Gymnastics Nostalgia: Underrated, underdiscussed, or you left us too soon gymnasts

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makam

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A thread to give some love to the gymnasts who get forgotten or fizzle out too soon (RIP Russian and US juniors). Post videos or tributes or start a discussion of your favorite "forgotten" gymnast.

For me, it is Ebee Price. I was betting on an Olympics for her and she was on a roll and then gone. I know she did college, but I didn't follow NCAA in those days so it was like she just fell off the gymnastics earth right as she was surging.
 

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One thing I find interesting about Ebee Price is the the way her career catapulted her aunt Cordellia into a quasi celebrity role at gymnastics meets after 2012. Anyone that knew gymnastics wanted to rub elbows with Cordellia.
 
She was amazing but also didn't seem to really want an elite career. Like Atler in 2000, it felt like even at the height of her elite gymnastics when she was among the very best in the world, she didn't seem to really want to be pushing the envelope further than she already was. But obviously for both the circumstances didn't cut them any slack.
 
1970s
Elena Mukhina (RIP)
Elena Naimushina (RIP)
Vera Cerna (RIP)

1980s
Alla Misnik (RIP)
Valentina Shkoda
Tatiana Kim
Dianne Durham (RIP)
Anja Wilhlem
Romi Kessler
Laura Cutina
Svetlana Lebedinskaya
Natalia Frolova
Sabrina Mar
Marie Rothlisberger
Doe Yamashiro
Phoebe Mills
Joyce Wilborn
Eugenia Golea
Bojanka Demireva
Olesya Dudnik
Yulia Kut
Chen Cuiting

1990s
Ekaterina Vandisheva
Liubov Shremeta
Elodie Lussac
Meng Fei

2000s
Dong Fangxiao
Lin Li
Zhou Zhuoru
He Ning
Nai Ruoyu
Liu Hou
Xiao Sha
Tian Jing
Xiao Tingting
Wu Liufang
Zeng Siqi
Daniela Sofronie
Nadezhda Ivanova
Irina Isayeva
Elena Eremina
Anastasia Motak
Daniela Batrona




To be continued...
 
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Nadezhda Ivanova ended up having to retire before she could really make an impact. I recall a couple of old members on WWGym were upset by that because they viewed her as the "anti-Nastia." She had the same thing Courtney McCool had but in her hip, IIRC.

I would add Monica Rosu and Emilie LePennec to the 2000s. Two Olympic champions who are rarely brought up in conversation. The latter was only brought up lately in conjunction to Kaylia Nemour.

Also Lauren Mitchell. She became the star that many were expecting Daria Joura to be.
 
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Nadezhda Ivanova ended up having to retire before she could really make an impact. I recall a couple of old members on WWGym were upset by that because they viewed her as the "anti-Nastia." She had the same thing Courtney McCool had but in her hip, IIRC.
Yes, IIRC, she had necrosis of the femur. That condition also ended the careers of several Chinese gymnasts, including Dong Fangxiao and Nai Ruoyu. Off to edit my list again!
 
The weird thing about the Nadezhda Ivanova hype was that she was one of many, many good juniors who turned senior 2005-2007.

She never won any competition individually (she has a team gold from 2004 junior euros). She didn’t even win Moscow city championships in her rank category.

But yet something about her captured the hearts of many fans, all over the world.

The 2005 Youth Spartakaida is definitely worth a thread!
 
The weird thing about the Nadezhda Ivanova hype was that she was one of many, many good juniors who turned senior 2005-2007.

She never won any competition individually (she has a team gold from 2004 junior euros). She didn’t even win Moscow city championships in her rank category.

But yet something about her captured the hearts of many fans, all over the world.

The 2005 Youth Spartakaida is definitely worth a thread!
Her gymnastics was beautiful and she was one of several gymnasts in that era that had that spark that made them so engaging to watch. But I wonder if she would've ended up buried under the Russians who were winning competitions had she not had to retire.
 
Her gymnastics was beautiful and she was one of several gymnasts in that era that had that spark that made them so engaging to watch. But I wonder if she would've ended up buried under the Russians who were winning competitions had she not had to retire.
Russia was in such a mess that quad. Every gymnast was poorly managed, she would likely have been no different
 
I remember almost a decade ago we were excited about Catherine Lyons (GB) but she ended up retiring at about 17. She was publicly fat shamed by her own coach and was one of the GB gymnasts that spoke out about abusive coaching practices.
 
Alexandra Marinescu! My fave Romanian gymnast ever alongside Aurelia Dobre. A pity she was Galiyeva’d more than Galiyeva, each time by Simona Amanar.
Nope, sorry. Marinescu is over discussed. Utterly forgettable gymnastics like most Romanians of that era. Hers was just less offensive than Gogean’s. Only remembered at all because she spoke out about abuse and age falsifying.
 
I remember almost a decade ago we were excited about Catherine Lyons (GB) but she ended up retiring at about 17. She was publicly fat shamed by her own coach and was one of the GB gymnasts that spoke out about abusive coaching practices.
Catherine Lyons was an amazing gymnast. I believe she was just plagued with injuries as she transitioned into senior elite status. IMO great loss to the sport
 
She was coached by Rochelle Douglas, which is British for Maggie Haney. She also coached Georgia-Mae Fenton for most of her junior career (Catherine and Georgia-Mae are the same age)
 
The weird thing about the Nadezhda Ivanova hype was that she was one of many, many good juniors who turned senior 2005-2007.

She never won any competition individually (she has a team gold from 2004 junior euros). She didn’t even win Moscow city championships in her rank category.

But yet something about her captured the hearts of many fans, all over the world.

The 2005 Youth Spartakaida is definitely worth a thread!
I remember seeing a young Nadezhda in a news story or short documentary about young British gymnasts visiting Russia/GB to train temporarily. She dismounted bars and started crying. I’d have to search YouTube for it. Maybe others remember her as she had that “Alien face look” that was popular at the time (like Gemma Ward the model).
 
Yeah, Ivanova was just a few months younger than Liukin, and many fans anticipated a great rivalry in the '08 quad. The two gymnasts had some similar qualities, but Ivanova was much nicer to watch, IMO. (I could say lots of snarky things about Liukin here, but I'll restrain myself.)

Daria Elizarova was another notable casualty of this era, but she did switch nationalities and compete for Uzbekistan.
 

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