GYMN-L Digest - 12 Sep 1995 to 13 Sep 1995

There are 25 messages totalling 955 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. 1988 Olympics (4)
2. Trials commentary (3)
3. Prize Money?
4. Italian teams
5. Re[2]: Questions
6. USA World Team Trials: Men's Opt'ls, commentary
7. Senior S A Nationals (quite long-scores)
8. USA World Team Trials: Men's Opt'ls, commentary (fwd)
9. Trial commentary and Ken Allen
10. Books
11. All-Around Winners (2)
12. 1988 Seoul Olympic Women's Gymnastics All-Round Champion
13. African-American gymnasts
14. Svetlana B (2)
15. Alexis Brion's FX, plus an intro
16. intro
17. Eric Clapton Video
18. Kristy Powell/Mary Lou

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

Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 23:48:22 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: Re: 1988 Olympics

Elena Shoushanova, USSR i believe.

> Who won the women's all around in the 1988 Olympics?
>

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

Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 23:56:51 -0400
From: ***@CAPITALNET.COM
Subject: Re: 1988 Olympics

>Who won the women's all around in the 1988 Olympics?

Elena Shushunova, USSR.

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 00:09:30 -0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: Trials commentary

Date sent: 13-SEP-1995 00:04:59

Could someone who attended the US World Team Trials please offer
some commentary on how the women's OPTIONALS went? I'm very
curious. I have scores, by calculating the totals, but no idea how
everyone did. So...could someone please fill us in?

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 10:13:14 +0200
From: ***@MICRONET.IT
Subject: Re: Prize Money?

>Do gymnasts routinely get money for placing in international meets?

Yes, they do in invitational meets. As I know, they get 1-3,000 U.S. dollars
for medals in events and 3-5,000 U.S. dollars for medals in AA.

>If so, where does it come from?
It comes from sponsors and, in case, from local federations.

Carlo

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 10:13:26 +0200
From: ***@MICRONET.IT
Subject: Italian teams

These are the italian teams for the next World Championships.

GRS
Individual: Irene Germini, Katia Pietrosanti, Laura Zacchilli.
Team: Claudia Belfatto, Manuela Bocchini, Valentina Marino, Sara Papi, Sara
Pinciroli, Nicoletta Tinti.

Artistic
Men: Andrea Anceschi, Paolo Bucci, Jury Chechi, Roberto Galli, Andrea
Massucchi, Boris Preti, Ruggero Rossato. Reserve: Francesco Colombo.
Women: Chiara Ferrazzi, Elisa Lamperti, Ilenia Meneghesso, Laura Montagnolo,
Francesca Morotti, Clara Pedrini, Tania Rebagliati. reserve: Giordana Rocchi.

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 06:08:34 CST
From: ***@CCLINK.NET.UOKHSC.EDU
Subject: Re[2]: Questions

Let's not forget Charles Lakes ...


> Does anybody know the name of male and female African-American gymnasts,
> past and present. They do not have to be on the national team.

To name a few: Ron Galimore, Dianne Durham, Betty Okino, Chainey Umphrey,
Dominique Dawes, Nekkia Demery, Joyce Wilborn, Kathy Williams (GBR),
Stella Umeh (CAN), Kim Hamilton, Corrine Wright, Dee Dee Foster...

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 06:41:45 -0600
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: Re: Trials commentary

| Could someone who attended the US World Team Trials please offer
| some commentary on how the women's OPTIONALS went? I'm very
| curious. I have scores, by calculating the totals, but no idea how
| everyone did. So...could someone please fill us in?

Well, as I have already stated earlier, I am trying to get the stuff
written. I am writing up my reports in the order that the competition
happened. Men's optionals are going up directly following this msg.
My women's optionals report will go up tomorrow morning. For a quick
and dirty in rank order: Moceanu was great, Miller was great, Phelps
had a sore knee and didn't compete, Strug was fine, Dawes fell on
floor, Chow was fine, Thompson hit but had low difficulty due to a
sore back, Kulikowski was awesome, Arnold was likewise but had
problems on beam, Pickens did well, Ingram had a low on bars, Flammer
ditto, Bhardwaj had a good optionals, Tomasek fell off bars, Teft did
not compete due to an accident in vault warmups (carried out on a
stretcher for precautions but she was given the OK by the hospital),
and Brink did not compete for reasons already discussed on the forum.

Man, I should do all of my reports like that. ;)

Rachele

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 06:43:34 -0600
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: USA World Team Trials: Men's Opt'ls, commentary

1995 World Team Trials
Frank Erwin Center, UT campus
Austin, TX
9 September 1995
Attendance: 3217

Men's Optionals

The MPC had developed a new rotation method of beginning on the 1st,
3rd, and 5th events of Olympic order and then all gymnasts continuing
in Olympic rotation. It took me a long time to figure out why the
first three events were floor, rings, and pbars (instead of pommels).
Normally the guys would begin on the first three events, compete those
same three for three rotations, and then move to the second half.
With this new rotation, the gymnasts did compete in Olympic order but
the judges also were sen t scurrying after each rotation (floor,
vault, floor, vault, floor, vault). I don't know what the judges
thought about that. It's a good idea, I think, from a spectator point
of view, because it's kind of nice to have the events always changing
and not having to wait until the gymnastics 'halftime' to see high
bar. ;)

Rotation 1 (Floor, Rings, Pbars)

The men's meet began as a free-for-all for spots on the Worlds
team. Those who missed couldn't be counted out; those who hit were by
no means guaranteed of a spot on the team. A pair of Ohio State guys
(Simons, Wilson) began their night of consistency o n rings, with
Simons competing a pair of inverted crosses (9.4) and Wilson showing
off a great pair of Malteses (9.6). Jair Lynch (Stanford) almost lost
it in this rotation with two or more big steps on his double front
dismount from pbars (9.35). Mark Booth (Stanford) threw a "Thomas"
(double twisting front layout) on floor and also a unique [for men]
split jump (9.25). The third Cardinal, Josh Stein, had a great 1/2 in
1/2 out (step) for dismount on floor (9.3).

The Minnesota boys made it through on pbars -- Yee's (9.15) was
especially sweet given his fall at USA Nationals. John
Roethlisberger's dismount (1/2 in double back out, 9.15) looked like
it was not going to happen, as the dismount traveled far off cour se,
but somehow he managed not only to land the dismount but also to stick
it.

Mihai Bagiu (Gold Cup) had troubles on his floor mount with an Arabian
double front which tossed him out of bounds on his hands (8.75),
whereas Steve McCain had problems with his dismount (full-in -- the
second of the routine -- very high, but hand touch ) on an otherwise
strong floor routine (9.05).

Rotation 2 (Pommels, Vault, High Bar)

John Macready of the OTC vaulted to a 9.525 in this rotation with an
eye opening Yurchenko 1.5. This was his highest score of the night.

This rotation was the saving grace of pommel horse, as Chris Waller
(UCLA) and Bagiu both racked up the night's highest pommel scores of
9.60 and 9.55. In fact, pommels was significantly better in this
session of optionals, with only three of the sixtee n guys falling
below 9.0 (when during compulsories, only one, Bagiu could get ABOVE
9.0). The compulsory average score was 8.35 (I kid you not) whereas
the optional average score was 9.075. (If you take out the three royal
screwups, then the average is 9 .325.)

Jair Lynch really struggled on high bar -- he attributed this to a
"mental lapse" in the press conference. First he flew off the bar at
the end of his inside endo-outside endo sequence (word of mouth, I
didn't see it). When he remounted he struggled to make it over the
high bar. Then he fell on his release. Then he put his hands down on
his 1.5 twisting double layout from front giants. He scored a 7.55.

Roethlisberger scored the meet high 9.8 on high bar for his usual
routine in this rotation.

For unknown reasons, Umphrey pulled out of this rotation on pommels.

Rotation 3

The best double layout of the competition was thrown by Casey Bryan of
Oklahoma. What a huuuuge skill! He added a double front at the end
of his routine to garner a 9.45. Roethlisberger threw a double double
(two twists, two flips) for his big skill o n floor, and despite
rumors that he was going to throw it again for the dismount, he played
it safe with his customary full-in dismount (9.475). Lynch had a cool
floor pass of full-twisting front layout, front layout, full-twisting
front layout. His doub le layout dismount was stuck, too (9.575)!
Several men struggled on pbars in rotation two, including Kip Simons
who seemed tired on this event and walked some in his handstands
(9.125).

In this rotation, Umphrey competed rings (8.525). Teammate Waller had
an interesting thing happen in this rotation. On his dismount (I
didn't see what it was) he kicked one of the rings. He took so many
steps back on the landing that he nearly fell off the podium but was
able to control it just in time. (8.40)

Rotation 4

McCain and Booth topped the vault standings in this rotation with
9.525 and 9.45 respectively. I have "Kas 1.5F??" written on my notes
which means that they did some sort of very-twisty vault that had a
forward landing, but I have no clue as to what vau lt it was. All
rightey then. Bagiu had a scary Yurchenko vault, putting his hands
down for a 8.75.

The highlights of this rotation were on high bar: Rob Kieffer (Gold
Cup) threw a Kovacs and a Tkatchev-Gienger combo for a 9.475 (this
with tucking his full-in laid out dismount). Macready tossed a
beautiful full-in laid out to swing to a 9.50. Wilson threw very high
consecutive hop-fulls, but a low Tkatchev, for a 9.70 (?).

Umphrey did not compete vault and withdrew from the rest of the
competition.

Rotation 5

Well, I checked out Hanks' floor routine this time and I can say for
certain now (I hope) that he does throw a layout Thomas in the first
pass a tucked T in the second. Whew. ;) 9.3 Blaine Wilson threw a
nice full-in dismount on floor, stuck, for a 9 .525 score. Kip Simons
had lesser tumbling (double tuck punch front mount; front tuck, front
layout, front tuck middle pass; double twist punch front dismount; I
missed the side pass) for a 9.05.

Macready had a wild time on floor. The mount of a double layout went
quite all right, and so did his front layout, front layout, front
layout full. But his front layout, front full side pass ended messily
into an immediate (and almost sideways) prone, and his double twist
punch front ended with a complete bend at the waist and looking at the
crowd through his legs (8.95).

Bagiu's pbars began well with a Manna to double front, but he walked
on his hands during the routine and took two steps on his dismount for
a 8.775. Josh Stein threw a high straddled front on pbars and nice
Stutz's to one bar, but took two steps on his piked double back
dismount for a 9.05.

Roethlisberger did well with his rings set (two inverts, a double
double dismount with a step) for a 9.50.

Rotation 6

Roethlisberger ended his day with his lowest score (9.0) on vault for
a simple Kasamatsu vault. It's kind of funny because he does this
vault very well, it's only that it's an easy vault. All of the
reporters like it though, because it's so clean.

Wilson and Simons wrapped up with a 9.175 and 9.325 respectively on
pommel horse. Between the two of them, only one scored below 9.0 on
the day (Simons, pbars).

Bagiu redeemed himself on high bar with a Kovacs, a triple dismount,
and a 9.587. (Four of his five other scores were sub 9). Josh Stein
dismounted HB with his own triple (very high) for a 9.2.

Jair Lynch faced his vault for a 9.125. Macready bombed on pommels
with a 7.725 (this is listed as his favorite event in the press book)
after needing to put his foot down on the horse twice trying to jump
to a handstand. After this routine he looked q uite down, no doubt
thinking that he lost his trip to Japan with that routine. With 24
routines and the funky weights of compulsories and optionals, however,
the score did not hurt him and in fact he had one rank to spare when
the night was over. Not th at it wasn't close: 7th through 10th were
separated by only .22 (and this includes a tie for 10th, so FIVE guys
were within two tenths of each other after 24 routines).

Steve McCain had a chance to make the team in this last rotation, but
he needed a 9.6 on high bar. However, he fell on his stalder-Tkatchev
release to warrant only an 8.7.

Thus ended the competition. The team to worlds is fairly young.
Peter Kormann, the coach of the Worlds team, said during the press
conference that only three of the guys who made the team had
experience in World or Olympic competition. I don't know wh ere he's
pulling that from, but with Roethlisberger, Bagiu, and Simons on the
last Worlds team, and Jair Lynch on the '88 Olympic team... hmmm.
<grin> I call this our "Noah's Ark" team because we have two guys from
Ohio State, two from Stanford, two fro m Minnesota (Yee travels as the
alternate), and then two non-collegiate gymnasts (Bagiu-Gold Cup,
Macready-OTC). (So it's a little bit of a stretch; just humor me.)

Interesting to note: Former Worlds Team members who didn't make the
cut: Umphrey, Hanks, Waller, Bryan, McCain.

Jarrod Hanks, in 14th place due a low compulsory at Trials, actually
had the 3rd highest optional score.

Optional scores:

The first score is raw Compulsories at Trials, the second is raw
Optionals, the last is 40% USAs + 60% Trials with 60/40 C/O weighting
at each event. The other scores are FX, PH, SR, VT, PB, and HB during
optionals.

1. Roethlisberger, 55.787 C, 56.425 O, 112.618
9.475 9.500 9.500 9.000 9.150 9.800

2. Wilson, 55.300, 56.050, 110.888
9.525 9.175 9.600 9.300 8.750 9.700

3. Bagiu, 56.025, 54.037, 110.499
8.750 9.550 8.925 8.450 8.775 9.587

4. Simons, 54.500, 55.325, 109.644
9.100 9.325 9.400 9.300 9.125 9.075

5. Lynch, 54.700, 53.875, 109.404
9.575 9.475 8.800 9.125 9.350 7.550

6. Stein, 54.962, 53.875, 109.040
9.300 9.150 8.725 8.450 9.050 9.200

7. Macready, 54.600, 52.525, 108.340
8.950 7.725 8.350 9.525 8.475 9.500

8. Yee, 54.650, 53.500, 108.260
8.275 9.450 8.775 8.950 9.150 8.900

9. Booth, 53.600, 54.775, 108.148
9.250 9.350 8.100 9.450 9.150 9.475

10. Kieffer, 54.250, 54.675, 108.120
9.175 9.125 8.875 9.025 9.000 9.475

10. McCain, 54.550, 53.325, 108.120
9.050 8.450 8.475 9.525 9.125 8.700

12. Bryan, 54.050, 54.150, 107.884
9.450 9.000 8.700 8.850 8.675 9.475

13. Waller, 54.075, 53.700, 107.850
8.825 9.600 8.400 8.575 8.925 9.375

14. Hanks, 52.150, 55.025, 107.744
9.300 9.200 9.400 9.375 8.550 9.200

15. Moran, 53.425, 54.275, 107.530
9.075 8.075 9.475 9.400 9.050 9.200

16. Umphrey, 52.825, 17.425, 89.518
8.900 0.000 8.525 0.000 0.000 0.000

# # #

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

Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 10:17:38 PDT
From: ***@LSS.CO.ZA
Subject: Senior S A Nationals (quite long-scores)

Following are the full results of South Africa's National Championships:

NAME VAULT BAR BEAM FLOOR TOTAL AVE. POS.
OPT I Roets 8.90 9.30 8.70 8.95 35.85 8.96 1
COMP 8.75 8.45 8.75 8.59 35.20 8.80 2
TOTAL 17.65 17.75 17.45 18.35 71.20 8.90 1

OPT H Oosthuizen 9.25 8.45 9.00 8.50 35.20 8.80 3
COMP 8.80 8.60 8.90 9.30 35.60 8.90 1
TOTAL 18.05 17.05 17.90 17.80 70.80 8.85 2

OPT T Steenkamp 8.95 9.15 8.80 8.10 35.00 8.75 5
COMP 8.80 7.95 8.85 9.30 34.90 8.73 3
TOTAL 17.75 17.10 17.65 17.40 69.90 8.74 3

OPT T Le Roux 9.30 8.70 8.60 8.60 35.20 8.80 3
COMP 9.35 8.05 7.85 8.65 33.90 8.48 4
TOTAL 18.65 16.75 16.45 17.25 69.10 8.64 4

OPT I Marais 8.90 8.60 9.15 8.70 35.35 8.84 2
COMP 7.40 8.70 8.60 9.00 33.70 8.43 6
TOTAL 16.30 17.30 17.75 17.70 69.05 8.63 5

OPT J West 9.40 8.90 8.25 7.55 34.10 8.52 6
COMP 8.80 7.80 8.30 9.00 33.90 8.48 4
TOTAL 18.20 16.70 16.55 16.55 68.00 8.50 6

OPT M Kotze 9.50 7.55 8.60 8.40 34.05 8.51 7
COMP 8.65 7.60 8.65 8.35 33.25 8.31 9
TOTAL 18.15 15.15 17.25 16.75 67.30 8.41 7

OPT L Pra-Levis 9.20 7.85 8.30 8.50 33.85 8.46 9
COMP 8.70 7.70 8.00 9.00 33.40 8.35 8
TOTAL 17.90 15.55 16.30 17.50 67.25 8.41 8

OPT T Lebi 8.55 7.00 9.25 8.80 33.60 8.40 11
COMP 8.80 7.05 8.50 9.15 33.50 8.38 7
TOTAL 17.35 14.05 17.75 17.95 67.10 8.39 9

OPT M Todd 8.70 8.45 8.20 8.30 33.65 8.41 10
COMP 8.45 6.70 7.85 8.75 31.75 7.94 10
TOTAL 17.15 15.15 16.05 17.05 65.40 8.17 10

OPT M Viljoen 9.25 8.45 7.95 8.40 33.90 8.48 8
COMP 8.20 7.20 7.05 8.40 30.85 7.71 11
TOTAL 17.45 15.65 15.00 16.65 64.75 8.09 11

OPT M McCarrol 7.85 8.45 7.45 8.45 32.20 8.05 13
COMP 7.85 6.85 6.85 8.30 29.85 7.46 12
TOTAL 15.70 15.30 14.30 16.75 62.05 7.76 12


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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 09:08:51 -0400
From: ***@PHARM.MED.UPENN.EDU
Subject: Re: Trials commentary

Jennifer and the rest of Gymn --

Rachele was the reporter for the Trials -- unfortunately she has a regular
job that takes up 8 hours plus of her day, plus a regular life -- I am sure
she has been working on a commentary, but they take a lot of time to do
them as well as she does them.

Thank you for your patience -
Mayland

>Date sent: 13-SEP-1995 00:04:59
>
>Could someone who attended the US World Team Trials please offer
>some commentary on how the women's OPTIONALS went? I'm very
>curious. I have scores, by calculating the totals, but no idea how
>everyone did. So...could someone please fill us in?
>

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 07:03:42 -0600
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: USA World Team Trials: Men's Opt'ls, commentary (fwd)

| <grin> I call this our "Noah's Ark" team because we have two guys from
| Ohio State, two from Stanford, two fro m Minnesota (Yee travels as the
| alternate), and then two non-collegiate gymnasts (Bagiu-Gold Cup,

Dohh. I found a mistake already. Yee and Macready will be evaluated
after the training camp in Japan and one will be chosen as the 7th
competitive man, and the other will be the alternate.

For the women, the top seven will compete and the 8th is the alternate.

Rachele

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 08:59:25 -0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: Trial commentary and Ken Allen

Date sent: 13-SEP-1995 08:57:31

I already posted this to Rachele, but since I'm getting mail scolding
me from others, I should apologize to the rest. Our email server went
down this weekend, and I got spammed with new mail when it went back up.
I vaguely recall reading Rachele's post about getting it up when she
could, but it did not register in my mind. Sorry again.

Anway, just curious if anyone here know Ken Allen, who is a Brevet
judge and who judged at the Trials. He is a professor here at my school.

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 10:11:24 -0400
From: ***@MUSS.CIS.MCMASTER.CA
Subject: Re: Books

> I was looking through some old stuff and I found some old gymnastics books!!
> I found a seres called THE GYMNASTS by Elisabeth Levy.
> Also I think I read about some book foreword by Shannon Miller. I have a
> book called The Young Gymnasts
> A Young Enthusiast's Guide to Gymnastics. I got It early this year. Its
> kind of intersting!!

I had those GYMNASTS books when they first came out. The moves in them
were outdated even then (like the Eagle.....) but I guess they're okay
for kids who don't know too much about tricks.
Sam
>
>

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 10:14:33 -0400
From: ***@MUSS.CIS.MCMASTER.CA
Subject: Re: 1988 Olympics

> >Who won the women's all around in the 1988 Olympics?
>
> Elena Shushunova, USSR.
>
>
Man, I am getting way to old. I was thinking 1984, which I just watched
on tape.... What's a Twenty year old ex gymnast to do.....
Sam

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 10:12:06 -0400
From: ***@MUSS.CIS.MCMASTER.CA
Subject: Re: 1988 Olympics

> Who won the women's all around in the 1988 Olympics?
>
Mary Lou Retton.

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 10:15:56 -0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: All-Around Winners

Date sent: 13-SEP-1995 10:12:10
Okie, here are the all-around results for 1984 and 1988.

1984
1) Mary Lou Retton
2) Ekaterina Szabo
3) Simona Pauca
4) Julianne McNamara
5) Laura Cutina
6) Ma Yanhong (sp)
7) Chen Yongyang (sp)
8) Another chinese gymnast, Ping


1988
1) Elena Shushunova
2) Daniela Silivas
3) Svetlana Boginskaya
4) Gabriala Potarac
5) Natalia Laschenova
6) Aurelia Dobre
7) Doerte Thuemler
8) Dagmar Kersten

Please excuse the spellings. I'm in a hurry and do not have the names
in front of me. There is a great book out ther,e called the complete
book of the Olympics, which provides some of the most excellent
Olympic gymnastics coverage I have seen, outside of IG, whom I consider
God right now.

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 12:37:50 -0400
From: ***@MUSS.CIS.MCMASTER.CA
Subject: Re: All-Around Winners

I'm so embarassed.... All of the eighties run into each other......

> Date sent: 13-SEP-1995 10:12:10
> Okie, here are the all-around results for 1984 and 1988.
>
> 1984
> 1) Mary Lou Retton
> 2) Ekaterina Szabo
> 3) Simona Pauca
> 4) Julianne McNamara
> 5) Laura Cutina
> 6) Ma Yanhong (sp)
> 7) Chen Yongyang (sp)
> 8) Another chinese gymnast, Ping
>
>
> 1988
> 1) Elena Shushunova
> 2) Daniela Silivas
> 3) Svetlana Boginskaya
> 4) Gabriala Potarac
> 5) Natalia Laschenova
> 6) Aurelia Dobre
> 7) Doerte Thuemler
> 8) Dagmar Kersten
>
> Please excuse the spellings. I'm in a hurry and do not have the names
> in front of me. There is a great book out ther,e called the complete
> book of the Olympics, which provides some of the most excellent
> Olympic gymnastics coverage I have seen, outside of IG, whom I consider
> God right now.
------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 12:40:29 -0400
From: ***@WAM.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: 1988 Seoul Olympic Women's Gymnastics All-Round Champion

Damn!
I can just see her face, but the name just can't seem to come
out. She was almost beaten by a Romanian gymnast, (who I can't seem to
remember the name to). I just had her name in my head, but when I was
ready to type it out, it just faded. I think her last name starts with
an "M". I remember how I wanted the Romanian gymnast to win, and how I
thought that she shouldn't have won the all-around, and gotten a perfect
10 on the vault (even though she landed with her two legs way apart,
and her knees were shaking) which clinched the all-around gold medal for her.
It's funny. When I first saw your message, the first thing that
I thought of was what I used to call the Russian gymnast, "the cow". (I
don't anymore.)

Don't worry, it'll probably come to me just as I finish sending this post
and walk out the door.
I hope I gave you enough clues for you to remember.
Sorry.
------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 13:25:24 EDT
From: ***@BIOMED.QUEENSU.CA
Subject: African-American gymnasts

Just wanted to correct a mistake I saw in a post today;
Betty Okino's mother is Rumanian; Betty might be half African-American though.

Anne

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 13:25:26 CDT
From: ***@PROCTR.CBA.UA.EDU
Subject: Svetlana B

Does anyone know if Svetlana Boguinskaya has ever been injured? I
don't even remember her having any kind of wrap(ankle,etc..)? And if she is
competing at Worlds?

Shawn

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 15:03:29 -0400
From: ***@MUSS.CIS.MCMASTER.CA
Subject: Re: Svetlana B

She is still around!!!???!!!!


> Does anyone know if Svetlana Boguinskaya has ever been injured? I
> don't even remember her having any kind of wrap(ankle,etc..)? And if she is
> competing at Worlds?
>
> Shawn
>

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 18:56:33 -0400
From: ***@JUSTICE.USDOJ.GOV
Subject: Alexis Brion's FX, plus an intro

I was going back through old digests the other day and was
puzzled by the general consensus that what Alexis Brion's floor
ex lacked was dance -- I was struck by how graceful and
expressive she was. I defer to those of you who've been
following things more closely these last few years as to whether
the dance was stock; I don't remember any particular moves and
suspect there's some truth to that -- but her stylishness is
already better than most of the seniors (as is Vanessa Atler's).
Every time I see that routine I am awestruck, not just by the
tumbling but also by the drama she seems effortlessly to put
forth (shades of Oksana Baiul, though without the originality),
as, for example, how she continues the ending past when the
applause has begun. Grace is so often undervalued that I hate to
see juniors reading such comments and thinking that perky is the
only thing that works if you can't dance to violins . . . . Not
only is perky not right for everybody, but it's overdone -- it
tends to get a little dull after awhile, especially when done by
those whose personality runs towards thoughtfulness, instead.
Both she and other aspiring gymnasts should recall the scores and
the audience reaction -- maybe it's just the tumbling, but I
don't think so. This kid has real style, and both audiences and
judges appreciate that.

Should do a quick intro -- my name's Ann Reed, I'm 32, a lawyer
at the Dept of Justice (those of you thinking of your taxes
should note that it's after hours and that the dept's internet
setup is flat-fee, so that this kind of use is considered ok!),
who started doing gymnastics after the '72 Olympics (Tourischeva
was the inspiration, not Korbut; I didn't go for cute much even
when I was 9 -- I thought Tourischeva had class.), competed in
clubs, class III & II, until I was 14 (back injury), then
competed again for awhile in high school. Still did back flips
on lawns until I was 25 and to this day will do the occasional cartwheel on
curbs. It would be fun to pick it up again -- Demi Moore doing
back handsprings and aerials on Letterman while 8 months pregnant
suggests it's doable! Favorites (because I was best at them)
were bars & beam; I had one trick on bars that the entire
Romanian team used in the 76 Olympics (that straddle flip between
the bars). Worked out some with the college club team but there
wasn't a coach and I'd pretty much plateaued so I dove instead.
Weirdest competitive moment -- when I was 11, I won beam at an
invitational optionals competition with a score of about 2.0!
Reminders that gymnastics is sometimes just for fun . . . .
(My excuse, and everyone else's -- no clubs, no coaches, in that
town at that time. You could work out at a Y like once a week.
Even later when there was a club the coaching was poor; I'd learn
as much in a week of gymnastics camp as I would the rest of the
year. Still fun, though. And after my injury, we got a couple
of Ukrainian coaches, who were the ones who finally realized that
the back injury was fairly serious and sent me to a doctor, who
told me to do nothing for 6 months but swim and then see if it
was better. Answer: not much, for a long time. Moral of the
story -- if something keeps hurting, especially knees or back,
get it checked out even if the coaches think it's just muscle
strain. There's a real risk of aggravating that kind of injury
if it's more serious (in this case a compression fracture from
landing on my head while vaulting with the aid of a mini-tramp.)

Hope that's not too long-winded. One last question -- I never
saw an answer to the question someone asked about why Gail
Kachura (sp?) wasn't competing at the Jr. Nationals -- does
anybody know?

--Ann.

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 20:13:35 -0400
From: ***@WFU.EDU
Subject: intro

Hi! My name is Ginger and I am a senior Russian major at Wake
Forest University. I have never competed in gymnastics, but I have been
a fan ever since I watched the 1984 Olympics. I am a big fan of both
gymnastics and figure skating, and I have done some work with Russian
skaters and coaches. I lived in St. Petersburg for four months last
year, and whle I was there I became acquanted with Tamara Moskvina, and
Marina Eltsova. I am a proud russophile. Ithink quality wise the former
Soviets are on a completely different level than everyone else. My
favorite gymnast is Svetlana Boginskaia. Idon't know if she can do it,
but I would be the happiest person on earth if she could pull off the
upset of the century and win worlds. Can someone give me a brief bio of
what she's been doing since Barcelona? I am also interested in acquiring
tapes of her if anyone could send me info about that I would appreciate
it. It is really nice to meet so many people who love gymnastics as much
as I do. Ginger Harmon

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

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 22:52:34 -0400
From: ***@DELPHI.COM
Subject: Eric Clapton Video

Dear Gymners,

I was listening to the radio the other day and heard the song "You Look
Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton. I remember seeing this music video on
MTV before the '92 Olympics. It showed Shannon doing her hair and make-up,
sewing, and working out. It also showed some other gymnasts, too. Maybe
Kimbo or Kerri Strug? Does anyone remember this? Does anyone have this on
tape?

Gymnastically yours,
D
------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 22:52:53 -0400
From: ***@DELPHI.COM
Subject: Kristy Powell/Mary Lou

Dear Gymners,

After the American Cup, the media was comparing Kristy Powell to Mary Lou
Retton, on the basis of them both being alternates at the American Cup and
winning in the year prior to the Olympics. Mary Lou did not go to the World
Championships in 1983 due to injury, and now Kristy Powell is not going to
Worlds due to injury as well. Freaky, huh? I wonder if the similarities
will continue down the road to Atlanta??!!??

Gymnastically yours,
David ;)
------------------------------

End of GYMN-L Digest - 12 Sep 1995 to 13 Sep 1995
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