GYMN-L Digest - 18 Jul 1996 to 19 Jul 1996
There
are 22 messages totalling 555 lines in this
issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Wrong Captions
2. FAN MAIL TO ATLANTA
3. Drug use among gymnasts
4. GYMN-L Digest - 17 Jul 1996 to 18 Jul
1996 - Special issue
5.
Shannon/Dom M/Underdogs?
6.
Fan Mail to Olympians
7. AA
Vaults
8. Chainey
Umphrey (2)
9. Fan Mail to Atlanta
10. Introduction
11. Cacovean/Romanian
women
12. Address needed
13. Don'g
single Chinese out.
14. Sports Illustrated's "Prelude to the games"
15. Gymnastics in San Fran. press
16.
GYMN-L Digest - 18 Jul 1996 - Special issue (2)
17. The Official China Olympic News
Homepage
18. The IRC
channel
19. Deductions
20. Podium Training
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 14:50:50
-0400
From: ***@ICAN.CA
Subject:
Re: Wrong Captions
> UG!
In the TOronto Star newspaper today there is a
picture of Kris
>Burely going into a vault and
the caption reads: "WITH THE GREATEST OF
>EASE:
Canadian gymnast *Alan Nolet* flies through the air
for the vault
>during practice sission in Atlanta yesterday." Sheesh! How could they
>make an error like that? They don't look anything alike! I"m going
to
>call the paper now!
>
Chris.
>
>------------------------------
I, too,
saw the incorrect caption that was in the July 16 paper, and I was a
bit mad. But coverage of gymnastics is rare in the TO Star,
so I was just
happy to see the picture.
Then,
the next day, in the sports section, the was a really good,
multiple-exposure picture of Lavinia
Milosovici on beam, with the caption:
"MEDAL
CONTENDOR EXPOSED:
Multiple exposure photo shows Romanian gymnast
Alexandra Marinescu going through her routine in Atlanta yesterday.
She's
considered a leading contendor
for an Olympic medal on the balance beam."
Then, today, there is a
picture of someone, most likely Jennifer
Excaltation,
(Spelling?)with a caption saying that it is Shanyn MacEachern.
That one
could be right, but even two wrong captions in two days is
terrible. Three wrong captions in three days is inexcusible. WHY DON'T
THEY
CHECK THEIR INFO??????????????
-Krista
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 15:23:42
-0400
From: ***@GNN.COM
Subject:
Re: FAN MAIL TO ATLANTA
>
> Does anyone know if we
can send fan mail to the gymnasts in Atlanta?
>
Go to NBC's
Olympic page
wwww.olympic.nbc.com
You can send e-mail to any
athlete at the Games; whether or not they will
actually
get it, I dont know
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 13:29:59
MDT
From: ***@DEANS.HEALTH.UTAH.EDU
Subject:
Drug use among gymnasts
Hello group,
I thought I would try to
help provide some insight into drug use
in
gymnastics. Although I thought that
gymnatics was basically drug-
free
based on not "hearing" of a single incident of steroids in
gymnastics, I am sad to say that this was naive. Bridgett Berendonk,
a former West German thrower has researched drug use among
Europeans,
particularly East Germany for some
years and wrote a book titled
"Doping" that was very
controversial for a while in Europe.
My
graduate student, James Major has
translated this book from German to
English for the
USOTC. This book was
exceedingly thorough regarding
drug use,
particularly in track and field, but also discusses other
sports as well.
A male gymnast is quoted in the book indicating that
he not only used anabolic steroids himself, he highly
recommended
them to other gymnasts.
Interestingly, when the wall
came down their was a concentrated
and systematic attempt to destroy all drug information in
the former
East German sports institutes (i.e., Leipzig). Unfortunately, the
sport scientists didn't realize that all of the theses
and
dissertations were archived in the military
libraries and were
therefore accessible by Ms. Berendonk. It
has been confirmed that
both male and female
gymnasts in the former Eastern Bloc were taking
steroids
and other performance enhancing substances. The steroid of
choice
for most East German athletes was oral turinabol,
which was a "designer" drug developed by the
former East
Germany. However,
this was not the drug of choice for gymnasts
because
it did result in more "bulking up." The steroid of choice
for gymnasts, particularly female, was mestanolol
(sp?).
Although
this drug tends to have an
increased virilizing effect, it does not
tend to increase bulk.
This was the same steroid that the US female
swimmer
as tested positive for some months ago.
The drugs did not
stop there. The gymnasts took drugs that reduced
inhibitions (I
don't recall the name), and they
also took various other "neuro-
enhancers."
A book on steroids in the US has also shown that
gymnasts
in the US have taken steroids although the prevalence was
quite small.
Unfortunately, the idea that steroids will just bulk
you up and thus are not useful to gymnasts is simply not
true. I
have
also not seen the "balance problem" symptom that was listed on
the net.
Following the fall of the
wall it has been rumored that several
former East
German sport scientists were immediately hired by China
presumably
to gain access to their top-notch drug information. I
have
presented information to USA Gymnastics about this problem and
they have been directly pursuing it with the FIG. Mr.
Peter Kormann
has been suspicious of many male gymnasts
for some
time based on "miraculous" increases in
strength
that could not have been achieved by normal
means. Similar suspicions
have been leveled by coaches
in
diving. Unfortunately, random - in
training - drug testing must
be undertaken to
actually catch anyone and this has been shown to be
VERY
expensive (e.g. IAAF). Based
on a survey that Dr. Keith
Henschen and myself
did some years ago, the gymnasts surveyed
(nationwide)
did not indicate any steroid use.
The only drug that
appeared to be
misused/abused was weight control pills.
I am certain that any
steroid use in the US among gymnasts is
exceedingly
small. However, as drug use becomes
more pervasive among
our foreign counterparts, and
we begin to learn why we have not been
able to
show the miraculous improvements of some other nations, the
pressure to take such drugs is likely to increase. This is why I
presented
the steroid (and other drug) information to USA Gymnastics.
Sadly, since
that presentation, I don't know what, if anything, has
been
done. As commercialism, prize
money, and so forth continue to
become greater and
greater influences on athletic achievement, the
potential
for drug use and abuse is going to increase. The only
answer
that has been found to drug use is random, anytime-anywhere
drug testing.
Moreover, specifying precisely what a "drug" is has
been difficult.
Although you might think that once caught the former
East German
sport scientists would confess guilt, but they didn't.
In fact, they argued
that the use of steroids was merely
rehabilitative
and thus helped the athletes recover more quickly
between
trainings. This meant that,
according to them, it really
wasn't doping. I have similar questions regarding such
"supplements"
as creatine
and "adaptogens" such as eleutherococus senticus.
Anyway, I hope that this
helps shed some light on the drug issue
thread
running through gymn right now.
Best Wishes,
Wm A. Sands, Ph.D.
Motor Behavior Research
Laboratory
University of Utah
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 15:34:03
-0400
From: ***@GNN.COM
Subject:
Re: GYMN-L Digest - 17 Jul 1996 to 18 Jul 1996 - Special issue
>I
know I am feeling the same way! Why don't they ever show Kerri, Amanda or
>Jaycie? They have tried the hardest and we already know
Shannon and Dom's
>life story! Not to start
anything, but my sister believes she is actually
> the
>greatest thing and is the only team leader(DOM) and she is
forgetting about
>the veterans, I am so sick of
this media hype!
I think the most overlooked US athlete -- and one
with a shot for medals is
Dominique Dawes.
Kerri, Amanda, Jaycie, and Shannon all seem to have their boosters on
the
list, so here's some hurrahs for Dominique
D.
1. She has *never* added a cheap front tumbling pass to her floor
ex
2. She has *never* done "cheap" vaults: Hristakievas
(even when it was a 10
vault!), Phelps, but kept
doing her 1 1/2 twister, even though it had failed
her
at key AA moments
3. She never downgraded her 3-layout pass on beam
(although she's missed
that last one or two
occasionally, at least she's still doing it instead of
2 layouts or layout
BH combos)
4. I've never seen her fall off the beam in all the competitions
i've seen
5. Her floor music isn't a tepid
arrangement of a 50s rock tune
>Go KERRI and AMANDA!
Go
DOMINIQUE D!
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 14:53:57
CDT
From: ***@PROCTR.CBA.UA.EDU
Subject:
Shannon/Dom M/Underdogs?
Regarding the article stating the #1 and #2
gymnasts, Shannon and Dom
M., let's all remember what happened in
Barcelona. All the attention
was given to Kim Zmeskal and
underdog Shannon Miller stepped up.
So, watch for the underdogs(the
unmentioned) in Atlanta. Someone is
going to
move in for the kill. I think it's Dawes', Strug's
and Phelps' time. Although,
I
think
everyone is going to do well.
Shawn
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 15:44:58
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Fan Mail to Olympians
In the Olympic edition of Sports Illustrated For
Kids, they said you can send
snail
mail to any athlete at this address-
Athlete's
Name
Athlete's Country
c/o Olympic Village
1996 Olympic Avenue
Atlanta, GA 31190
Also
in that magazine, there was an article about Vitaly Scherbo, Dominique
Moceanu,
and Svetlana Khorkina.
Lauren
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 15:21:29
CDT
From: ***@PROCTR.CBA.UA.EDU
Subject:
AA Vaults
Does anyone know if they will be counting both vaults for a
combined
score, during the all-around?
Shawn
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 13:00:15
-0700
From: ***@UCLA.EDU
Subject:
Chainey Umphrey
ATTENTION(important):
I am having problems witht the fact that Chainey is
being dropped off of
High Bar and Vault. At Olympic Trials he placed Fourth. That
means that
he is fourth in the nation at this
time. Why are his competing slots
being
given to Jair
Lynch. Am I missing something? Chainey earned
his spots!!
Here are results from both Chainey
and Jair.
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
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
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
I
have nothing against Jair but I feel that Chainey deserves better than
what
he is getting. He is such a great
ambassador for mens gymnastics
which
is really needed now. He missed the
1992 Olympics by I believe a
tenth to fall to eigth plave overall and missed
the team(I could be
mistaken) and so now he makes
the team with room to spare and he isn't
allowed
to compete all-around. That is
ridiculous. Chainey's
high bar is
spectacular. Anyone that has seen is release moves sequence is in awe.
HIs highbar sequence is UNMATCHED in the United States.
I
am going to send a letter to USA Gymnastics Online to let them know of my
diappointment of the Mens Head coach decision making ablilities. I think
that
we as gymnastics supporters need to step in and let someone know that
it just doesn't make sense. Just compare the scores above. Take a look...
Vault Comp. Vault
Opt.
High Bar Comp. High
Bar Opt.
Chainey Umphrey
9.550
9.300
9.375
9.350
Jair Lynch
9.700
9.250
9.637
8.100
If Jair gets
another 8.1 that would be devistating to the team.
I
WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF EVERYONE ON THE LIST WOULD SEND USA GYMNASTICS AN
EMAIL
STATING THEIR DISAPPROVAL(sorry about the caps). Here
is the
address...rebound@usa-gymnastics.org
I
think that a group effort would make a bigger impact such as asking NBC
not to show the weight of the female gymnast on television
in an attempt to
discourage eating disorders among
female gymnasts.
It will only take a few minutes and the outcome could
be great!!!
Thanks everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Evan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 21:40:45
+0200
From: ***@MAIL.TELEPAC.PT
Subject:
Fan Mail to Atlanta
To Carlos and other GYMNERS who want to write to
Olympic Athletes, there =
is an=20
IBM page
that serves this purpose: you can write to a specific athlete, a=
=20
specific team, or to all the athletes. It=B4s at
http://www.fanmail.olymp=
ic.ibm.com
Isabel
F.
Go, Diana Teixeira, Portugal's only hope in Gymnastics...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 14:54:42
-0600
From: ***@ECENTRAL.COM
Subject:
Introduction
Hi fellow GYMNers!
I
have been lurking behind the scenes for a couple of months now and I
thought I would introduce myself. I am a former gymnast from Colorado
(from
the Nadia Comaneci era) and I competed
through the high school level.
I
coached a few classes with the local
recreation program. I still love
to
follow the sport.
Concerning the tape
trade, Corrie wrote:
"I was wondering if
anyone from the USA is going to be able to tape the CBC
or
other Canadian broadcasts because I am interested in getting copies of
these, but I am not interested in paying the international
postage. Please
let me know, thanks."
I am also interested in
CBC broadcasts and would like to avoid paying
international
postage. I will not be able to tape
any of the Olympic
coverage, so I will have
nothing to trade. Can anyone help
me? Please
e-mail
me if you can. Thank you!
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 13:39:51
+0000
From: ***@IGC.APC.ORG
Subject:
Cacovean/Romanian women
Why isn't Cacovean on the Romanian squad?
And what's this about
Marinescu and Amanar
not
looking up to snuff in podium training? Surprising.
--Mary Lynne
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 16:20:32
-0700
From: ***@VPL.VANCOUVER.BC.CA
Subject:
Address needed
Is there anybody on this list who knows the address of
the Czech
Gymnastics Federation?
I tried the Gymn archives, but it wasn't
listed.
If anyone can provide it, could you please email me
privately?
Thanks,
Lorraine
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 21:44:35
EDT
From: ***@JUNO.COM
Subject:
Don'g single Chinese out.
Well, it is not just some of the
Chinese sportsmen and women were
found of using
drugs, in reality, there are more americans as well
as
other europeans using
drugs.
It seems
that people have been fooled to stick their eyes on every
move Chinese make, when at the same time, all others were
lost in the
dust.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 22:08:07
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Re: Sports Illustrated's "Prelude to the
games"
It's sort of interesting how the media seems to
"forget" who the current
national
champion is. In a few magazines I've read recently, I've seen
Dominique M.
named as the national champion, with no acknowledgement
whatsoever
of Shannon Miller (who in fact has been champ not only of the U.S.
twice, but also of the world twice as well). Somehow, it's
frustrating - even
for me
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 22:11:38
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Re: Gymnastics in San Fran. press
There was
also today in the San Francisco Chronicle (July 18), a section
devoted to the Olympics. Featured was a 1 pg. photo of
Dominique M. and a lot
about the gymnastics
personalities at the Olympics. If anyone has access to a
"real" paper, it's quite interesting. (I don't know if
www.sfgate.com
includes pic's,
and I've never come across any there, so....)
SA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 22:12:59
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Re: GYMN-L Digest - 18 Jul 1996 - Special issue
In a message dated
96-07-18 14:16:23 EDT, you write:
<< Subject: FAN MAIL TO
ATLANTA
Does anyone know if we can send fan mail to the gymnasts in Atlanta?
If
so,
where can we send it?
I know that they
might be a LITTLE busy for fan mail right now, but
they
might have time
after the competitions.
>>
YOu can write to the athletes
at:
Athlete's Name
Athlete's Country
c/o
Olympic Village
1996 Olympic Avenue
Atlanta, GA 31190
And yes it is
legit, I got it out of Sports Illustrated for
Kids
Hope this helps
Sara
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 22:31:15
-0400
From: ***@PITT.EDU
Subject:
The Official China Olympic News Homepage
It's at
http://www.chinaolympics.com
You can find profiles, pictures, video clips
there. As for gymnastics,
they have two video
clips, featuring Mo Huilan and Li Xiaoshuang.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 22:21:07
+0000
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject:
Re: Chainey Umphrey
>
I am having problems witht the fact that Chainey is being dropped off of
> High Bar and
Vault. At Olympic Trials he placed Fourth. That
means that he
> is fourth in the nation at this
time. Why are his competing slots
being
> given to Jair
Lynch. Am I missing something? Chainey earned
his spots!!
The focus of the men's program is assembling the best
possible performance.
This means putting on the floor the best possible
routines for each event,
the best six routines for
each rotation. Chainey
Umphrey was dropped for the
COMPULSORY
vault and high bar. (The
optional team lineup has not been decided
yet.)
Compulsory
vault -- of the seven team members, Chainey scored the lowest of
all
at both Nationals and Trials.
Compulsory high bar -- of the seven team members, Chainey scored
the lowest
of all at Nationals (Chainey got a 9.10, the next lowest was 9.4); and he
was the second lowest at Trials (Chainey,
9.375; Macready fell -- 8.875).
Rachele
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 23:38:58
-0400
From: ***@ADAN.KINGSTON.NET
Subject:
The IRC channel
Hi I just wondered if anyone out there uses the
channel, I would like to
but I don`t know the
schedule or even how to get started with IRC. I would
appreciate
if someone Emailed me privatly with all the
Info.
Smiles
Jenn
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 01:44:17
-0400
From: ***@PHARM.MED.UPENN.EDU
Subject:
Re: Deductions
They are not allowed to use a crash mat in the olympics.
>Is
there a deduction in mens FX for tumbling onto a
crash mat/pad?
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 23:22:27
-0700
From: ***@EFN.ORG
Subject:
Podium Training
I know all you gymners who
are in Atlanta are probably very busy, but if
one
of you could let us know how the gymnasts have been doing it podium
training, I'm sure many of us are dying to hear!
Any
information, men's or women's, from any country is welcome!
Thank
you!
Katie
P.S. Feel free to email me privately if
you would rather not post to the
list.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 02:50:43
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Re: GYMN-L Digest - 18 Jul 1996 - Special issue
In a message dated
96-07-18 14:16:00 EDT, you write:
Jeff asks:
>Do you think the
Olympics in the US will cause another surge in
>enrollment
like in 1984?
>
>
>Was there a surge after Barcelona?
>
>
>Jeff
Yes,
and we club owners are counting on it!
Barcelona's broadcast was so
late that few
watched. This should be
different.
------------------------------
End of GYMN-L
Digest - 18 Jul 1996 to 19 Jul 1996
*************************************************