The worlds that never happened

[Matilda23]

Bogy would have won EVERYTHING in 1990.

Lisenko won the 1990 World Cup and Kalinina the 1990 Goodwill Games so it would have been an exciting AA final!

 

[Puffin]

She didn’t retire, she was retired. Or at least that’s how she describes it.

I guess that is par for the course but she was so young to have been forcibly retired at 17.

 

[makam]

Oh I am totally loving this thread - armed with a glass of wine I'm going to have a bash at '75 Worlds'...

Team
1. USSR
2. Romania
3. GDR

The Romanians were on the rise - if these had been held in the October then the Romanians would have been on top form. Nadia had had a very successful Euros in the April (?) and Teodora was obviously recovered from what kept her out of Euros looking at her success in the '75 World Cup. The USSR team would have likely been Tourischeva, Korbut, Saadi, Kim, Gorbik and Koval. Romania - Nadia, Teodora, Grigoras, Goreac, Gabor and maybe Trusca. GDR would be Zinke, Hellmann, Schmeisser, Kische, Gershau, Escher.

AA

This would have been Nadia's day, with the minor medals between Kim, Tourisheva and Ungureanu. I'm hoping

1. Comaneci
2. Kim
3. Ungureanu
3. Tourischeva


Vault
Gold and silver could easily be reversed - it depends on Olga's ankle on the day

1. Kim
2. Korbut
3. Hellmann
UB
Nadia's to lose
1. Comaneci
2. Ungureanu
3. Korbut
BB
Also Nadia's to lose
1. Comaneci
2. Korbut
3. Ungureanu
FX
I always felt Teodora was robbed in the 76 FX finals - probably the best routine of the games. This is pre-redemption!
1. Ungureanu
2. Korbut
3. Tourischeva

I think Chusovitina would have won FX. What's that? She wasn't competing quite that long ago? My mistake... ;-)

 

[Puffin]

Oh I am totally loving this thread - armed with a glass of wine I'm going to have a bash at '75 Worlds'...

Team
1. USSR
2. Romania
3. GDR

The Romanians were on the rise - if these had been held in the October then the Romanians would have been on top form. Nadia had had a very successful Euros in the April (?) and Teodora was obviously recovered from what kept her out of Euros looking at her success in the '75 World Cup. The USSR team would have likely been Tourischeva, Korbut, Saadi, Kim, Gorbik and Koval. Romania - Nadia, Teodora, Grigoras, Goreac, Gabor and maybe Trusca. GDR would be Zinke, Hellmann, Schmeisser, Kische, Gershau, Escher.

AA

This would have been Nadia's day, with the minor medals between Kim, Tourisheva and Ungureanu. I'm hoping

1. Comaneci
2. Kim
3. Ungureanu
3. Tourischeva


Vault
Gold and silver could easily be reversed - it depends on Olga's ankle on the day

1. Kim
2. Korbut
3. Hellmann
UB
Nadia's to lose
1. Comaneci
2. Ungureanu
3. Korbut
BB
Also Nadia's to lose
1. Comaneci
2. Korbut
3. Ungureanu
FX
I always felt Teodora was robbed in the 76 FX finals - probably the best routine of the games. This is pre-redemption!
1. Ungureanu
2. Korbut
3. Tourischeva

1975 seems to be a black hole for information - I wonder whether the USSR would have tried out some of their young up-and-coming stars at a Worlds in 75 - 1 or 2 of Filatova, Davydova and Shaposhnikova etc

 

[irichluck21]

I still think the Olympics would have been a huge impact because of the world wide viewership and the iconic score board 1.0

Nadia had a 10 on floor at the 76 American Cup and the commentators made a big deal about it.

 

[Angelika]

1975 seems to be a black hole for information - I wonder whether the USSR would have tried out some of their young up-and-coming stars at a Worlds in 75 - 1 or 2 of Filatova, Davydova and Shaposhnikova etc

I did wonder about that but Latynina always seemed opposed to using the 'new wave' of USSR youngsters - IIRC Filatova only ended up on the 76 OG Team because Latynina was over-ruled at the last minute. I went for Gorbik and Koval because they had a 1960s/early 70s style of gymnastics that Latynina favoured.

 

[IratePanda]

Soviet teams for hypothetical 1986 and 1990 Worlds:

'86
Shushunova
Omelianchik
Kolesnikova
E. Shevchenko
Lebedinskaya
N. Frolova

Shushunova probably would have won the AA, V, and FX. Kolesnikova might have eked out an AA medal because Omelianchik was not at her best in '86. Lebedinskaya or Frolova might have two-per'ed her for the FX final, ideally taking silver behind Shushunova (or maybe even gold, because Shushunova sometimes crashed and burned in EF).

Team silver to Romania and bronze to Bulgaria, maybe? Or China? They had a very promising young team at GWG. GDR was decimated by injuries that year. They didn't send anyone to the World Cup.

'90
Boginskaya
Kalinina
Lysenko
Chusovitina
Groshkova
Kut

The AA would have been a three-way battle involving Bogi, Kalinina, and Lysenko. I have no idea who might have won, but I would have been happy with any outcome.

 

[irichluck21]

1990 US team would have been strong.
Zmeskal
Okino
Brandy Johnson (although I think she got injured and couldn't do GWG-so IDK)
Miller
Woolsey
6th: Stokes/Scherr?

Romania:
Bontas
Milosovici
Pasca
Necolita
Gogean
? would Silivas have continued?

 

[RedBirdie]

None other than Kim Kelly was 6th at nationals in 1990

 

[Puffin]

1990 US team would have been strong.
Zmeskal
Okino
Brandy Johnson (although I think she got injured and couldn't do GWG-so IDK)
Miller
Woolsey
6th: Stokes/Scherr?

Romania:
Bontas
Milosovici
Pasca
Necolita
Gogean
? would Silivas have continued?

Did Romania have a national team in 1990? The whole country was in disarray after the revolution/regime change in late December 1989 and IIRC the national training centres closed in the chaos which is what forced the retirement of most team members. I can't remember how soon they were able to reopen.

 

[IratePanda]

1990 US team would have been strong.
Zmeskal
Okino
Brandy Johnson (although I think she got injured and couldn't do GWG-so IDK)
Miller
Woolsey
6th: Stokes/Scherr?

Romania:
Bontas
Milosovici
Pasca
Necolita
Gogean
? would Silivas have continued?

Zmeskal and Miller were still juniors in 1990. Zmeskal competed at the Goodwill Games because there was no age limit, but I don't know if she would have been able to compete at Worlds. Then again, 1977-born WAG were allowed to compete at '91 Worlds because they'd turn senior in '92, so perhaps the same rule would have applied in 1990. The FIG was very quirky back then.

Silivas had a serious knee injury at '89 Worlds, so she might not have made it to 1990. The Romanian Revolution also seriously disrupted the national team's training. Bontas and Neculita still did quite well at the World Cup, but they might have been hard-pressed to field a full team at Worlds.

I like China for team silver in a hypothetical 1990 Worlds. Their young seniors had an excellent showing at the Goodwill Games, and Chen Cuiting was still at the top of her game. 1990 was probably also Yang Bo's best year. She won beam gold at the World Cup and might have done so at a full Worlds.

 

[IratePanda]

I just want to reiterate how much I love this thread. It brings back memories of my high school Spanish class, when I'd kill time by writing up hypothetical/dream gymnastics results in my notebook. (I could get away with this because the class was a cakewalk. I already had several years of French under my belt, so I was pretty comfortable with the grammar and vocabulary, and the pronunciation was, dare I say, a bit more intuitive.)

 

[JoseM]

I just want to reiterate how much I love this thread. It brings back memories of my high school Spanish class, when I'd kill time by writing up hypothetical/dream gymnastics results in my notebook. (I could get away with this because the class was a cakewalk. I already had several years of French under my belt, so I was pretty comfortable with the grammar and vocabulary, and the pronunciation was, dare I say, a bit more intuitive.)

@IratePanda, I am Puerto Rican and I can help you with Spanish. Just let me know if I can help you.

Yo soy puertorriqueño y yo te puedo ayudar con el español. Si necesitas ayuda hazme saber.

José M.

 

[Hatsumomo]

None other than Kim Kelly was 6th at nationals in 1990

She always seemed to do just well enough to weasel her way into international assignments and then implode.

 

[david]

1990 US team would have been strong.
Zmeskal
Okino
Brandy Johnson (although I think she got injured and couldn't do GWG-so IDK)
Miller
Woolsey
6th: Stokes/Scherr?

Romania:
Bontas
Milosovici
Pasca
Necolita
Gogean
? would Silivas have continued?

Brandy Johnson didn’t qualify to GWG because it was based on optional scores from nationals and she made some mistakes that knocked her out of contention. She competed at World Cup which I think was in the fall closer to when worlds would have happened and she likely would have made the team.

 

[IratePanda]

Brandy Johnson didn’t qualify to GWG because it was based on optional scores from nationals and she made some mistakes that knocked her out of contention. She competed at World Cup which I think was in the fall closer to when worlds would have happened and she likely would have made the team.

Johnson placed third at 1990 US Nationals behind Zmeskal and Okino. She would have been second if Zmeskal had competed as a junior. It's been ages since I watrched this competition, but I remember feeling that all of Karolyi's gymnasts received some major gifts while Johnson was lowballed even when she hit. Bear in mind, though, this was 36 years ago, and I was/am extremely biased.

Based on Nationals results, the Worlds team might have looked like this:

Okino (first-year senior)
Johnson
Woolsey
Scherr (first-year senior)
Kelly
Simkins, Heinrich, or Stack

Not a particularly strong team, but they might have squeaked into third behind the USSR and China.

 

[irichluck21]

Ah the "still a junior but competing at Senior nationals" confused me!

Brandy Johnson didn’t qualify to GWG because it was based on optional scores from nationals and she made some mistakes that knocked her out of contention.

Ah yes. I remembered incorrectly.
Johnson was asked to be alternate and she refused, then Stokes got injured, and she was asked again to compete and said no because she had scheduled shoulder surgery. So then Scherr went instead. Thanks for the correction.

 

[RichardL]

Ah the "still a junior but competing at Senior nationals" confused me!

This happened again in 1997. Atler was given the red carpet as the "best" U.S. senior (American Cup, ITCs, tied for National AA title) and then couldn't go to Worlds. Later we also had Uzelac and Wieber do the American Cup as juniors. All three were exceptional athletes as juniors and I understand why they were given the senior international experience early, though, and I wonder if we'll ever see a young gymnast as talented as that again who clearly needs to be challenged outside her peer group.

 

[RedBirdie]

All 3 are cautionary tales, especially Atler and Uzelac. Juniors should be paced so they can have long and successful senior careers, not so they can throw high level senior difficulty at 14 and 15.

 

[IratePanda]

All 3 are cautionary tales, especially Atler and Uzelac. Juniors should be paced so they can have long and successful senior careers, not so they can throw high level senior difficulty at 14 and 15.

I'd add Jennie Thompson, Dominique Moceanu, and Kristie Phillips to the list of cautionary tales. Phillips didn't throw huge difficulty as a junior, but she was overhyped and pushed into senior competition too soon. I remember gnashing my teeth when she won the 1986 American Cup.