THAT Khorkina Vault

[irichluck21]

Actually they might even have pulled it off with just the 5 on their best day: that really was a skidfest on floor

They were pretty maxed out on floor. Huang Mandan and Ling Jie maxed out (and that is Ling Jie stepping in for Kui). Yang Yun was pretty close to max at 9.662 (9.700 in AA). Liu Xuan did go 9.6 in all around but was 9.3 in TQ and 9.2ish (dropped) in TF.
But yeah, if Liu Xuan had done her AA floor in TF and Kui was not injured and Ling Jie’s 9.4 wasn’t counted it could have been .1-.2 China in silver or gold.

Imagine if they were the Olympic champions in 2000 and then a decade later it was stripped and all the medals were reallocated? That would have been a SHITSHOW!

Granted all of this is also knowing Russia imploded in team finals.
No one should have been able to come remotely close to them. That team medal has got to be the biggest upset in the history of the Olympics.

 

[tempest]

Romania vs Russia in Sydney? They both had such great teams and Romania still was doing hard(ish) routines while code whoring a bit. It makes me so sad that Khorkina doesn’t have a team gold yet someone like Dementyeva or Kurbatova does

 

[irichluck21]

They both had such great teams and Romania still was doing hard(ish) routines while code whoring a bit

Hard vaults and also challenging floor tumbling. Definitely code whorish on bars and beam.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

China’s highest scores on floor across all rounds from everyone minus Kui leaves them just about tied with Romania. 9.7 from Yang Yun in the AA, 9.675 from Dong Fangxiao in prelims, 9.612 from Liu Xuan in the AA and 9.487 from Huang Mandan in prelims. Usual caveats apply, but it shows how strong that team was.

Though even with a full team they’d have needed some help from Russia.

 

[tempest]

Hard vaults and also challenging floor tumbling. Definitely code whorish on bars and beam.

true but they still had gymnasts doing fulls on beam(or was that only Raducan)?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Romania had a fair amount of difficulty on beam. It was their bars that were awful.

I think my favourite Sydney TF number is that if Khorkina had stayed on bars, Russia would’ve won by 0.006 if she’d got 9.862 like in prelims and the EF, or lost by 0.006 if she’d got 9.85. Imagine it coming down to that.

 

[RedBirdie]

Romania was 6th on bars in TF by quite a bit, iirc. Just glancing at scores now, and their highest was a 9.687. Meanwhile, the lowest counting bars scores for the remaining teams:
Russia: 9.650
China: 9.662
USA: 9.700(!!!)
Spain: 9.562
Ukraine: 9.600

ETA: That 9.687 was the only routine to break 9.6 for Romania.

 

[tempest]

this was a suggestion on my YT, maybe the best she did?

 

[RAFIKI]

I think that would’ve led to Gutsu vs Miller level frequency of dissection.

 

[onodian]

It makes me so sad that Khorkina doesn’t have a team gold yet someone like Dementyeva or Kurbatova does

AKHAIMOVA

 

[onodian]

true but they still had gymnasts doing fulls on beam(or was that only Raducan)?

BB was q little code-whory in Sidney (remember phelp’s “just a lot of fluffing around, actually” directed at raducan, who was basically done after the full). However 2001 was very impressive. It’s a testament to belu understanding the code and the game (now if he only understood humans and their needs as well)

 

[MaryClare]

Romania were overscored most of that quad

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

She 100% deserved that gold for being a vault specialist with inbars and being called L’chaim.

 

[onodian]

Which quad, woman. Be precise with your anti Romanian hate, please

 

[onodian]

She 100% deserved that gold for being a vault specialist with inbars and being called L’chaim.

It’s Russia ca. 2021. Even the team doctor had inbars and a shaposh (+shaposh 1/2) variation

 

[MaryClare]

Since 1976 but 1997-2000 especially.

 

[tsarinajen]

I thought that was ‘99 her routine was done after the full. Raducan had removed her punch front for 99 Worlds. It was back in for 2000 though.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

And rightly so.

Also, I’m not having all these digs at Raducan’s composition in Sydney. Gainer bhs bhs double pike was a harder dismount sequence than most in Sydney, given that the full in was thin on the ground by then, and I think she was the only one doing it. It was also a well balanced routine given that she had an acro mount, the tucked full and another salto in the routine. Granted the leaps weren’t nice, but that isn’t a composition issue.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I don’t even know anyone else who has done a gainer bhs, bhs, double pike since then.

 

[tsarinajen]

I loved her dismount. It was always so pretty.