GYMN-L Digest - 20 May 1996

There are 4 messages totalling 163 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. US Olympic Berth
2. Marinescu
3. WAG: Europeans.
4. Womens Europeans (Seniors EF)

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Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 03:48:42 -0500
From: ***@EDEN.COM
Subject: US Olympic Berth

If I remember correctly, the US qualified to the Olympics not only as a host
country but because of their top 12 (?) finish at the 1995 World
championships. Just because a country has an automatic qualification we
should not assume that country would not have qualified by its own merits.
And why isn't the US women's team in contention for a gold medal? They are
world medalists and will be performing on home turf. Look at the '84 Men's
Olympic team--they beat the reigning World champions.

I will agree that TV announcers seem extremely underqualified and
ill-informed about sports not involving stopwatches. :) Let's hope that the
technical coverage will be made by experienced announcers. [Kathy Johnson
is my hero!]

Rich

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Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 19:10:16 +1000
From: ***@OZEMAIL.COM.AU
Subject: Marinescu

Just to add to the Marinescu thread -

I think Marinescu is right in saying that she has competed against better
gymnasts than Moceanu. Quite frankly, she has! Moceanu is not the best
gymnast in the world. Don't even think about tackling me on this because
she's not.

As for her outspokenness (sp?), it may well come across this way due to
translation from Romanian to English, and then into print. Then again, what
is wrong with a little outspokenness? Perhaps she's just a confident person.

After reading the European and US Classic results, the fight for AA gold in
Atlanta may well be between Marinescu, Pods, and Moceanu.

Then again, someone like Jennie Thompson might come along out of the blue
and spoil everyone's party.

:)
Simone

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Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 09:38:07 +0100
From: ***@ACHILLES.DEMON.CO.UK
Subject: Re: WAG: Europeans.

>I am happy to hear that Marinescu won Juniors. I didn't see here on the
>list of the senior team, so I was wondering if the Romanians would have
>cut her off the team. I have to ask, though, isn't she a a senior? She
>competed in two worlds already (Senior). IS it just the fact that she
>was competing in the worlds prior to the Olympics and they let her compete
>as a enior even though she isn't one?
>
I think it was simply a way for the Romanians to give as many of their
top athletes as possible a run-out. With only three counting in team and
two qualifying for AA finals, it made sense for them to make Milo,
Amanar and Gogean compete as the senior team, and *still* have Marinescu
there, dominating Juniors.
>
>As for Bogi, I would still like to see the level of difficulty she showed in
>Charleston on the FX. I am still waiting to see her do the double tuck
>punch front as a dismount.
>
The content-gap between her and the younger "crop" was more apparent in
event finals than AA (as is often the case). Her second in AA flattered
her to the extent that so many athletes were "off" in AA, and by doing
what she can so cleanly she was able to edge by them. She's really back,
and it's great to see her, but I think she would have dropped back half-
a-dozen places had others been firing on all cylinders.
>
>One more thing: One thing I was really surprised about was the scores.
>I thought that it would have closer between 1st and 5th. I guess the new
>code (I shoudl really stop typing that!) is working to separate the gymnasts.
>
Actually, mistakes did most of the separating, mainly bad beam. Dina and
Milo were wobbly, Khorkhina fell. Amanar, who was really sharp sunday in
apparatus finals, was nervy saturday. And the gap between Pod and Bogey
for one and two should have been wider.
>
>And, a big surprise was the finish of the Spainish women. I would have
>put them alot higher to the top.
>
Both Martin and Juarez were *very* impressive, esp. the 15 y.o. Juarez
who took an FX bronze (should have been silver) with a terrifically
choreographed routine.

--
Frances

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Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 10:25:08 +0100
From: ***@ACHILLES.DEMON.CO.UK
Subject: Re: Womens Europeans (Seniors EF)

>
>Amanar who was last to go performed a good fast routine but was
>marked down for some reason... I saw no obvious mistakes and she
>certainly performed a lot of elements in her routine. She started
>with a double layout; the middle tumbling run of 2 & 1/2 twists
>punch front, back across for a triple twists; and finishing with
>a stuck full-twisting double back. If someone knows why she was
>marked down to only 9.562 I'd like to hear the explanation.
>
I think she put a foot out right at the end.

>A final interesting point was that Roza Galieva, the one who was
>replaced by Tatiana Gutsu in the 1992 Olympics All-Around competition,
>performed her first pass using the "Gutsu" tumble (double layout with
>split legs in the first layout).

Performed it *better* too! Not that I happen to like the trick. I liked
the routine a lot though: dynamic but elegant, to the music and with a
full range of movement. She uses her arms better than anyone else
competing. And - though the beam gold was compensation - her only coming
fifth in FX was a travesty, made worse by Milo sharing the gold.

I wanted to hold off saying this because I know there's a Romanian fan-
club on GYMN and I don't want to start a flame-war with it. And I
suppose I must confess to not really having liked a Romanian FX since
Hadarean. But I've got to say it: Milo's thing really is a wretched
affair. The only thing worse was the wild enthusiasm for it in the
arena.

It's depressing to reflect what this portends for the FX final in
Atlanta. If Birmingham is any kind of yardstick, the secrets of success
are going to be:

(i) Be an established name (so Furnon, Tousek and Juarez can forget it
now)
(ii) Be the home-crowd favourite (Birmingham counts as a "home-crowd"
for Milo. They've always been fanatical about her. In Atlanta, of
course, this means an American.)
(iii) Don't worry about any of that artistic rubbish. Choreography?
Pfft! Who cares? Just wave an arm occasionally and wear an inane grin.
(iv) Choose the tackiest music you can think of - ideally a medley of
the home country's folk tunes - and then perform a routine that not only
fails to "interpret" them but doesn't even connect with them at any
point.

So...let's see...the FX gold will be going to the most photogenic
American who will receive a volcanic crowd reaction for performing a
cutesy-pie routine to the incidental backdrop of Liberace's Greatest
Hits.

If I was a proper (i.e. Russian) choreographer, I think I'd just go and
slash my wrists now...

--
Frances

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 20 May 1996
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