What's your first Olympic gymnastics memory?

[falcon9]

I remember watching the 1988 Seoul Olympics when I was 10. The Soviet men’s team was like a machine. Many of you remember when Dmitri Bilozerchev crashed on high bar during his one arm giant sequence. If not here it is…



What was your first Olympic memory?

 

[OnoNoKomachi]

Olga Korbut.

I’m that old.

 

[Txgymfan]

I remember watching Julianne and Mary Lou in 1984 but I know I watched the Olympics in the 70’s too.

 

[falcon9]

Olga Korbut.

I’m that old.

Excellent… that means you have more good gymnastics to talk about than I do!

 

[QuietColours]

I don’t have quite as much Olympic memory–mine is watching the Unified team win gold in '92.

 

[mnesiptolema]

Oh gosh, I’m a child by comparison.

I watched all the London Olympics replays on YouTube. I don’t remember any specific moment because I didn’t really know what was going on, just a lot of pink and astonishment at the incredible skill of the gymnasts.

The first Olympics I followed ‘real-time’ were the Rio Olympics. Sort of - they took place overnight and I was doing my school leavers’ exams so I had to stick to a semi-reasonable sleep schedule.

 

[ladybird]

Mary Lou Retton’s beam. And of course that smile!

 

[candycoateddoom]

Sadly, it was the 2000 Sydney all-around. After Elise Ray fell over and over again, my dad made me go to bed. I had to ask him how it ended the next morning.

 

[QuietColours]

I had a similar experience with not being allowed to stay up and watch the team final in Atlanta. I came down the next morning and saw the newspaper headline before I was able to play the tape from the night before

 

[alattejava]

Karin Janz on bars. I started gymnastics the year prior but seeing that made me want to compete.

 

[falcon9]

Alright… I had to look this one up… here it is for everyone else’s viewing enjoyment…

 

[irishgymnast1418]

London 2012. I wasn’t a gym fan at the time, but I remember watching the team USA girls and rooting for them.

 

[Terry]

It was not my first Olympics gymnastics memory, but London 2012 WAG was sublime. Perhaps the most amazing memory from that Olympics was McKayla Maroney’s vault in the Team Final. Possibly the best piece of gymnastics ever when she stuck the landing on it . It was thrilling to watch even on televsion.

 

[MLSWAG]

No singular moment or routine. Just being awestruck by so many gymnasts and others in the '92 Barcelona Olympics. I think as a teenage boy, I might have been jealous of all that fame, and friendship with other famous people. Kim Zmeskal, my favorite gymnast of that time, was maybe a year younger than me.

 

[allaround]

1. The broadcast was on after my bedtime, but my parents would record the broadcast on VHS. When I woke up in the morning, I would get my Cheerios, climb up on the entertainment center, and press “play” to watch the recording from the night before.

 

[megansothername]

This was mine too! I was so obsessed I used to watch that tape on repeat until it was unwatchable.

 

[rlayt]

Olga but my strongest early memories and thoughts were of Nadia.

 

[Dex]

The 1986 Ahoy cup where Daniela Silivas won, though I was mostly behind the stands doing cartwheels with my teammates I do remember Daniela, she became my very first favorite gymnast

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Beijing 2008 was the first Games I tuned into. I already knew Johnson and Liukin from Trials and all of the advertisements they were doing, but it was Jiang on floor who captivated me most. I started following more avidly after the 2010 American Cup and was so happy to see Jiang do so well in Rotterdam.

 

[lspatterson]

My first Olympics Gymnastics memory is Shannon Miller 1992 Olympics on Beam.
Shannon Miller