GYMN-L Digest - 21 Mar 1995 to 22 Mar 1995

There are 16 messages totalling 461 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Pan Am: Rhythmic Finals
2. Sports Illustrated article (2)
3. An Introduction
4. Pan Am tv coverage
5. Nadia (3)
6. an introduction
7. <No subject given>
8. TV coverage (3)
9. France Telecom Trophy (EF) (2)
10. Another Introduction

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Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 23:23:48 -0700
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: Pan Am: Rhythmic Finals

1995 Pan American Games
Mar del Plata, Argentina
March 21, 1995
Rhythmic All-Around

1, Yordania Corrales, Cuba, 36.675 points.
2, Tamara Levinson, Silver Spring, Md., 36.200.
3, Jessica Davis, San Anselmo, Calif., 35.850.
4, Cecilia Schtutman, Argentina, 35.625.
5, Gretchen McLennan, Canada, 35.600.
6, Luciana Eslava, Argentina, 34.675.
7, Erin Burkett, Canada, 34.575.
8, Yamile Sotolongo, Cuba, 34.475.

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Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 23:06:02 EST
From: ***@COMPUSERVE.COM
Subject: Sports Illustrated article

>>It was really a strange article....especially when it pointed out that
Borden was a virtual unknown. Huh?

Obviously Borden is not an unknown, unless one's exposure to gymnastics is
limited to Sports Illustrated and occasional 1994 TV coverage, but I do feel
that she is extremely underrated by the media - I find her to be one of the most
expressive and delightful gymnasts ever.

Jeff

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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 01:29:32 -0800
From: ***@NSN.SCS.UNR.EDU
Subject: An Introduction

Hi all!

I've been on Gymn now for about a month and have really enjoyed it. I
thought it was about time to intro. myself. My name is Gregory.
I'm a USGF Pro member and have been working with gymnastics in the Las
Vegas area for over 15 years now. I've never been a gymnast but many of
my students have been. (I'm an elementary teacher-currently teaching at
a K-2 primary school called Jim Thorpe Elementary).

I work with a club called the Desert Academy of Artistic Gymnastics. I'm
the official team photographer/videographer/computer programmer. I run
the score table at all of our meets. Some of you might even be one of
the over 700 gymnasts we recently hosted in our Las Vegas Gymnastics
Invitational held in February. (That was one long weekend). Our gym is
owned by Jesse Vigil who is also the head coach. Our other two main
coaches are Jiani Wu and Yujiu Li. They were both on the China
Gymnastics Team in 1984. (In China, they were Wu Jiani and Li Yujiu). We
were also the first team to be allowed to attend a training camp in
China's main Training Center in Beijing a couple of summers ago. (That
was a fun and an interesting trip).

We have one girl who is currently on the ASU gymnastics team. Her name
is Kimberley Keever and although she's an unknown right now (she's a
freshman), I think she will be a great asset to their team. She placed
3rd on beam on her first meet which was the UCLA Invite.

Well, enough said, thanks for all the good stuff going on here.

Gregory

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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 09:38:55 -0500
From: ***@ISSCAD.COM
Subject: Re: Sports Illustrated article

>
> >>It was really a strange article....especially when it pointed out that
> Borden was a virtual unknown. Huh?
>
> Obviously Borden is not an unknown, unless one's exposure to gymnastics is
> limited to Sports Illustrated and occasional 1994 TV coverage, but I do feel
> that she is extremely underrated by the media - I find her to be one of the
most
> expressive and delightful gymnasts ever.
>

Just goes to show you what the mainstream media tends to report in gymnastics.
Usually the only gymnasts that are reported on are those that finish first. And
then
they tend to go overboard. Lest we forget, prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics
Shannon Miller was an "unknown" and Kim Zemeskal was virtually the only gymnast
(female American) that made the mainstream sports news.

BTW I do tend to agree that "Amanda Borden" is a real delight to watch. Not
just for her skills, which have greatly improved, but because she does know how
to
express herself and lets the audience see it. She has one of those "smiles"
(here we
go again) that just lights up.
Gene

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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 12:16:58 -0600
From: ***@TTACS.TTU.EDU
Subject: Pan Am tv coverage

The only Pan Am game coverage I got was from ESPN. It consited of Amy Chow,
Shannon Miller, and Amanda Borden on 2 or 3 events and one other girl during
the allaround final, and that was it.

Misti

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 12:04:34 -0700
From: ***@DANA.UCC.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: Nadia

> I think it is a little odd that both of Bela's biggest stars suffered leg or
> ankle injuries during the Olympics, but performed great difficulty just months
> before. RE:Nadia and Kim.

My goodness! How can you leave out Mary Lou on this list and the knee
surgery (arthroscopic, when it was still a new thing...) six weeks before
the '84 Olympics...
It seems that a bunch of gymnasts get injured just before the
Olympics, probably due to bunches of training with no break beforehand.
Also, look at the terrible run of injuries that SCATS gymnasts
got just before Seoul - Sabrina Mar, Doe Yamashiro, Stacy Gunthorpe, and
I just know I'm forgetting someone. I wouldn't go around accusing Don
Peters or Bela, just that the timing with some of these is very
interesting. Hey Mara, this could be a cool trivia thing - Olympic
unluckies.
One more thing - has anyone else noticed the weird similarities
between Dianne Durham and Kristy Phillips careers before the Olympics?
Defending USA Senior champions, past junior USA champions, both left
Karolyi's after Worlds (Dianne did not compete there, however), both came
back before Nationals of the Olympic year, both lost the berth at Trials,
etc. Also spooky - the people who finished second to them in the Junior
Nationals (Phoebe Mills, Mary Lou Retton) went on to win Trials,
Nationals, and medal at the Olympics, and were teammates of theirs at
Karolyi's.

Cara
------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 13:21:36 CST
From: ***@CHSRA.WISC.EDU
Subject: an introduction

Hi -- I've been an invisible gymn-er for a while, and thought I'd
finally introduce myself. My name is Chip, and I'm a public
health researcher. I was a gymnast at the University of Illinois
from 1977 to 1980, and have been active in gymnastics since then --
sort of -- but my activities have been kinda limited by one severely
trashed knee. ( If I had it to do all over again, knee injuries and
all, would I do it the same way? You bet! )

I was the first U of I gymnast to compete a double back on the floor
exercise (in 1979)... if that gives you any idea of the state of
college gymnastics at that time. Not that other guys weren't doing
double backs and full-ins... it's just that we at Illinois were a
little slow on the uptake.

Since college I've been much more interested in women's gymnastics
than men's. I coached class II and class I for a year (1984-85) when
I lived in New Jersey. But being a midwestern boy at heart, I moved
back to Illinois in 1985, and now I'm in Madison, WI.

My heart nearly stopped beating when I saw Groshkova do a
double-full-in during a televised competition... I thought I must
have dreamed it, because I never saw her again, and never found
anyone else who could say they saw it too. But I saw a reference to
it here a few months ago. I'm really glad to have found this
forum... I love the diverse perspectives and the wealth of technical
information!

The Madison TV stations pre-empt a lot of meets that the rest of
y'all get to see, so I'm grateful for all the on-line commentary.

I'm still pretty active (some friends call me an exercise fascist)
and do light tumbling from time to time. Two summers ago I taught
myself a FF-layout-layout, beam-style... but feet planted securely on
the ground, of course.

I'm wondering whether I've met any of you before.... and although
people refer to having "browsed the intros", I've never been able to
find 'em on-line... despite having a background in computers and
networking. I must not be looking in the right place? Can anyone
tell me where they're stored?

That's it. Cheers, gang!

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 15:29:35 EST
From: ***@SUVM.BITNET
Subject: <No subject given>

Hi Everybody,
I thought that it was finally time I introduced myself since I have been
lurking for a while now. My name is Sherri Jean and I am a junior at
Syracuse University. I have been taken a gymnastics class there for about
three semesters now and before that I took gymnastics when I was a kid at
a local club. I have also taken ballet, tap, and jazz dancing classes as well.
I am a really big fan of gymnastics and watch it on TV whenever it is on. I
really enjoy all of the great information and enthusiasm on gymn and I am
excited that I am finally writing.
Also, I do not know if this has been mentioned yet, since I am still getting
through the mail that piled up during Spring Break, but the EIGL Championships
(UMass, S.Conn., Springfield, SU, Temple, US Military Academy, US Naval Aca.)
are being held this weekend at Syracuse. Sat. March 25-2-5pm and Sun Mar 26-
1-3pm at Manley Field House. I am helping with them and thought that I would
see if any other gymn members are planning to go. Email me at my other account:
SJKATZ@mailbox.syr.edu if you think you may be there. Again, I apologize if
this information is repetative to info already sent by somebody else.
Sherri Jean

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 16:09:28 -0500
From: ***@WINNIE.FIT.EDU
Subject: TV coverage

I know that there are few who REALLY like gymnastics, but is it such an
unpopular sport except during the Olympic Games?? Has anyone decided to
survey people's opinions? I'd watch gymnastics over bowling ANY day!!

Just had to put my 2 cents.

Laura :)

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 18:29:35 GMT
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: France Telecom Trophy (EF)

France Telecom Trophy, Paris, France. March 1995
=================================================

For full results please see Debbie's post, here are a few bits
that I saw which were interesting...

- Correction to my last post, Valentin Mogilny was officially
competing, it's just that he didn't finish in the top 16 in
the AA. He is currently competing under the FIG flag, although
he's trying to get French citizenship and is hoping to
represent France in Sabae. His wife Olga Bicherova was in tears
of anger after his AA performance because she knew he could
do much better. She was meanwhile commentating for the French team
of EuroSport.

- Mogilny didn't do well either in the apparatus finals, falling on
the pommels.

- There are many youngsters dominating the womens events, it was
refreshing to see some nice new routines especially on bars where
Elvira Teza of France was specialising on reverse grips (a bit
of Li Li's bars in there), and Canqueteau included a flowing
Marinich (or "Kim Gwang Suk", whatever you want to call it), and
Vassou Tsavdaidou (Greece) and Janna Juarez (ESP) ain't half bad
either.

- Aljaz Pegan fell on his "Pegan" release on high bar.

- The French men are looking good too with Eric Poujade, Patrice
Casimir and Sebestian Tayac all getting among the apparatus
medals.

- On womens floor, Begue (FRA) has dynamic dance AND tumbles which
is nice to see. (Her dance movements are very expressive) Mao
Yanling is a Chinese which can tumble (double layout for starters).
She looked very happy with her bronze. Dina Kochetkova (somebody
said she's dyed her hair black during Chunichi... don't know if
that's treu but her hair is definitely blonde here) didn't look
too comfortable, she fell short in her last tumble (full-in back-out)
and fell forwards... which ended her not too happy competition.

Sherwin

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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 18:46:03 -0500
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Nadia

Cara

>One more thing - has anyone else noticed the weird similarities
between Dianne Durham and Kristy Phillips careers before the Olympics?

Definitely!

>Hey Mara, this could be a cool trivia thing - Olympic
unluckies.

Good idea. Haven't done one of those in a while.

Mara

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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 20:50:06 EST
From: ***@HAVERFORD.EDU
Subject: Re: France Telecom Trophy (EF)

>- Aljaz Pegan fell on his "Pegan" release on high bar.

What is this? I've never seen him do it. Could someone please
explain it?

Thanks.
Josh

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 21:03:45 -0500
From: ***@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU
Subject: Re: Nadia


>
> > I think it is a little odd that both of Bela's biggest stars suffered leg or
> > ankle injuries during the Olympics, but performed great difficulty just
months
> > before. RE:Nadia and Kim.
>
> My goodness! How can you leave out Mary Lou on this list and the knee
> surgery (arthroscopic, when it was still a new thing...) six weeks before
> the '84 Olympics...

Mary Lou doesn't fit the description because she didn't water down any
dificulty for the Olympics.

:)
Adriana

This week's sentiment:

"There may not be a heaven,
But somewhere there's a San Francisco"

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 21:10:31 -0500
From: ***@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU
Subject: Re: TV coverage

> I know that there are few who REALLY like gymnastics, but is it such an
> unpopular sport except during the Olympic Games?? Has anyone decided to
> survey people's opinions? I'd watch gymnastics over bowling ANY day!!
>
> Just had to put my 2 cents.
>
> Laura :)
>

Beats me. But I've read ABC is gradually getting off the bowling tour,
and that bowling generally is having trouble getting sponsors. Everybody
I've ever talked to says how much they like gymnastics, but they all only
ever watch during the Olympics. Aside from the usual "it's too
complicated for the average layman and too hard to be done casually", I
think it has to do with the "non-seasonalness" of gymnastics -- there
isn't a unified series of meets to qualify for playoffs and all that.

:)
Adriana

This week's sentiment:

"There may not be a heaven,
But somewhere there's a San Francisco"

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 21:41:35 -0500
From: ***@FURMAN.EDU
Subject: Another Introduction

Item Subject: Message text
Hello everyone!

My name is Amy. I'm a sophomore psychology major at Furman University
in Greenville, S.C. (unfortunately, not a gymnastics haven!!) I have been
interested ---obsessed might be a better word---with gymnastics ever since the
'84 Olympics. For the past 11 years, I have created an ever-growing VCR
collection with just about all the coverage that's been on T.V. I have studied
these tapes for numerous hours and tried to learn everything I possibly could
about this incredible sport! I've had the good fortune of traveling to the '91
World Championships, several American Cups, and most recently, the '94 U.S.
Nationals. Hopefully, there will be many similar trips in the future!

I was so excited to discover the Gymn Forum on the Internet (through accidental
exploration during my Intro to Computer Science class) 2 days ago. I LOVE to
discuss gymnastics, but to this point, I had never met anyone with my level of
interest. Something tells me that is about to change!

I have a question. Please excuse me if this has already been discussed. I
checked the back issues, but didn't see it. I was watching the International
Mixed Pairs this past weekend and at the conclusion, they dedicated the program
to the memory of Stormy Eaton. I sat in shock for about 15 minutes. He was
always one of my favorite coaches and I had just recently met him at the U.S.
Nationals this past summer. Does anybody know what happened?? Was he ill?

Also, Misti, I had heard that Nadia was making a movie about her life because
the other one---I, too, have watched it MANY times---was "inaccurate". However,
I heard this during a Wide World of Sports special called "The Mystery and Magic
of Nadia" several years ago and have heard nothing about it since. I wonder
what happened!

Amy Scherer

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

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 21:25:57 -18521200
From: ***@MADRAD.RADIOLOGY.WISC.EDU
Subject: Re: TV coverage

>
> I know that there are few who REALLY like gymnastics, but is it such an
> unpopular sport except during the Olympic Games?? Has anyone decided to
> survey people's opinions? I'd watch gymnastics over bowling ANY day!!
>
> Just had to put my 2 cents.
>
> Laura :)
You think bowling's bad. Our local NBC station (in Madison, WI) has
pre-empted BOTH the National Championships and the Dortmund Worlds
with infomercials! They also pre-empted the American Cup with WIAA
basketball tournaments. I'm fed up with it and will be sending
them a piece of my mind (at least I'll feel better afterwards).
Lani.

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 21 Mar 1995 to 22 Mar 1995
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