REWIND : WEEK NINE 19/11 : 1992 Olympics

[MaryClare]

I won’t link any specific video since there are so many different options on YouTube.

This meet links into another topic I hope to discuss when I have a little more time.

But my main takeaways from this competition was that this was very much the age of the child gymnast. I watched the BBC coverage of the AA and it was mentioned that Boginskaya at 19 was the oldest competitor.

Pak did her Pak. I’m not sure there is any single elite level skill that has been done by more gymnasts yet the originator of the skill is largely unknown as an athlete.

We see the last ever 10. Bookends for Romania.

I am looking forward to your comments on this meet since it’s one that a number of you will have watched at the time.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I knew we'd get to this one eventually!

 

[IratePanda]

Yeah, definitely the era of the child gymnast. I was 21 that summer, and it was unsettling to see how many of the competitors were five or six years younger. As an ostensible adult, I had enough trouble managing the combined stress of university coursework, sports (D3 swimming), social life, parental expectations, etc. I couldn't (and still can't) imagine how 14- and 15 year-old Olympians could deal with so much pressure, to say nothing of the abusive coaching that many of them endured.

I have a lot of hot takes from this competition. Aside from Boginskaya and Lysenko, I didn't like the Soviet team at all. (I didn't like the 1991 team much, either. For me, 1989 marked the swan song of USSR WAG.) felt nothing when Gutsu replaced Galieva in the AA because I didn't care for either of them. I wanted Miller or Milosovici to win. Actually, I really wanted Boginskaya to win as a giant FU to everyone who said she was over the hill, but it wasn't to be.

Yeah, the whole Gutsu vs. Miller thing. Whatever. I just didn't enjoy Gutsu's gymnastics. I did like Miller. She was so much more watchable than Karolyi's little army. Nope, didn't like Zmeskal, Strug, or Okino, although I did feel bad for Zmeskal. She was the It Girl for so long, but Barcelona was just heartbreaking for her (no thanks to Karolyi).

The highlights for me came in EF, when Lu Li won bars and Lysenko took the gold on beam. I also enjoyed Milosovici's FX victory. She was a lot of fun to watch--something I've rarely said about a Romanian gymnast since then. (Maybe Raducan and Sofronie?)

Yang Bo who? The OG Chinese headcase?

That's all for now

 

[phoenix7]

In honour of the week that's in it, I would like to post a rare example of young Romanian gymnasts mocking Bela Karolyi - Cristina Bontas and Lavinia Milosoveci on their Barcelona Olympic experience:

Cristina Bontas:

Moreover, there was the matter of propaganda about Karolyi, which made the atmosphere ugly. Before the competition, we heard his declaration that only the CIS and USA teams would fight for the gold medal, and in the all-around only the Hungarian Onodi could enter the ranks of the ex-Soviets and Americans. Rather ugly, no? For all of us, we worked ambitiously, so that a bad reaction was not produced. The finals were discouraging. Our trainers told us that they saw a newspaper article in which the text said, 'Bela, go back to your ranch, listen to how the grass grows, and milk your cows! It's time for you to retire!' I believe that such a declaration might actually make Karolyi retire, which would threaten gymnastics."

Lavinia laughed.

"He'll retire? Who told you that? I, for one, don't believe it, because the next Olympics will be in his homeland. Pardon me, his new homeland. In the end, we were better. If I had landed perfectly from the uneven bars, I would have won the all-around."

(Would she have?! Should she have?!)

Gymn Forum: Only Four Days With Their Parents

 

[RichardL]

In honour of the week that's in it, I would like to post a rare example of young Romanian gymnasts mocking Bela Karolyi - Cristina Bontas and Lavinia Milosoveci on their Barcelona Olympic experience:

Cristina Bontas:

Moreover, there was the matter of propaganda about Karolyi, which made the atmosphere ugly. Before the competition, we heard his declaration that only the CIS and USA teams would fight for the gold medal, and in the all-around only the Hungarian Onodi could enter the ranks of the ex-Soviets and Americans. Rather ugly, no? For all of us, we worked ambitiously, so that a bad reaction was not produced. The finals were discouraging. Our trainers told us that they saw a newspaper article in which the text said, 'Bela, go back to your ranch, listen to how the grass grows, and milk your cows! It's time for you to retire!' I believe that such a declaration might actually make Karolyi retire, which would threaten gymnastics."

Lavinia laughed.

"He'll retire? Who told you that? I, for one, don't believe it, because the next Olympics will be in his homeland. Pardon me, his new homeland. In the end, we were better. If I had landed perfectly from the uneven bars, I would have won the all-around."

(Would she have?! Should she have?!)

Gymn Forum: Only Four Days With Their Parents

She scored 9.925 in team optionals, which wouldn't have done it, but still! I love the shade

 

[RichardL]

She scored 9.925 in team optionals, which wouldn't have done it, but still! I love the shade

Watching everything again, though: she later scored a 9.912 in EF with a huge step on her dismount, bent arms on the Geinger catch, etc. Maybe she's not wrong? The AA routine also had a weird foot separation on the opening clear hip hecht to the high bar but better handstands throughout, and I guess maybe the hop forward on the dismount was considered worse than the step back? Anyway, I love how insane the scoring was at this competition even though most of us are generally okay with most of the results.

 

[RichardL]

I forgot that she was the current World Champion ('92 right ahead of Okino) on bars when the Olympics began... no wonder she thought she deserved higher scores. The 9.950 she earned to win her gold medal earlier in the year would have tied her with Gutsu.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Interesting thought experiment.

It's plausible that they took half a tenth for the hop. OTOH, some of the judging in Barcelona was kind of vibes based. Which isn't really a criticism, the code had become essentially obsolete at that point. But the bars panel in the AA boxed themselves in after giving Gutsu only 9.95. She was one of the first to go, and it was a lot of room to leave above her when there were only a couple of gymnasts who might reasonably have been expected to do better.

Milo did bars in the 4th rotation, so by that time there's also the question of where she ranks compared to the previous scores. I'm not sure a stuck landing would've been judged equal to Gutsu's set. There were surprisingly few gymnasts who broke 9.95 on bars in Barcelona.

 

[KorbutFan]

Pak did her Pak.

She also did it in 91 and attempted one in 89.

 

[Concorde]

She also did it in 91 and attempted one in 89.

Pak actually did get the skill named for herself at the 1989 World Championships despite falling onto the low bar.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

For something so ubiquitous now, it took quite a while to catch on. I can't think of anyone else doing it until Khorkina and Kotchetkova in 94. There must've been others though?

 

[Concorde]

For something so ubiquitous now, it took quite a while to catch on. I can't think of anyone else doing it until Khorkina and Kotchetkova in 94. There must've been others though?

Lu Li in 1993:

 

[L_R]

Lu Li in 1993:

Didn't Omelianchik do it in the tucked position in 1985 . I always wondered why that never caught on

 

[RedBirdie]

I forgot that she was the current World Champion ('92 right ahead of Okino) on bars when the Olympics began... no wonder she thought she deserved higher scores. The 9.950 she earned to win her gold medal earlier in the year would have tied her with Gutsu.

1992 worlds, that was.... interesting. Definitely some head scratching results. Maybe a meet we should rewatch!

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

I have so many hot takes about Barcelona.

I also didn't care for the Soviets aside from Boguinskaya, Lysenko, and Grudneva. I know surviving an entire quad was fairly rare back then, but to go from their 1989 team to that was disappointing.

I've posted about it recently, but the Romanians were grossly overscored at many points in the competition. It was criminal how overscored their compulsory beam routines were. I still to this day do not understand how Milo received a 10 for that FX, which was... fine?

I still think Boguinskaya should have won bronze in the AA over Milo (it's insane to me that some people think Milo should have won) and that Miller and Gutsu should have tied for gold.

By and large though, the podiums were excellent. Lu Li is still my favorite EF olympic champion.

 

[IratePanda]

Didn't Omelianchik do it in the tucked position in 1985 . I always wondered why that never caught on

Yes, she did. I also recall Phoebe Mills doing it at one point.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I also didn't care for the Soviets aside from Boguinskaya, Lysenko, and Grudneva. I know surviving an entire quad was fairly rare back then, but to go from their 1989 team to that was disappointing.

I always thought the dissolution couldn't have helped. Most of the drop seems to have occurred between 91 and 92. The Soviets in Indy were great.

 

[MaryClare]

I always thought the dissolution couldn't have helped. Most of the drop seems to have occurred between 91 and 92. The Soviets in Indy were great.

Gymnastically there was no dissolution until after Barcelona. The national team members continued to be based at round lake. But it’s very possible that the uncertainty about what would happen after that, had an impact. More so for the coaches than the gymnasts. The coaches would have been aware that their East German and Bulgarian counterparts were unpaid for several months before being let go in 1990.

 

[QuietColours]

Lu Li in 1993:

Okay, but who had the Sailor Moon floor music in the background?

 

[phoenix7]

I have so many hot takes about Barcelona.

I also didn't care for the Soviets aside from Boguinskaya, Lysenko, and Grudneva. I know surviving an entire quad was fairly rare back then, but to go from their 1989 team to that was disappointing.

I've posted about it recently, but the Romanians were grossly overscored at many points in the competition. It was criminal how overscored their compulsory beam routines were. I still to this day do not understand how Milo received a 10 for that FX, which was... fine?

I still think Boguinskaya should have won bronze in the AA over Milo (it's insane to me that some people think Milo should have won) and that Miller and Gutsu should have tied for gold.

By and large though, the podiums were excellent. Lu Li is still my favorite EF olympic champion.

To be fair, even Milo didn't actually think Milo should have won, on the day! Sounds like she was fighting and winning her own private war against Zmeskal and Okino - did Karolyi have more gymnasts there?

I am always surprised at the extent to which people write Boguinskaya off in these games. She came so close to bronze. Yet the CIS coach said he considered swapping her out to make room for Gutsu instead of Galieva - why!?

I wonder if they just assumed judges wouldn't reward a return and therefore obviously decrepit Olympian?