Gina Gogean Apreciation

[flylioness]

I wouldn't say it irritated me, but I was always baffled that anyone would seem to like her enough to use her name.

I actually liked Gina Gogean! I first saw her at 1992 Europeans and she had some really cool skills (Tkatchev to Marinich on bars, BHS LO full on beam). I instantly became a fan and was too young (slightly younger than Gogean) to modify my judgment when her gymnastics became cookie cutter and the cool skills disappeared.

There were lots of gymnasts from that era that I loved (Lysenko, Kotchetkova, Fabrichnova, Podkopayeva, Piskun, Mo Huilan, Miller, etc.), but for me Gogean was in the mix with them in terms of emotional attachment.

 

[KristyJ]

I was also a fan of younger Gina, and remained a fan through 1998 because while she played to the code more, she was very clean in her skills and that sometimes stuck double layout was a thing of beauty. Also the Romanian vault rotation in 1996 was just stellar.

 

[Amber]

I also liked Gina, her arms / elbows always facinated me, I thought they were strange but elegant haha…

 

[MaryClare]

Mods can you move these posts to a Gogean appreciation thread PLEASE

 

[rlayt]

Denn started something.

 

[Passion]

I loved Gogean so much when I was younger. I was a very quiet kid who favored the more serious/solemn gymnasts. Gina was very much my vibe lol. 12 year old me was so upset she didn't medal in the AA at '97 Worlds. I only had the TF and AA recorded from TV, so I never knew she had won anything in EF until many years later. By which point I was upset for Kui Yuanyuan.

 

[Denn]

Let's face it — she was drab as all hell, but she was enormously successful due to great technique and execution according to the era.

• She was one of the first gymnasts to make the Yurchenko 1.5 her main vault (at 94 Worlds there were just a couple others... Dawes, Lebedeva, a couple others?).
• Her 89-92 floor was cute (and remember, she was like 11 when she started using it)
• Her 94-97 floor routine was fabulous — 2 world titles with it. I always imagined, though, that someone could have sold the folk dance style better — maybe more playful or maybe more maturely.
• She probably stuck more double layouts and full-in dismounts on floor than anybody has, at a time when it was not expected.
• She hated bars, but she had that crazy Kim combo back at 1992 Euros, and between 93 and 96, she found ways to keep her bars good enough to be competitive AA.

Denn started something.

But I really didn't! @irichluck21 and @JoseM brought it up!

 

[rlayt]

She had one of the best fluffs ever after that appendectomy!

 

[KathySantoni]

What I appreciated about Gina is that she forced other gymnasts to be exceptional. She’s one of those gymnasts that was always in the running for something and made things competitive. I loved her floor and got to see it in person multiple times with each time being unique in some way. I wish she had stuck around until Sydney.