An icon of the Soviet sports system, Lyudmila Turishcheva seemed to be living proof that the big red machine produced man-made automatons programmed to win. Vivacious and relaxed, today's Turishcheva is a far cry from the unsmiling competitor as she settles down on a bench with Gymworld in Kiev's Radyanski Park, a stone's throw away from the Ukrainian parliament. "I know I had a reputation of being really aloof, but it was only in gymnastics," she says, flashing a dazzling smile as if to prove her point, "it was a ritual I had, like a mask. My coach trained me to focus only on myself, not to pay attention to my rivals or what was happening in the stands. If you go to a play and see actors playing thieves, it doesn't mean they are going to go out and rob someone after the play is over. It's just their role, and competitions are an athlete's role," she laughs.

As the Monday morning traffic rumbles along Mikhail Grushevski street in the background and Kievans take advantage of the spring sunshine to walk their dogs in the park, the private Turishcheva contemplates her public image: "Really, I'm a completely normal person and I do smile! I was never as unsmiling as the media portrayed me." In Soviet times she did feel obliged to compete not only for her own sake. " We had a huge sense of duty, and I was brought up to believe that I wasn't competing for myself, but for my country. I owed a lot to my country and I always felt I had to be super prepared. I was after all the team captain," she can't help a grin, "ok, it probably sounds funny nowadays but I really felt it then. I had to be an example at all times."

Undisputedly one of the most successful gymnasts ever she took the European (1971, 1973) and World (1970,1974) AA titles twice as well as the 1972 Olympic AA. A three time Olympian (1968-1976), Turishcheva also has a host of event and team titles to her name, bringing her overall haul to 39 medals at important competitions - 24 of them gold. Always overshadowed in popular appeal by team mate Olga Korbut, Turishcheva's achievements are often under appreciated. One of the first female gymnasts to compete a double twist on floor at a time when it was hardly being performed by men, she also was one of the first to vault a Tsukahara. Never flashy, her execution was excellent and her artistic qualities exceptional.

Discovered by Vladislav Rastorotski during a physical education class in school, Lyudmila switched from ballet to gymnastics but never switched coaches. Lyudmila admits that she is not up to date about his whereabouts after severing all ties with him. "I have my reasons for this, there were certain things that happened, " she says coldly, "but I do not wish to talk about them." After retiring in 1976, she remained very visible in gymnastics as an international judge and served as a member of the FIG's Women's Technical Committee from 1980 to 1992. The break up of her homeland cost her her position within the FIG when the Russian gymnastics federation, in charge of affairs for the transition period, nominated a candidate of its own, who was not elected.

"No more professionals"

At home there were new tasks for Turishcheva as she was elected president of the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation. She held the post until December 2000 when she decided not to stand for re-election, frustrated by the way top sports was being administrated in the country. Her main gripe is directed towards the Sports Committee, which has changed leadership four times in five years. Once headed by Turishcheva's husband Valeri Borzov, she feels his successors lacked understanding of sports. "There was just a point when I realised I wasn't dealing with professionals anymore. People started being appointed as head of the Sports Committee who were not genuine specialists in sports. I'm not saying they are bad people. They are very competent in their respective fields of expertise," she underlines, "but. they don't understand that sports demands quick, operational decisions." Turishcheva stops to think, raising an eyebrow before going into more detail. "For instance, the competition is today, not tomorrow. So, I need the money now, not tomorrow or next month. Then they would say: "They miss one competition. So what?" But a gymnast's image depends on him or her constantly competing on the international stage to build their reputation. They never understood how important this was."

According to her, funding for competitions wasn't the only problem and she is particularly adamant about the pre-Sydney preparation involving the then head of the Sports Committee Ivan Fedorenko. "Fedorenko was head of the Committee before Sydney, and we would have needed new apparatus in the national training centre Koncha Zaspa before the Olympics and not after the team had already left for Australia, which was when they arrived. Our floor was completely worn out. We put all our hopes into the two-week training camp in Australia before the Games, thinking that we would have the chance to train on good apparatus there. But actually," she sighs, "conditions were even worse there than in Koncha Zaspa. The floor was really hard and the apparatus didn't meet the Olympic standards in the slightest. I had tried to explain that we should have sent a specialist down to look at the gym and determine what we need, to make absolutely sure that everything was ok. We couldn't train properly on that floor. These four years between Atlanta and Sydney broke me."

Also contributing to Turishcheva's frustration was the embittered battle with Albina and Irina Deryugina. Mother and daughter head the famous rhythmic gymnastics school in Kiev, which has turned out an impressive string of champions. While the Deryuginas' competence in the trainer department is undisputed, their quest for independent representation of Ukrainian rhythmic gymnastics on the international scene ripped the sport apart at home. Having founded their own federation, which failed to win recognition by the FIG - which demands all disciplines to be represented internationally by one single federation -, they garnered enough high level political support within Ukraine to make life difficult for gymnasts opposing them. The judging scandal surrounding Yelena Vitrichenko, who left the Deryugina federation to return to Turishcheva, at the 2000 Europeans was the internationally most visible result of this bizarre situation. "You understand, we have laws and the FIG has regulations, and then you see that your own administrators are acting against those laws," Turishcheva comments.

"You always gave 100 percent "

She is quick to admit that her own high standards may have contributed to the sense of exasperation. "It was just the way we were brought up. We had a super high sense of duty, there was no 'maybe', only 'must'. You just gave 100% all the time. As president of the federation I felt I had to take care of everything. I consulted with the coaches, especially head coach Oleg Ostapenko regarding the composition of routines, choreography. I also dealt with the question of the team's clothing. Now there doesn't seem to be any interest in this, the new generation has a different approach. I think my time was just up."

In addition to walking away from the federation presidency, Lyudmila also chucked her hat at judging. "I know the two are different, " she smiles, "but it was just my form of protest. Maybe I was wrong, but I just didn't want to work for this type of leader anymore who don't understand anything." She has discarded most of her judges uniforms, but some still await new homes - " the last one, from Sydney is still hanging in my cupboard at home. The cut of the jacket is classical, but it doesn't suit me at all. Not my colour."

However, she has not turned her back on the sport completely. She serves as the head coach for rhythmic and artistic gymnastics of the Dinamo squad of Ukraine, a job she has held since 1985. Due to financial restrictions Lyudmila says she can lend mainly moral support. "I try to pass on my knowledge and lend a helping hand with the construction of routines. I am in charge of the preparation of Dinamo athletes, to organise training camps for the young gymnasts, help them improve, find qualified coaches. In short, to secure results for the future. Of course, we have results now, but I already see a decline. If we used to have a minimum of three internal Dinamo competitions a year in Ukraine, we are now down to only one, " she regrets shrugging her shoulders. Her outlook on the future of Ukrainian gymnastics is pessimistic. "Time is passing, and we are loosing our school of gymnastics. Our coaches don't see a future for themselves in Ukraine, and we are loosing the best and most capable coaches. If you loose them, you loose your school."

"My home is the Soviet Union"

Turishcheva's focus has now shifted to more personal aims with her family taking precedence, husband Valeri Borzov took golds in the 100 and 200 metres in the 1972 Munich Olympics. The couple got together at the 1976 Olympics and will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary on December 10th. "We decided to get married pretty quickly since we were so far apart - he lived in Kiev and I was in Rostov on Don at the time and we'd mostly meet in Moscow." Daughter Tatiana, born October 30, 1978, followed in her father's footsteps to become a promising sprinter but later decided top level sports was not her passion. She is currently studying to be a fashion designer. "I try to help my husband and my daughter as much as possible, to understand their problems. When Valeri comes home tired from his strenuous work, I love to cook him something nice and just be there for him." In turn, Borzov offered advice when she was deciding whether to quit or not: "He saw how I was suffering and that the situation was beginning to affect my health. I was becoming very irritable. He didn't try to talk me into anything."

Her wedding brought Lyudmila, born October 7, 1952 to Russian parents in the Chechen capital of Grozni, to Kiev, but she remains Russian at heart. "There is a huge difference in mentality between Russians and Ukrainians. Russians are more open, there are no secrets. Ukrainians tend to be closed. Even if I've been here for almost 25 years now, I can't really say this is my home." She pauses to think before stating: "I always say my home is the Soviet Union."

Valeri Borzov embarked on a career in sports politics, heading Ukraine's Sports Committee as well as the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee. In 1998 he was elected to the Ukrainian parliament and the International Olympic Committee in 1994. Despite Borzov's ambitions, Turishcheva herself remains indifferent to politics: "I don't know much about it and, to tell you the truth, it's not a field I feel I need to know a lot about. I think a lot of our current problems stem from over there, " she says decidedly with an impatient flick of the wrist in the direction of the parliament building across the park, "speaking just as an ordinary citizen, I think a lot of our politicians aren't too competent. They chop and change between opinions and parties, sometimes even entire parties change their opinions overnight." Never one to mince words, Turishcheva is equally frank in her assessment of the current state of Ukrainian society: "I'll be open with you. I don't like these times. I see that today's youth has nothing to strive for, no ideals, it's all just about money. Salaries are low, most parents are poor and less and less things are free. You have to pay to study in a lot of the institutes, and we have very few grants. I feel the country is loosing a lot of talent in all areas since many parents can't afford to pay." Despite this, she maintains leaving the country was never an option. "I never had any ambitions that way. My husband is the same, this is just our psychology. You stay when the going gets tough and try to help. I don't necessarily think this is a bad quality..

"I'm grateful for the small things in life"

Outside gymnastics, Turishcheva is now relishing the new found spare time. "Finally, I have more time to spend outdoors. If my daughter has time in the evening, I like going for a run with her in the park near where we live." She also hopes to improve her computer skills, "that's something I didn't have a lot of time for before." In general, life is good and Turishcheva is taking a more philosophical approach to life, the universe and everything: "I have learnt to be grateful for the small things and to enjoy every day. There are so many things that are good in life - I have my family and my work which I love. We are not rich but have a stable income, there are so many people in Ukraine today who don't know what to feed their children the next day. I have a lot of things to be grateful for and I'm happy. Like now, " she says with a sweeping gesture around the park, "we are sitting here, the sun is shining and it's so peaceful and beautiful."

nora schuler