Recent content by phoenix7

I kept expecting Ana Barbosu to bring back her rebound on the final pass as the stakes got higher with each floor routine at Euros. But she only ever did it at the Olympics. If she brings that back for worlds she can get up over 14.

Their Embassy in Brazil had better batten down the hatches

Well, who's going to argue with Oksana Omelianchik?

I feel that - unless they were handing out zeros like candy across the board - it absolutely should cause a stir.

No wait, you said TF. On the one hand, that's not so bad, because the average deductions from the other judges must have been around .3 across the team there. On the other hand, that was GB's final rotation and they were neck-and-neck with Brazil up to the last second. The difference was...

What?! Are you sure that's right? Ruby Evans and Becky Downie must have averaged .4 in deductions from other judges, but this one gave them none?! Did this particular judge give out lots of zeros?

Also, they had a nice festive atmosphere, happy crowd, little bit of a retirement do, Gina cracking a smile at one point on the sidelines ... were they going to throw all that away by giving another Russian gymnast gold over Khorkina? Have you ever watched the reaction to Zamo's win in Sydney?

I always like Produnova (and I love the audible whoop from the crowd at the end of her third tumbling pass here). I'd have given it silver over Khorkina very happily, but I can see arguments for Gogean's gold still. Neither has great dance here, and Gogean shows more flexibility and better...

You're right. I suppose audiences took their clapping duties more seriously in the days before they needed one hand for a smartphone at all times.

What deductions do you think she'd have got?

I was quite struck by the New York Times story @Passion posted a couple of pages back about Simone's choreographer. I realize these accounts won't always give the full picture. But the choreographer seemed to be thinking in terms of drama and theatricality, Simone telling her story, rather than...

So floor artistry was decisive for team bronze - Brazil was .2 ahead of Great Britain, with a floor artistry advantage of about .7 as well as event final gold and bronze. That seems reasonable in all cases, but the differences in scores are greater than I'd thought.

I imagine a bunch of judges in wigs and gowns sitting around in an alpine chalet munching toblerones and shaking their heads over the code of points while cuckoo clocks warble in the distance. In reality I think we are just waiting for them to reply to Chiles's two submissions and Voinea's one...

Rarely cracked a smile with it, though!

I don't even think it needed clarification - your original summary seemed perfectly clear to me (and was obviously a summary). Thanks for posting all this.