Rewind WEEK FIVE 21/10 : 1985 World Championship

[RAFIKI]

Fascinating and I agree that these led to Glasgow's successful hosting of several competitions since. My Mum came with me once and for years after she would ask how Alisher was doing, or rather "that old gymnast's son with cancer". I remember the PBs breaking for Pegan. Quite something.

They really did pull in the stars. I remember walking past Khorkina (and Reeder) in the hall my first year and being completely starstruck. I also encountered Karpenko changing leotards in the toilets one year. The floor finals in particular I remember being high quality in 2002 and 2004. Looked up the names and these were the FX finalists:

2002
Oksana Chusovitina
Andreea Raducan
Zhang Nan
Elena Zamolodchikova
Nicola Willis
Suzanne Harmes
Natalia Ziganshina
Daniele Hypolito

2004
Catalina Ponor
Cheng Fei
Beth Tweddle
Alexandra Eremia
Daniele Hypolito
Zhang Nan
Elena Zamolodchikova
Anna Pavlova

Quality fields.


ETA Megan->Pegan

 

[RAFIKI]

Since we've turned this thread into a GGP memorial, here's two key MAG routines that will always stay with me:

The infamous PB break


Perfect 10


There was a HB EF that would give Paris a run for its money but I don't remember the year.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

It was so low budget in the early days you wouldn’t believe. I was a flag girl 98-01 and a runner 02-04. The first couple of years, our gym didn’t have any equipment for a week because it was all owned by the city council, who also ran the GP and were too cheap to pay Continental to come in and erect a competition set. That time when the P bars collapsed? Yeah it was probably because it was put up by the MAG junior group from City of Glasgow.

Still, it was an amazing achievement for a meet that was run on such a shoestring by a local council to attract the biggest stars in the sport. It was very well attended and supported by local people, and school children attended the qualification day for free. It’s success definitely lead to Glasgow hosting the World Cup final in 2000, and quite a number of gymnastics competitions since. It was an amazing experience as a child, getting to hang around with all these top gymnasts.

I remember one year, maybe 2002, rattling buckets around the Kelvin Hall to get people to donate money for Alisher Kurpanov’s cancer treatment. I met him years later, he was at university in Moscow and his mum was performing at one of Nemov’s gymnastics galas.

It was weirdly great, wasn't it? And I remember the bucket rattling too. Wasn't there, but saw it on telly.

 

[barbara_dewey]

One of the things that annoys me most about this meet is that I was living just over an hour from Montreal then, as in '76, but I DIDN'T GO TO EITHER MEET. Argh!!!!

 

[IratePanda]

Cuervos were put in the same box as front halfs. Completely different technique, one is way harder then the other, but WTC decided they're the same . Ridiculous. So the Cuervo name has been removed from WAG as a result.

Only a handful of WAG performed decent Cuervos. Most looked like flying egg beaters.

 

[Pisenlit3]

The soviets domination on TF after being out of the Olympics gave "Yes mother fuckers, we are back !!!"

 

[Pisenlit3]

In Ceaucescu’s Romania? You were lucky if you had toilet paper

Gwuurl

 

[Puffin]

Only a handful of WAG performed decent Cuervos. Most looked like flying egg beaters.

I always thought Dagmar Kerstin of GDR had a decent Cuervo - so many were fugly

 

[Puffin]

The soviets domination on TF after being out of the Olympics gave "Yes mother fuckers, we are back !!!"

And by Soviet standards they didn't even have a great competition. Kolesnikova was below her best on all apparatus and UB was a disaster for the Soviet team as Yurchenko and Shushunova fell in compulsories and Omelianchik fell in optionals

.... and along with UB falls/mistakes from Silivas and Szabo was how Camelia Voinea made a UB final

 

[IratePanda]

Resurrecting this thread as we approach the 40th anniversary of this iconic event.

 

[IratePanda]

It's interesting to reflect on this competition in light of Jen Sey's memoir (huge thanks to @QuietColours ). She mentions that the U.S. had no business competing because the Soviets were in a class of their own. She wasn't far wrong. Not even the Romanians came close. Szabo was far from her best. Silivas still needed a lot of fine-tuning. Poor Cutina was well and truly washed up. Young Voinea and Golea were borderline unwatchable. Golea underwent a dramatic transformation in '86 and '87. Voinea remained unwatchable; it's just that she learned to breakdance.

The results also yield some insight into Sey's perception that any WAG over 16 was over the hill. Four of the five 1983 individual champions were in Montreal, and not one of them defended her title. Gnauck, the '83 UB champ, retired a few months before the competition, just shy of her 21st birthday.

All of the medalists were very young. Szabo, ostensibly 18 at the time, was the oldest medalist on any event. Everyone else was 15-17.

 

[MaryClare]

It's interesting to reflect on this competition in light of Jen Sey's memoir (huge thanks to @QuietColours ). She mentions that the U.S. had no business competing because the Soviets were in a class of their own. She wasn't far wrong. Not even the Romanians came close. Szabo was far from her best. Silivas still needed a lot of fine-tuning. Poor Cutina was well and truly washed up. Young Voinea and Golea were borderline unwatchable. Golea underwent a dramatic transformation in '86 and '87. Voinea remained unwatchable; it's just that she learned to breakdance.

The results also yield some insight into Sey's perception that any WAG over 16 was over the hill. Four of the five 1983 individual champions were in Montreal, and not one of them defended her title. Gnauck, the '83 UB champ, retired a few months before the competition, just shy of her 21st birthday.

All of the medalists were very young. Szabo, ostensibly 18 at the time, was the oldest medalist on any event. Everyone else was 15-17.

I think there is one huge factor that we forget when looking at this period in time. Sports medicine. In the 80s, sports medicine was so much more primitive. For both prevention and recovery, but many injuries that today would be highly treatable and maybe result in a season out, would be career ending. Training equipment has evolved hugely too. A crash mat in 1980s ussr would be similar to the matress ikea puts on a $200 folding futon for your guest bedroom/home office.

It cannot be denied that physically, the easiest age for a female gymnast to peak is 15/16. Nowadays, thats not how the top nations build their teams. They rely, often very heavily, on the best gymnasts sticking around. The 80s were very different, top teams were built on high turnover. bad birthdays, good birthdays and knowing a guy at the state registration office. Over 300 gymnasts will have passed through the USSR national team during the decade. How many made a major team, roughly 10%.

 

[Puffin]

It's interesting to reflect on this competition in light of Jen Sey's memoir (huge thanks to @QuietColours ). She mentions that the U.S. had no business competing because the Soviets were in a class of their own. She wasn't far wrong. Not even the Romanians came close. Szabo was far from her best. Silivas still needed a lot of fine-tuning. Poor Cutina was well and truly washed up. Young Voinea and Golea were borderline unwatchable. Golea underwent a dramatic transformation in '86 and '87. Voinea remained unwatchable; it's just that she learned to breakdance.

The results also yield some insight into Sey's perception that any WAG over 16 was over the hill. Four of the five 1983 individual champions were in Montreal, and not one of them defended her title. Gnauck, the '83 UB champ, retired a few months before the competition, just shy of her 21st birthday.

All of the medalists were very young. Szabo, ostensibly 18 at the time, was the oldest medalist on any event. Everyone else was 15-17.

Well Mostepanova didn't get the opportunity as the Soviets withdrew her with an "injury" to get Shushunova into AA

But Mostepanova could well have medalled - she qualified
3rd AA
=1st UB
.... but didn't get to compete

However Yurchenko and Szabo were not on their best form