GYMN-L Digest - 23 Jul 1996 - Special issue

There are 21 messages totalling 621 lines in this issue.

Topics in this special issue:

1. Women's Optionals -- first goup so far (2)
2. Non-Olympians
3. Mens teams
4. Mens teams - one more thing
5. Umphrey's rings score
6. NBC (was: leos and MAG)
7. Mens' AA
8. GYMN-L Digest - 23 Jul 1996 - Special issue
9. NBC Bashing
10. NBC "coverage"
11. GYMN-L Digest - 23 Jul 1996
12. US Men did better than many said they would!
13. Women's Team Optionals
14. some more about CBC's stuff
15. Shorter post - SRC
16. MAG and Mihai
17. Tousek Qualifies!!!!!!!
18. Too many coaches on the floor
19. WAG: Tea Finals - SPOILER
20. O: WAG Team Results

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Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 03:02:05 +1000
From: ***@JCU.EDU.AU
Subject: Re: Women's Optionals -- first goup so far

Re Elvira Saadi

I know that she competed at both Munich and Montreal for the USSR, she was
nicknamed the Tashkent Tigress and by the British Press as the Black
Panther. She was particularly remembered for her grace and elegance. She
also represented the USSR at the 74 Worlds where she won a bronze on the
floor, and at the 75 World Cup where she won 3 silvers and 2 bronzes.

As a coach, her most famous protege was Olga Mostepanova, who scored a
perfect 40 in the AA at the Alternate Games in 1984. I believe she also
coached Tatiana Groshkova who was the alternate for Soviet Team at the
1990 Goodwill Games.
Regards Sharyn

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 13:04:00 EDT
From: ***@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: Non-Olympians

n Anyone know what the gymnasts who did not make the Olympic Team are
planning on doing? I'm wondering about Powell, Bhardwaj, Kiulikowsi,
pretty much everyone who was at trials. I know that Fontaine is going
to compete for Stanford, correct? Plu,s, I'm wondering about Richard
Grace...anyone know what he's going to do?

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 10:18:53 +0100
From: ***@ASUCLA.UCLA.EDU
Subject: Mens teams

Japan - what happened???? Best hair!

Russia - stunning

China - God help these boys when they get home

Ukraine - 3 cheers for Igor

USA - pretty overscored

Belarus - I love Andrei Kan

Romania - was Sabae a fluke or a joke?

Germany - Wecker at his steroid-best

Korea - best vaulters in the world

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 10:20:42 +0100
From: ***@ASUCLA.UCLA.EDU
Subject: Mens teams - one more thing

Bulgaria - Krasimir Dounev is the hottest specimen in mens gym

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 13:38:48 -0400
From: ***@IAC.NET
Subject: Umphrey's rings score

Did I miss it? Or did NBC go to a commercial and skip it?

His rings were *outstanding* - and I couldn't wait for the score. I'm
still waiting...

:(

Amy

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 13:47:29 -0400
From: ***@LEARN.SENECAC.ON.CA
Subject: Re: NBC (was: leos and MAG)

> (snipped)
> but I've really gotten tired of all of the NBC bashing.
> Considering the fact that it is the OLYMPICS and there are a million
> and one sporting events that they have to cover, IMO the men's
> gymnastics event got decent coverage last night. I also think it is
> VERY naive on our part to NOT expect NBC to focus on the U.S.
> gymnasts. People can complain all they want but the majority of the
> people turning in to watch the Olympics in the U.S. want to see U.S.
> athletes -- in every sport.
>
The complaints re NBC wasn't the coverage necessarily - it's the
incessant and (mostly) mindless chatter that goes on before, during
and after routines. To the extent that, in order to finish their
"fluff" commentary, Tesh and company often ignore the live routine that's going
on behind them.

Sometimes it's obvious they are working at restraint - but the
problem is that their natural tendency is to talk! Silence is so
against their nature that they'd automatically made some noises just
to fill the void.

And don't be misled. NBC is showing more gymnastics because that's
what the statistics say - more people attend the 1996 Olympics because
of gymn than any other sport! Although if they'd asked, I'm sure WAG
would take the largest share.

Mike

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 13:55:32 -0400
From: ***@UNHF.UNH.EDU
Subject: Mens' AA

Forgive me for asking (I don't have cable TV, so I get videotapes of the
Olympic coverage the day after it happens), but where does John R. stand after
the mens team competition? I had heard he was third after compulsories, but I
don't know if that was correct. Also, which three men will compete AA,
Rothlisberger, Wilson, and who?

Thanks in advance,
Lynanne

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:38:54 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: GYMN-L Digest - 23 Jul 1996 - Special issue

I THINK IM SPECIAL

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 11:39:31 -0700
From: ***@SCE.COM
Subject: NBC Bashing

After watching the Women's compulsories on Saturday - I was thrilled that
they showed so many routines - *especially* since they're compulsories (I
hear many people find them boring). Do what I do, train your brain to shut
out anything John Tesh says. As for showing mostly Americans, well duh,
it's the National Broadcast System not the World Broadcast System - get
over it and enjoy the show:-)

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:41:41 -0400
From: ***@SPARKY.CS.NYU.EDU
Subject: NBC "coverage"

I think NBC's coverage is a disgrace, and inferior to the standards set
by other US networks in their coverage of Olympic and other international
events. I e-mailed them, as I think they ought to know. Last night's
coverage left the impression that the US men failed in some way by not
winning the bronze, when in fact, they have much to be proud of. And the
lack of coverage of the medal-contending teams was outrageous. It was
nauseating to watch. Their sloppiness even extended to getting the
broadcast segments out of order. What wasn't irritating was dull,
lifeless, boring.
Like others, I hope to trade coverage with some kind soul. I have NBC
coverage, all on SP, and many interesting skating and ballet tapes. I
make good dupes, fully edited, on high-quality tape -- e-mail me if
interested.
Yes, somebody please tell John Tesh that Xiao is not pronounced "shwow."
I am hoping that Li will bring home the medal he needs, whether NBC
chooses to show it to us or not.

Bianca

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:47:53 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: GYMN-L Digest - 23 Jul 1996

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE MAIL YOU ARE SENDING ME WHEN I DOWN LOAD IT I DO NOT
SEE ANYTHING I AM ALL MIXED UP HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<3<3<3,
LAUREN

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:41:11 -0700
From: ***@UCLA.EDU
Subject: US Men did better than many said they would!

Well I first have to say that I am really pleased that Chainey got to do
high bar. It looks like there is justice in the world after all.(no
offense to Jair) His ginger(sp) was alitlle too close, but better alittle
too close than too far.

Fifth Place. I think that the US Men's Team derserves alot more respect
now than what they are getting. Most people didn't even think that they'd
place in the top six. I had faith in them and am glad to see them do
better than what some people thought they would. But I still feel that
they could have done better. They had a couple crucial falls that hurt
them. And their vault landings needed some work. No one slamed the door
on them. They did have a chance for bronze, but they just didn't
capitalize when they needed to.

But I hope there showing in Atlanta will help people realize that the US
will be a growing force that is in their way up. If the Soviet Union
hadn't broken up they would have been third.

John R. made a great point that Men's Gymnastics needs more respect. And I
think that they have earned it. Men's Fitness Magazine named Mens
Gymnastics the worlds toughest sport in front of I think is was rock
climbing and the triathalon.

I am glad to see that the US Men are gaing back some respect. They tried
their best and that is all that you can ask. The pressure was enormous and
with a few exceptions they came through.

Go USA!

Evan

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:16:34 -0300
From: ***@CCN.CS.DAL.CA
Subject: Women's Team Optionals

Hi,
I just watched the few routines that CBC and SRC just played of
the competitons going on today. They mostly showed the Canadian women,
rightly so...this is Canada. When I was watching, and they were playing
Jennifer, Yvonne and Shanyn's routines one after the other I thought
about how great it is to see this. Usually all I have seen is the
American girls, b/c NBC brodcasts gymnstics more, and well the American
team is better. Then I thought about the complaints on behalf on some
American veiwers that they didn't see routines by other gymansts. And it
occured to me CBC did just what NBC is doing, so I was momentarily
frustrated until I switched to SRC and watched The French team on floor
and was given a run down of the standings :) Lisa

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 16:52:36 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: Re: Women's Optionals -- first goup so far

What was going on with Chusovitina...i remember someone saying that she
now is competing for russia - but i don't think so...now she is making
uncharacteristic mistakes...it is too bad because she is a very talented
gymnast and should be recognized for it.

on another note, if anyone in Atlanta, or watching another brodcast sees
Hennrietta Onodi's performances - can you let me know how she did?

thanks

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:00:18 -0300
From: ***@CCN.CS.DAL.CA
Subject: some more about CBC's stuff

The coverage of the Canadian girls went like this...

Something I found very mildly amusing was that Yvonne Tousek and Jennifer
Exaltation are wearing different suits from the ones on Saturday, but
Shanyn still wore the same as the one on Sat. The suits from Saturday are
black crushed velvet with a white maple leaf on the upper sleve, and
Yvonne and jennifer's suits today were nylon with silvery flat rindstone
like things and the leaf on the front. I noticed chalk on the suits, but
only because I was watching for it after the white suits were mentioned
here. IMO, it doesn't look that bad. The chalk being visible is only
another indication that gymnastics really isn't as easy as it looks! And
as for rindstones getting in the way, I have done gymn with rindstones
and they never bothered me any...(With that out of the way I'll talk
about the routines :)

Jennifer Exaltation's of the Winstonettes (gym in Winston Ontario) vault
brought her a score of 9.262.

Shanyn MacEachern started on beam, a punch front mount, falls off on her
four element tumble pass, scores an 8.60

Yvonne Tousek's vault (a piked Cuervo - there goes my bad spelling again
- which has a start value of 9.9) scored a 9.50

On asymetical bars, Tousek's feet hit the floor after her transition to
low bar, scores a 9.00

2nd rotation,

Shanyn on floor throws a full twisting double back in the pike position
for her first pass and most of her routine goes well from there on in
doing a front full on her 2nd pass and a front 1 and a half for the last
pass and holds up well after the low score on beam. Her score was a 9.437.

Jennifer on bars does a lot of piroette work and for her dismount does a
double pike scores a 9.337.

In rotation 3 on beam Jennifer does two really nice yang bo jumps,
tumbles well - 2 layouts with a back handspring first - and scores a 9.237.

Shayn in rotation 3 on vault does a front front pike with a half (start
value of 9.9) gets a 9.525.

Yvonne on beam (rot. 2) is well awesome...She does a solid front handspring
front
tuck (she's the only woman who does it). It's a really expressive and
original routine. She scores a 9.575 and then goes done to the floor area
and drinks from a can of Coca Cola Classic (so maybe there isn't a big
taboo against gymnasts drinking soda...).

Jennier on floor in rotation 4 does front tumbling and nice dance, and
scores a 8.925 after falling on her rear on her last pass.

Shanyn on bars in rot. 4 does a double layout dismount and scores a 9.462.

Yvonne finishes on floor, where she is excellent but falls on her rear
on her first pass, does the rest of the routine well, and scores a 9.187.

In interveiws after, Yvonne and Jennifer both state they were feeling
good about their routines excpt for floor and Shanyn said she was happy
that she did her best and that her family was there to share it with her.
Or something to the effect....

So that's the Canadian girls... Lisa

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:12:15 -0300
From: ***@CCN.CS.DAL.CA
Subject: Shorter post - SRC

The French girls got some coverage on SRC so i thought I'd throw in their
scores here...

9.687 for Isabelle Severino
9.700 for Cecile Canqueteau
9.650 for Ludivine Furnon

And it shows that after all was done for session 2...

France: 377.715
Australia: 375.415
Greece: 337.291
Japan: 367.062

Unfortunately I didn't see any routines by otehr countries...just in the
background...
Lisa

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:41:02 -0400
From: ***@CYKICK.ECLIPSE.NET
Subject: Re: MAG and Mihai

Meighan delurks to write (in part):

>And Mihai, what a HUGELY AMAZING high bar routine! I jumped up on the couch
>and cheered when you landed your triple back, even though I was all alone :)

We just about did the same! :-) BTW, I believe Mihai's wife Kris is on
the list. True?

>P.S. What on earth was that godawful fluff piece about the Civil War?? Was
>it just me or did that seem to go on FOREVER?!?!?! :D

OK folks, let's remember that the NBC audience isn't composed soley of
serious fans like us. As one NBC official said before the Olympics, "It's
the stories that hook people to the sports." Also remember that the
Olympics are as much about culture as pure sport. 1992's coverage was
filled (huh?) with features about Spanish artists and architecture. It's
pretty hard to to avoid addressing the Civil War when dealing with Atlanta.
And since I'm pretty weak on Civil War history, I found the feature
fascinating.

And while we're on that "favorite" topic of NBC-bashing, did anyone catch
the bit in USA Today's TV Sports column about John Test & David Michaels?

Having said all that, Ken did get on NBC's Olympics web site yesterday to
file a complaint about the network's habit of going overtime with the prime
time coverage. It's wreaking havoc on those of us trying to tape!

Helena

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:27:41 -0400
From: ***@KENT.NET
Subject: Tousek Qualifies!!!!!!!

According to Ron on CBC, Tousek has qualified for the AA!!!!
I am very excited and proud. This is a great accomplishment for
a Canadian gymnast!

I was proud of the other two gymnasts as well. McEAchern had
a fall on her first event, beam, but hit the next three events.
Exaltacion was solid on her first three, but had an unfortunate
fall on floor.

Jordynn

ps. Saw some Aussies, a Greek, a Japanese, some French, a
Hungarian, etc. on SRC -- a tennis game was delayed, which
allowed for lots more gymnastics!!!!

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 15:51:20 -0700
From: ***@SOUTHSKY.WANET.COM
Subject: Re: Too many coaches on the floor

Dean wrote:

>There are only 2 US coaches on the competitive floor. All the athletes
>personnal coaches are in the media areas of the Georgia Dome and well within
>reach of their athletes. There is nothing unusal. You can believe the other
>teams have just as many people near the floor as they can.

Well, now.

First, the coaches are in the photo area. Photographers who need these
shots to make a living will be ousted from their positions by coaches who
should not be there. Bela's arms will be in everyone's faces.

Second, the Code clearly states, under the Responsibilities of the
Gymnast/Coach section, something like "Team members shall not have contact
with persons outside the inner competition circle." I don't have a copy of
the Code, so I paraphrase, but I looked this up after they hopped barriers
to swap coaches in Barcelona and it remained in the new Code. (You might
call it the Mary Lou Retton Rule.) Surely there is a team deduction for
each infraction?

Yes, the other teams have extra coaches in Atlanta. They help out in the
training gyms, where they are authorized to be. During competition, they
sit in the delegation seats and bite their nails. If they were allowed to
be on the floor, they would be.

May the best team win, if such a thing is possible under these circumstances.

Nancy

P.S. I have my answer: The US marches to vault a point ahead. Moceanu went
9.837 for a piked full-in, front fulls, 2.5 twist and a lotta butt wiggles.
Looks like Dawes is ahead of her - how soon before she's "injured"?

Is this Gymnastics, or is it Little Short Squat Kids Jumping Around?

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:24:00 -0500
From: ***@EXPERT.CC.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: WAG: Tea Finals - SPOILER

US women win the gold!!!

1. US 389.223
2. Russia 388.404
3. Romania 388.246

Strug collapsed after nailing her second vault. She attended
the medal ceremony with her leg in a cast/splint - it is
possible that it is broken (see
http://www.atlantagames.com/olywire/updates/GYM.Gymnasti.0723961913.html).

Miller, Dawes, and Strug had qualified to the all-around. Not sure
if Moceanu (fell on both vaults) or Phelps will replace Strug.

Top All-Around Qualifiers:
1. Pod
2. Miller
3. Dina K.
4. Milo
5. Geogean
6. Dawes
7. Strug
8. Galiyeva
9. Chorkina
10. Marinescu
11. Mo
12. Piskun
18. Bogie
23. Chusovitina

Vault Finals Qualifiers:
1. Amanar
2. Gogean
3. Mo
4. Strug
5. Galiyeva
6. Grosheva
7. Dawes
8. Boginskya

Uneven Bars Qualifiers:
1. Amanar
2. Khorkina
3. Pod
4. Dina K.
5. Dawes
6. Chow
7. Milo
8. Wenjing

Balance Beam Qualifiers:
1. Miller
2. Moceanu
3. Dina K.
4. Pod
5. Galiyeva
6. Gegean
7. Milo
8. someone from UKR

Floor Qualifiers:
1. Strug
2. Pod
3. Amanar
4. Moceanu
5. Liya
6. Gogean
7. Mo
8. Grosheva

I assume that Strug will be replaced on both vault and floor.

Lori

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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 19:28:19 -0400
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: O: WAG Team Results

Olympic Games 1996
==================

Atlanta, USA 19 July - 4 August, 1996

Womens Team Results
-----------------

Compulsories Optionals Total
------------ --------- -----
1. USA 193.669 195.556 389.225
2. Russia 193.796 194.608 388.404
3. Romania 193.138 195.108 388.246
4. China 191.933 193.934 385.867
5. Ukraine 192.308 193.533 385.841
6. Belarus 191.569 189.694 381.263
7. Spain 189.458 188.623 378.081
8. France 187.094 190.621 377.715
9. Hungary 188.520 188.944 377.464
10. Australia 186.845 188.570 375.415
11. Greece 183.532 187.759 371.291
12. Japan 183.418 183.644 367.062


What a dramatic finish!

Sherwin

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 23 Jul 1996 - Special issue
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