gymn Digest                 Mon, 16 May 94       Volume 2 : Issue 125

Today's Topics:
                            Bela (2 msgs)
                    European Championships Results
                  Europeans'94 (part 1) - All-Around
             Europeans'94 (part 2) - App. Finals (2 msgs)
                   Europeans'94 (part 3) - Juniors
                        Fwd: Re: Bela (2 msgs)
                          Gym demonstration
                    Gymnastics On TV this Weekend
                         Gymn subscription...
                             Hilton meet
                     Late meets (was Hilton meet)
                               Mary Lou
                             Mitch, Bela
               progress on my project/ Worlds reactions
                           stress or what?
                  Transfers/Soviet Coaches (4 msgs)
                          Women's Europeans
                     Women's Europeans and other

This is a digest of the gymn@athena.mit.edu mailing list. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 11:30:43 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Bela

>> Marylou was with Bela barely a year when
she competed in the '84 Olympics.

>I thought it was about two or three years.  Julianne was the one who was
>there just a few months.

If I recall from reading her auto-bio a number of years ago, Marylou started
with Bela New Years 1983.  Also, she had the Retton flip from before Bela.  I
recall her saying she and Bela invented a variation of it with a half-twist,
but she never competed it, just like she never competed her tsuk double-full.

>PS -- I was wondering if anyone knows anything about his daughter Andrea.  I
saw her once, but I'm curious as to what she's like.

I recall reading somewhere that she was in college.  Wouldn't she be about 21
now?

Mara

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 15:02:18 PDT
From: ***@eworld.com
Subject: Bela

David has been driven bull-goose loony by the pressure. Please excuse him for
going over the edge on poor Mr. Bela.

He will return to this address next Monday at his regularly scheduled time.

8-P     <--- David

Signed,

David's Shrink

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 May 94 08:52:41 BST
From: ***@axion.bt.co.uk
Subject: European Championships Results

Here are the results from the European Championships
comments and other things will follow later.


European Championship 1994

Team Competition

1.Romania
2.Russia
3.Ukraine
4.France


Senoirs Individual All-Around Competition

Pos/Competitor          Country     Score

1     Gogean G.   ROM   39.411
2     Chorkina S. RUS   39.224
=     Kotchetkova D.    RUS   39.224
4.    Boulakhova I.     UKR   38.792
5.    Podkapyeva L.     UKR   38.737
6.    Milosovici L.     ROM   38.724
7.    Fabrichnova O.    RUS   38.711
8.    Kalinina N. UKR   38.486
9.    Canqueteau C.     FRA   38.205
10.   Pacheco M.  ESP   38.061
11.   Martin M.   ESP   38.042
12.   Piskuon Y.  BLR   37.768
13.   Stratmann J.      GER   37.699
14.   Szymko K.   GBR   37.305
=     Karentzou V.      GRE   37.305
16.   Tarasevich S.     BLR   37.124
17.   Kinska K.   SVK   36.924
18.   Apostolidou L.    GRE   36.811
19.   Tarvida N.  LAT   36.405
20.   Prince L.   LAT   36.367
21.   Krcmarova G.      CZE   36.205
22.   Lazarova G. BUL   35.999
23.   Andreasson J.     SWE   35.892
24.   Savenkova J.      EST   35.386


Seniors Apparatus Finals

Vault
Pos/Competitor          Country     Score

1.Lavinia Milosovici    ROM   9.800
2.Yelena Piskuon  BLR   9.793
3.Liliya Podkopayeva    UKR   9.787
4.Gina Gogean           ROM   9.775
5.Svetlana Chorkina     RUS   9.749
6.Oksana Fabrichnova    RUS   9.712
7.Cecile Canqueteau     FRA   9.468
8.Elodie Lussac         FRA   9.318


Asymetric Bars
Pos/Competitor          Country     Score

1.Svetlana Chorkina     RUS   9.887
2.Oksana Fabrichnova    RUS   9.837
3.Mercedes Pacheco      ESP   9.800
4.Svetlana Tarasevich   BLR   9.775
5.Yelena Piskuon  BLR   9.750
6.Liliya Podkopayeva    UKR   9.737
7.Lavinia Milosovici    ROM   9.725
8.Gina Gogean           ROM   9.675


Beam
Pos/Competitor          Country     Score

1.Gina Gogean           ROM   9.900
2.Liliya Podkopayeva    UKR   9.862
3.Lavinia Milosovici    ROM   9.850
4.Yelena Piskuon  BLR   9.787
5.Svetlana Chorkina     RUS   9.775
6.Elodie Lussac         FRA   9.700
6.Oksana Fabrichnova    RUS   9.700
8.Monica Martin         ESP   9.537


Floor Exercise
Pos/Competitor          Country     Score

1.Liliya Podkopayeva    UKR   9.937
2.Lavinia Milosovici    ROM   9.887
3.Dina Kochetkova RUS   9.850
3.Gina Gogean           ROM   9.850
5.Yelena Piskuon  BLR   9.800
6.Irina Boulakhova      UKR   9.687
7.Annika Reeder         GBR   9.675
8.Svetlana Chorkina     RUS   9.350


Clive:

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 May 94 09:34:37 BST
From: ***@ic.ac.uk
Subject: Europeans'94 (part 1) - All-Around

Hi Gymners! I don't know how much you guys and gals out there have seen
the European Championships for ladies, but here are some of my thoughts and
observations from what I've seen on TV (from EuroSport):

For the first time ever (I may be wrong) the European Senior and Junior
Championships are to be held together, at The Globe, Stockholm, Sweden.
There was also a Team competition which also doubled up as the qualifying
for the All-Around and the Apparatus Finals. Here are some of the details
of the Seniors competition:

Team Competition
================

106 competitors took part in the event with Romania taking the team gold,
Russia silver, and Ukraine bronze. France was promising at fourth. The top
24 competitors then went on to compete in the All-Around finals.

All-Around
==========

GOGEAN TAKES EUROPEAN CROWN IN EASY VICTORY
-------------------------------------------

First rotation:

The top qualifier and tournament favourite Lavinia Milosovici had her hopes
of a first major AA title dashed in her first apparatus when she sat on her
dismount from bars (Double front and only 9.250). Lavinia had won apparatus
gold in all four disciplines in major championships but never a All-Around
title, and the jinx seemed to have continued. Gina Gogean performed two solid
vaults (Yurchenko 1/2 into layout) to lead with 9.837. Yelena Piskun was
second on bars wih 9.800 (Delchev; full-twist hop; double layout straight
dismount), and Svetlana Khorkina was third with 9.775 on floor (triple twists
dismount). Dina Kochetkova got 9.762 on beam. The surprise was maybe Natalia
Kalinina competing again in major championships for Ukraine in a grand old
age of 20 (I can remember her perfect 10 on FX in 1990 Goodwill Games!), she
got 9.662 on bars. Podkopayeva also sat on her bars dismount with 9.300.

Second Rotation:

Another medal hopeful failed as Yelena Piskun fell TWICE on her beam and only
had 8.400 (She fell on front mount into jump; and jump into full-twist
Korbut). Gogean did an ordinary bars (2 Khatchevs; double layout) but
received a very generous 9.825 to stay in front. Khorkina did an 'original'
vault (1/2 twist on; 1 and 1/2 somi off) to score 9.850 to move into second.
Dina Kochetkova got 9.837 for her lovely floor exercise (double layout; front
somis combo; full-twist double back; plus some very nice dance elements in
between, showed her class in being a World floor champ) to move to third.
Milosovici had 9.800 on beam. Boulakhova had 9.725 on floor.

Third Rotation:

Gogean did a super clean routine on beam, despite it being the same as was in
Worlds'93 (Yes, 93!) and scored a massive 9.912 (front somi mount;
flip-layout-flip; front somi; flip-flip-double back dismount (STUCK)).
Khorkina maintained her second place with 9.862 on bars, Kochetkova stayed
third with 9.750 on vault (front 1 and 1/2 with 1/2 twist). Milosovici came
back roaring up the field with 9.850 on floor.

Fourth Rotation:

Gogean finished on floor with a good 9.837 (full-twist double back (STUCK as
always); front somi combo; and another full-twist double back to end). That
leaves a mountain to climb for the challengers. Khorkina wobbled on the
beam (especially on the full-spin) and only got 9.737, but with some very
original skills and combinations (especially designed for a tall girl like
her). Kochetkova grasped on her pal's mistake to get 9.875 on bars to finish
joint second with Khorkina in the end. Milosovici got 9.824 in reward for her
superb vaulting abilities and Piskun also did well with her double-twisting
Yurchenkos to score 9.868. Boulakhova had 9.787 for her nice bars to finish
fourth, and Podkopayeva also recovered well with 9.762 on vault.

So the finals results indicates a comfortable victory for Gina Gogean, who
led from start to finish, and the winning margin in the end was 0.187 (a big
difference these days). Gogean thus shook off her nickname of 'bridesmaid'
since she always played second fiddle (to Gutsu in 92 Euros; to Miller in 93
Worlds; and to Milosovici in Romania), to gain a sweet victory in the 1994
European Championships. (You can even see her gave a couple of 'nearly'
smiles here and there! Sorry all, I am a Gogean fan!)

Final Results - Womens Europeans All-Around Championships (All)
================================================================

 1. Gina Gogean           (ROM)   39.411
 2. Svetlana Khorkina     (RUS)   39.224
 2. Dina Kochetkova       (RUS)   39.224
 4. Irina Boulakhova      (UKR)   38.792
 5. Liliya Podkopayeva    (UKR)   38.737
 6. Lavinia Milosovici    (ROM)   38.724
 7. Oksana Fabrichnova    (RUS)   38.711
 8. Natalia Kalinina      (UKR)   38.486
 9. Cecile Canqueteau     (FRA)   38.205
10. Mercedes Pacheco      (ESP)   38.061
11. Monica Martin         (ESP)   38.042
12. Yelena Piskun         (BLR)   37.768
13. Julia Stratmann       (GER)   37.699
14. Karin Szymko          (GBR)   37.305
14. Virginia Karentzou    (GRE)   37.305
16. Svetlana Tarasevich   (BLR)   37.124
17. Klaudia Kinska        (SVK)   36.924
18. Lambrini Apostolidou  (GRE)   36.811
19. Nadjezda Tarvida      (LAT)   36.405
20. Ludmila Prince        (LAT)   36.367
21. Gabriela Krcmarova    (CZE)   36.205
22. Galina Lazarova       (BUL)   35.999
23. Jessica Andreasson    (SWE)   35.892
24. Jekaterina Savenkova  (EST)   35.386

So there it is. I hope you like my notes. If any of you want a more detailed
description of any routines, just give us a yell and I'll see what I can do.
A few points to end: they didn't show any of Fabrichnova's routines so I
don't know what they're like or what the scores are! (She was performing at
the same time as Kochetkova and Khorkina) Karin Szymko's 14th place was the
highest ever finish for a British competitor in the Europeans! I'll write up
some notes on the apparatus finals as well after I've sent this as
fortunately I've seen all 32 routines. Lastly I have to give my thanks to
EuroSport for providing us with live coverage of the whole of the All-Around
final and the apparatus finals.

Sherwin

P.S. Any comments are welcome!

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 May 94 14:03:14 BST
From: ***@ic.ac.uk
Subject: Europeans'94 (part 2) - App. Finals

As promised here is the second part of my impressions on
the European Championships for Ladies 1994. This concentrates
on the apparatus finals:

Apparatus Finals
================

It was a very high class final with not many mistakes or falls
from apparatus. It was also a case of 'here you are again' since
five of the gymnasts qualified for all four apparatus finals,
namely Svetlana Khorkina, Lavinia Milosovici, Gina Gogean,
Liliya Podkopayeva and Yelena Piskoun.

Vault
-----

It was a close event with six out of eight finalists getting
a 9.8+ score for one of their vaults. It was also the battle
from Worlds'93 as Milosovici vs Piskoun was the dominant
feature. Milosovici did a Yurchenko 1/2 into layout for 9.850
and front 1 and 1/2 for 9.750, both with steps to control the
landing, the latter because of under-rotation and had to move
forward a step. Piskoun did her double-twist-Yurchenko for the
same first vault score of 9.850, and her second was also front
1 and 1/2 and had to take a step backwards for a close 9.737.
Liliya Podkopayeva managed to stand up in her vaults for a
change and scored 9.750 and 9.825 to clinch third. It was nice
to see Elodie Lussac back for France, just three weeks after
she broke her nose and cheekbone and lost two teeth in that
horrific accident during warm-up at Brisbane, Worlds'94.

1. Lavinia Milosovici   (ROM) 9.800
2. Yelena Piskoun (BLR) 9.793
3. Liliya Podkopayeva   (UKR) 9.787
4. Gina Gogean          (ROM) 9.775
5. Svetlana Khorkina    (RUS) 9.749
6. Oksana Fabrichnova   (RUS) 9.712
7. Cecile Canqueteau    (FRA) 9.468
8. Elodie Lussac  (FRA) 9.318


Uneven Bars
-----------

Another high class performance from all the gymnasts as none
of them fell from their routines. Gina Gogean performed more
or less the same routine as during the All-Around where she
scored 9.825, which was subject to complains from the Russian
camps. Therefore here the judges were more 'mean' to her and
gave her only 9.675 which was last of the eight. Mercedes
Pacheco gave Spain something to cheer since Barcelona when
she scored 9.800 to get bronze. Oksana Fabrichnova performed
her brilliant double-twisting-double-back dismount (called the
'Fabrichnova' from what I saw in the ammendments to the FIG
routine list.) to score 9.837. Svetlana Khorkina claimed gold
at last with her long lines and rarely seen moves to get a
high 9.887.

1. Svetlana Khorkina    (RUS) 9.887
2. Oksana Fabrichnova   (RUS) 9.837
3. Mercedes Pacheco     (ESP) 9.800
4. Svetlana Tarasevich  (BLR) 9.775
5. Yelena Piskoun (BLR) 9.750
6. Liliya Podkopayeva   (UKR) 9.737
7. Lavinia Milosovici   (ROM) 9.725
8. Gina Gogean          (ROM) 9.675


Balance Beam
------------

Milosovici was first up and with her precise 'code-cracking'
routine (I hate those two flip 1/4 turn to handstands!) to
set the standards and score 9.850. Piskoun did not fall off
the beam (lovely flip to full-twisting back somi) and got
9.787. Gogean was VERY CLEAN again (but added a dreaded flip
1/4 turn to handstand) and with a nailed double back dismount
another high score of 9.900 was her reward on this apparatus.
Podkopayeva got in between the two Romanians with her style
and STRAIGHT LEGS to get silver with 9.862. Elodie Lussac's
brilliant flip/layout/flip/full-twist-Korbut was worthy of
more than the 9.700 that she got.

1. Gina Gogean          (ROM) 9.900
2. Liliya Podkopayeva   (UKR) 9.862
3. Lavinia Milosovici   (ROM) 9.850
4. Yelena Piskoun (BLR) 9.787
5. Svetlana Khorkina    (RUS) 9.775
6. Elodie Lussac  (FRA) 9.700
6. Oksana Fabrichnova   (RUS) 9.700
8. Monica Martin  (ESP) 9.537


Floor Exercise
--------------

The best is yet to come in this scintillating final with some
extraordinary performances. Milosovici was first up again and
her superb tumbling qualities were apparent (including a
STUCK triple-twists at the end) and she scored 9.887. Dina
Kochetkova the World floor champion replied with a very
enjoyable 9.850 (a step sideways in the middle forward tumbling
run). Podkopayeva was next and boy what a performance. We all
know she's got big tricks and she's put it right on the day at
last (Handspring/Flyspring/Double Front to start and Full
Twisting double pike to end). Her score was the tournament best
of 9.937. She had a big smile on her face throughout the routine
too as well as at the end when she was waving to the audience
which was very (major) nice to see. Gogean was next up with her
speed and stuck landings to score 9.850. And hurrah for 14-year-
old Annika Reeder from Great Britain, who became the first
British competitor to qualify for a major championship apparatus
final (Correct me if I'm wrong!). She was so tiny and to my
opinion looked a bit like Tatiana Gutsu. Anyway she did well
in a fast routine to score 9.675 (Full-twist double back and
double tuck were the first and last tumbles; the middle run was
a forward combination which again I have trouble of remembering
since everybody had one similar!). It's brave of her to persist
in gymnastics since she is suffering from a bad doze of asthma.
Irina Boulakhova performed Boguinskaya style to get 9.687;
Svetlana Khorkina fell forwards in her last tumble to add an
extra 'head-roll' to score only 9.350; Yelena Piskoun showed
again how powerful she was on floor to score 9.800. It was a
very enjoyable final to watch!

1. Liliya Podkopayeva   (UKR) 9.937
2. Lavinia Milosovici   (ROM) 9.887
3. Dina Kochetkova      (RUS) 9.850
3. Gina Gogean          (ROM) 9.850
5. Yelena Piskoun (BLR) 9.800
6. Irina Boulakhova     (UKR) 9.687
7. Annika Reeder  (GBR) 9.675
8. Svetlana Khorkina    (RUS) 9.350

===============================================================

That's all Folks! I hope you like my postings and again if
there are any comments or queries please feel free to chat!

Sherwin

(Come on you Brits!)

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 May 94 16:55:42 BST
From: ***@axion.bt.co.uk
Subject: Europeans'94 (part 2) - App. Finals

First of all, that second penalty was never a penalty
okay, right on to the Europeans then, Sherwin covered
the All-around pretty well so I only need to add a few
extra bits onto the apparatus finals.


Vault

Elodie Lussac competed as the reserve for the event,
the Ukranian girl she replaced had been taken ill
during the night, dont know who it was she
replaced because the qualifying for the finals
was done during the team comp which wasnt shown.

She looked happy just to be competing though
and wasnt unhappy about the low score she got,
I believe she sat down on the second vault landing
which cost her the marks.


Uneven Bars

Controversial event this one because of the scoring
for Gogeans UB routine the day before. This is
only as I understand what happened of course
since I wasnt there I cant say for sure so thats means
this is heresay, but I understand that the STC Scientific
Technical Collaborator who gives the routines their
mark value, misidentified a move as a bonus move
which it wasnt. All the move was, was an extra swing
on the top bar before changing to the bottom bar
which made it look different to what it was.
For the Final the extra swing was missing and
and the score was much lower. The Russian coach had
been the one who had complained and he spent the
rest of the competition staring at the judges,
even when Khorkina won he didnt smile.
As a point of notice this was the first gold medal
of the competition that had not gone to Romania.


Beam

Piskuon used the same mount for the beam and didnt
fall off this time, actually I am not really sure
why she fell off the first time in the all-around.
I personally thoght Lussac deserved more for her
routine, although to be fair she did have a long
pause during the routine.


Floor Exercise

Go GBR, yeah, at last GBR is represented in another major
competition (yes Neil Thomas isnt the only
gymnast in Great Britain infact shock horror I discovered
there is actually a move named after a GBR gymnast).
I cant remember what she did either but she did it very well
whatever it was. Especially her tumbling passes which you
might think would suffer from her asthma also the bits in
between which usually look so ridiculously out of context
looked good, she did very well.

General comments

Not much really, basically the Romanians might
have trounced everybody quite effectively but the future
looks good for the other teams especially France.

One last point I noticed was there were a bunch of people
who sat with the sun in their faces all Sunday
afternoon why didnt they move  seats they had a whole tier
of seats to themselves it wasnt like they couldnt move anywhere.


Clive

Im telling you that wasnt a penalty.!!!!!

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 May 94 17:44:52 BST
From: ***@ic.ac.uk
Subject: Europeans'94 (part 3) - Juniors

Just like to add the European Juniors Championships All-Around results:

1. A. Marinescu         (ROM) 38.874
2. L. Bague       (FRA) 38.799
3. A.M. Bican           (ROM) 38.774
4. J. Lebedeva          (RUS) 38.712
5. J. Grosjeva          (RUS) 38.662

No details on the routines though, just saw these on the newspaper.

Sherwin

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 09:20:28 PDT
From: ***@eworld.com
Subject: Fwd: Re: Bela

 
>I see.

>Everyone else's fawningly positive reaction is stupid.

>Your blatantly hostile reaction is accurate and appropriate.

>Right.

In my humble opinion, yes.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 09:20:49 PDT
From: ***@eworld.com
Subject: Fwd: Re: Bela

 
>Finally, I think David's latest post is excessively hateful.

You know, I was thinking about that. I usually am such a nice guy about these
things, and I am usually the voice of moderation and enlightenment. I think
I'd better see a shrink about this....    =)

>But I think overall Bela has had a tremendous positive impact for
>gymnastics in the US, and I'm not at all sure it would be where it is >today
>without him.

Despite my knee-jerk dislike of the man, I must indeed grant you this.

"My opinions are my own, are not necessarily based in fact, and do not
reflect the opinions of Li-Ning's Gymnastics, the Jianlibao Group, or the
Chinese Athletic Establishment."

Lets end this hideous topic before I really get ugly...

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 May 94 07:57:06 EDT
From: ***@american.edu
Subject: Gym demonstration

Well, I went to the SELF EXPO on Saturday, and saw a gym demonstration
by the Rockville Marvateens, an academy run by Gary Anderson, which has
apparently produced several elite gymnasts. I met one elite gymnast
Rebecca Slebig (?) who had also been Miss Teen DC, and talked to her.
She is considering colleges down south as she is a junior.  Also met
Eleanor Lu and Naphthalie Hollinger, the two older gymnasts (but younger
than Rebecca).  They were demonstrating cartwheels, back aerials, back
handsprings etc. It was really neat watching a skill being broken down
into its basics (I am SOOO ignorant!).

Gary Anderson also brought about 10-14 five-year-olds to do simple
cartwheels and jumps from a trampoline onto a cushioning surface (sorry
I don't know the real name).  It was pretty interesting watching these
kids run around with endless energy (they were looking at various exhibits
and even tried a spot of boxing),  Since I have never been to a gym, this
was as close as I have gotten to watching actual gymnasts perform.  I hope
to catch a few local competitions in the area now.

Shinjinee

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 16:19:08 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Gymnastics On TV this Weekend

CBS is showing the Women's NCAA team championships on Sunday...NOT the World
Championships.


Another correction I must make (and I'm sure this was just a typo) the 1991
World Championships were in Indianapolis, USA...the 1992 were in Paris,
France.

Susan

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 1994 15:07:34 EDT
From: ***@ms.uky.edu
Subject: Gymn subscription...

Robyn,
Could you please change my Gymn subscription to the digest format?
I've been getting flooded with mail too often...

Thanks

Benson

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 11:48:02 +0800
From: ***@Eng.Sun.COM
Subject: Hilton meet

Yes, we thirst for gymnastics.  After Worlds everyone has gotten spoiled
and long for the days where a big meet is happening somewhere in the
world every hour of the day (now that would be cool.)

The Hilton Challenge should be a great meet.  Rachele and I will be
covering it in a tag team fashion.  Rachele will cover Media Day this
friday.  (Some people are blessed and don't have to worry about going
to work.  At least for the time being ;^)  I will cover the actual
competition this weekend.  At this very moment Rachele is slowing making
her journey to Phoenix by camel, across the hot and treacherous desert. 
A dangerous trek, and she's doing it all for you.

"Why?  Because you deserve the best."

There will be some other gymners there, too, so the meet will surely be
well covered.  It looks to be USA/Belarus/China at this year's meet,
unless I read it wrong.  No Stobby, Lisenko, Podkopayeva or Sharipov
this year, but this is more than offset by the excellent Chinese team.
The meet will be held on two days, one for the men and one for the
women.  This is a great fix of last year's marathon, where the thing
ran on so long that they started the girls' press conference while the
men were still doing high bar (and landing on crash mats, since it was
so late, or so the announcer said.)  A great highlight of this meet,
though (and we gymn types like long meets, anyway!) is that they perform
each routine one at a time.  At least that was the format they used
last year.

At any rate I think this event would be an excellent opportunity to
highlight the routines of the gymnasts on the above three teams.  I'll
send out a roster as soon as I figure it out (or maybe Rachele can
do this on media day.)

"C U N" Phoenix!


-George

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 May 94 15:44:00 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Late meets (was Hilton meet)

>This is a great fix of last year's marathon, where the thing
ran on so long that they started the girls' press conference while the
>men were still doing high bar (and landing on crash mats, since it was
>so late, or so the announcer said.)

Like a good Gymner, I found a thread to pick up on...  Late-running meets
(not necessarily the same as long-running meets).  At the very first PanAm
Jr. Championship (Barquisimeto, Venezuela, 2/87), event finals went *so*
long, the boys didn't *start* high bar until about midnight.  They did
rhythmic first (starting in the afternoon), then girls, then boys, so it was
a pretty long haul. Btw, I think Trent Dimas won HB (but I'm not positive).

-- gimnasta

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 1994 10:49:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: ***@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu
Subject: Mary Lou

      Mary Lou trained with Bela starting in January of '83, which makes it
about a year & 1/2 before the '84 Olympics.
      No one has mentioned the fact that she was also the first one to
commpete a layout double-full Tsuk.
      In her bio that came out after the Olympics, she gives much credit to
her coach in West Virginia. He was the one who developed the Retton salto on
bars with her. Also, note that she beat McNamara in the American Cup only two
months after coming to Houston. She left because not only was she the only
elite in her gym, she was the only elite gymnast in the entire state. Talk
about no one to compare yourself to in practice!
                                                Cara

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 1994 14:18:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: ***@netcom.com
Subject: Mitch, Bela

Ill say one thing for certain, Bela keeps the sport from getting boring...

We have a unique situation here in the USA.  Unlike most countries, it takes
days to get accross this place.  Except the former USSR and mainland China,
I have difficulty thinking of countries you cant cross in a couple hours.
(Lets not start a geography thread, please, thats not my point!)
>From the San Jose bay area, it takes about 24 hours DRIVING time not counting
stops for food, fuel & sleep, to reach the US Oly training Centre in Colorado.
In many countries, you can make the trip to their training centre in a couple
hours and its more practical to go a few times a week.  (Ill conceed the gas
prices in europe are about 4-5 times ours but they get better milage.
Again lets not get into car wars, ok ?)
Having our gymnastics training centres as centralized as they are, we have a
problem not seen by many countries.  Since womens gymn is rapidly becoming a
childrens sport, this is a particular problem.  College age swimmers, for
instance are less subject to this difficulty.

Someone said Mary-Lou only trained with Bela a year.
I heard she spent a couple years with him, had a fight with him, left for a year
and a heck of a time getting him to take her back.
My guess was that the year she was with him before the Olympics was the year
after she got him to take her back.

Dont write off Vidmar as a typical uptight mormon.
Hes not as starched as he may seem.

Yeah Im sick of hearing about Nunno all the time too, but since Bela stepped
down, (Nunno is boring compared to Bela's antics) Steve is becoming our top
bananna.  And when Steve steps down, we'll likely get sick of the next coach
too.

Deal with it !

-texx

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 22:29:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: ***@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu
Subject: progress on my project/ Worlds reactions

      I got to see the CBC coverage of Worlds on Saturday and taped them!!!
They did lots of local color as well, but none of their color included topless
beaches like ABC found.
      Did ABC show Mo Huilan's floor? CBC did - it was sooooo cute, but good,
with nice choreography, done to the song "The Typewriter". Milosovici's floor -
I liked the music in the beginning, I liked the choreography in the beginning,
but somewhere along the way she (I think) didn't dance it well at all. If
someone else had that choreograpy, I think they could have done a lot more with
it. She looked downright morbid on beam.
      Ioannis is soooooo very amazing on floor. Whip, layout double. Oh
man...
      Whoever the Russian was who got 4th on beam - wass it Kotchekova
or Fabrichnova? - I thought should have been higher than Podkopayeva.
      Shannon on beam - wow. 
      Shannon on floor - blah. Old, old choreography and new, boring front
tumbling. Yech.
      Dom on bars - nice. No medals if you don't ever let go of the bars,
however....
      Milosovici - nice bars. 3 release moves, same start value as Dom???!!!
What??!!! Urgh. New code on bars and floor stinks. Cara pound on heads of FIG
Technical Committee.
      Insane Russian routines on bars. Whoa. No wonder you can fly a 727
through their bar settings.
      Wish they had shown Mo's Gaylord or - ah - Mo. *sigh!!!*
      Best leos that I saw - Russian black. Worst - sorry, David - Chinese.
Made them look bottom heavy (if you possibly can) and didn't enhance that
amazing bodyline.
      Wish Roza and Chussy could've competed. Rules - blah.
      CBC showed start values for each routine along with the posted score.
Tres helpful for us w/o a Code sitting in front of us.
      Message to USAG - I'm tired of white leos, I'm tired of white leos, I'm
tired of white leos. They may show off your body, but they show off your bra
and undie lines with it. My goodness, the Romanians (for once) had more color
on their leos than we did. Dom and Shannon look way better in colors, esp. Dom.
      Enough of my reactions. I had to wait an extra month. Please excuse the
redundancies with everyone else's postings. And the length.

      My animation project in Macromedia Director is going REALLY well.
However, I'm putting off other things to work on it. I have some nice photos to
work with, Patrick from Stanford may send me some others (MANY thanks to
you....) and my animated figure is swinging, if I may say, some pretty cool
giants. Nice extemsion on the way down with good taps. Tonight she's going to do
kips, cast to handstand, and, if I have enough caffeine, a Tckachev. Her leo is
black bottom, hot pink top with black arms. It's not white.
      I'm spending so much time with her I'm taking suggestions for names.
Y'all can argue about it. Thanks for all your support.
                                                Cara

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 May 94 11:47:11 CDT
From: ***@amoco.com
Subject: stress or what?

I'm looking for some insight and wondering if there could be a potential problem...

My daughter had a truly wonderful season of gymnastics. She won 1st place in
her age group in every regular season meet and alot of the time had the highest
all-around for all age groups. Unfortunately the bubble burst. At sectionals
she fell on bars. This was a first. At state she fell on bars, beam and floor
in simple elementary skills. Even with 3 falls worth 1.8 she still had an
all around of 35.5. My concern is why now? She was in a good frame of mind
and was obviously trying to have kept a decent aa score. Fortunately, the gym's
head coach is concerned and will be helping her work out whatever is bothering
her. Is this a symptom of burn out? Is she subconciously battling a set of
perceived expectations? Kris has a mobility meet in 2 weeks and is expected to
bump a couple of levels.

As for general info, Kris is 8 yrs old and just completed level 5.

Thanks,
Kim

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 18:24:20 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Transfers/Soviet Coaches

>Forgot to ask something -- Isn't it the case that the well-known/nat'l team
Soviet coaches didn't get their hands on the good kids until after someone
else had been coaching them for several years?  Like any place that has a
central, national team training center?

For the most part the kids in the Soviet system usually spend several years
at Krugloye before they competed for the Soviet team and unlike here the head
coaches had a LOT of discretion when it came to line-ups, team rosters, and
personal one on one training.  Most kids had their own personal coach as well
as Arkaev and countless other technical advisors. Of course, people like
Osteopnenko (Lyssenko), Alexandrov (Mogilny, Gogoladaze, Bilozerchev), and
Rosterosky (yes I did remember his name after I sent that
message...Shaposnikova and Yurchenko) came to postions of power within the
Soviet gymnastics system by first personally coaching their own champions...

Susan

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 16:16:55 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Transfers/Soviet Coaches

Forgot to ask something --
Isn't it the case that the well-known/nat'l team Soviet coaches didn't get
their hands on the good kids until after someone else had been coaching them
for several years?  Like any place that has a central, national team training
center?

-- gimnasta

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 May 94 10:21:57 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Transfers/Soviet Coaches

>For the most part the kids in the Soviet system usually spend several years
>at Krugloye before they competed for the Soviet team and unlike 

Yes, but where were they before that?

Another note -- even "homegrowns" at Karolyi's were coached by other people
first, like Rick Newman (Michelle Campi's coach).  Correct me if I'm wrong,
but I think only elites actually worked out with Bela personally (which I
suppose may mean we can't blame him for their bad handstands etc <g>).

-- gimnasta

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 May 94 16:19:15 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Transfers/Soviet Coaches

>Correct me if I'm wrong,
but I think only elites actually worked out with Bela personally (which I
suppose may mean we can't blame him for their bad handstands etc <g>).

Yes, but Bela claims to be monitoring their progress (i.e. his "hope
groups"), and I would assume hires the other coaches, therefore, yes we can
hold him responsible <g>

Mara

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 May 94 21:04:00 UTC
From: ***@genie.geis.com
Subject: Women's Europeans

>From the AP Newswire:
 
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Gina Gogean of Romania performed a near-perfect
 program on the balance beam Saturday to win the all-around title at the
women's European gymnastics championship at the Stockholm Globe Arena.
 Gogean scored 9.912 points for her performance and received a total of
39.411 for all four disciplines, far better than her total score of 39.061
at the world championship in Brisbane, Australia, in April, where she
finished fourth.
   The Romanian was followed by two Russians, Svetlana Chorkina and Dina
Kochetkova, who shared the silver medal with 39.224 points each. They both
beat Gogean on the uneven bars, but were defeated by the Romanian in the
other disciplines. Kochetkova captured the bronze medal in the all-around
competition in Brisbane.
   As expected, the competition was dominated by girls from the former
communist bloc. The best of the West European girls was Cecile Canqueteau of
France, who finished ninth.
 
=END
 
Just a question, but isn't the current Code supposed to prevent (or at least
make it damn near impossible) a tie from occuring?
 
Debbie

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 May 94 13:41:51 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Women's Europeans and other

Taken from the AP wire: 

Women's European Gymnastic Championships
All-Around results
Stockholm Globe Arena

   1. Gina Gogean, Romania, 39.411 points (9.837-9.825-9.912-9.837)
   2. Svetlana Chorkina, Russia, 39.224 (9.850-9.862-9.737-9.775)
   2. Dina Kochetkova, Russia, 39.224 (9.750-9.875-9.762-9.837)
   4. Irina Boulakhova, Ukraina, 38.792 (9.593-9.787-9.687-9.725)
   5. Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukraina, 38.737 (9.762-9.300-9.800-9.875)
   6. Lavinia Milosovici, Romania, 38.724 (9.824-9.250-9.800-9.850)
   7. Oxana Fabrichnova, Russia, 38.711 (9.749-9.300-9.825-9.837)
   8. Natalia Kalinina, Ukraina, 38.486 (9.712-9.662-9.512-9.600)
   9. Cecile Canqueteau, France, 38.205 (9.756-9.587-9.412-9.450)
   10. Mercedes Pacheco, Spain, 38.061 (9.412-9.737-9.600-9.312)
  
------------------------------------

Other items:

--*Many* thanks to Cara for injecting what-I-would-have-said into the Bela
fray.  Couldn't have said it better myself.  I would only add that it would
be wise for *everyone* to read over their posts before sending them off.  Too
many people are "saying things they didn't mean to say" and then apologizing
later; we could try to avoid the hot finger a little more, maybe?

--re Karolyi training only elites, the answer is yes.  Awhile ago, he trained
lower levels too, but for the last several years, he has trained only the
elite kids in his gym.  It's every gymnast's goal at his gym to make it to
"Bela's group."

--M.L.Retton did transfer to him in early '83.  It was Phillips who
transferred to him, left, then had a hell of a time getting him to take her
back.  Well, this is true of Chelle Stack, too, who had to beg him at least
twice to take her back (once before the '88 Games, once after).

OK, that's all for now.

Rachele

------------------------------

End of gymn Digest
******************************