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

[RichardL]

Zhang Nan was underrated as a beamer (top qualifier to EF in 2006, etc) but I thought she always got very lucky as an all-arounder.

 

[Matilda23]

I recall from the time, thinking Zhang Nan was overscored in AAs. But I also liked Anna Pavlova.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

04 could've gone either way so I kind of get people overlooking that one. But it's surprising how little noise gets made about her captaining China to their first ever title. Because Cheng Fei was so exuberantly good that year, she got all the attention.

 

[RAFIKI]

Agreed. I was in Aarhus and a massive China fan at the time, but until a recent rewatch even I forgot that Zhang Nan was the one who anchored FX. That was her pretty static Truman Show routine. I always had a soft spot for her unusual 2004 floor though.

 

[RAFIKI]

Zhang Nan was underrated as a beamer

Loved her full spin to kick arabesque. She was also one of the rare few in the Athens quad that made a full twisting tuck jump look good.

 

[KorbutFan]

If I remember correctly, the floor routine was originally choreographed for a different Chinese gymnast.

Yang Yun

 

[naimushina]

If I remember correctly, the floor routine was originally choreographed for a different Chinese gymnast. It was letter given to Pang Panpan. She absolutely owned that routine,. you'd never guess it was recycled.

and then it was later given to Mao Yi in 2016(?)

 

[IratePanda]

and then it was later given to Mao Yi in 2016(?)

Yes, and it was a travesty.

 

[naimushina]

Chen Cuiting is pretty underrated in my opinion. She had amazing form on her double tuck here:

 

[KorbutFan]

..and a dty on vault iirc.

 

[flappergirl]

Chen Cuiting is pretty underrated in my opinion. She had amazing form on her double tuck here:

Back when she was competing, she was one of my favorites, especially beam and floor

 

[IratePanda]

..and a dty on vault iirc.

Indeed!



I really liked her, too--such a wonderful balance of grace and power.

 

[Denn]

Thanks for mentioning that vault, @KorbutFan and for posting that video @IratePanda . I feel like it's really special that she was doing the double at that meet, and it was a pretty good double, especially for the time!

 

[MaryClare]

Thanks for mentioning that vault, @KorbutFan and for posting that video @IratePanda . I feel like it's really special that she was doing the double at that meet, and it was a pretty good double, especially for China!

Fixed it for you

 

[Denn]

Fixed it for you

LOL, I actually considered writing that, but I thought better of it because there were other Chinese gymnasts doing hard vaults at the time. I was thinking about Wang Huiying's layout barani, several Tsuk layout fulls (which was more than needed to win medals by that point — Wang Xiaoyan's was especially great), and I feel like one other DTY but I can't remember!

 

[MaryClare]

LOL, I actually considered writing that, but I thought better of it because there were other Chinese gymnasts doing hard vaults at the time. I was thinking about Wang Huiying's layout barani, several Tsuk layout fulls (which was more than needed to win medals by that point — Wang Xiaoyan's was especially great), and I feel like one other DTY but I can't remember!

It is an interesting discussion- what happened to China’s vaulting? Especially when you consider more contemporary examples like Cheng Fei, who was obviously world class, but He Kexin has a decent DTY as a 12 year old UB specialist

 

[Lisaelaine80]

Chen Cuiting is pretty underrated in my opinion. She had amazing form on her double tuck here:

I can’t believe Gutsu used this music in 1990.
What a great routine from Chen!

 

[Matilda23]

Tatiana Gutsu had so many different floor routines from 90-92!
(I read in a Gymnovosti interview translation) Svetlana Baitova said the choreographers treated Gutsu “like she was a God’s gift, choreographing her movements, her neck, and everything else”.

I wonder why some gymnasts had the same routine for years, like Ludmila Stobchataya.

 

[Lisaelaine80]

Tatiana Gutsu had so many different floor routines from 90-92!
(I read in a Gymnovosti interview translation) Svetlana Baitova said the choreographers treated Gutsu “like she was a God’s gift, choreographing her movements, her neck, and everything else”.

I wonder why some gymnasts had the same routine for years, like Ludmila Stobchataya.

I think she had like 8 routines. I’m guessing the choreographers couldn’t figure out a way to make Gutsu into a dancer. She was definitely a trickster, but the artistry was lacking.