Tamara Lazakovich

Tamara Vasilyevna Lazakovich (Russian: Тамара Васильевна Лазакович), born 11 March 1954 in village Gusevo in the Pravdinskiy rayon of the Kaliningrad region of Russia, was an Soviet gymnast whose competed at the European, World, and Olympic level during the early 1970s.

Described as a "perky sparrow" with a "purity of line" [ [http://www.gymn-forum.net/Articles/Misc-Lazakovich.html Gymn Forum: That Amusing Kid ] ] , Lazakovich was spotted by her compatriate, Olympic Champion before her, Larissa Petrik, in 1961, and brought to prominent coaches in the Belarussian system. She made a name for herself early on, winning many gold and silver medals at the 1968 and 1969 USSR Jr. Championships. Lazakovich debuted as a senior rather inauspiciously, however, at the 1970 World Championships as a part of that year's World Champion Soviet Team - a low score of 8.00 on the balance beam during the compulsory segment of the team competition dropped her down to 21st place in the all-around, the lowest ranked of the Soviet team. Just a brief glance at her scores and results from that year's Worlds, however, reveals no indication of the tremendous haul of medals she would receive at major competitions over the next two years.

Her crowning achievement came the 1971 Europeans, where she tied her teammate, European, World, and Olympic All-Around Champion Ludmilla Tourischeva for the European All-Around title. She also took two of the four individual event titles (Uneven Bars, Balance Beam), and won silver on the other two (Vault, Floor Exercise). Interesting to note is that in addition to being co-champions in the all-around, she or Tourischeva occupied the Gold and Silver positions on the podium on all 5 individual events, keeping German Erika Zuchold in 3rd place on 4 out of 5 of them.

The next year, at the 1972 Olympics where Tourischeva dominated the all-around and Soviet teammate Olga Korbut stole the crowd's and media's attention with her daring moves and charismatic personality, Lazakovich quietly worked her way onto the individual podium three times, winning the bronze medal in the individual all-around and floor exercise, plus winning silver on the balance beam. Also of note is that her four-event total of 38.25 was the highest of any gymnast in the team compulsories segment of the competition.

Unfortunately, this accomplished gymnast struggled with alcoholism, much like her contemporary, Soviet gymnast Zinaida Voronina did. Resultingly, she spent several years in jail, and died aged 38 years old in Vitebsk in November 1992. [ [http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1253585,00.html The perfect ten | Breaking news | guardian.co.uk Sport ] ] [ [http://www.gymnast.ru/persons/l.html Спортивная гимнастика. Личности: биография, достижения, победы ] ] .

References

*http://www.gymn-forum.net/bios/women/lazakovich.html
*http://www.gymnast.ru/persons/l.html
*http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1253585,00.html
*http://www.gymn-forum.net/Articles/Misc-Lazakovich.html

External links

* http://tamara-lazakovich.narod.ru/ (Russian language page dedicated to Lazakovich)