Iconic Ribbon Routines through history

[JDB]

We all know four-year fans love ribbon routines.

Adriana Dunavska (BUL) 1988 Olympics Final


Olena Vitrychenko (UKR) 1996 Olympics Final


Nataliia Godunko (UKR) 2004 Olympics Final


Ganna Bezsonova (UKR) 2008 World Cup Final


Daria Dmitrieva (RUS) 2012 Olympics Final

 

[Kittentoes]

Thank you. Bessonova is always a good idea.

 

[MaryClare]

I don’t mean to be picky, but if you’re not sure who is a Ukrainian speaker and who is a Russian speaker, it’s probably better to leave their names alone, and stick to the version as recorded by the IOC.

Ukraine has had its own Olympic committee since 1993 (headed for several years by Valery Borzov, husband of Lyudmilla Tourischeva) and therefore no restriction on registering athletes names however they choose.

Even with the current political climate, there is a mix in how Ukrainian athletes like their names to be. For instance, Illya Kovtun has a Ukrainian name, but Oleg Verniaev isn’t Oleh Vernyayev and Igor Radivilov isn’t Ihor.

So yes, please don’t change people’s names unless they have expressly said to do so! I am pretty sure that Bogi doesn’t want to be know as Sviatlana Bahinska, for example.

Sorry for going off topic, but we’ve had conversations recently about the correct use of Chinese names so I felt this was important to say.

 

[onodian]

This is an interesting topic. So in this case, we should go with the YouTube spelling?


Now you know I'm going to purposely use variations to get on your nerves.

 

[MaryClare]

This is an interesting topic. So in this case, we should go with the YouTube spelling?


Now you know I'm going to purposely use variations to get on your nerves.

I wouldn’t say the “YouTube” spelling, unless it’s from some official account. But look up the athletes IOC or FIG profile.

The Bessonova one is weird. Her name is Ganna (well that is the Russian translation). In Ukrainian it’s Hanna. Many Russian speaking Ukrainians will translate as Ganna but pronounce Hanna. But Anna is a different name entirely, and is the same in both Russian and Ukrainian (Anna Lashchevska is Ukrainian speaking from a region that is predominantly Ukrainian speaking). I’m guessing that’s just always been her preference to be known as Anna. On her socials she uses both names, this is quite common amongst Ukrainians to show their support for Ukrainian language and culture.

It feels so western imperialist just to make a decision on people’s names. Names matter a lot and shouldn’t be used by others for some sort of misunderstood political statement. There are even differences within families. Artistic swimming twins are Marina and Vladislava Alekseeva on paper and that’s how they’d expect to be called. But Marina actually goes by Maryna Aleksiiva.

I guess that is the point I’m making, it’s too complicated to make an assumption. Just stick to official names

 

[onodian]

But it could also very well be the case that someone as vernaiev was registered like this in 2014 or whenever yet now, for the obvious reasons, feels like using the Ukrainian spelling but didn't change it for simplicity reasons, right?

 

[MaryClare]

But it could also very well be the case that someone as vernaiev was registered like this in 2014 or whenever yet now, for the obvious reasons, feels like using the Ukrainian spelling but didn't change it for simplicity reasons, right?

Possibly, although in the current political climate, I don’t think there would be any issues with Ukrainian athletes requesting name alterations. Even if he didn’t want to change his name officially, he would have stated how he wished to be called. That’s why I’m saying to stick with the official names of the athletes, rather than deciding for them!

Do random English speakers decide that oh, this person is now pro Catalonian independence, but they may not have been 10 years ago, so I will refer to them, contrary to all evidence, by the Catalonian version of their Spanish name

 

[Sanzhirovka]

Just remember the "G" in "Ganna" is not a hard G, it's a phoneme unique to Ukrainian as far as I know. Think of it as a voiced H. Like T -> D, H -> "G".

 

[MaryClare]

Just remember the "G" in "Ganna" is not a hard G, it's a phoneme unique to Ukrainian as far as I know. Think of it as a voiced H. Like T -> D, H -> "G".

Yes. I think H is a better translation for English speakers. It’s actually quite similar to how “G” is pronounced in translated Arabic words, even though the 2 languages are not related.

 

[onodian]

Do random English speakers decide that oh, this person is now pro Catalonian independence, but they may not have been 10 years ago, so I will refer to them, contrary to all evidence, by the Catalonian version of their Spanish name

Yes yes, that's exactly why I have a lot of understanding for not deciding for people in these cases, because I also encountered this when we still had terrorism in the Basque country. Although, I will say, I think Ukrainian-Russian relationships atm is not fully comparable, in terms of how controversial, to Catalonians and independence. But still, I get the point.

 

[JDB]

I went by the names they use on social media. Though I think Vitrychenko goes by both Olena and Elena. Many gymnasts change their romanized names over time like Alexi Shostak previously using "Aliaksei". So there's plenty of spellings to choose from.

 

[makam]

Well, there is also the times when the athletes (or the people making the graphics?) change the names. He was Evgeni Plushenko for all the competitions I remember watching but then at Sochi it was spelled Evgeny Plyushchenko which maybe gets a closer approximation of how it is said but it was jarring to know that we were apparently spelling it wrong all that time.

 

[MaryClare]

Well, there is also the times when the athletes (or the people making the graphics?) change the names. He was Evgeni Plushenko for all the competitions I remember watching but then at Sochi it was spelled Evgeny Plyushchenko which maybe gets a closer approximation of how it is said but it was jarring to know that we were apparently spelling it wrong all that time.

Yes, but that is very different. That’s just different countries using different translation methods. I’ve seen French broadcasts where Shushunova is Chouchounova.

 

[Passion]

Not ribbon, but I've always loved this clubs routine.

 

[Matilda23]

Loved the sequence in to the final pose of Dmitrieva’s routine. Godunko’s routine was amazing.