The 20th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Fort Worth, Texas in 1979. In November 1977 the 55th FIG Congress, held in Rome, changed the cycle of world championships….since 1979 they were to be held each two years…..and the pre-Olympic ones were to be qualifications for the Olympic tournament. The first 12 teams in the team competition of the 1979 World Championships were invited to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics.
This NBC Sports highlights of the 1979 Women’s Gymnastics World Championships featured legendary sportscaster Curt Gowdy and USA women’s gymnastics 1st ever World Championships medal winner, Cathy Rigby behind the mikes as they call various discipline routines of USSR Elena Mukhina, ROM Emilia Eberle, DDR Maxi Gnauck, ROM Nadia Comaneci, USSR Natalia Shaposhnikova and others…. which provides some of the best highlights of the best routines by the best women gymnasts in the world in 1979….as this video is another “nugget of gold” in our treasure chest of vintage memories here at ImaSportsphile.