown' floor exercise
Lilia's group included Ukrainian teammate Svetlana Zelepukina, Belarussian Yelena Piskun, Romanian Lavinia Milosovici, and China's Mo Huilan. Rivals in other groups were Oksana Chusovitina, Svetlana Khorkina, Dina Kochetkova, Roza Galiyeva, Svetlana Boginskaya, and three Americans. There were 10 candidates with a serious chance of winning
Lilia got through vault well enough; she had a mistake on the first attempt, but the second was better. She had a 9.75 and 9.8, for a 9.781 average. She moved into sixth place
Losinskaya: I was worrying horribly. I started to bring our third Ukrainian gymnast, Lyuba Sheremeta, out for her floor
Lilia: I believed in my ultimate success, especially taking into account I was third on vault. Judges save the good scores for the gymnasts at the end of the rotation–that was normal. But when I vaulted well I felt better. It was like Sabae in 1995–I managed to do everything from the start and things went smoothly from there. Sixth place did not disappoint me; I was sure things would improve.
Dominique Dawes scored a 9.812 on UB and she and Rosa Galieyva were at the top of the standings. Khorkina and Kochetkova were ahead of Lilia too.
In the second rotation, Miller gained one of the highest marks of the day, a 9.862 on beam. Dawes followed her with a 9.825. The audience was delirious with delight. Galiyeva, Boginskaya, and China's Xiao Ya all made mistakes. Lilia got 9.8 on bars
Losinskaya: Lilia was doing her first element when she made a mistake and bent her legs. My heart sunk
Lilia: I had a bad time on bars. I couldn't recover after warm up and I had no time to treat my palms. The day before in training, I got a bloody callous on my palm. I was afraid to do bars, but the girls said, "When you go up to the apparatus you will forget everything and feel nothing." They were right. During the warm up I broke the callous and blood ran through my hand guard and I didn't feel pain. When I got down the doctor treated my palm and I was able to continue. This was normal for bars; I moved up to fifth place.
Dawes, Miller, Mo, and Kochetkova were ahead after two rotations
The third rotation was floor for the Americans. But Miller went out of bounds, and the Dawes fell. They got a 9.475 and 9.000 respectively and were out of the running for medals. No one would have predicted these mistakes
Lilia's third event was beam. She got a 9.787, placing her third behind Mo and Kochetkova. Mo seemed like she'd repeated Li Xiaoshuang's AA win from the day before
Lilia was the 1995 and the European 1996 champion, and no one in recent history had won the Olympic AA after similar victories at Worlds and Europeans
Kochetkova scored only a 9.581 on vault and dropped to sixth
Mo and Lilia were the last candidates for the gold, and Mo had the advantage of performing last
Lilia: Before floor, I was behind Mo by 0.033. She was in my rotation and was to follow me. I started my routine and as I finished my first tumbling pass, with the skill named after me, I understood I must do everything very carefully and smile to get a good score. So I did, but the score was not so high, in my mind. Maybe the judges were saving a higher score for Mo?
Lilia's floor was extraordinarily inspired and sincere, and won over the 30,000 spectators. They applauded like Lilia was an American. Her 9.887 was the highest in Atlanta.
Lilia: Ostepenko told me after my floor, "That's my girl, now you are surely second." I got offended–why second?
Losinskaya: Ostapenko was the senior coach of the national team and traditionally near Lilia at all major competitions. He was with Lilia in Atlanta, I was with Lyuba Sheremeta. I was trying to see Lilia, Mo, and Lyuba, who was on balance beam. I never wished Mo failure, because I knew how much and how hard gymnasts work
Lilia: When more was performing on floor, I saw nothing. I put my face in Lena Piskun's shoulder. She was whispering in my ear about what was happening on the podium. When Mo went out of bounds, I thought, "I'll probably be first" but I even felt sorry for Mo. In Lena's arms I heard the announcement that I was the Olympic champion
The crowd had grown fond of Lilia and cheered for her. Three Romanians shared the rest of the medals (Gogean took silver, Amanar and Milosovici shared the bronze). Juan Antonio Samaranch presented the gold medal to Lilia. The Clinton family stood and applauded
Lilia: I was so bitter that my grandmother could not see me on the podium. It was hard not to cry. After receiving the medal, I was invited to a separate hall where the American team and Clinton were. We shook hands and were photographed. Later there were greetings and autographs. Ukrainian pole vaulting star Sergei Bubka and his brother Vasily came to congratulate me. At that moment, I couldn't feel like the Olympic champion–it was like after ordinary competitions. I saw things through a haze.
Losinskaya: The ascent to Olympic gold is super difficult. Lilia wasn't super gifted and had to work very hard. Sometimes in training we would do the same balance beam routine up to 20 times
Pugacheva: She achieved so much due to her diligence, obedience, and belief in her coach. She listened attentively and performed every task. Being the champion of Europe, she still looked in her coach's eyes, which not all athletes will do
The components of Lilia's success were sophisticated technical elements, perfect purity of performance, unique skills, and wonderful stability in the all around. She stood apart because she combined sports and art. Everyone already knew Figaro, but Dubova created the "gymnastics Figaro" in Lilia
Dubova was not in Atlanta for Lilia's victory; the delegation had decided it was not necessary to bring the choreographer who had worked daily with Lilia for ten years.
Dubova: I was awfully glad for Lilia, Galena, and a little for myself, because in Lilia's victory there is a part of our national choreography. She was just 10 when I asked Donetsk journalists to write about her and show her on television. One Romanian coach used to say, "I accept only gymnasts of Podkopayeva's type."
The Americans anticipated Lilia's ascension. During the tv reports from Atlanta, producers inserted pictures of the gymnasts with different background images, and they associated Lilia with a star. The image was beautiful–rays of rising sun, then a rainbow, then an intense blue sky with white and blue clouds. A star appeared in the sky with Lilia flying around it.
Friends and family at home were anxious. Lilia's mother couldn't bring herself to watch the competition–she left the house for half the night
Lyudmila, Lilia's mother: My neighbors helped me set the VCR to record the program in Atlanta. As soon as the competition started I left the house and walked around praying until 2 am. Suddenly my neighbor ran out shouting, "Lucy, your daughter is the champion!" We ran home and everyone was crying. My son saw the tears and asked what was wrong, and I couldn't answer him. In the morning, I visited the church. We all love Lilia very much. I was afraid I would never be able to stand other competitions.
Three days passed before the stress began again with the individual event finals
Losinskaya: It was easier to compete in the finals because the main medal was already behind us
Ukrainian officials were slightly worried before the EF began. The day before countryman Rustam Sharipov won the gold medal on PB. They were afraid the judges would not give Ukraine another gold
In the BB final, Lilia finished slightly behind Miller for silver
In FX, Lilia was scheduled to go second-to-last. All the main contenders did well. Lilia's Figaro was again perfect and her score was the highest one--9.887. Four of the six judges awarded her a 9.9. This meant one more gold for Lilia
Eurosport commentators loved her dance, saying, "It's no wonder, since Podopayeva's coach is the prima ballerina of Donizk Opera, Svetlana Dubova."
According to tradition, the Ukrainian delegation gathered to spray Lilia's two new medals with champagne, as they had done two days earlier with the AA medal
As usual, Lilia carried two good luck charms in her bag: a Japanese paper crane and a worn-out travel bag
Lilia: Sometime in 1990, I needed a gym bag for a competition. My grandfather and I went to market and he bought me a very simple blue bag made of raincoat material. I competed well at that competition and traveled with that bag until 1995. Now I carry it with me as a good luck charm. I have on more charm: my green leo, the Olympic one. I wore it first at 1996 European championships where I won. They made a set of leos for the Olympics. On the second day I wore the wine colored one and made a mistake, so I rejected it for all other competitions. I put it on for the exhibition and made a mistake again. There are lucky and unlucky leotards and I do not compete in an unlucky one. I wore the green leotard in both the AA and event finals
The Olympic AA gold is the 60th of its color in her collection. Lyudmila Turischeva, 1972, was the most recent person before Lilia to be reining European and Olympic champion.
Fans from the host country often ignore foreign competitors, but Lilia was an exception. They fell in love with her
Losinskaya: At the Olympics, we were only there for gymnastics. The schedule for our training and competition was so tight that we could not watch our athletes in other sports. Just after the gymnastics competition, we went home
Judges weren't always favorable to Lilia. Gymnastics is not absolutely objective, and each judge is a person with passions and emotions, tending at times to support his or her country and its athletes
The judge's attitude toward Lilia during the Olympic cycle was inconsistent. Initially they were very critical; she had no 'name'. Around 1993 her performances were worth a 9.7 but she never got more than a 9.5, and girls who made more serious mistakes got higher scores.
They were worried the judges at the Olympics would favor the Americans; they had the home-team advantage
Before the Olympics, former Olympic champion Turischeva (now the president of the Ukrainian gymnastics federation) told Losinskaya, "The judges' attitude toward Lilia is very good, but your task is to do your best. They will watch the girls during podium training.
Lilia and Galina truly performed their duty
Chapter 18. It's Great Fortune to Return Home
"My way home was like flying on wings. Everything was so near and dear…" Lilia Podkopayeva
Kyiv's mayor Alexander Omelchenko greeted them when they arrived home. There were tears of joy and exhaustion. Lilia's mother and brother arrived from Donetsk
Lilia: So many people came to see us that we had to be taken through a special entry. The mayor said we could get apartments in the capital if we wanted. On August 25 they celebrated 5 years of Ukraine's independence at the Ukraine Palace. The president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma was there, and I was sitting with him. At a reception later, the offer for apartments in Kyiv was repeated, and they received the papers in 1997 and moved to new apartments in June 1998. Galina got a a two-room apartment
Lilia's new three-room apartment in the center of Kyiv seemed like a reward for many years of labor. It was new and fashionable, with guards downstairs. Lilia didn't feel like a great star; she was still very simple and natural
Lilia: Before the reception with the president, we were put up at the hotel "Sport." Our relationship with its director was very good. On August 7th, the president had a reception for Olympians. We worried so much. All the Olympic champions were awarded with the "Cross of Courage"
Lilia: My birthday was August 15. My coach presented me with a toy elephant so big it couldn't fit through the door of the train compartment. My trip home [to Donetsk] was like flying on wings. Everything was so near and dear, the gym as my second home, the balance beam of my take-off strip which became my runway to skills
Losinskaya: There were so many people waiting for us on the Donetsk railway station I was afraid to leave the train. The conductor encouraged them to go when he realized they were being met. Someone sprayed them with champagne as they exited. There was the head of the regional administration, generals, colonels, cadets, students. Everybody had flowers. A banquet was held in the building of the railway station. A lot of people gave speeches, including Lilia's grandfather. Everything was reported by TV
On Lilia's birthday, the regional administration gave an Olympian's reception in the restaurant Bavaria in the center of the city. The administration gave presents to the Olympians for their good work
Lilia: I got a car–a cherry-colored Lada 99–plus an audio center and an enormous cake. The president of Ukraine called the restaurant. The person who brought me the phone simply said someone was calling from Kyiv. He congratulated me on my Olympic success and my birthday. He told me we should visit him in Ponizovka, in Crimea, since he had a cottage there and we were going to a training camp there as well.
After the reception we continued to celebrate my birthday at Dinamo. All my friends came–all the girls who started to train with me when we were little. We cruised along the Kalmius in a cutter. Such a birthday may happen only once in a lifetime
The next morning, Lilia began training at Dinamo. She performed her new skills in spite of the poor conditions–a poor vault runway, old-fashioned equipment with the legs and cables that had been repaired multiple times, lack of mats, etc. In the afternoon on the 16th, she left for the training camp in Crimea
One remarkable annual event in Ukraine is the "Person of the Year" Ceremony, which takes place in March, but nominations begin much earlier
Losinskaya: It was about the beginning on January 1997 when we were called and informed Lilia had been nominated in several categories. We were advised to prepare photos for accreditation cards.
Lilia had been nominated as "Athlete of the Year," "Pride of the Year," and "Person of the Year." In the third category, President Kuchma was also a nominee, and he won as expected. In the second category, the Ukrainian Olympic Team won. In the first category, there were two more candidates: Rhythmic gymnast Yekaterina Serebryanskaya and boxer Vladimir Klichko. Lilia won this category
Lilia: I was given a statuette "Prometheus Prestige," the first independent Ukrainian award for the highest professional and social achievements. Of course I felt proud. Special invitations for the ceremony were sent to my mother, my first coach, and choreographer, who were sitting in the front row. Everything was televised.
Losinskaya: We felt proud of our native town. In the category of "Worker of Culture and Art," famous dancer Vadim Pisarev from Donetsk won. The television program was conducted by Yevgeny Salnikov, also from Donetsk.
Lilia then won first place in the traditional poll of journalists, "Top Ten Athletes of the Year."
People were fond of Lilia in many countries. The Chinese named her "Athlete of the Year" in a public opinion poll and sent her a vase and a certificate.
Chapter 19. We Travel Again
"I was quite aware of the fact that gymnastics was popular in the USA, but not this popular! I have the impression that the whole young generation there participates in it." Galina Losinskaya
Lilia: After the Olympics I developed a feeling of emptiness. Within a year, I had become the World, European, and Olympic champion. I didn't know whether to train or not. What saved me was the exhibition tour
The tour was in Belgium and also featured Vitaly Scherbo, Rustam Sharipov, Yuri Chechi, Yekaterina Serebryanskaya, Yana Batryshina, and the world acrobatic and trampoline champions
Lilia: It was a wonderful show with a friendly environment. We developed competitions, like best dismount. We had two teams–three girls on UB and three boys on HB. Scherbo failed that day and the girls' team won
They wrote in the souvenir brochure that I collected stuffed animals; people started to throw stuffed animals on the podium when I did my floor exercise–the amount got enormous. I wanted to present them to kindergartens in Ukraine, but the airline wouldn't transport them free of charge. I was to leave for the US from Belgium, so the toys were left for orphanages in Belgium
Lilia was the only foreign participant in the US tour, which played in 30 cities before the New Year of 1997 and 20 after it. (Note: This is the main tour, not the Kerri tour)
Losinskaya: The tour was arranged by John Hancock, a major American company and dedicated to the US gymnastics team. I was aware gymnastics was popular in the US, but not this popular! After the Olympics, America's interest in sports had increased 100%. Each city had an extraordinary number of gymnastics clubs. Lilia was always recognized immediately
Lilia: In Atlanta, they treated me like I was a native and gave me presents
Losinskaya: In New York, we went to the famous All Star Cafe. Lilia was immediately recognized and asked for her autograph and we were treated to lunch. We enjoyed many such kindnesses. What strikes me most about Americans is their ability to worship people who have gained success due to their work. To them, a champion is equal to God.
Lilia: In America, they recognized me in each town we visited. We covered practically all the states in six months. I was especially impressed by Las Vegas. One street had only hotels that were absolutely different. Each had a casino inside. You can only gamble if you're over 21, but I managed to lose $2 playing the slow machine before a guard appeared and asked me for my passport and cut the process of my further ruin.
Losinskaya: We were able to play one time in the casino. I won $100 and lost it all at once.
Lilia: A lot of other cities were remarkable to me. In New York we saw "The Nutcracker" at the Lincoln Center
They also contacted the Ukrainian representatives of the Diaspora company who presented $1000 to Lilia's gym in Donetsk, which Lilia and Galina then matched
People applauded Lilia in many cities and she had too many fans to count. She heard declarations of love many times. One Mexican boy wrote her a poem and translated it from Spanish to English, but unfortunately couldn't find a Russian translator.
The Americans very respectfully call Lilia "Lady Pod". Fans competed to see as many of her performances as possible
Lilia: It was so sad to say goodbye. When we visited Atlanta we passed the Olympic Village and I cried
Losinskaya: I seemed to me the Olympic year was still going on, it was hard to get used to seeing 1997 on calendars. I felt uneasy after the Games; maybe it was natural–if we a eager to achieve something, sacrifice for many years for it, then we feel disappointed after we achieve the goal
Lilia was invited to relocate to America, but didn't agree at that time
Chapter 21. She Could Not Know It Then
The Sydney Olympics were getting closer with new rules and requirements
Losinskaya: They made new requirements to the routines' difficulty, but gymnasts are always ready to improve their routines. The same is true with the young generation. Everything was getting more sophisticated
There is a paradox in the present regulations. Girls of 15-16 were allowed to participate in Atlanta, while today they must be 16 to compete. After Sydney, the minimum age will be 17. So the participants get older as the requirements get more difficult. What girls do easily at 15 they can hardly perform at 21.
1997 was the first year of the new Olympic cycle, providing an unofficial survey of old stars and new favorites
Losinskaya: When we left for the US in 1996, we didn't talk about our future plans because we didn't have any. I couldn't predict Lilia's state and if she wanted to continue in sport, especially since we were about to do a very unusual task, a long series of exhibitions. We had practically no real training, just warmups before performances. We decided to prepare for the 1997 World Championships. I would never have agreed to it if I didn't know Lilia's character. In gymnastics, character and diligence are more important than talent. In this aspect I never had problems with Lilia; now it's even easier since she is grown-up and there is no need to make her work
In May 1997 Lilia competed at the European Masters with a MAG and a rhythmic gymnast and they took third. In June she went to Cardiff for the Wales Cup. This would be her last all around competition
Dubova: Journalists surrounded her as soon as we landed in Cardiff. Everyone wanted Lilia to do her Figaro floor routine, and she said she'd prepared a surprise for the spectators. She debuted a new routine to "Dark Eyes" to great delight. A crowd surrounded her; neither we nor the journalists could approach her. The officials had asked me to bring a young boy to Lilia–he had composed a song for her. We couldn't get to her, so I took him to her dressing room and we waited a long time. The boy was so nervous when she go there he could not come up to her. He gave her the tape and another valuable present
To escape the arena, we went out the back entrance. Fans noticed her car and began rocking it. All she could do was open the door and sign autographs.
Lilia won the AA in Wales. She was going to prepare for Ukrainian Championships and then World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland
Chapter 22: Vague Hopes
Lilia decided to continue competing
Lilia: It was not an easy decision. The work would be long and difficult. First, we wanted to change my floor exercise; Svetlana Dubova suggested the ballad "Dark Eyes." We also had to improve my balance beam routine, although my Atlanta routine was one of the most complicated. My vault corresponded with the new requirements. The most important thing was to remain healthy
Losinskaya: In recent years, we had suffered from a succession of injuries
Lilia: After the Olympics, I had constant pain in my ankle. In America, the pain became extremely sharp. I bandaged it and tried to overcome the pain. It became difficult to walk. A traditional x-ray found nothing, but in the USA I underwent a thorough examination using modern electronic equipment (my note: an MRI?). The diagnosis was bone pins between ligaments. I need surgery which would cost $8,000, but we decided to come back. I trained little by little but got another injury–I fell on bars and cut my leg so badly it needed stitches. I also suffered from a bad back, then liquid appeared on my hand which was pumped out. But I didn't stop training, I just avoided UB dismounts.
Lilia had a hand operation shortly after returning from Wales, and then suffered another knee laceration. She wasn't able to train for Ukrainian Championships and had to skip them. But she hoped things weren't too bad.
Losinskaya: We prepared for World Championships very seriously. Lilia got in good shape and was on the national team. We thought that even though she couldn't challenge in the AA due to her injuries, she could still contribute in the team event. The Ukraine federation had already processed everything, but just before the departure we realized Lilia would not be able to perform. The pain in her leg kept returning. We couldn't get a refund, so we went to Switzerland as tourists
Chapter 23. Secret Weapons
The media contradicted each other regarding if Lilia would compete at Worlds. The official information on opening day was that she would compete, but only a few events. Due to her leg injury, she did not compete.
Losinskaya: In the past 14 years, Lilia had never had as many injuries as she had recently. We tried to treat her left leg with training, but the trauma was very serious and specialists were afraid of a tendon rupture
Lilia's arrival in Switzerland initiated a storm among the media regarding Ukraine's "Secret Weapon." Another storm involved athletes–organizers had not prepared special seating arrangements for gymnasts and officials. Lilia ended up in the middle of the packed arena, with people running over for autographs
The world championships would be unpredictable with the new rules and 80% of the leading teams being new athletes
Losinskaya: It was clear there were two candidates for victory: One of the Romanians or Svetlana Khorkina. All the teams were in the process of preparing their new gymnasts for future years. It's a pity we couldn't compete, because we would have won some medals. As expected, Khorkina won.
Lilia and Galina returned to Donetsk briefly. After a few weeks of injections and treatments, Lilia resumed training, working out at Dinamo for the first time in a long while. Soon, she and Galina would leave for another tour in the US that winter
Losinskaya: I had a lot of apprehensions. I was afraid of acute trauma, that the tour would be harmful to Lilia. We had 2 or 3 weeks to prepare, but would it be enough to restore her? Still, I hoped to have organizers restrict Lilia's performance to UB and, at most, BB. The contract said it was possible to perform only some events.
Does anyone know if there's any surviving footage of the Dark Eyes routine? I couldn't find it, but I haven't had the time to do a deep dive looking for it
