OLYMPIC FAILURE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30610, 28 November 1964, Page 13

OLYMPIC FAILURE

Soviet Team “Too Old”

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter—Copyright)

MOSCOW, Nov. 26.

The Soviet athletics team failed to come up to expectations in the Tokyo Olympics because it was too old, Gavril Korobkov, the team’s senior coach, said in an article published in Moscow today. Mr Korobkov, writing in “Sovetsky Sport,” said: “We could not bring ourselves to stop relying on veterans and their coaches. We believed in them, as their names had for years been associated with the successes of the Soviet team. “We overlooked the point where many members of the team ceased to be athletes with a future. Their time had passed. They could produce enough to win a berth in the team, but they had no real strength left for Tokyo.” The Soviet Union, he said, sent to Tokyo its oldest track and field team. Of its 87 members 25 were aged 30 or over. Three had competed at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, 13 in Melbourne four years later and 34 in Rome in 1960. Mr Korobkov said that in his opinion the United States team was superior not only because it was younger, but also in physical attributes — height, weight, speed, length of leg.

The Soviet Union must overhaul completely its system of training and organisation and raise the standard of athletics throughout the country.