Gymnastics: It's an obsession: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

One of the biggest scandals of all time (IMO...)

1997 World Championships, Balance Beam Finals
Gina Gogean gets the gold. But why? She does a punch front mount and a punch front on the beam and her dismount. Otherwise, it's nothing but leaps. There is no tumbling, no creativity. It's not even well-choreographed. She's basically "cheating" the (at the time) new Code of Points. No, she doesn't wobble, but seriously? The FIG creates a new, demanding Code, and then doesn't reward the gymnasts who takes the most risk, has the most originality? And I must say, I don't like to be "mean" to any gymnast, but Gina is someone that I have never liked, find very hard to like, don't really enjoy anything she does. And this is one of the ugliest, most compulsory and boring routines, of ALL the events.

Now, a lot of people would say that Kui Yuanyuan should have won. Yes, this is one of the great balance beam routines of all time. But she does have a slight wobble after her layout (but who else DOES a laid-out full-twisting layout on beam? Oana Ban?). And she has a slight hop on the dismount. But this routine IS brilliant. It's what I thought the FIG wanted, since they eliminated compulsories, made it more difficult to get to a 10.0 start value and got rid of bonuses for repeating elements and added bonuses for connecting elements.

In my opinion, Svetlana Khorkina is the winner. This routine is difficult, artistic, original, and clean. Khorkina does not have any balance breaks. WHY do judges reward Gogean over Khorkina? Khorkina delivers what the new Code was looking for, AND she does it sans balance breaks and steps on the landing.

MY results:

1. Svetlana Khorkina
2. Kui Yuanyuan
3. Gag-me-Gogean (sorry, but she really is about the most irritating gymnast of all time)

And another thought: Khorkina looks so good here with a little bit of meat on her bones, much better than at the 2004 Olympics.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Re-visiting the 90s

A trip down memory lane. It was the Clinton era, I was in middle & high school, and this was the first decade I began to follow gymnastics. From the 1996 Olympics, which I watched and re-watched religiously, one of my favorites was Dina Kochetkova.

I loved her skinny, svelte body, and her lovely fluid movements, particularly her Kochetkova (full-twisting back handspring on beam) and her Shaposhnikova to immediate uprise on uneven bars, and her pencil-straight handstands.

Look how straight she is!

I must however, get on my platform and note that part of what gave her such a great line was a, uh, minimal backside. She was quite tiny. I do tend to prefer skinny gymnasts....they do tend to have better lines. And Kochetkova was surprisingly powerful despite being skinny. Although, I remember in the 1996 Olympic floor event finals, the Tim & Elfi said that she was barely making 3 of her 4 her tumbling passes. And she really could have medaled in the all-around had it not been for her disastrous vaults. Poor thing.

And her 1996 Worlds balance beam gold medal was well-deserved. She has not a wobble in the routine, is fluid and confident. Seriously, they couldn't give her a 9.9 for this?

Dina retired in 1997 and made an appearance at the 1997 Worlds, looking cute as a bug.

And now she is working as a trainer in Russia. I have to admit, the mullet is somewhat cute.

"Silver medal" floor exercise musics

Nastia Liukin, 2005
I really love the dark and classical tone of this music, and I love her opening "pirouette" she does with her hands on her hip. And the opening Randi is about the best I've ever seen her do.

I was re-living the 2004 Olympics, particularly Ponor, And I must say, I really enjoy this music. It reminds me of Egyptian music a bit. Neat beat and exotic.