Tamara Lazakovich

I felt I had to start a new post to offer reverence to this wonderful gymnast whose website I found by chance when trying to identify a gymnast in an old Soviet newsreel.  Viewing the website has been a little like dusting off an old book you read years ago and loved, but had almost forgotten existed.  It is a fan site and the design is unsophisticated, but there are photographs and a short biography, including a press cutting of Tamara's obituary from a publication entitled Physikulturnik Belarusy (24 November 1992).  A daughter of Tamara has also provided a picture for the site.

There are even videos of Tamara's floor and beam routines.  When you watch them you really get a feeling for the time that has elapsed since she was competing.  The videos, in black and white, don't have sound on my computer and are even a little blurred round the edges, like old family photographs.

A further link for those interested in this era is here. 

To think that the sound on these videos might be irretrievably lost, makes me feel incredibly sad.  I do hope that someone, somewhere, is archiving all this history.

The beautiful Tamara Lazakovich, 1954-1992.  

European AA champion 1971
Olympic Team Champion 1972
Olympic AA bronze medallist 1972