Recent content by phoenix7

If Melanie had made floor final, chances are Voinea would now be bronze medalist, since Ana Barbosu qualified joint eighth.

I think you make some excellent points. I've noticed that people and commentators are often checking and wondering whether the bonus is applied and who is getting it. It feels arbitrary even though it isn't. BBC commentary seems to be obsessed with getting stuck bonus for women. I think it...

Yes. That is exactly the kind of scenario I can imagine too.

Thanks very much for posting that, @haide. Having a bit of trouble parsing what Gymcastic was saying there - told by three sources specifically but not able to independently verify it? If the three sources had any real insight, that would be her independent verification surely. It's not as if...

I hadn't heard of that athlete. I really enjoyed that routine.

Yes - the bad warm up etc seems a plausible scenario. Whereas risking sabotaging your Olympic qualification with a fall in FX / relying on other teams not to meltdown or upgrade, just doesn't seem very plausible. The idea that the Voineas are strategic geniuses who could be confident that...

I agree about the body language, but I think that could also be a question of when the baulk happened (mentally): before she started or closer to the vault. From another angle, Camelia does not look like a woman whose evil masterplan is all coming together ... There are so many possible...

She and her mother went home straight after qualifying - that's why she's not in the photos celebrating Ana's Euro medals. (Her physio stayed on and is enjoying life with the rest of them in the photos! I notice that a physio as well as the three named team mates has complained about the...

Also, what are the chances that the Voineas ever delved deep enough into the Code of Points to know about the rule on touching the springboard? If it had been deliberate I expect she'd have touched the vault.

She'd made Euro finals and she'd have been R2 at worlds with that qualifying score. Her form is often awful on all her events. She hadn't done beam yet - and rarely hit that beam routine - and it was very early in qualifying to decide to rely purely on floor. They couldn't know yet that she'd...

I have doubts about this - she went on to pull things out of the fire for the team with her beam routine. She stopped vaulting in competition after this for a while and has only just gone back to two vaults. And Camelia had a meltdown on the sidelines, so it doesn't look as if sacrificing...

There is a statute of limitations which would probably mean it's too late to bring these claims legally. I think that's what she means by "expired cases". But presumably the FRG could ban her from coaching at least.

This person posted something very similar on reddit a few years ago. Interesting how a celebrity speaking out can change things and draw press interest. I am befuddled by the Voinea defence of "how could anyone possibly imagine such a thing?! in gymnastics?!" I mean, there used to be actual...

What is your book about?

Yes, and while it's tough to see the American children's parents complicit in the abuse, overtraining and carelessness with injuries, Simone and Stasja seemed so alone and isolated from their families, so young. Terrifying.