GYMN-L Digest - 14 Apr 1996 to 15 Apr 1996
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There are 18 messages totalling 494 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Oprah (4)
2. <No subject given>
3. Worlds - San Juan
4. Who is going to Worlds?
5. TV Alerts! (yes, multiple!)
6. San Juan Worlds on WWW.
7. NY Auto Show
8. NCAA (w) regionals
9. Oprah responses
10. Women's NCAA team qualifiers
11. Adult Gymnastics - One more idea
12. World's on AOL/ Wide World Of Sports
13. USAG Congress
14. GYMN-L Digest - 13 Apr 1996 to 14 Apr 1996
15. Peak Performances

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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 08:13:42 -0400
From: ***@WCHAT.ON.CA
Subject: Re: Oprah

I also have to agree that Oprah's show will not be helping our sport in any
way. I think all we need to do is look in the TV guide to see what the
description is: Child Abuse in Gymnastics.
I know our sport is not perfect, but can't people see the positive aspects too?
Vicki.

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 10:16:47 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: <No subject given>

ot yet seen the Oprah show, although I plan on taping it. I truly
hope that it will not be completely one-sided. There are (as we know)
sometimes bad situations in elite gymnastics (eg. eating disorders,etc.). I
believe that people should be aware of these situations. However, it will be
sad if Oprah chooses only this side of gymnastics to concentrate on, because
the positives certainly out-weigh the negatives.
Just my opinion

Jenny

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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 12:49:48 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: Oprah

I'

I'll just wait until I see the show before I make comments. I'ld like
to think it could be objective.

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Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 17:53:21 PDT
From: ***@AMDAHL.CO.ZA
Subject: Worlds - San Juan

Is there going to be a place on WWW where there will be live updates of
results or something? Anything on IRC?
Helen.

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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 14:51:13 -0400
From: ***@PITT.EDU
Subject: Re: Who is going to Worlds?

> Does somebody know who is at Puerto Rico for Belarus, China, Romania and
> Ukraine?
> Please e-mail me.
> Thank you
> Chloe

Chinese Men's team: I heard that all those gymnasts who won last year's
team title would not go.
Chinese Women's team: Mo Huilan won't be at Puerto Rico, while Liu Xuan,
Ji Liya and Mao Yanning will go.

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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 15:04:25 -0400
From: ***@GATEWAY.US.SIDWELL.EDU
Subject: TV Alerts! (yes, multiple!)

Hi everyone! I have a program that allows you to do keyword searches on
TV listings, so for example you can search for "gymnast" and it'll give
you a list of programs in the coming week that have "gymnast" in the
description. Here's what this week's search turned up. FYI, I live near
Washington, D.C., so some of these programs might be preempted or come on
at a different time where you live. Also, I realize that info on some of
these shows has already been posted on Gymn.

* Sunday 4/14 9:00 pm and Monday 4/15 12:00 am on The Learning Channel
(cable): Peak Performance, featuring the training program of Lavinia
Milosovici (1 hr)

* Monday 4/15 4:00 pm on ABC: The Oprah Winfrey Show with Joan Ryan (1 hr)

* Tuesday 4/16 6:00 pm and Wednesday 4/17 12:00 pm on Arts &
Entertainment, aka A&E (cable): Quincy "The Winning Edge." Description:
"Quincy investigates a coach's training tactics after an aspiring gymnast
takes a fatal fall during practice." Sounds like this is some kind of
mystery series. Might be interesting to watch to see what they have to
say about gymnastics.

* Friday 4/19 1:30 pm on The Discovery Channel (cable): Home Matters (a
home improvement show) will have "Gymnasts Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci
demonstrating how two people can work out together." Hmmm. Also watch
if you're interested in redecorating a room or in men's wardrobes :).
Oh, and this is a rerun, so faithful Home Matters watchers may have
already seen it. (30 minutes)

* Saturday 4/20 7:30 am on NBC (I think): A Cappelli & Company entitled
"Gymnasts." Cappelli & Company is a kid's show, and I have no idea what
this is about. It's not showing on all NBC affiliates (it's showing on
the Baltimore affiliate but not on the D.C. affiliate) so check your
local listings if you really want to see this. (30 minutes)

* Saturday 4/20 4:30 pm on ABC: Wide World of Sports, "World Gymnastics
Championships finals, from San Juan, Puerto Rico" (1 hr 30 minutes)

* Sunday 4/21 1:00 pm on CBS: Sports Show, "Scheduled: Gymnastics
Invitational from Miami." I guess this is the Budget Invitational (USA
vs. France) (2 hrs)

That's all I dug up for this week.
Lisa

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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 15:13:09 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Oprah

I have not seen the ads for the show, but having participated in it I can
tell you that no one in our community will be pleased. The producer assured
us of a balanced presentation when they came to video in the gym, and the
exact opposite happenned. The gymnasts comments were cut and edited so that
only the responses to negative questions were shown. None of their comments
about the things they liked about gymnastics or the enjoyment they got out of
it were shown. I am hopeful that some of the comments I made at the end of
the show get aired, but if the in gym video is any guage, those comments will
probably get cut also.

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 15:09:32 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: San Juan Worlds on WWW.

I wrote to USA Gymnastics (via their WWW page and they sent back the
following:

>From swhitloc@usa-gymnastics.org Sun Apr 14 14:48:44 1996
Received: from corb.inetdirect.net by zephyr.medchem.purdue.edu (AIX 4.1/UCB
5.64/4.03)
id AA13878; Sun, 14 Apr 1996 14:48:41 -0600
Received: from p3-term1.inetdirect.net by corb (5.x/SMI-SVR4)
id AE18567; Sun, 14 Apr 1996 15:57:04 -0400
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 15:57:04 -0400
Message-Id: <9604141957.AE18567@corb>
X-Sender: swhitloc@usa-gymnastics.org
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
To: Jeffrey Ruell <jeff@zephyr.medchem.purdue.edu>
From: Steve Whitlock <swhitloc@usa-gymnastics.org>
Subject: Re: San Juan Worlds
Cc: rharless@usa-gymnastics.org
Status: R

At 01:35 PM 4/13/96 -0600, you wrote:
>Will there be information about the San Juan worlds posted (and updated as it
>happens) on the WWW page?
>
SW: We have a press person attending with out delegation. Kris will do
regular Press Releases, email them to us, and we will post ASAP.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For USA Gymnastics,
Sincerely,

Steve Whitlock
Director of Safety and Education




Jeff

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 17:57:17 -0400
From: ***@FIR.FBC.COM
Subject: NY Auto Show

Did anyone catch the NY International Auto Show that was at the Jacob Javits
Center this past week and ending today? Some friends of mine went (who are not
gymnastics knowledgeable) and said they saw some Olympic gymnasts. The only
name they could remember was Kurt Thomas. There were about three men and four
women. They were putting on an exhibition on all events except vault.

If anyone saw this, can you post who was there and what I missed?

- Tony

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 18:15:04 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: NCAA (w) regionals

(Patrick: this is for the Collegiate update)

**If anyone has more info on regionals results, can you post them. I
just did some checking and below is what i came up with. I doubt here in
Michigan they are going to publicize it much, but out west and down south
they might.

NCAA Central Regionals

Team:
1. Alabama 198.075
2. Michigan 196.275
3. LSU 194.525
4. MSU 193.850
5. Auburn 193.100
6. Minnesota 192.625
7. Iowa State 190.350

All Around Winner Kim Kelly (Alabama) 39.75

NCAA Southeast Regionals

Team: V BA BE FX
1. Georgia 196.950 49.400 49.675 48.650 49.225
2. Florida 195.375 49.425 48.375 48.500 49.075
3. Kentucky 193.925 49.025 48.950 47.650 48.300

All Around:
For Florida: Guise 38.925
Vogel 39.225
Grubbs 38.800
For Georgia: Angeles 39.375
Brown 39.400
Strong 39.600
For Kentucky: Ewing 39.125
Hansen 39.175

NCAA Northeast Regional:

Team:
1. Penn State 193.650
2. Kent State 193.025
3. Massachusetts 191.900
4. Ohio State 191.450
5. New Hampshire 190.275

Winners:
AA Missy Leopoldus (PSU) 39.125
Vault Missy Leopoldus (PSU) 9.850
Bars Shelly Stambaugh (KS) 9.925
Beam Leigh Capello (PSU) 9.850
Floor Susan Eckman (OSU) 9.950

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 18:17:19 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Oprah responses


>I have not seen the ads for the show, but having participated in it I can
>tell you that no one in our community will be pleased. The producer assured
>us of a balanced presentation when they came to video in the gym, and the
>exact opposite happenned. The gymnasts comments were cut and edited so that
>only the responses to negative questions were shown. None of their comments
>about the things they liked about gymnastics or the enjoyment they got out
of
>it were shown. I am hopeful that some of the comments I made at the end of
>the show get aired, but if the in gym video is any guage, those comments
will
>probably get cut also.


>I also have to agree that Oprah's show will not be helping our sport in any
>way. I think all we need to do is look in the TV guide to see what the
>description is: Child Abuse in Gymnastics.
>I know our sport is not perfect, but can't people see the positive aspects
too?
>Vicki.

I don't know why there is no recourse for this type of agenda-based trash.
It seems to me that shows like Oprah are not journalism in the "freedom of
the press" tradition. The are at best electronic tabloids. Since they do
know their power of persuasion, and since a clear and direct link can be made
with shows like the one discussed and families who will pull their kids from
gymnastics programs ( or not let them start) because of the cumulative fervor
caused by this show and future spin-offs. ..i
t would be interesting to see what kind of damages a class action suit would
bring. Oprah is one of if not the highest paid entertainer in America. Talk
shows have taken significant heat
past year. The climate is ripe. If there was full tape showing many
positive aspects of gymnastics, and if it could be shown that the tapes were
edited (manipulated) to cast aspersion on the club the tapes were taken from
(and the sport in general), why should the Oprah show not have to fess up the
way sixty minutes was forced to when they planted explosives in the side
panels of the pick-up trucks they trashed? There are real lives being
damaged when there are gym owners who go out of business due to negative
attacks that have extraordinarily little connection with fact. Child abuse?
Tell me that any inner city parent who doesn't keep their child locked inside
isn't committing child abuse. Tell me that leaving these kids home latch key
to run the malls, join gangs, get pregnant as a teen, etc, etc is not child
abuse. What is the average grade point of a competitive gymnastics team
compared to an average, say, junior high/highschool basketball or football
team? Are boxing clubs child abuse? What about rousting kids at 5am to go
to the pool for swim team conditioning? I sumbit that there are always
parents who live vicariously through their kids--that's sad. But there are
also many kids who would be in allot worse circumstances without the world of
sport to give them focus--and something to do between 3:30 and 7PM. A recent
"investigative reporting" program in prime time cited that the hours between
school closings and the time commuting parents get home account for 60 % of
teen preganacy occurance. Now WHAT's child abuse?? Just some thoughts//Don

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 18:55:42 -0400
From: ***@TSO.CIN.IX.NET
Subject: Oprah

FYI
The Oprah show does have an E-mail address. I am not sure of it, (I konw it
is listed after the show in the credits) but I THINK it is
Oprah@aol.com
Again I am not 100% sure of the address, but at least it will provide a
chance for response.

TTYL,
Liz B.

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 16:07:14 -0700
From: ***@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Women's NCAA team qualifiers

Watch for more detailed info in tomorrow Collegiate Update, but since I
haven't seen it on the list, this is my understanding of the team
qualifiers. These are still unofficial if accurate and aren't even
guaranteed to be accurate. They are in approximate order of seeding.

Alabama 198.075
Georgia 196.950
Utah
Michigan 196.275
Arizona
Florida 195.375
UCLA
Brigham Young
Oregon State
Nebraska
Stanford 194.700
Penn State 193.650 (automatic qualifier from NE, bumps #12 LSU)


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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 19:30:01 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Adult Gymnastics - One more idea

In addition to the ideas on where Sharon (and others) can look for adult
gymnastics classes: Check local Parks and Recreation departments. I run a
gymnastics program here in South Florida for ages 3 - 18. . .we are
recreational and offer classes from Tiny Tots through Advanced level. I have
had many inquiries on starting an Adult gymnastics class and hope to begin
one at the beginning of the next budget year (Dealing with a municipality, it
has to be approved by the City Council, City Manager, and Budget department.)

I have one question for anyone out there about liability for such a class.
My superiors have given me a hard time about such a class stating that the
liability risk is much higher than children's classes. In fact, I had to
change the class name to a "Fit and Flexibility" class - couldn't use the
word GYMNASTICS. As a city we are self-insured and do not carry USAG
insurance (although I have been rallying to get it approved too). If there
are any private or public gyms out there that can give me some advice on how
to approach introducing and administrating an adult class (i.e. should weight
restrictions be set due to apparatus and risk? how about age? I do not want
to be discriminating and disclude anyone from participating. . .)

Looking for ideas and help. . .

Thanks!
Pam.

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 20:18:35 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: World's on AOL/ Wide World Of Sports

Gymners,

For those of you on America Online, Kathy Johnson will be commenting LIVE
from Puerto Rico on April 16 at 9pm Eastern time. Once in AOL, go to the
main Menu. From there, go to "Discover AOL". Next, scroll to "ABC's Wide
World Of Sports". They tell you alittle bit about Kathy and worlds. From
there, you can get into the Auditorium and be with Kathy LIVE.

Also, the "Wide World Of Sports" area has some good pictures of Huilan,
Miller, Moceanu, Comaneci, Korbut, Thomas, and Vidmar to download. They
also have great quicktime movies of Miller, Comaneci, and Korbut.

Gymnastically yours,

DAVID

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

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 15:08:08 +0000
From: ***@ALOHA.NET
Subject: USAG Congress

Aloha folks!

For those of you who were able to browse the USAG homepage I have
questions regarding the USAG Congress which will be held in Boston
this year during and after the Olympic trials.

1. I am currently not a USAG progessional member. How does one
become a professional member of USAG?

2. The congress is charging $235 to non-USAG members to attend the
Congress. I am thinking of taking the Level 5 and 6 judging courses
and probably the exams that go with it during the Congress. I think
they are charging $30 for each course and $5 for each exam that you
take. Do you have to be a "professional member" to take these exams.
I was looking at USAG's homepage for this restriction but nothing was
mentioned so I am assuming that a "professional" designation is not
necessary. I would think not because why else would they charge
non-members such high fees.

3. Is there anyone from Hawaii or Region II who is planning to
attend the Congress to attend the RSG courses or the trials for that
matter?

Would appreciate any help from GYMNER's who are familiar with this
process.

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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 18:19:16 -0700
From: ***@UCDAVIS.EDU
Subject: Re: GYMN-L Digest - 13 Apr 1996 to 14 Apr 1996

please cancel my name from your mailing list.
Thank t\you very much.

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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 20:43:42 -0500
From: ***@MAGIC1.ORG
Subject: Peak Performances

Did anyone else get to see the show "Peak Performances" on the Learning =
Channel, Sunday 7:00 CST? It was an excellent program about the =
technical side of several sports, including gymnastics. Lavinia =
Milosovici was featured, and the show revolved around the strength, =
agility, and timing needed in gymnastics. It explained how hard she =
trains and how mentally tough she is. It was very refreshing to watch, =
especially with all the negative publicity gymnastics has had recently. =
I think the most amazing aspect for me was the clear photography, and =
being able to watch a triple twist in slow motion from several different =
angles. The writer was obviously well-informed and the photographer =
very skilled, and able to capture the sport's beauty and power for all =
the world to see.

Amy

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 14 Apr 1996 to 15 Apr 1996
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