GYMN-L Digest - 27 Jul 1996 to 28 Jul 1996

There are 10 messages totalling 344 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Various Stuff
2. Looking forward to EF's (was Re: Women AA - Mo's Beam)
3. WAG: Atlanta AA Finals.....
4. quitter/judgments in general
5. In Defence of calling Shannon a quitter.
6. Tesh & did Kerri have to vault
7. WAG ALL-AROUND (2)
8. Gogean's beam
9. All Around and Team Gold

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 18:46:00 EDT
From: ***@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: Various Stuff

1. Mary Lou Retton was interviewed quickly by "Our own LuAnn Cahn"
(those of you from the greater Phila. area will get this) at the games
and was shown on the local news after AA finals. Cahn asked MLR if
Kerri would be able to compete, and MLR said, I don't know but I hope
so. Then MLR said "If I were Kerri I'd just tape that sucker up because
this is the OLYMPICS!" I found this somewhat interesting and somewhat
rude--no one knows how Kerri is feeling, and we all saw that picture of
her ankle during AA. If she does somehow compete in FX, it will
obviously be in a lot of pain, and we have to remember this. Whether
she competes or not, she is still a great gymnast. I just hope that no
one makes Kerri out to be anything less than GREAT if she doesn't
compete or if she competes and doesn't medal.

2. All this talk about coaches maneuvering their gymnasts to get the
strongest in AA and Event Finals... I think that the US could really
use this tactic on Floor Ex finals. Moceanu is a) injured, b) not at
her best, and c) already in beam finals. Forget the fact that her floor
is very weak. I think that it would be an idea (I'm not saying a GOOD
one, but...) to pull Moceanu from FX finals which would allow Dawes to
compete in FX. PLEASE do not flame my butt for saying this, it's just
an observation/idea/etc. I think it would be smart.

3. Glad to see Khorkina's FX, as much as I'd want new music. But she
added new dance and leaps, one that I really noticed: Her Shushunova.
After the straddle part of the leap, on her way down to the prone drop,
Sveta turned her head and had EYE CONTACT on the way down. Just
exquisite. Anyone know what her post-Olympic plans are?

4. The amazing grace piece was just horrible, IMO. I've never seen a
more thorough montage of all the major gymnasts' MISTAKES! Moceanu
almost falling off beam after her front while "Saved a wretch like me"
played was just a little too horrible. Why not use this time to show
highlights (not lowlights) of the competition, or even better, athletes
we didn't get to see much of?

5. I think the USA women's team ALONE is keeping the "Sparkly Hair
Spray" company in business. I've seen the glitter in the women's hair
since AT LEAST 1988 Olympics.

6. Is there any coverage on Sunday of gymnastics (ANY?) before 9:30 PM?

7. What's going to happen to the Romanian team when they get back to
their homeland? I hope that the replacement will not be overlooked. I
love Amanar, but it simply is not fair.

8. Why was Amanar's score so low on FX in AA? I think she received a
9.737, with great landings on her passes. Did she miss a dance element?

9. With all the talk about the great sportsmanship shown after the AA, I
must say that one of the best moments has been overlooked. After Amanar
vaulted, she was walking off the podium when Arkaev, who was hurrying up
to adjust the board for one of his gymnasts, stopped to give Simona a
quick congratulatory hug. Maybe old Leonid is getting a little soft!
(Just kidding.)

Whoa, I think that's it.

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 18:56:16 -0400
From: ***@KENT.NET
Subject: Looking forward to EF's (was Re: Women AA - Mo's Beam)

>>So Amanar made 3 event finals. That is great. I hope she at least gets 2
>>medals.
>>
>There are so many women that I hope will get medals. I think Amanar is
>pretty much unbeatable on vault, unless she makes a mistake which is
>unlikely. I wonder if Khorkina will go for her new move in the EF after
>missing it in the AA? She could easily win without it. I'm really cheering
>for all the girls, but especially those who narrowly missed a medal in the
>AA - Dina, Mo, Shannon, Svetlana Khorkina, Dom Dawes (but not in UB),
>as well as Pods, Amanar, Milo and Gogean. It looks to be a really close
>and exciting competition in all four events.
>
>The mens events should be really exciting as well, with all of the event
"specialists"
>ready to shine. I'm really looking forward to seeing Yuri Chechi for the
>first time so far. I wish I could have seen his compulsory rings routine,
>as compared to the others. Also Rustam Sharipov on PB, Li Donghua
>on PH, Carballo and Dounev on HB and the list goes on. Nemov is in
>five EF!!! Go Alexei!! (and Yuri, and Kasimir, and Rustam, and the Li's,
>and Vitali, and .... everyone!!!)
>
>>When is the event finals on? I heard Fri and Sat and from one other station
>>I heard tues wed and one other said Sun and mon?
>>
>The official scheldule has them on Sun and Mon, starting at about 9:30,
>so who knows when they will actually be televised. For the AA, the TV
>networks were at least three hours behind the live times. I hope I won't
>have to stay up until 3AM to see them.
>
>In case anyone wasn't aware, the men's and women's EF's have been
>split between the two nights as follows:
>
>Sunday - Men's FX, Women's Vault, Men's PH, Women's UB, Men's SR
>
>Monday - Men's vault, Women's BB, Men's PB, Women's FX, Men's HB
>
>>HELP
>>
>>Kel
>
>- Megan
>

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 16:18:50 -0700
From: ***@MCN.ORG
Subject: Re: WAG: Atlanta AA Finals.....

>8) Miller. What happened? An easier vault? She gave up. She's no fighter
>anymore. When she can't win AA she used to fight back. She fought back as
>nationals in 1995. I don't care if this is the Olympics. Everyone has
>to fight back at times, just like everyone has to compete infront of
>hostile crowds. 8th place was little high for me.
>
>Jeff
>

As far as I know she always does the 1/2 first, then if she gets a high
score she does her 1 1/2. You could hear Nunno saying that they'd wait for
the score to see which vault to do, and obviously it wasn't high enough.
Didn't she do this at nationals also? Her second vault scored a 9.856 from
what I heard, which may have been the highest vault score of the
competition, so I don't see why that's "giving up". She ended with I believe
a 9.756 average. I don't think 8th was too high for her to finish. Her floor
score was 9.45, which is pretty brutal. And her bars were underscored in my
opinion. I thought she fought right to the end even though she had virtually
no chance of a medal. She's a champion.

Orion

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 20:10:32 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: quitter/judgments in general

Just a brief note to say that IMHO it's out of place for observers to
criticize the athletes for their behavior or performances at the Olympics
after watching them on t.v. None of us (unless we've been competitors at the
Olympics) can really understand all of the physical and emotional stresses
happening from moment to moment to these athletes while t.v. cameras are
right in their faces after both good and bad routines, and their last chance
to achieve their ultimate goals hangs in the balance after 10+ years of
training. I trust that they are making the best decisions with their coaches
for themselves and for their performances, especially the veterans. If it's
stressful for me to just remember the balance beam in high school meets, I
can't even imagine the pressure in the Olympics.

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 21:18:36 -0400
From: ***@VAXC.HOFSTRA.EDU
Subject: Re: In Defence of calling Shannon a quitter.

On that note, I have to say that Moceanu's attitude after AA was great.
after being touted the best hope fro america'a AA, she came in ninth.
She never watered down, and kept a smile on her face. She realized how
much she had done at the games, and while admittting she ight go scream
and cry in a room before starting over, she did so with a smile. I was
never a moceanu fan, but this made me smile
Alisa

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 22:24:37 -0500
From: ***@GATEWAY.US.SIDWELL.EDU
Subject: Tesh & did Kerri have to vault

For those who think that Tesh is a good link for non-gymnastics
people, I offer these newspaper articles, written by Washington Post
reporters who don't normally cover gymnastics:
1. 8/3/92 (I have a '92 Olympics scrapbook) Tom Shales writes: "On
leave from his taxing job as co-host of 'Entertainment Tonight,' the
mawkish Tesh smothered the coverage in maudlin schmaltz....NBC and
Tesh exploited this young woman's [Gutsu's] tears beyond all
decency." He then goes on to point out many of the times Tesh
mentions tears, not only in relation to Gutsu/Boguinskaya but also
Miller, Zmeskal, Yang Bo, etc. He concludes: "The man was oozing
maple syrup....Clearly, here we have a case of a man who must be
stopped." This year, he wrote an article that says Tesh "seems much
less the burbling brook than he was in '92" and goes on to criticize
Dagett for being too negative.
2. 7/22/96 Norman Chad writes: "For if you just listen to the timbre
of his [Tesh's] speech, it's rather soothing; if you actually listen
to what he's saying, it's pretty darn hilarious." So non-gymnastics
people notice too :). BTW, this article is available online. Go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ and do a search for gymnastics and
tesh in the same article (search is available from a dropdown list at
the top of the opening screen). There's also an interesting article
that will come up, entitled "When NBC goes to the videotape, it needs
to let us know." :)

And BTW, I *don't* think the US had the gold wrapped up after
Moceanu's vault. It turned out that Kerri didn't have to vault, but
at the time no one knew for sure. No one around me knew for sure that
the US had even won the gold until Galiyeva's (last performer on
floor, went after Kerri had finished and been carted off, even though
the Get Well Kerri card says otherwise) score was posted and the US
was still in 1st, so I doubt the coaches even had much of an idea,
much less Kerri. It's easy to second-guess her decision now, but at
the time, I bet she was thinking "I have to stand up this vault or
we'll lose the gold."

One last thing: complete lists of AA finalists (late now, I know) and
event finalists are available in the Olympics section of USAG's web
site (http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/usag/). Click on optionals
results. Also has info on what happens if Kerri pulls out of EF's
(replaced by Miller on V, Dawes on FX).

Lisa

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Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 12:50:25 +1000
From: ***@AARDVARK.APANA.ORG.AU
Subject: WAG ALL-AROUND

Whilst I was watching Mo Huilan's Floor Routine in the WAG ALL-AROUND I
Noticed when the scoreboard came up it showed the following:

FRA KAZ BLR SUI ARG CAN
9.70 9.75 9.75 9.75 9.85 9.75
PEN -0.1
9.650

What does the PEN -0.1 above the total mean. I did think that maybe it was
because she stepped out but wouldn't that be taken off each of the judges
score then averaged.

Also does anyone have a BBC tape of the gymnastics that they could sell. Our
Australian Coverage is reasonable but doesn't have enough coverage. Also
thanks for publishing the results in this Mailing List because otherwise
we'd be relying papers that say "Lisa Skinner was preforming hre pommel
horse routine" with a photo of her on Vault.

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Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 13:35:41 +1000
From: ***@OZEMAIL.COM.AU
Subject: Gogean's beam

>I always thougth that gymnasts were required to perform a major
>tumbling combination on beam. GINA GOGEAN did not appear to fullfill this
>requirement in both the team and all-around competitions. She mounted w/a
>punch front; performed another punchfront; a couple handspring 1/4 turn
>variations; two handsprings to a double tuck for a dismount. Both times she
>scored 9.8+. As much as I like I her, I question how is that possible?
>Does the 2 handsprings into the dismount qualify as an *adequate* tumbling
>series?? Thanx in advance.

The Australian commentators mentioned this too. However, Liz Chetcovitch, a
coach from the West Australian Institute of Sport, said that her dismount of
FF, FF, double tuck fulfilled this requirement.

:)

Simone

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 23:46:22 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: WAG ALL-AROUND


> FRA KAZ BLR SUI ARG CAN
> 9.70 9.75 9.75 9.75 9.85 9.75
> PEN -0.1
> 9.650
>
>What does the PEN -0.1 above the total mean. I did think that maybe it was
>because she stepped out but wouldn't that be taken off each of the judges
>score then averaged.

Boundary deductions are called neutral deductions and are taken off the final
average score. Other neutral deductions are time errors (over or under
-0.2), wrong vault (-0.3), uniform, coaching, etc... They all come off the
final average not the individual judges scores.

Dean

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Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 23:42:02 -0500
From: ***@CARLETON.EDU
Subject: All Around and Team Gold

Isn't this the first time that the all-around
champion *didn't* come from the gold
medal team?

response:

I'm not to sharp on my gymnastics history but off the top of my head I
think:

-Mary Lou Retton
-Nadia

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 27 Jul 1996 to 28 Jul 1996
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