GYMN-L Digest - 30 Jun 1996 to 1 Jul 1996 - Special issue

There are 18 messages totalling 621 lines in this issue.

Topics in this special issue:

1. GYMN-L Digest - 29 Jun 1996 to 30 Jun 1996
2. 7-6-5=No travelling alternate?
3. NBC on-line "chat"
4. Nadia
5. Missing WAG Trials scores
6. intro, splints +fractures, drinking, +trials,
7. Meng Fei/Fabrichnova
8. Many questions. (2)
9. US Olympic Trials: Men's Final rankings
10. IG Magazine
11. coaches in the camera's eye (& comp fx)
12. John Tesh & Olympic Trials (2)
13. Amanda Borden = '96 Olympian!!!
14. The olympic trials and stuff
15. Coaches
16. US TRIALS

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 07:15:57 -0700
From: ***@FLASH.NET
Subject: Re: GYMN-L Digest - 29 Jun 1996 to 30 Jun 1996

well, josh stine made number eight.
why wasn't he made the alternate like in all the other worlds and
olympics? I think he deserves it. yes their suposed to be competing
seven, but still if anything happens, they need that alternate.
besides that, the competion was very exciting.
katrinka

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 10:11:19 -0400
From: ***@YORKU.CA
Subject: 7-6-5=No travelling alternate?

During the trials broadcast yesterday, John Tesh was driving me as
crazy as always with that newly coined phrase "the no go zone". Now they
kept making a big deal out of the fact that only the top 7 were going,
that 8th was the "no go zone". Just because the competitive roster is
expanded to 7 does that mean there is no longer a travelling alternate? I
remember back in 1992 how Lance Ringnald was so thrilled just to be able
to travel with the team as the alternate, even though he knew he wouldn't
get to compete. I was hoping that NBC might explain the alternate
situation to us, but I guess that was asking too much of them....
Chris.

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 12:29:44 -0400
From: ***@KENT.NET
Subject: Re: NBC on-line "chat"

> I am looking forward to the broadcasts tomorrow. You know I had
>predicted that it would be Miller, Moceanu, Phelps, Dawes, Strug, Borden,
>and Chow on the team, and it looks like that will happen. With Borden on
>the bubble, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her.....
> Chris.
>

The US championship standings that I saw on the 'net showed Amy Chow
at 22nd place (with one row of good marks and one row of 0's) How could
she get into trials if only the top 14 got to go - or were those standings
wrong?

Unrelated question: Why did Doni Thompson retire?

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 13:06:47 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Nadia

In a message dated 96-06-29 01:46:32 EDT, you write:

<< And now this woman blows off a crowd in another city? I am so SICK of
these
professional athletes. And these big headed celebrities. SICK OF THEM. Who
in the hell are they? From all sports. The minute they achieve the SLIGHTEST
little goal, they get the big head. Hit a homerun, get the big head, score a
touchdown, get the big head, just get on a pro team, get the big head!!!!!
We ought to ignore all of these filthy pigs.


remember that not ALL professional athletes are like this. Once, in fifth
grade, Eugene Robinson (Seahawk) came to our class and spent over an hour
with
us during the season. This was very big for us and he even made a video of
his time with us, gave us a shirt he had worn that was signed, signed as
many
autographs as we wanted, and even came to recess with us. This is just to
say
that not every pro athlete is bad.
>>
When I was in elementary school, Damian Johnson (New York Giants) came to my
school and spoke with every grade in the school. He spent a decent amount of
time with each class, and he, too, agreed to sign as many autographs for as
many people as wanted them. He also brought in his Giants Jersey for all of
us to see. It was pretty neat, and he came across as a really nice guy.

Yours in Gymnastics,
Shari

By the way, I'm sorry that this was a little bit off the topic of gymnsatics,
but I thought that it was still a little bit relevant. By the way, I can't
speak for Nadia, beauce I missed her appearance at Macy's in NYC

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 13:59:29 -0400
From: ***@UNHF.UNH.EDU
Subject: Missing WAG Trials scores

Can anyone out there help me fill in a couple of blanks on scores from Friday
night at Trials?
What I'm missing is Kristie Powell's beam score, Amanda Borden's beam score,
Mary Beth Arnold's bar score, Amy Chow's bars and beam scores, and Kristen
Maloney's beam score.
If anyone has these, we'd like to get them before we head down for tonight's
optionals.

Thanks!!!

Lynanne and Serena and Julia

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 14:24:02 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: intro, splints +fractures, drinking, +trials,

Hi, I'm a level 8 gymnast at New England Sports Academy in Madbury, New
Hampshire. I also coach pre-school + rec. classes. I've been doing
gymnastics competively for almost three years and coaching for a little over
a year. Because I work at my gym's day camp during the day and I train at
night, I spend about 53 hours in the gym a week and I love every minute of
it. I am a big fan of Dom. Dawes, Kerri Strug, and Blaine Wilson.

I really appreciate all the medical info on shin splints and stress
fractures. For the past two years I have been plagued with reoccurring shin
splints while running cross country (mostly because I was too stubborn to
stop training and let them heal). More recently, at the New Hampshire state
level 6 meet I rolled my ankle on fx and could not finish the excerise.
(this happened May 19) Last week I found out the I have a stress fracture
in my right leg. Go figure.

I was beginning to think that I was the only one who made fun of the
announcers until the drinking game was started. I have to add these:
-after a (mistake, fall, bobble) like that, it is SO hard to get your
composure back
-he's a working class gymnast (referring esp. to John R.)
-He'll take that!! (in trial coverage at least three times)
if John Tesh says "no-go-zone" one more time, give him a drink.

I was slightly disappointed that NBC concentrated so much on the drama of
Josh Stein in the men's optionals. I wish that they had a little more of the
leaders.

I also attended the trials. wow. I'll never forget it. btw., Nadia + Bart
were both there on Fri. and were very patient signing autographs. Only Bart
was there on Sat. It was an amazing experience.

-Deb

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 16:04:30 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Meng Fei/Fabrichnova

In a message dated 96-06-29 23:12:13 EDT, you write:

>The Chinese Olympic team will go to a small town called Greenwell(sp?)
>which is two hours away from Atlanta on July, 2.

Actually, it's called Greenville -- the third largest city in the state of
South Carolina. It is also the location of Furman University, which is where
I attend school. :)

Amy

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 15:37:50 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: Many questions.

1) Someone talked about buy the rights to the music on FX along time
ago with a worlds competition. What does that mean? I thought that if you
air it, you get the rights. The FX music is hard to hear at times in some
broadcast.


2) I wish that someone would tell John Tesh to stop YELLING on the
air. If *ANY* can get through to Elfi and Tim on the WWW page can you
ask them to tell him about it?

3) I was surprised that Jennie Thompson was given so much emphasis on the
compusories broadcast (compare with Strug?). After all, she has said that
if she doesn't make the Olympics it will be okay for her.

4) Who (I mean which) country/federation gave us the FX routine? I liked
the BB routine, especially the dismount.

5) I for op
one am glad that we got a chance to see compulsories today. You can really
see the difference between someone like Borden or Phelps on FX vs. Thompson.

6) Bela seemed really conservative about Moceanu's condition. I bet he
knows that she won't be going. It was nice to see him 'into' Kerri
though.

7) Having seen the FX compulsories (for the first time, too), I see that
in both tumbling runs the gymnasy must rebound upon landing. I guess that means
that Moceanu's famous (or is it imfamous) bounding after the
front tumbling is deduction free.

Later...

Jeff

Dina, Dina, Dina.

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 16:19:39 +0000
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: US Olympic Trials: Men's Final rankings

All-Around

Scores are weighted 40% USA Championships, 60% Trials. The below totals
reflect this weighting. The first line is compulsories-Trials; second line is
optionals-Trials; third line is carried Championships score; fourth is final
ranking totals.

FX PH SR VT PB HB AA


1 John Roethlisberger 9.375 9.562 9.700 9.637 9.425 9.787 57.486
Univ. of Minn. 9.125 9.550 9.600 9.375 9.425 9.750 56.825
Champs: 91.700
228.873

2 Blaine Wilson 9.350 8.625 9.725 9.600 9.400 9.650 56.350
Ohio State 9.375 9.500 9.787 9.487 9.400 9.700 57.249
Champs: 91.840
228.159

3 John Macready 9.375 8.850 9.512 9.562 9.475 8.875 55.649
USOTC 9.612 9.475 9.587 9.525 9.050 9.537 56.786
Champs: 90.220
225.142

4 Chainey Umphrey 9.075 9.025 9.487 9.550 9.475 9.375 55.987
UCLA 9.250 9.350 9.475 9.300 9.537 9.350 56.262
Champs: 88.360
223.058

5 Kip Simons 9.150 8.350 9.525 9.675 9.275 9.450 55.425
Ohio State 9.175 9.125 9.525 9.350 9.150 9.600 55.925
Champs: 89.200
222.820

6 Jair Lynch 9.025 9.425 8.975 9.700 9.625 9.637 56.387
Stanford 9.637 9.625 9.150 9.250 9.700 8.100 55.462
Champs: 88.380
222.598

7 Mihai Bagiu 9.175 9.450 8.650 9.600 9.125 9.712 55.712
Gold Cup 8.725 9.737 8.750 9.150 9.000 9.650 55.012
Champs: 88.460
221.328

8 Josh Stein 9.375 9.250 9.200 9.562 9.000 8.700 55.087
Stanford 9.400 8.875 9.375 9.275 9.250 8.625 54.800
Champs: 88.880
220.744

9 Jay Thornton 9.325 8.925 9.150 9.700 9.025 9.200 55.325
Univ. of Iowa 9.625 9.250 9.025 9.450 9.100 9.075 55.525
Champs: 87.180
220.200

10 Chris Waller 9.075 8.400 9.425 9.375 8.725 9.350 54.350
UCLA 9.100 9.600 9.300 8.800 9.325 8.900 55.025
Champs: 88.320
219.570

11 Scott Keswick 9.225 8.150 9.650 9.575 9.375 9.375 55.350
UCLA 9.200 8.900 8.950 8.800 9.325 8.850 54.025
Champs: 88.120
219.370

12 Stephen McCain 9.200 8.550 9.450 9.600 8.900 9.700 55.400
UCLA 9.025 8.750 9.025 8.950 9.450 8.450 53.650
Champs: 88.280
219.140

13 Mark Booth 9.175 8.650 8.600 9.700 9.300 9.275 54.700
Stanford 9.275 9.525 8.825 8.900 9.200 9.300 55.025
Champs: 87.320
218.990

14 Garry Denk 8.625 9.025 8.850 9.375 8.625 9.075 53.575
USOTC 8.925 8.125 9.275 9.100 9.100 9.375 53.900
Champs: 88.680
217.650

# # #

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 17:34:33 -0500
From: ***@PRODIGY.COM
Subject: IG Magazine

I went to buy a copy of IG yesterday and I was told that IG shorted the
distributor in our area, so I was wondering if someone could check
their local bookstore and pick me up a copy? I will of course pay
shipping and the price of the magazine.

Please email if you can get me a copy.

Thanks for the help,
Deb

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 18:18:03 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Many questions.

<< 2) I wish that someone would tell John Tesh to stop YELLING on the
air. If *ANY* can get through to Elfi and Tim on the WWW page can you
ask them to tell him about it?

Yeah, and I'm dreading watching the optionals tonight and hearing "no go
zone" 8 million times!

5) I for one am glad that we got a chance to see compulsories today. You
can really see the difference between someone like Borden or Phelps on FX vs.
Thompson.
>>

Or Borden and Phelps vs. the rest of the competitors -- I thought both of
their routines were superior to Kerri Strug's, although she did have the best
tumbling. I also thought Jenny Thompson had some beautiful splits on beam --
compare her needle scale to anyone elses!

Why so little coverage of Dawes?


Tim

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 18:34:11 -0400
From: ***@EROLS.COM
Subject: coaches in the camera's eye (& comp fx)

(Long, as usual for me) --
Not to name any names -- but what is a coach thinking when he reacts to an
athlete's fall (and reacts for so long) as if it is a personal tragedy for
him, rather than a misfortune for the gymnast?? The gymnast is going to be
disappointed enough that it is now unlikely that she will make the team
without having to deal with that kind of reaction (and even if she didn't see
him right then, surely she'll see it in the coverage). Okay, I give up on
the anonymity -- & I appreciate that Lori seemed to be comforting both girls
after their beam routines and perhaps reminding them of how great it was to
be where they were, rather than looking crushed; and that Tom had pulled
himself together enough by the end of Kristy's beam routine to look as if he
was feeling for her rather than feeling that somehow her misfortune meant he
had failed. Yes it's tough, for both athlete and coach, to get so close and
not quite make it -- but how wonderful to have been in the hunt, and still to
have the opportunity to compete for your country afterwards and perhaps be
among the core of future American teams when the older Olympians move on to
college and scale back their training? I know I sound positively
pollyanna-ish, and that it must be awfully hard to look at it this way when
you're still fighting for a spot. But the last thing the athletes need is to
be worrying about their coach's state of mind instead of about their
performances. (Regret at having disappointed a coach, as well as oneself, is
one thing, because of the mentor/protege relationship typifies coach/athlete
relationships in individual sports, and that's what it seemed we saw between
Lori and these athletes. But Tom's reaction was more personal (though I
don't mean to suggest that I doubt for a minute that he was disappointed for
his athletes, both of whom could have been in contention for the last spot or
so, as well as for himself), and I wish for his sake and for Theresa's and
Kristy's, he could have contained it while out on the floor. I hope they
will all have a chance to relax a little, take vacations, and regain some
perspective after trials (if Theresa ends up 6th or 7th, they'll have to keep
it up a while longer -- but maybe that in itself would be a comfort. Who
knows.).

Anyway, on a more positive note, it was interesting to see how different the
3 best fx routines we saw (Strug, Phelps, Borden) were, & in particular, how
Borden turned the piece into something, as Elfi aptly put it, "playful." It
hadn't occurred to me until she performed that that, too, was true to the
music and choreography.

--Ann

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 21:17:42 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: John Tesh & Olympic Trials

Oh Lord, if I have to listen to John Tesh for the whole of the Olympics, I'm
think I'm going to go nuts. At least Elfi and Tim try. I'm really
beginning to think the man is an idiot. There were two comments he made
during the two broadcasts today that I was almost hysterical laughing over.
First during compulsories, after Theresa Kulikowski fell off of beam and Tom
was devestated, John made some stupid comment about how "that look does not
bode well for Theresa Kulikowski." What, did he think Tom was going to beat
her up for falling off of the beam?????
Then during tonight's program after they did the Dianne Durham/Kim Kelly
fluff piece, my mother and I could not believe what he said. John's words
were: "I remember living that nightmare." I never knew John Tesh was Kim
Kelly in a former life. I found that quite entertaining.
My mother, who could be considered one of those average viewers NBC is trying
to appeal to with this commentary, was absolutely horrified at how bad he
was. And my father, who never watches TV or sports, walked into the room for
about ten seconds, listened to one comment by John Tesh, and said "whoever
that man is, he's really obnoxious."
My mute button is definetly going to get a workout during the Olympics.
Couldn't we put John Tesh in the "no-go zone" as well?
Alexis
P.S. one more thing: I'm so proud of how Kerri did tonight. She really
pulled it together. I don't think I've ever seen her smile that much. oh
and another thing--to Kris Bagiu, Gabriela is absolutely adorable!

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 20:50:42 CDT
From: ***@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU
Subject: Amanda Borden = '96 Olympian!!!

As you can tell, I'm excited that my favortite gymnast pulled through to make
it to Atlanta- good for her! I have never actually yelled encouragement at a
t.v. before until Amanda ran for her opening Arabian double front....

Just one question- what the heck happened on bars? She scored a 9.262, but
apparently didn't fall, b/c NBC didn't show it in replay a dozen times like
Thompson and Powell! ;)

Congrats to the Olympic team and kudos to Amy Chow for hitting her mega-beam
after her mega-fall! Later!

Olin

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 22:33:09 -0400
From: ***@CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: John Tesh & Olympic Trials

At 21:17 6/30/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Oh Lord, if I have to listen to John Tesh for the whole of the Olympics, I'm
>think I'm going to go nuts. At least Elfi and Tim try. I'm really
>beginning to think the man is an idiot. There were two comments he made
>during the two broadcasts today that I was almost hysterical laughing over.
>First during compulsories, after Theresa Kulikowski fell off of beam and Tom
>was devestated, John made some stupid comment about how "that look does not
>bode well for Theresa Kulikowski." What, did he think Tom was going to beat
>her up for falling off of the beam?????

(semi-humorous bit snipped)

>My mother, who could be considered one of those average viewers NBC is trying
>to appeal to with this commentary, was absolutely horrified at how bad he
>was. And my father, who never watches TV or sports, walked into the room for
>about ten seconds, listened to one comment by John Tesh, and said "whoever
>that man is, he's really obnoxious."

General agreement there... I was watching with someone who probably
wasn't a recurrent gymn watcher... not that it mattered. We both thought
John Tesh's redundant comments were really annoying. Does anyone else not
like him basically reading off whatever's on his monitor during a routine?
There was one beam routine where Elfi and Tim kept quiet, but John put in a
bit of filler... it was annoying!
The sound on the FX music was so-so. Some good routines, a lot of
poor-quality ones.
Hmm. No coach-miking for the optionals.

Not sure exactly what category this goes under, but Amy Chow's
finishing her beam routine with what was definitely a hard hit to the head
was really somthing. (Though having our favorite three commentators
simultaneously yell "Ow!" on the *replay* was a bit much.)

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Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 00:15:23 -0400
From: ***@INETNOW.NET
Subject: The olympic trials and stuff

Wow....................The olympic trials seemed to be very good. I thought
they turned out to be very entertaining. Even though everybody just about
knew who was going to the olympics, NBC helped make the presentation
colorful and interesting all everybody, not just gym fans. This was
something worth watching. I am glad Amy Chow made the olympic team. I think
she was about the only surprise for me. I was praying Mohini would have made
it, but I guess I can't have all of my wishes.

Oh, we finally found out something a little more to the true about
Dominique's leg. The stress fracture is 4 CM, not 4 IN. Lord, lord, lord.
What is it with this damned media establishment? The difference between 4
inches and 4 cm in her leg, is a mile. 4 inches is WIDER than a computer
disk!!!!!!! 4 cm is a little over a 1.5 inches. That's a big difference.
Thank goodness these people aren't dealing with life and death here, or we'd
all be dead now. This is not the first time the press has screwed something
up (partaining to gymnastics, specfically- we know they have blotched up
royally on other matters). It seems like we get misinformation all the time
from them.

Oh, why does everybody hate John Tesh? I don't see anything wrong with him
or any of the other commentators. Some are better than others, but I don't
keep track. But I guess some people expectations are greater than others.

I think I like our U.S. men's team for the 1996 olympics. This maybe the
best team we have seen in a long time. We MAY actually win some medals this
time around. Except for the boycott-tainted olympics of 1984 (where all the
good competitors stayed home, and the competition was on our turf), the U.S.
men have only won 2 medals since 1932. The source is the Atlanta Journal. So
if I am wrong, write them, not me.

I think the women's competition will be exciting and pressure packed (for
some folks). The expectation is much greater for the U.S. women. Can you
imagine a matchup as good as ours? It maybe the best team we have had in a
while. We have 3 former olympians on the team, and some good new blood. Now
if we can get/keep everybody healthy, we might win gold. I know Dominique
Dawes can win a medal. She has been incredible. I think she is the probably
the best member on the team. She won all 4 of the event finals in this
year's nationals. She won the AA and all 4 event finals at the nationals, in
1994. No other woman had done that for over 20 years. They don't call her
Awesome Dawesome for nothing.

I could go on, but this 2 teams will give the U.S. fans something to watch
come this July, instead reruns of Green Acres and Major League Baseball. I
am getting ready now.

IMPORTANT NOTE- Get your VCR's ready. You'll need 'em. And if you are going
to the games, get your
cameras ready. You are going to have something to see.

Underdog

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 22:29:56 -0600
From: ***@SUPERNET.AB.CA
Subject: Coaches

To all those Bela haters, I think today's trials shows his love for the
sport and his athletes. I was almost in tears when they played the part
with Dom and Bela's interview, where Dom started crying. That is so sad.
At least she is going for sure, and if her leg heals. Look at the way he
was with Kerri. I laughed my head off when he shook the camera man! What a
guy!
Mary Lee Tracy - What a coach, I love her style of coaching, so fun instead
of pressure and "Soviet Style" she did great with both Amanda and Jacie.
Here is one of our Head Coaches.

About Tom Forester. I think this guy is a jerk, and should not be allowed
to coach, well I'm just saying that cause he made me so mad. It is his
athletes that it most hurts that THEY don't make the team. What the heck is
he crying in Compul. when they both fell, I don't like this guy, can't you
tell? :)

Kel

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Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 22:33:03 -0600
From: ***@SUPERNET.AB.CA
Subject: US TRIALS

Hi Again.

Well, I'm so happy with Amanda and Kerri especially. I think that Kerri did
a great floor routine. I was at the edge of my seat!

I admit I was tired of the same old lines by each of the commentators, but I
still enjoyed the competition. I know I felt a big release of tension after
it was over. Dom Dawes really did a good job. It looked like she was
nervous at the end.

Poor Amy. I can't believe the fall. The amazing thing is how she got back
up there and preformed like a true Veteran. Once again she is amazing.

Jacie was excellent. More and more I love her floor routine. She does it
so well.

Well, that's all folks!

kel

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 30 Jun 1996 to 1 Jul 1996 - Special issue
****************************************************************