The 18th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Varna, Bulgaria, in 1974. This was the first world championships at which the individual all-around titles were contested in a separate session of competition, rather than being decided after the team competition.
Controversies The World Championships were originally awarded to Varna. However, there were significant concerns over whether all athletes would be able to obtain visas, which the Bulgarian federation could not guarantee, particularly those from Apartheid-era South Africa, as Bulgaria did not have diplomatic relations with South Africa at the time. In April 1974, the World Championships were moved to Munich, but at another International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) meeting in July, they were returned to Varna in a vote of 26 to 24. Neither Bulgaria nor West Germany was pleased by the series of decisions, with accusations coming from Bulgaria that the FIG was trying to force them to accommodate "South African racists", while the vice president of the West German Gymnastics Federation criticized the FIG for not upholding its statute that all FIG members must be granted visas to compete and wrote, "Gymnastics became illegitimate in Varna."
Several parties alleged corruption in the scoring during the competition. Frank Endo of the United States, writing for Gymnastics magazine, said that both the Japanese and American delegations had heard that Yuri Titov had told Soviet judges to underscore their teams. Olga Korbut also alleged that two of the event final golds were arranged in advance; when she saw her scores for the uneven bars in the event final, which gave the gold to East German Annelore Zinke, she asked Titov to file a protest, and he refused so that Ludmilla Tourischeva would receive gold on the floor final in exchange. Titov, on his part, complained that the head judge, Walter Lehmann, and the FIG president, Arthur Gander, intervened to ensure that Shigeru Kasamatsu won the individual all-around title over Nikolai Andrianov. Minot Simons II, also writing for Gymnast magazine, alleged that judges were told to raise scores in several instances during the women's event, especially for the Hungarian gymnasts, as the head of the women's technical committee was from Hungary. During the women's team optionals, the crowd protested for around twenty minutes after Ann Carr was given a score they thought was too low.
After the 1972 Summer Olympics, the starting score for a common women's vault was lowered, and the rules for qualifying for vault finals were changed, leading to more difficult vaults being seen at the World Championships compared to two years earlier.
Results Men Shigeru KasamatsuEizo KenmotsuMitsuo TsukaharaHiroshi KajiyamaFumio HonmaSawao Kato Nikolai AndrianovEdvard MikaelianVladimir MarchenkoPaata ShamugiyaVladimir SafronovViktor Klimenko Wolfgang ThüneBernd JägerWolfgang KlotzRainer HanschkeLutz MackOlaf Grosse Shigeru Kasamatsu Nikolai Andrianov Eizo Kenmotsu Shigeru Kasamatsu Hiroshi Kajiyama Andrey Keranov Zoltán Magyar Nikolai Andrianov Eizo Kenmotsu Dănuț Grecu Nikolai Andrianov none awarded Andrzej Szajna Shigeru Kasamatsu Nikolai Andrianov Hiroshi Kajiyama Eizo Kenmotsu Nikolai Andrianov Vladimir Marchenko Eberhard Gienger Wolfgang Thüne Eizo Kenmotsu Andrzej Szajna Women Ludmilla TourischevaOlga KorbutElvira SaadiRusudan SikharulidzeNina DronovaNelli Kim Angelika HellmannAnnelore ZinkeRicharda SchmeißerBärbel RöhrichHeike GerischIrene Abel Krisztina MedveczkyMónika CsászárZsuzsa NagyMarta EgervariZsuzsa MatulaiÁgnes Bánfai Ludmilla Tourischeva Olga Korbut Angelika Hellmann Olga Korbut Ludmilla Tourischeva Božena Perdykulová Annelore Zinke Olga Korbut Ludmilla Tourischeva Ludmilla Tourischeva Olga Korbut Nellie Kim Ludmilla Tourischeva Olga Korbut Elvira Saadi Rusudan Siharulidze
Men
Team Final 1st Shigeru Kasamatsu571.400Eizo KenmotsuMitsuo TsukaharaHiroshi KajiyamaFumio HonmaSawao Kato2nd Nikolai Andrianov567.350Edvard MikaelianVladimir MarchenkoPaata ShamugiyaVladimir SafronovViktor Klimenko3rd Wolfgang Thüne562.500Bernd JägerWolfgang KlotzRainer HanschkeLutz MackOlaf Grosse4th Imre Molnar552.800Zoltán MagyarFerenc DonáthIstván KissJanos SivadoBela Laufer5th Eberhard Gienger552.600Walter MossingerGünter SpiesEdgar JorekWerner SteinmetzReinhard Ritter6th Dănuț Grecu547.250Nicolai OprescuGeorghe PaunescuMihai BorsConstantin PetrescuStefan Gal7th Peter Rohner547.200Robert BretscherArmin VockMichele ArnaboldiReinhold SchnyderRenati Giess
All-around Rank Gymnast Total 115.500 115.375 114.750 4 114.650 5 114.600 6 114.175 7 114.000 8 113.725 9 113.700 10 113.375 11 112.875 12 112.600 13 112.575 14 111.975 15 111.750 16 111.350 17 111.200 17 111.200 19 111.150 20 111.125 21 111.050 22 111.025 23 110.875 24 110.775 25 110.625 26 110.550 27 110.525 28 110.500 29 110.450 30 110.025 31 109.800 32 109.675 33 109.650 34 108.750 35 100.875 36 80.700
Floor Exercise Rank Gymnast Total 19.375 19.325 19.225 4 19.150 5 18.900 6 18.800
Pommel Horse Rank Gymnast Total 19.575 19.375 19.225 4 18.950 5 18.875 6 18.500
Rings Rank Gymnast Total 19.525 19.525 19.225 4 19.125 5 19.000 6 18.925
Vault Rank Gymnast Total 19.325 19.250 19.225 4 19.175 5 19.075 6 18.750
Parallel Bars Rank Gymnast Total 19.375 19.325 18.850 4 18.275 5 18.100 6 17.625
Horizontal Bar Rank Gymnast Total 19.500 19.450 19.275 19.275 5 19.250 6 18.900
Women
Team Final RankTeam Total C O C O C O C O 94.95095.80095.85097.600384.200 Ludmilla Tourischeva 9.6009.8009.6509.7509.8509.9009.8509.90078.300 Olga Korbut 9.5009.7009.7509.8009.6509.8009.7509.85077.800 Elvira Saadi 9.3509.4009.4509.5509.0009.5509.7009.80075.800 Rusudan Sikharulidze 9.4009.5009.2509.4009.2009.4509.6509.85075.700 Nina Dronova 9.2509.4009.3509.4009.5009.5009.4509.70075.550 Nelli Kim 9.3008.6009.5009.6009.3009.6009.5509.55075.000 93.20095.80093.20094.350376.550 Angelika Hellmann 9.4009.5009.6009.7009.4509.6009.5509.65076.450 Annelore Zinke 9.3009.4509.6009.9008.7009.5009.4009.60075.450 Richarda Schmeißer 9.2009.3009.5009.7009.3509.0509.3509.50074.950 Bärbel Röhrich 9.2009.5009.2009.6509.1009.3509.2009.40074.600 Heike Gerisch 8.9509.3009.3009.3509.2009.5009.1509.30074.050 Irene Abel 9.0509.3009.3509.5008.9009.2509.2009.50074.050 93.20093.90090.60093.050370.750 Krisztina Medveczky 9.2509.4509.6009.5009.5008.9509.2509.55075.050 Mónika Császár 9.2509.4509.5509.5009.4008.9509.3009.55074.950 Zsuzsa Nagy 9.2009.5009.3009.3009.2509.0509.0009.30073.900Márta Egervári9.0509.5509.2009.6009.0008.4009.0509.35073.200 Zsuzsa Matulai 9.1009.3509.1009.1508.9509.0509.0509.40073.150 Ágnes Bánfai 9.1009.3509.0009.2509.0508.3509.1009.45072.650 4 93.25092.30090.70093.050369.300 Alina Goreac 9.2509.7009.2009.7009.3009.4009.1009.60075.250 Anca Grigoraș 9.1509.6009.0509.6009.0509.3509.2509.60074.650 Elena Ceampelea 8.9509.2008.9509.5008.4509.2009.2009.50072.950 Paula Ioan 9.2509.5008.8509.3508.7008.9508.8009.30072.700 9.0009.5008.7009.2008.8508.8009.0509.50072.600Rodica Sabău9.1009.1508.9009.1508.8009.1008.8509.40072.450 5 92.75091.00091.30093.400368.450 Zdena Dorňáková 9.3509.3009.2009.3009.1509.3509.3009.60074.550 Jana Knopová9.0509.3509.0008.9509.1009.3009.2509.45073.450 Drahomíra Smolíková9.0009.2509.3009.2009.0009.3009.1509.25073.450 Václava Soukupová9.1509.2008.7009.0509.0009.0509.3509.50073.000Zdena Bujňačková9.1509.1509.0509.1508.5509.1509.1509.40072.750Božena Perdykulová9.4009.5508.8008.9008.9008.9509.0509.15072.700 6 90.45090.40089.00093.050362.900 Nobue Yabe 9.0009.1509.0009.0508.7509.1509.1009.40072.600 Miyuki Matsuhisa 9.0509.0009.1509.2009.1009.0509.3508.55072.450 Fusae Hayashida 8.9509.1508.9009.3008.8008.5509.1509.55072.350 Machiko Ichimura 8.8009.2008.7008.9509.0508.8509.2009.50072.250 Chieko Kikkawa 8.9509.1508.9009.1008.6008.9509.2509.25072.150 Kyoko Mano 8.8508.8508.8009.0008.7508.4009.1009.30071.050 6 91.00088.80088.85093.350362.000 Joan Moore 9.0009.0008.8508.3508.9009.2009.4509.70072.450 Diane Dunbar 9.1009.2508.9508.5008.9508.9009.1509.60072.400 Janette Anderson 8.9508.9508.9009.1008.9008.6009.3509.10071.850 Debbie Fike 9.1009.1508.6009.0509.0008.6009.2509.10071.850 Kathy Howard 8.9509.1008.8008.9508.9008.9009.0509.25071.900 Ann Carr 8.9509.4008.7508.9508.2008.5008.9509.45071.150
All-around Rank Gymnast Score Prelim score Total 39.300 39.150 78.450 38.750 38.900 77.650 38.650 38.225 76.875 4 38.550 37.875 76.425 5 38.550 37.850 76.400 6 38.600 37.725 76.325 7 38.350 37.775 76.125 8 38.300 37.625 75.925 9 38.050 37.475 75.525 10 37.950 37.525 75.475 11 38.150 37.300 75.450 12 37.800 37.325 75.125 13 37.900 37.025 74.925 14 37.150 37.025 74.175 14 37.450 36.725 74.175 16 37.850 36.300 74.150 16 37.200 36.950 74.150 18 37.900 36.225 74.125 19 37.450 36.625 74.075 19 36.800 37.275 74.075 21 37.250 36.725 73.975 22 36.450 37.375 73.825 23 37.050 36.525 73.575 23 37.000 36.575 73.575 25 37.300 36.175 73.475 26 37.250 36.200 73.450 27 37.050 36.350 73.400 28 37.050 36.300 73.350 29 36.850 36.475 73.325 30 36.700 36.500 73.200 31 36.800 36.325 73.125 32 36.250 36.225 72.475 33 35.900 36.375 72.275 34 35.300 36.350 71.650 35 35.350 36.150 71.500 36 27.350 36.225 63.575
Vault Rank Gymnast Total 19.450 19.200 19.075 4 19.025 5 18.850 6 17.900
Uneven Bars Rank Gymnast Total 19.650 19.575 19.500 4 19.350 5 19.250 6 19.050
Balance Beam Rank Gymnast Total 19.725 19.525 19.200 4 19.100 5 18.900 6 18.625
Floor Exercise Rank Gymnast Total 19.775 19.600 19.550 19.550 5 19.274 6 19.200
Medals
References