REWIND : WEEK ELEVEN 03/12 : 1989 World championships

[MaryClare]

We sure don’t get post Olympic worlds like this anymore!

 

[RichardL]

ooooh, one of the best ever!

 

[irichluck21]

I mean, it is as close to the best Worlds ever IMO.
That Soviet floor rotation is my favorite of all time.

 

[IratePanda]

I mean, it is as close to the best Worlds ever IMO.
That Soviet floor rotation is my favorite of all time.

Yes, it's mine, too!

I remember watching TF on ESPN on my final night of winter break from college. After I returned to campus for January term, I couldn't stop thinking about the entire meet, but the Soviet floor rotation in particular. I had a lot of time on my hands. J-term at my school was very unstructured because we were expected to pursue independent projects. Then too, this was early 1990, long before YouTube and what-have-you. I had recorded the competition on VHS, but I didn't bother taking the tape back to school with me. My dorm had one VHS machine that we had to sign out from the cranky pothead RA (who could be bribed with weed or sexual favors, neither of which I was prepared to supply).

Long story short, I begged my parents to fly me home for a long weekend so that I could watch the tape on repeat. To be fair, I also enjoyed my mom's excellent home cooking and spent some time with high school friends who didn't have J-term--but, yeah, one of them was also a big gym fan, so she was present for at least two viewings. She and her mom were both dance aficionadas, so they understood Strazheva's FX on a very deep level. They'd seen live performances of "Rite of Spring" and confirmed that she nailed the choreography. Interestingly, they didn't like Boginskaya's "Fiesta," even though they'd loved her "Carmen" from Seoul.

 

[RedBirdie]

Fiesta is just pure camp. It's so ridiculous.

I wish Laschenova hadn't been stuck with the synthesizer version of her music.

 

[Snowfan]

This is the meet where I fell in love with Laschenova. I loved that she had so many different skills. Her layout on beam was so floaty. She is my favorite Soviet gymnast. Anyone know what happened with her? I vaguely remember something about her not being able to stay in country because she wasn't contributing enough to the US to stay. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[RedBirdie]

As far as I know, Laschenova still lives in Ohio. Her immigration status was resolved and she and her family was not deported.

 

[IratePanda]

Fiesta is just pure camp. It's so ridiculous.

I wish Laschenova hadn't been stuck with the synthesizer version of her music.

It is pure camp. Hard to believe Boginskaya was only 16 back then.

 

[blake]

Interesting that the Soviets didn't use the safety mat on vault.

 

[RedBirdie]

Only the Americans used the safety mat! It wasn't until 1997 that FIG mandated the use of the safety mat for yurchenko vaults.

 

[Matilda23]

The Soviet team was just the best ever. Their beam rotation was great too, full of difficult skills and variety of skills. Who were the coaches on the floor Alexandrov, and another man and woman?

Was Aurelia Dobre’s knee injury new or the same injury from before 88 Olympics? Did she have surgery in Romania? The scars were described as “the zipper on Frankenstein’s neck”.

Great that Olga Strazheva was back after her knee injury and win a medal for her interesting bar routine.

Never noticed Chen Cuiting and Christina Bontas could do a DTY! Or that Dudnik had that mishap on bars.

East Germany in 5th with no team members from 88 Olympics?

Potorac on bars, great control on her KCHS half turns, lovely.

 

[phoenix7]

That was Dobre's injury from before Olympics. She had the same scar there.

Yes, surgery was in Romania. When you get to event finals you see Silivas having trouble with her knee. A Parisian clinic offered to do her surgery, and she had it there shortly afterwards - but then of course the revolution came and Deva was closed and she never competed again.

 

[RichardL]

Exciting for me was Sazonenkova's gorgeous Jaeger + bail to handstand, well ahead of its time.

 

[Matilda23]

Also liked the commentary in that coverage. Seems more relevant and insightful than other more recent commentators