GYMN-L Digest - 29 Jul 1996 - Special issue

There are 19 messages totalling 639 lines in this issue.

Topics in this special issue:

1. SPOILER - Individual Apparatus Finals
2. men and women
3. My observations (2)
4. Lighten up
5. This is absolutely unfair ! (4)
6. bars finals
7. Ivan's knee.
8. Working Order EF - day 2
9. Kerri Strug Alert
10. At the Olympics -- Street Life
11. Post Olympic Tour
12. BOGI'S FLOOR
13. Gym Princesses and sportsmanship
14. How are two different scores a tie!
15. Olympics, as seen up close and personal

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 11:15:52 +0100
From: ***@WLV.AC.UK
Subject: SPOILER - Individual Apparatus Finals

Not sure who has seen what yet so if you don't want to know the
women's bars and vault gold medallists, DO NOT READ ON........;-)

SIMONA AMANAR - Vault

SVETLANA KHORKINA - Bars

Also for the viewers of the men's competition..

YURI CHECHI - Rings

Laterz

Vic

;-)

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 09:47:33 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: men and women

The men did suprisingly awesome!.
Did you guys all hear that the USA women are living in a house with a private
chef, and are bringing in a manicurist! They don't have to wait in any lines
and they go shopping and stuff on their own, that is so cool!
Sara

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 09:53:15 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: My observations

I swore to myself that this time I would do no John Tesh bashing so this note
might be awfully boring!
Forgive me if some of this has already been discussed; I'm in digest mode so
some notes get here a little later.
1. I may not know very much about men's gymnastics, and I may be extremely
biased as well since he is my absolute favorite, but IMHO, Nemov was robbed
of the silver on pommels.
2. The Kerri Strug story (sounds like a really bad made for TV movie,
doesn't it?). Tesh's narration described her accident at the 94 US Classic
as she might never be able to walk again. If I remember correctly, didn't
Kerri only sprain her back on that fall? There's a huge difference between a
sprained back and possible paralysis.
3. Plausibly live coverage--The confirmation that NBC was showing everything
delayed (not live) came during their broadcast of the men's team finals.
They came back from a commercial break and were showing routines from the
fifth rotation. The Russians were on high bar, Voropaev and Nemov were up
next and NBC went to commercial again. When they came back, the commentators
were watching the athletes warm up for the fifth rotation and while they
waited were showing fluff pieces. Another commercial; came back and showed
the end of the fifth rotation. If you want to pretend to be live, you should
at least get the segments in the correct order!
4. Yuri Chechi is the Lord of the Rings. Enough said.
Well, that's enough for now. Thanks for listening; my mother's getting sick
of hearing me yell at the TV!

Alexis

Kerri, Alexei, Kerri, Alexei, Kerri, Alexei, . . .

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:10:21 -0400
From: ***@MINDSPRING.COM
Subject: Lighten up

Gals & Guys,

Let's lighten up a bit! It's the olympics!! I believe in everyone being
able to share their opinion. If it's the worst opinion in the world,
it's not malicious if it's expressed as an opinion (look up malicious).
I don't agree with Jeff about Shannon, but I don't think he was trying
to be malicious, c'mon on!

I'll tell you, IMO, where I draw the line. If what is being said would
be considered slanderous or libelous if said over a microphone or in the
press, you might want to keep it to yourself. If I were to say "Nelly
Namless' routine was awful" - I don't need to start the sentence with
"In my opinion" (like the diving announcer on NBC does every sentence)
for it to be so. If I say, however, "Nelly threw her routine purposely",
well...

Now there is cordiality and tact - it would be nice if everyone would
use them, but not doing so doesn't make someone malicious or a censor
candidate, just rude and tactless.

P.S. Do the Romanians speak Russian? Milosovich and Boginskaya seemed to
have a chat, and my understanding is Romanian is a very odd language
(like Finnish and Basque)?

P.P.S. What ever happened to that transition move that Korbut did in
'72? It was very exciting compared to those I see now.

Pods is beautiful.

Go Amanda!
[the other] Jeff

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:41:39 -0400
From: ***@PITT.EDU
Subject: This is absolutely unfair !

I was very upset after I watched men's FX final. Li Xiaoshuang, the
defending champion, nailed his 10.0 routine , didn't take even a tiny
step and was only rewarded a 9.835. What is this ? NBC didn't show the
scores from each individual judge, but I heard the Canadian and British
judges only gave Li a 9.80, can anyone confirm this ? What are their
names ?

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:49:40 -0400
From: ***@GRFN.ORG
Subject: Re: This is absolutely unfair !

I don't know how the judges could've scores Li that low,
except to say that, to my (admittedly untrained for men's gymn)
eyes, the greek outperformed him. Melisolodies (sp) had great
tumbling, stuck everything cold without a waver, and pointed his toes.

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:55:50 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: bars finals

This message is in particular for David Michaels, but in case you didn't
watch NBC.....

AMY CHOW won a SILVER MEDAL on bars, but did you bother showing
the award ceremony, NO. Not only that, but after the competition was
over, your camera men almost ran her over, pushing her out of their
way....that is so insulting. This young woman just won a medal on her
best event, and not only was she barely mentioned, but she wasn't even
acknowledged afterwards. I stayed up till 1:30 am thinking well maybe
when NBC comes back on the air, they will show the medal ceremony...nope.
I liked how you showed everyone on each event, but the medal ceremonies
should be televised - especially when an American wins a medal,
regardless of its color.

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:33:30 +0000
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: Re: This is absolutely unfair !

> Li Xiaoshuang, the
> defending champion, nailed his 10.0 routine , didn't take even a tiny
> step and was only rewarded a 9.835. What is this ? NBC didn't show the
> scores from each individual judge, but I heard the Canadian and British
> judges only gave Li a 9.80, can anyone confirm this ? What are their names ?

Li Xiaoshuang didn't hold his press to handstand for a full two counts (from
what I heard), and that is a deduction. I don't think that a press to
handstand is a required move in men's floor ex, but if you do it, you need to
do it correctly.

I do not know which judges were which, but here are the two scores:

(High and low scores are dropped.)

Melissanidis: 9.90 9.85 9.85 9.85 9.85 9.80 avg: 9.850
Li: 9.80 9.85 9.80 9.85 9.90 9.85 avg: 9.837

As you can see, two judges felt Li was better, two judges felt Melissanidis
was better, and two tied them even at 9.85.

Rachele

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:47:09 -0400
From: ***@GRFN.ORG
Subject: Re: My observations

I too was annoyed at the dramatization about Kerri's back injury
at the US Classic, but there might be something of an explanation
which could've been provided with two words. If I remember
correctly (and I'm not promising), there was some initial fear that
it was more serious of an injury, and it took some time to determine
it was just a back sprain, albeit a severe one.

NBC did a nice job last night, showing all the routines. The judges
seemed to get the winners right, but the medalists seemed all screwed
during uneven bars and rings. Dawes had that minor overarch, which probably
cost her a tenth, but she stuck the rest cold. Bi Wengjeng didn't
seem all that smooth to me, but...Idunno. It wasn't just the medalists.
How can you tie Amanar and Milosovici and Podkopayeva with the same
score, when Kochetkova had the best compsotition, and Podkopayeva had
two form breaks and a small hop, and Amanar had the best form? *sighs*

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 11:51:01 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: Ivan's knee.

What was the bandage he wore on his knee? it looked like it just
covered a strip above and below the knee cap? Was it actually over the
knee but transparent? I've never seen anything like that before.



AS for Jenn's post about UB. I was kind of dissappointed that Chow didn't
TIE Khorkina for the gold. Both of these gymnasts have unique routines that
don't look like anyone elses. I think Dawes would have scored higher had she
went later in the line up. I think it was a correct score but an incorrect
ranking, if you can understand that.


Jeff

Dina, Dina, Dina.

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:20:31 -0400
From: ***@PHARM.MED.UPENN.EDU
Subject: Working Order EF - day 2

Vault - Men
147 Korobchinski, Igor
134 Nemov, Alexei
107 Yeo Hong-Chul
138 Voropaev, Alexei
23 Scherbo, Vitaly
30 Ivanov, Ivan
116 Li Xiaoshuang
21 Pavlovski, Ivan

Beam - Women
303 Milosovici, Lavinia
343 Moceanu, Dominique
312 Kochetkova, Dina
342 Miller, Shannon
332 Podkopayeva, Lilia
335 Teslenko, Olga
300 Gogean, Gina
309 Galiyeva, Rozalia

PB - Men
115 Huang Liping
132 Charkov, Sergei
134 Nemov, Alexei
23 Sherbo, Vitaly
151 Sharipov, Rustam
118 Zhang Jinjing
106 Lee Joo-Hyung
157 Lynch, Jair

Floor Exercise - Women
287 Ji Liya
300 Gogean, Gina
310 Grosheva, Elena
345 Strug, Kerri
299 Amanar, Simona
343 Moceanu, Dominique
332 Podkopayeva, Lilia
291 Mo Huilan

High Bar - Men
138 Voropaev, Alexei
64 Wecker, Andreas
141 Carballo, Jesus
106 Lee Joo-Hyung
134 Nemov, Alexei
28 Dounev, Krasimir
23 Scherbo, Vitaly
112 Fan Bin



Mayland

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:37:04 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: This is absolutely unfair !

I figured the mens floor final came down to whom ever could put together the
most unique, yet clean routine. Ioannis Mellissanidis (something like that)
certainly had that. Li, while executing perfectly with very hard difficulty,
had little to offer at that level of competition that wasn't already shown.
Nothing new or unique for event finals at the Olympic Games. One must
always keep in mind the level of the competition.

Dean

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:44:43 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Kerri Strug Alert

1) I just herd on A Westward one Olympic Update that Kerri Strug would give
it a go for tonight I'm still not sure of that I've been trying to confirm
that all morning does anyone have any info on this that is confirmed?

2) I also have a comment that I noticed about Kerri I myself have been
following Kerri, even before the 92 olympics,along with Kim Z, and I know
that this comment will get a lot of response but I have to say it. Can the
people who just jumped on the Strug banwagon get off it's really making me
sick for years Kerri has been trainning for the olympics and not getting much
press or attention now she's done something great and is noticed, which I'm
very happy for, and everyone is all of a sudden a fan please...... Can
someone respond tell me If this is just in my head or do other's see this?

Just my thought's....

A huge Kim Zmeskal and Kerri Strug fan

Tom

ps I hope she gets a chance at that individual gold that she's been trainning
for her whole life...... Good Luck Kerri!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:43:38 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: At the Olympics -- Street Life

To all:

The woman walking around with box of underwear, selling them for $5 a
pop, is what first comes to mind.
That's what I think of when I have to describe the street life during
the Olympics. Just walking to the various sporting events is an adventure in
itself. Saturday, just for fun, I sat down along a street and took notes for
10 minutes of everything out the ordinary that caught my attention.
What follows is a list taken from those notes. Keep in mind that this
was all in just 10 minutes:
**A stripper (as in exotic dancer) walks by, putting postcard-sized
cards about her nightclub on lamp posts, asking folks to drop by that night.
**A minute later, a mom smacks one of the cards out of her curious
daughter's hands.
**Two minutes after that, a security guard walks by, yanking all the
cards off the lamp posts.
**Scalpers of all sorts walk by, offering tickets to just about any
sport.
**A woman dressed as a Southern Belle walks by, even carrying the
Southern-style umbrella. (For those of you who aren't familiar with the
Southern Belle style, it's basically a fluffy prom dress.) Everybody wants to
pose with her for pictures. She obliges but seems to be in a rush to get
somewhere.
**A woman sits down near me, opens a box, and begins holding up
underwear in plastic bags. It was just your basic white, male underwear, in
assorted sizes. I laughed out loud. But I was stunned when people started
buying them. I think some people who were sweating profusely to the heat were
happy to get a change of underwear. Hey, I'm not making this up.
**A man sells spray bottles with built-in fans. These are the hit
novelty item of the Olympics. The bottles are similar to Windex bottles, but
there is a fan built at the edge of the squirt nozzle. When you turn the fan
on and squirt the water, you get a beautiful, cool, wet breeze. Yes, you,
too, can own one for the low, low price of $15.
**Down a road, firefighters attach a giant spray machine to a fire
hydrant, allowing people to walk under a gentle mist of cool water.
**A man walks by with a towel draped over each shoulder. On each towel
are dozens of Olympic pins - all for sale.
**Some kids walks by with Izzy, the Olympic mascot, tattooed on their
faces. One of the kids pulls away from his mom to talk to me and show me his
tattoo. His mom, obviously embarrassed by the boldness of her 5-year-old son,
grabs his arm and apologizes to me for the interruption. I smile.
**A guy walks by with a full-sized Greek flag tied around his neck and
draped over his chest like a giant bib. He is cheering and waving his arms
over his head. I have no idea what sport he is cheering for.
**Several men walk by in Green jackets and tan pants. They are judges,
but I don't know what sport they handle.
**And, finally, three adults walk by, side-by-side, each with a child on
their shoulders. Each of the children are holding hands and giggling -
definitely a Kodak moment.
Welcome to the Olympics a lifetime of memories.
-- Ron, in Atlanta

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 14:23:41 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: Post Olympic Tour

If anyone knows a complete listing of who will be going on this tour,
please email me...(maybe Kris, you would know?)

I got tickets today for the one in detroit....5th row center :) they say
i can't bring a camera though, even if it doesn't have a flash... :(

I also saw something in the paper today saying that kerri will be on the
tour - has it been confirmed that she gave up her eligibility?

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 18:28:23 GMT
From: ***@PIPELINE.COM
Subject: BOGI'S FLOOR

IMHO, Bogi's new floor was one of the highlights of the competition. It is
so refreshing to actually see a WOMAN (not a child, not a teenager, not a
post-teenager, not a desperate teenager-wanna-be), revel in the fact that
she is complete, sexy, powerful, and confident. Why is this sport so
afraid of the participation of ADULTS?

Eric

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 14:30:55 -0400
From: ***@NORFOLK.INFI.NET
Subject: Gym Princesses and sportsmanship

And the Miss Congeniality award goes to.........

Please, don't anyone take me the wrong way. I am extremely pleased with the
US finish in the team competition. There are a few things, however, I
noticed about the other teams. They are genuinely happy for the successes
of their competitors. Not the US---No, we think we are to good to
congratulate our own teammates let along someone from a guest country. And,
on the rare occassions the US girls offer congrats or condolences, the hugs
are robotic and appear to be about as sincere as Tonya Harding's apology to
Nancy Kerrigan.

Here is my theory. (Although my theory does not hold true for ALL American
gymnasts--Amanda Borden would probably be an exception)
Amy Chow is the star princess at her gym in CA; Shannon is the star princess
at her gym in Oklahoma; Dominique Dawes is the star princess at her gym in
MD; Kerry and Moceanu are the star princesses at their gym in TX; Amanda
and Jaycie are the star princesses at their gym in OH. You bring all these
girls, who are clearly the toasts of their gyms and coaches, together and
none of them can stand the fact that they are no longer the center of
attention--too good to sincerely wish another gymnast (US or not) luck or
congrats.

Now, take a look at the other countries (Romania, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine,
etc). These girls are practically family. They all have the same coach and
train at the same gym (for the most part). The are all very good and there
probably is not ONE lone standout--no ONE prima donna. I think this is one
reason why the European girls not only congrat. and console their own team
mates but those from other teams as well (Milo-Rom hugging Pods-Ukraine,
Piskun-Belarus hugging Pods and kissing her on the nose?;Khorkina-Russia
even offering congrats). I noticed lst night after Amy Chows rountine, she
was two seats away from Pods (no one between them) and Amy didn't even look
at or acknowledge Pods after che finished her rountine.

The downside of the europeans is that they are essentially "Drafted" by
their governments and sent to live and train far away from home. I am glad
we do not do this. I think probably as crucial to our lack of team
comradery is the contempt the US gymnasts' coaches feel for one another.
They seem to compete against each other--who has the better gymnast (ie.
who is REALLY the best coach). I think the US coaches set a horrible
example for the US gymnasts on sportsmanship. As good as the US team was
during the team competition, I was more impressed by the sensitivity and
warmness among the other teams. We could learn alot from their behavior.

And the Miss Congeniality Award goes to----Laviana Milosvich!

What do you guys think?
The early bird cathces the worm--no one throws it up in his nest

Connie

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:31:29 -0500
From: ***@CARLETON.EDU
Subject: How are two different scores a tie!

Please tell me I wasn't dreaming. Did NBC not post Chow's score as 9.825
and the Chinese girls as something more like 9.83..? If so how is that a
tie?

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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:24:11 CST
From: ***@MAROON.TC.UMN.EDU
Subject: Re: Olympics, as seen up close and personal

Hello all. I've returned home to scores of E-mail to read and much regular
mail. I was at the Olympics for the past (almost) 3 weeks.

There were many highlights & lowlights. A number of GYMNER's were in
Atlanta, Avril, Mayland, Rachele, Myra, etc. etc. It was great to meet
everyone in person. And, something fun that happened is that I was
assigned to Avril's event, vaulting.

The gold medal for the women's US team was incredible. Last night's golds
to the men from Greece and Switzerland were very special too. It was neat
to watch everyone congratulate the delegations from those 2 nations.

Of course, the major low was the bomb. Centennial Park was a couple of
blocks from the Georgia Dome and many of us had been over there a number of
times. Our dorms were not far away, but we slept through it. We kept our
phone unplugged at night (due to some problems with obscene phone calls :(
), or I'm sure we would have heard about it much earlier than when we awoke
and turned on the TV. Anyhow, the spirit of the people in Atlanta is
decent and attendance at the sporting events was still very high.

For those wondering about the bar score change on Amy Chow. (Inside info
as my roommate was running the keypad that sent the scores.) One of the
judges punched in 8.85 instead of 9.85. The control panel had told the
keypad operator (my roomie) to send the score, but they should not have.
The SWATCH people had to go in and manually change the score, with the
approval of the Jury I'm sure.

There's more to tell, but I've got much to catch up on. I hope you all
enjoyed the gymnastics! I was finished with my assignment (vault) and
needed to get home due to some family scheduling problems, so I will watch
the last finals event tonight on TV and the gala on Tuesday.

--Robin Ruegg

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 29 Jul 1996 - Special issue
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