GYMN-L Digest - 21 Jul 1996 - Special issue

There are 21 messages totalling 656 lines in this issue.

Topics in this special issue:

1. Individual 1a standings
2. Romania off to a good start
3. (spolier?)Re: Romania off to a good start
4. Olympic Quotes
5. WAG: Balog
6. ROMANIAN UNKNOWNS???
7. Rom. Women 07/20
8. I Must Know!
9. I Must Know! - P.S.
10. NBC Olympic Coverage
11. SOME changes with the FIG.
12. drug use among gymnasts
13. NBC Coverage (2)
14. WAG
15. <No subject given>
16. Loaies
17. Canadian Women
18. NBC's Coverage (early random comments)
19. O: WAG compulsories results
20. My tidbits (the real thing)

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 09:36:15 -0400
From: ***@YORKU.CA
Subject: Individual 1a standings

Does anyone have extended results from men's 1a from yesterday? I
am specifically interested in the Canadian results. Also, does anyone
know if Bejeneru from ROmania, Kalofer Hristosov from BUL and Csaba Fajkus
from HUN were in the field? If so, all three are three time Olympians.
On another note, CBC briefly previewed women's team, saying it
would be a three way battle (Romania, USA, and China), but I'm hoping that
the Russian women are as prepared as the men so obviously were yesterday.
I have the feeling that they are going to surprise a lot of people. They
interviewed Mary Lee Tracy, who said she couldn't describe the feeling of
going into the Dome and having everyone cheering for you. SHe said it's
hard to keep yourself from getting emotional.
Of course when previewing gymnastics for the week, they mention
only two gymnasts: Scherbo for men and Moceanu for women (at least they
say her name right now, last year it was "Muceano"). I don't see how you
an even say those two names in the same breath or attempt to compare their
respective levels of "greatness".....
Chris.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 09:56:41 -0400
From: ***@YORKU.CA
Subject: Romania off to a good start

Live on SRC and CBC I"ve seen all of the Romanians on vault, and
they are off to a good start, scores ranging form a 9.587 from Loaies, to
9.837's from Gogean and Milo (with AManar at 9.8, Marinescu at 9.675 and
Tugurlan at 9.65). All 6 showed excellent repulsion off the horse, a good
pike and kick out (much better than the Canadians , who are the only ones
I"ve really seen do the 1a vault).
I will be interesting to see how these scores hold up.
Unfortuntaely, I'm off to work and will have to try to tape this when I'm
out.
Chris.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 11:22:14 -0300
From: ***@CCN.CS.DAL.CA
Subject: (spolier?)Re: Romania off to a good start

The Romanian Girls Vault compulsories were shown in full thanks to the
CBC and SRC, like Chris posted. Here are their scores...

The vault being performed is a piked sukahara {sP?}

Ionela Loaies was 1st up and scored a 9.587

Mirela Turgulan 9.650

Alexandra Marinescu 9.675

Simona Amanar 9.800

Gina Gogean 9.837

Livina Milosovici (with a step forward on her landing...) 9.837

---

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 07:22:59 -0700
From: ***@IX.NETCOM.COM
Subject: Olympic Quotes

Hi Everyone!! I don't know about anyone
else, but I am too excited for words!! I can't wait to see the women
compete today!! Anyways....

There were about 5 articles on gymnastics
today in my local newspaper. (I thought that they had forgotten that
there WAS such a sport!!) They were all very well writen and I would
like to share some interesting comments and quotes w/you:

"We're very strong. We're happy to be out
there. Maybe there a4re some gymnasts who don't show it, and that's
why, maybe, people think we're some poor, innocent child that's being
punished. But what's true is, we want to compete for ourselves. No one
is forcing us to do it. Nobody could make me compete if my leg hurts if
I don't want to. But nobody can stop me from competing in
Atlanta...."-Dom Moceanu (I thought that that was very well put)

The US Woman call themselves the "Mag
Seven" short for "The Magnificent Seven". Peter Korman asked the men
what their nickname should be and they replied "The Usual Suspects".

Steve Nunno is quoted as saying that
Shannon was "like a robot in '92. She performed everything well but she
only perfromed what we told her. Now, Shannon performs what she wants."

Well, that's all I have for now.

-Laura

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 13:17:36 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: WAG: Balog

I was so glad to hear the Joy said that Balog was much improved from Barcelona.
She was so unlucky there and fell off BB and UB (her last event) in '92.
She looked like she was was going to kill herself after the UB routine.
It is nice to hear that a gymnast stuck around and is back. Sadly, this is
one of those stories that you'll never see on these Olympics since
it would require cutting into one of the flash backs to the Openning
ceremonies which 'studies show viewers want to see.'


I am getting kind of worried that this will be such a pro-USA meet
that the fans might even cheer for falls from other teams. I hope that they
don
't.


BTW: I was so PSYCHED to hear Dina's using her 1994 GOLD MEDAL winning
FX music. She's great in this routine.


Jeff

Dina, Dina, Dina.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 13:30:24 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: ROMANIAN UNKNOWNS???

Mirela Turgulin (like Marinescu) competed in the 1995 IBM Atlanta Gymnastics
Invitational (Pre-Olympics). She finished 12th of 18 competitors, with falls
off of BB and FX. (She, like MArinescu, uses that tight triple twist dismount
on FX).

Ionela Loaies was a member of the silver medal team at the 1994 Goodwill games.
She finished 7th AA, 8th on UB and 7th on FX. She was not shown in the AA or
EF by ABC or TBS, as they focused on Bican instead.


Just thought that I'd speak up about these two gymnasts. Apparently, Andrea
Cacovan is injured, else she'd be on the team. She competed at the recent
Grand Prix of Rome but only did compulsories.

Jeff

Dina, Dina, Dina.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 15:46:39 -0300
From: ***@CCN.CS.DAL.CA
Subject: Rom. Women 07/20

Earlier I posted the scores of the Rom. women on vault which wasn't shown
on NBC but NBC did show their Bars routines, and some Beam. They
mentioned Milo having a sprained ankle, and she has hopped back on her
landings on both vault, and UB...

UB scores

Loasies (sp) 9.537
Turgulan ??? (NBC failed to tell)
Gogean 9.737
Milo 9.850
Anamar 9.850
Marinescu 9.737

BB

Loasies (sp) 9.387
Anamar - falls off beam - 8.687

NBC aired Joanna Hughes floor exercise but not the score. So at this
point I flipped to SRC and watched Pods and Bogi for a bit...Bogi scored
a 9.412 on uneven bars and Pods a 9.850 on fx.

Does NBC fail to tell scores often...I wonder. Lisa

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 14:55:56 -0400
From: ***@MINDSPRING.COM
Subject: I Must Know!

Gee - is it too much to ask that they publish an Olympics directory with
small photos of the atheletes, like a H.S. yearbook, so I can figure out
who is who?

I have this burning need to know - and I've determined NBC won't help
with their lack of coverage - on the Greek women's team, there are two
gymnasts with frizzy hair tied back. One is tinier than the rest, with
shoulders like a swimmer. The other is a head taller than the rest - who
is she???
--
--- Jeff

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 15:26:02 -0400
From: ***@MINDSPRING.COM
Subject: I Must Know! - P.S.

P.S. Is it Kyriaki Firinidou? I'll pay for a nice beam photo and/or head
shot if anyone has or will be taking photos.
--
--- Jeff

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 15:40:37 -0400
From: ***@GNN.COM
Subject: NBC Olympic Coverage

NBC would never show a football or basketball game without constantly
repeating the score. Why do they assume gymnastics fans dont care as much?
If you show a routine and then go to a commercial, I *want* to know how the
routine scored -- even if the commercial was 10 minutes long.

John Tesh is already driving me crazy -- he keeps insisting that Gutsu fell
off compulsory beam in Barcelona, and if I hear the Gogean/apendectomy story
one more time...

Would whoever posted the web address that had Olympic links on it please
e-mail the address privately? Thanks

tim

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 14:55:50 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: SOME changes with the FIG.

Teh FIG congress was in session in Atlanta and here is some of the things
that came out.


1) One set of optional exercises will determine the team title. Plus, gymnasts
will not have to compete in all events to be eligible for EF (current system
now).



2) there will be no 1998 Worlds. This is due to 'economic' reasons.


3) Attention: up coming worlds:


1997: Lausanne, SWITZ (AG), Berlin, GER (RSG)

1999: Tianging, CHINA (AG), Osaka, Japan (RSG)


I guess Indy lost out on 1999. But since they just had it in 1991.....



Jeff


Dina, Dina, Dina.


SOURCE: http://sports.yahoo.com/international/960718/olympics/congress_1.html

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 16:01:50 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: drug use among gymnasts


>If you don't think the pressure to perform will drive gymnasts to drug use,
>watch any group of athletes at any JO meet. Aspirin, Ibuprofen, caffeine,
>super high sugar intake ... these low level competitors will try almost
>anything to compete better, hurt less, and try "to get an edge". Your
>definition of "drug use" doesn't even have to be that loose to see what
>they're doing. So, why would an elite athlete not also be tempted?

I go to JO meets almost on a weekly basis as a judge and a coach. I simply do
not see the same thing going on. Most coaches I know don't let their gymnasts
anywhere near caffeine during a meet (or practice for that matter) and the
most sugar they take in is the occasional granola bar or powerade. I don't
know what your background is, but my keeps me in fairly close proximity to
the folks you're talking about. To my mind, wht you say simply is NOT
happening.

Dean

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 16:00:43 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: NBC Coverage

It is good to see the BRILLIANT, INSIGHTFUL, PLANS of the NBC IDIOTS go down
in flames. Their "coverage" of the US Team showed 8 ROUTINES, along with a
nicely done montage on Pommel Horse (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?). Also:
1. They focused their coverage on Mihai's miss on HB, with all of their
dire implications of pending disaster for the team.

2. They failed to say anything about John Rothlisberger's 3rd place
ranking in the AA

3. They had NO RESULTS for us about where some of our guys stand on
individual events.

They proved that they don't know ANYTHING about what is going on with this
team. They babbled on about how this was "like a football team, not a
gymnastics team" and how they were like the 1984 Team. They missed THE major
points that this team is all about:
1. These are 7 (actually 8, since THIS team chose to include alternate
Josh Stein, rather than shun him like some kind of pariah) REALLY EXCELLENT
GYMNASTS!!!!!!!!
2. These guys have a "blue collar" approach, not an elitist approach
to gymnastics. THEY KNOW HOW TO WORK HARD, as well
as how to work through adversity.
3. They have been galvanized as a team by the negative media, the
constant criticism of them, their toughness, their work ethic, and their
gymnastics on TV by Tim Daggett (in particular),
and the DISRESPECT with which so many people have incessantly
hammered them.

Make no mistake about it: No matter what the final results are,

THIS IS A TEAM WITH GREAT HEARTS AND NO QUIT IN THEM!

It is a team that we should all be proud of.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 16:06:58 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: WAG

I am suprised that CBC hasn't shown UKR and BLR session - 2. They went
from the romanians this morning, to the 3rd session...they are showing
USA and Canada now.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 16:08:05 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: <No subject given>

what I forgot to mention is that it looks like NBC is going to show all
three sessions. That would be great.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 17:44:07 -0400
From: ***@YORKU.CA
Subject: Loaies

Ionela Loaies was also on the gold medal team from Dortmund.
Chris.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 18:15:04 -0400
From: ***@GRFN.ORG
Subject: Re: NBC Coverage

*considers all kinds of unique and unusual revenge ideas against
NBC, including sending them a tape of the broadcast with a note
like "6 hours of televisionbroadcast, 2 hours of gymnastics,
and none of it more than a half-hour at a crack"*

God, I hate NBC. They showed (baiscally) the right stuff for
the women, but they did so in a fashion which left me antsy
and yawning. *sighs* You think they'd learn one of these years.

Spoilers, from (I think) the Washingston Post website



The USA women have a .5 lead over the Romanians, with the Ukraine
in third and Bealrus fourth. I am assuming China and Russia have
not competed yet.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 18:27:27 -0400
From: ***@KENT.NET
Subject: Canadian Women

Well, todays compulsories were ok for the Canadian women.
On vault, all three scored around the 9.2 range. This was
disappointing for McEachern, a great vaulter. She got good
height and distance but had noticeable form breaks and
a stumble on the landing. The only bars routine I saw was
from Yvonne Tousek, who got 9.450 -- a pretty good score
for a Canadian. On beam, all three scored quite low again.
McEachern had a fall, Tousek had a few wobbles, and
Jennifer Exaltacion did pretty well but still got a low score.
However, all the teams seem to be scoring pretty low on
beam. On floor, McEachern looked sort of weak and only
got a 9.175 (I think). Exaltacion showed a better routine,
and scored in the 9.3 range. The highlight of the day for
me so far was Tousek's routine. She showed beautfiul
dance and flexibility and got a 9.600!!!!!!!!!! That is the best
score a Canadian has had for a long time, I think. She even got a standing
ovation....from my sister and I in the living room. Tousek
is leading the Canadian women. I was very proud of all three
women.

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 18:39:30 -0400
From: ***@CYKICK.ECLIPSE.NET
Subject: NBC's Coverage (early random comments)

While everyone else heats up their respective keyboards during "break time" :-)
some early comments:

1. Loved Opening Ceremonies - the show, that is; not necessarily all the
coverage. (Something about commercials breaking up the parade of
athletes.) Ken only (jokingly) accused me of having Costa's/Enberg's
scripts twice. (For the uninitiated, that means my blurting out some
comment, only to have one of them say the exact same thing a minute or so
later.)
2. Although I haven't been able to watch much of the competition (we took
my mother to The 3 Tenors last night.), I haven't had too much to complain
about - yet. I've watched enough Olympic Games coverage to expect the
jolts caused by jumping from event to event. Heck, how else is it going to
be done in the current state of broadcast?
3. We got home after today's coverage began, and like Jeff, I've been
lamenting the absence of the Triplecast (3cast). Not only was the 3cast
great for getting coverage af nearly everyone's routines, it was also
helpful for certain other elements that I dearly missed in NBC's coverage:
(Remember, I tuned in late. I'll be happy to see anyone correct me with
word that NBC actually did this!)
a. The name of the compulsory vault (thanks, Lisa, for posting its name!).
In this TV age of overkill, I would've thought I could've heard it at least
as often as Delta is showing that marathon commercial. (Talk about getting
sick of something in a hurry!)
b. An explanation of the elements of each of the compulsory routines and
key points to look for. OK, I managed to figure most of this out after 2-3
times, but...
4. I was pleasantly surprised to see one routine from a gymnast from a
"mixed team." Although I've seen Eileen Diaz's name mentioned here at
times, I don't think I ever saw her before - at least shw got a few seconds
of air time!
5. I'm in awe of Pod's toe point!
6. After seeing the FX compulsory, I could hardly wait to see Bogi do it -
and she didn't disappoint! I began watching gymn on TV back when dance in
FX really seemed to be taken seriously (I'm "hearing" Cathy Rigby as I type
this); so I was really glad to see Bogi pull this off so well.
7. Gee, if one of the reasons cited for dropping compulsories is that it's
not "telegenic," I would think a FX to something familiar like "Die
Fledermaus" could've helped stem this controversial tide.
8. Onodi's "coaching" was cute...
9. Now that I think of it, NBC would've done well to have hired some former
gymnasts with "appropriate" foreign language skills. Wendy Hilliard and
Betty Okino immediately come to mind. Wendy (now head of the Women's
Sports Foundation, I believe) speaks Russian, and provided some interesting
insights during the 3cast. Betty's of part-Romanian ancestry; and I recall
a story in Barcelona about how Bela and Marta had to watch what they were
saying because Betty understood...

Gee, it's hard to believe it's been FOUR years since Barcelona and a bunch
of us began discussing gymn in some sort of depth on the Usenet..
Helena

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 18:43:21 -0400
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: O: WAG compulsories results

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

Atlanta, USA 19 July - 4 August, 1996

Womens Team Standings after Compulsory Exercises:
----------------------------------------------

1. Russia 193.796
2. USA 193.669
3. Romania 193.138
4. Ukraine 192.308
5. China 191.933
6. Belarus 191.569
7. Spain 189.458
8. Hungary 188.520
9. France 187.094
10. Australia 186.845
11. Greece 183.532
12. Japan 183.418

Sherwin

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Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 19:27:00 EDT
From: ***@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: My tidbits (the real thing)

Here are a few other things I have written down from Podium Training
that just didn't really fit in anywhere else...

Noticable abscence: Annia Portuondo--why doesn't a medal at World
Championships qualify a gymnast for the Olympics?

Look-alikes: Cecile Canqueteau looks like Gutsu.

Skill I'm going to outlaw: For the men...Layout front - Layout front -
front full on floor, also layout tkatchevs on high bar--they are just
too dumpy and very few men can swing out of them well For the Women:
Back dive 1/4 on beam

Skill I'm glad to see: Men--front tosses on P-Bars Women--different beam
dismounts, such as double pikes, 2 1/2 twists and triple twists, plus
front dismounts such as Tarasevich's Punch Rudi from the end of the beam

I wonder: Why no other women are doing dismounts off teh side of the
beam like Khorkina. Why so many gymnasts are doing Yurchenko 1 1/2s and
landing them poorly when a measly 1/2 twist more would make the landing
easier (and will also still be valued at a 10.0 after the games)

Funny moment: The Norwegian gymnast was doing an L-Cross on rings and
couldn't pull out of it, so his coach reached up and poked his gymnast's
rear end with a pencil and apparently it worked.

Most easy-going in podium training: Szilvester Csollany performed ONE
routine on each apparatus, got off the podium, changed into his warmups,
and danced, chatted, and flirted for the remaining 18 minutes per
rotation.

My greatest accomplishment: Getting Svetlana Tarasevich (BLR) to smile.

Crowd favorites: Boginskaya, Milosovici, Mo Huilan, Khorkina, Li X.,
Chusovitina, and (surprise) the Americans

My second greatest accomplishment: I was waiting outside of the Dome for
a friend and John Tesh ALMOST tripped over my foot...but I was way too
nice and I moved it.

Worst thing about the GA Dome Crowd: The flash photography. It was
repeatedly announced that flash was not allowed, and the people who
worked in crowd control told individuals not to. But people didn't seem
to care. People do not realize that a) flash doesn't have an effect in
the dome, b) it isn't allowed, and c) it is so very dangerous. I
actually explained it to people around me, and after I told them how it
can distract the athletes, and they understood. But especially when the
USA came out, the flash could have illuminated the entire dome. Very,
very rude.

Fastest recovery: Gina Gogean.

Don't seem recovered enough: Shannon Miller and Dominique Moceanu.
Although they did their routines (albeit way watered down by Miller),
these 2 were clearly in a lot of pain.

People to Watch: Vasso (Greece), Juarez (Spain), The Greek Guy, Tousek
(Can.), Hughes (Aus.), Reeder (GBR), Macready (USA), and some others...

Amazing skill: Triple twisting double layout dismount off high bar by a
Bulgarian. Also, Chuso's tumbling pass of double layout full-out punch
front to double layout.

Most painful new move (Judging by crowd reaction): Healy twirl to
bar-in-crotch position. Nothing to break the "fall". Ouch. (And I'm
not even a guy)

We've seen her before: Kuzhnetsova (Russia) was actually an exhibition
gymnast during the 1994 Goodwill Games. Since the Hungarian team didn't
show for that competition, the organizers brought in a local gymnast to
perform in the empty rotation, and at that time she trained in St.
Petersburg. She was 13 at the time and showed promise...look where she
is now.

Most Patriotic: Kip Simons had one armband (for P-Bars) white and one
red, along with the blue uniform.

Hardest worker: Marinescu. She missed her backhandspring full on beam,
and worked on it for the rest of the rotation even after the chimes had
signaled the end. Belu actually had to tell her to stop.

Best music change: Dina, Dina, Dina...went back to her 1994 music.

Most annoying music: A Korean used The Rednex's "Cotton-Eyed Joe" on
floor. If you've never heard this, consider yourself lucky. If you
have, you can understand how awful it is.

Best choreography on floor: France, then Spain, and then Greece. Heaven
forbid any of these teams be shown on NBC! (They'd better...)

Loves the crowd: Khorkina waved at every chance she got, and even blew a
few kisses. She's loved and she knows it.

Look alikes part II: The Ukrainian and Romanian Men's warmup jackets
looked way too similar to tell apart.

Most Missed: Begue, Ivankov, Bican, and others.

I think that's it.

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 21 Jul 1996 - Special issue
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