Word: shushunova
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...East Germans by just 0.3 of a point, felled by a controversial technical ruling that penalized the Americans a fatal half point. Come the all-around, it was a duel to the last 10 between Rumania's perky Daniela Silivas and the Soviets' no-nonsense Elena Shushunova. By a margin of just 0.025 of a point, Shushunova squeaked by to nail the gold, with teammate Svetlana Boginskaya capturing the bronze...
...around proved a cliff-hanger right up through the final few seconds of the competition. For the Soviets, there was Shushunova, 19, the team's mainstay, who wooed quietly with her elegant lines and dramatic presentation. Rumania was represented by Silivas, 18, a charismatic performer with an instinct for selling her quick, precise routines to the audience. Coming into the final rotation, the vault, Silivas held a slight edge. Although vault is her weakest event, she held tough to the last, scoring 9.95. Nothing less than a perfect 10 would deprive her of the gold. But Shushunova had already scored...
...days later, Silivas avenged her disappointment, harvesting three golds and a bronze in the apparatus finals. Shushunova took a silver and bronze; Boginskaya a gold and silver. Phoebe Mills claimed the only gymnastics medal for the U.S., sharing the bronze for the balance beam with Rumania's Gabriela Potorac. In a final count of coveted 10s, both Silivas and Shushunova tied the record seven scored by Rumania's Nadia Comaneci...
Some weeks ago, he ridiculed the chances of the veteran Soviet Elena Shushunova, 19, scoffing, "She's used up like old battery." But her dry cells powered the Olympics with regular flashes of just slightly imperfect 10s, including a necessary one against Rumania's Daniela Silivas that brought back Mary Lou Retton and little Ecaterina Szabo from 1984. Puberty and Big Macs have reportedly ganged up on Szabo this year. Four years later, it is a rare Shirley Temple who doesn't come back as Shelley Winters...
...will Elena Shushunova, whom Dobre dethroned as world champion. At 19, Shushunova is a geriatric in the world of gymnastics. The Olympics, she concedes, "will be my last big hurrah." A consistent and strong competitor who impresses the judges, the sullen-faced Shushunova lacks the charisma and light-footedness that ignite audiences. But the Leningrad tomboy does not lack confidence. "If I prepare well, I'll get 10s in everything and won't have to worry about my competitors," she says. "I'll roll right over them like a tank...