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.