Past & Present Gymnastics

Who I would like to see...

2009-09-20T09:21:00.002+01:00

In the all around final at worlds!

Ok, so I have my ticket (and a spare one actually if anyone would like a ticket to the wag all around final in block 103 row J). Here are the gymnasts that I am dying to see...

1. Rebecca Bross

2. Ivana Hong (I know, I know, it probably won't happen. I can dream though, right?)

3. Diana Chelaru

4. Lauren Mitchel

5. Charlotte Mackie

6. Jiang Yuyuan

7. Deng Linlin (I know she's not on the roster.. but again, I can dream! I just fell in love with the little munchkin)

8. Ksenia Semenova

9. Ksenia Afanasyeva

10. Yana Demenychuk

11. Beckie Downie

Who do I want to win? I'm not so sure. Part of me thinks that Sloan deserves to win, even though she's not one of my favourite gymnasts. Most of me wants a non-American gymnast to win. Give the rest of the world a chance! I think I'll be rooting for Yuyuan and Semenova :)

Romanian Nationals

2009-09-19T19:15:00.002+01:00

1. Ana Progras (57.525)

2. Diana Chelaru (56.700)

3. Ana Maria Tamirjan (56.300)

Overall, the Romanians aren't looking great. There were a lot of falls on bars and beam, whatever happened to the famous Romanian consistency? As they are I can't really see the Romanians being a threat at worlds. That's not me being cynical, I have always loved Romanian gymnastics but right now they really don't look up to it. Racea, Idorsche, Bulimar and Voicu are looking good for the future though!

Ana Maria Tamirjan

Ana didn't have a bad day, but it wasn't a good day, she looked much the same as she did in Milan earlier this year.

VT: DTY with a hop, FTY legs apart on contact, big step back (14.475)

UB: Full turn (fall), Tchatchev, Double layout (legs apart) (12.750)

BB: Front aerial (broken connection), flick layout, sidesomi, freehandspring, sheep jump, front tuck, full spin, change leg 1/2 (wobble), double pike dismount (14.775)

FX: Full-in piked, full-in tucked, 3/2 front 1/1, triple spin (well controlled), double pike. (14.325)

Sad to see that she has taken out the double layout on floor :(

Diana Chelaru

Diana had an pretty good day with a very nice beam and floor but a fall on bars, she looked pretty upset after the fall so it was nice to see her come back and hit on beam.

VT: DTY(?) Legs apart, bent legs, Handspring pike front (14.475)

UB:Gienger, 180 turn to jeager (fall), double layout (12.750)

BB: Front tuck, Change leg 1/4, flick full twist tucked (small wobble), free walkover, side somi, sheep jump, change leg to back tuck, double tuck dismount (stuck) (14.850)

FX: Full-in, whip to triple twist (more controlled than at euros but legs crossed), front tuck walk out to double tuck, double pike. (14.625)

Gabriella Dragoi

Gabi didn't look great which was a shame. She only competed bars and beam with watered down dismounts

UB: Jaeger (low), toe on-full turn, geinger (legs apart), double tuck (stuck)

BB: Front tuck (wobble), front aerial to flick layout, full spin with leg at horizontal to full spin, side aerial, side somi, double spin (wobble), double twist dismount.

Anna Progras

VT: FTY, well flighted (13.975)

UB: Didn't catch all of this routine, there was some nice stalder work and a double layout dismount though! (14.775)

BB: Front aerial to flick layout (big wobble), back walkover to flick layout to two feet (fall), yang bo, sheep jump, double pike dismount (14.725)

FX: Very nice dance to classical music, Full-in (step out), double spin with leg at horizontal, 2 1/2 to front tuck (step out), memmel turn, double pike, double tuck.(14.050)

I'm really suprised she came out on top here, she seemed.. well.. blah to me. I would have picked Chelaru for the top spot.

Amelia Racea

VT: FTY? step back, yurchenko half on to front tuck

UB: Jaeger, Stalder to 1/2 turn (looked like it was meant to be to full turn), shoot over to low bar (legs apart), double front dismount

BB: Started with a wobble, flick layout to two feet, change leg to back tuck, full spin, sheep jump, side aerial to side somi, double pike dismount (low)

FX: Piked full-in, triple twist, front tuck walk out to double tuck, double pike

Diana Bulimar

I missed her bars and vault!

BB: Side somi (fall), side aerial, free walkover, change leg 1/2 (fall), full spin (well controlled), flick layout (wobble), change leg to back pike, double pike dismount (low)

FX: Full-in, 3/2 to double tuck, 2 1/2 front tuck, double pike. Some nice dance work, a good floor routine

Cerasela Patrascu

Only competed bars and beam

UB: Watered down dismount, single layout flyaway

BB: Free walkover, flick layout, front tuck, attempt at a yang bo?, change leg, side somi, front full dismount.

There was a funny moment with cerasela after she finished beam, lili comsos spoke to her as she turned around and rolled her eyes, haha.

Larissa Iordache

Was definately the star of the show today!

BB: Change leg to back tuck, flick to full twist tucked, free walkover flick layout, change leg 1/2, side somi, front tuck, double spin, round off flick triple (I think... could have been a double?) twist dismount

FX: Full in, front full, 2.5 front tuck front tuck, double turn with leg up, triple twist. Very nice dance.

Claudia Voicu

BB: Silivas mount, change leg, side aerial, free walkover to flick layout, full turn with leg at horizontal, change leg 1/2 to back tuck, sheep jump, side somi (fall), double pike dismount. Other than the fall, a nice routine.

FX: Double pike, 2 1/2, double spin with leg at horizontal, 1 1/2 to front layout, 2 1/2 spin, double tuck

I missed the other routines, but she was looking pretty good

There was an absolutely tiny gymnast called Maria Bale (Not sure about that spelling..) who had an awful time on bars with two falls and it looked like she ripped her hand and came off very upset, but she came back with a good beam and floor which was nice to see.

In other news.. Sandra Izbasa is going to Germany (Frankfurt) for her tendon surgery on Monday afternoon. Good luck Sandra!

On the American Cup

2009-02-25T10:04:00.000Z

1. Jordyn Wieber

2. Bridget Sloan

3. Kim Bui

Well, after all the burn outs that the USA have endured, I never expected USAG to let little Jordyn Wieber win the Scam Cup so early on in her career, but I suppose stranger things have happened.

Jordyn had a good meet, apart from a dodgy moment on her amanar landing and another one on her side somersault on beam.

I like her on beam, where she reminds me of Carly Patterson, but I'm not sold everywhere else yet. If she ever actually connects her back with a full to back tuck, that would rock.

Bridget had a good meet too. Still seeing the same deductions as at the Olympics though, slightly bent knees and flexed feet on releases. However, I did love the 1.5 twist through to triple as usual.

I'm glad she outscored Jordyn on floor because she certainly deserved to. I was hoping to see some upgrades though, she seemed pretty much the same as in Beijing (unless I missed something)

Kim Bui really picked up her game here. When I said that she'd have had to make big strides to do well here, I didn't think that she actually would! Although it didn't have high difficulty, I liked her beam .

I was also impressed by Beckie Downie, although I really expected her bars to score more highly. Amelia Racea did well too, showing better form on bars than a lot of Romanians (although she fell), and a good beam and floor.
I loved Kristina Goryunova's floor exercise, particularly her beautiful double layout and her 1.5 to double back. I'm glad to see the double tuck back in competition.

Brittany Rodgers had a bad day, with two falls on beam. A disappointing Senior debut for her unfortunately. I'd had hoped that she'd do well. Dofournet also counted a number of falls, failing to make the impact I expect she was hoping to.

The not so tiny tumblers?

2009-02-18T10:24:00.000Z

Gymnasts have a reputation for being short. The average female height is 5'4", so are there any gymnasts that hit (or even exceed that), to become above average height?

Svetlana Boguinskaya hits the average height at 5'4" (However, some sources claim she was 5'2", so perhaps she is cheating her way into our tall books)

Svetlana Khorkina, probably the most famous 'tall gymnast', stands at 5'5".

Sandra Izbasa shows that you don't have to be short to win a gold medal on floor. She matches Khorkina at 5'5"

Another at 5'5" is Germany's Katja Abel

Katheleen Lindor, another Olympian, stands at 5'6". She had to have the bars adjusted for her in Beijing!Although probably more memorable for her awful taste in leotards, Adela Sain of Slovenia stand at 5'6

Marie Sophie Hindermann, a German Olympian, can be considered tall by most standards at 5'7"

Upcoming American Cup

2009-02-17T15:03:00.000Z

It seems that the following will be competing at the American Cup on Saturday:

Brittany Rogers, Canada
Youna Dufournet, France
Kim Bui, Germany
Rebecca Downie, Great Britain
Koko Tsurumi, Japan
Amelia Racea, Romania
Kristina Goryunova, Russia
Bridget Sloan, USA
Jordyn Wieber, USA
Jessica Lopez, Venezuela
I am surprised to see only two gymnasts from the USA in the list, unless they plan on adding more last minute (which wouldn't surprise me).
Usually, I'm not a great fan of the American Cup, but it will be great to watch the new code in action with recognisable faces.

Rogers (who has already competed with the new code at the 2008 Elite Canada) has a very nice 1.5 yurchenko and great bars (including a Ray). I think she could surprise here. Her all around score at elite Canada was 56.350.

Youna Dufournet has also competed already under the new code, showing some crazy skills like an Arabian to scale. She scored 53.600 at the recent Sidijik cup, however this was counting mistakes on 3 apparatus. Even so, I don't see Dufourent taking the title from some of the girls with better execution, especially since she is not consistent.

Kim Bui is yet to compete this year (as far as I know). She missed out on the Olympic team last year and so may have had time for vast improvements. She has a very nice floor, tidy bars (when she hits) but quite simple vaults and less than impressive form on beam.

Downie is another gymnast who will be new to the code, but who made a splash at the Olympics by finishing 12th all around. Since then she's been working hard towards the American Cup and has been (as far as I know) without injury. Beckie is usually solid and I expect she will do well here. Her scores were generally below Bridget Sloan's but above Koko Tsurumi.

Koko Tsurumi has been getting a lot of attention of late after qualifying for the beam final and finishing 17th AA in Beijing. She is a neat and tidy gymnast who is lovely to watch, I'm looking forward to it!

Amelia Racea finished second on beam at the junior europeans last year, and fourth in the all around, behind Dufournet. However, there was a gap of 3.275 between 3rd and 4th place. Racea may feel better off in the new code, with slightly better execution than Dufourent and much more consistency.

Kristina Goryunova won the recent Voronin Cup, but generally does not score as well as Sloan, Weiber and Dufourent. She has a very nice beam set.

Bridget Sloan is likely to be a big hitter here, with the highest Olympic scores of all the former Olympians competing. She has rumoured to have upgrades too. As long as she hits, I can see a win for her here.

Jordyn Wieber competed well last year and was capable of higher all around scores than Racea and (sometimes) Dufourent. I think she'll do well here, but perhaps a little less well than under the previous code.

Jessica Lopez also competed in Beijing last year but finished 43rd in qualification.

I'm willing to predict:
1. Bridget Sloan
2. Jordyn Wieber
3. Brittany Rogers

More on Gabriela Dragoi

2009-01-26T18:45:00.000Z

After my first post about Gabi, I was contacted Mihaela, who was able to speak with Gabi. Below is the information she gave:

Gabriela Dragoi was born on 28th August 1992 in Buzau. She has a big family with one brother( Valentin) and three sisters(Claudia, Ionela-Madalina, and Monica-Daniela). Her mother, Elena, was forced to retire, sadly, due to ill-health.
She began gymnastics at 3 and half years, by her parents, at CSS Buzau. She said that she'liked it so much she wanted to go back every day'. Her first coaches were Gabriela Robu and Costica Clinciu. She aspires to be like former Romanian champions, Nadia Comaneci and Andreea Raducan.

She began to train at Onesti with the juniors, then in 2005 she moved to Deva with the seniors.
Gabi's favourite apparatus is (predictably) beam. When asked about her least favourite apparatus, she said that she mildly dislikes floor exercise.

Gabi was featured in a Romanian magazine before the Olympics (above)
When asked about the Olympics she said that she wanted to medal on beam and may have done so, had she controlled her nerves in the second half of the exercise. She wanted to succeed to surprise everyone. Hopefully in future she will do well enough to medal! After the Olympics, she was named sportsperson of the year of Buzau.

Gabriella has been training a triple twist dismount from the beam for sometime, but didn't want to risk it at the Olympics. Hopefully she will compete it in 2009 and be able to take some beam medals.

When asked about her friends at Deva, she said that she is friends with everyone and then reluctantly named Steliana Nistor, Sandra Izbasa and Alina Stanculescu as her best friends. She is sad now that Steliana and Alina have left Deva.
To her friends she is known as Gabi or Gabitza.

Some facts about Gabi:

Height 1.43 meters
Weight 32 kg.
Coaches: Deva are Nicolae Forminte(Head coach), Liliana Cosma , Marius Razvan Vintila, Lucian Sandu, Florin Cotuţiu(Assistant coach)

Favourite foreign gymnasts: Anastasia Liukin, Chelsie Memmel, Ana Pavlova
Favourite Romanian Gymnasts: Nadia Comaneci, Andreea Raducan, Maria Olaru, Oana Ban, Alexandra Eremia
Favourite School Subjects: Maths, Romanian language, Chemistry, Biology
Music: Dance, hip-hop, pop
Singers: Blodny, Andreea Antonescu, 50 Cent
TV programs: Judgement Day (Romanian reality show) "Yes or Not", " Teo" (the Romanian version of "Oprah"), "Super Nanny", "Mother exchange" -reality shows
Movie, actors: Harry Potter, Titanic; Leonardo Di Caprio
Books: Harry Potter, Hans Christian Andersen
Favourite food: pizza, pasta carbonara, tortelinni, snitzel, fried pressed cheese
Juice: Coca Cola, Fanta
Pet: dogs, cats, rabbits
Deserts: apple, oranges, grapes, peaches, wafers, chocolate
Spare time activities: take walks in the city, watch TV, play; reading and writing
Games: remy, cards, Metropolly
Color : pink, green, blue, red, yellow
Flowers: roses, lily orchids, hyancith

Tweddle on Question of Sport

2009-01-23T19:30:00.000Z

Beth Tweddle was a guest on the quiz show, Question of Sport, today on BBC 1.
She looked great and knew a surprising about about sports like football (I suppose she is from Liverpool)
Usually the show doesn't go anywhere near gymnastics but today they showed clips of Beth, Khorkina and Shawn Johnson as well as questions on Imogen Cairns As a result I could actually answer some questions for a change! Usually questions go along the lines of football, rugby, football, cricket, rugby, tennis, football, rugby.

Amelia Racea to compete at American Cup?

2009-01-23T14:02:00.000Z

After the various rumours surrounding Romanians and the American Cup, ProSport reports that Amelica Racea will attend as her first international competition. She has only recently been promoted to Deva from Onesti.
The article also confirms that Ana Maria Tămîrjan will not attend. Apparently Forminte did not want to re-injury to Tămîrjan and so is sending Racea. He is keen for Racea to experience a big competition.

So, Weiber will not be the only junior at the American Cup this year!

Silver Laurel Leaf for Chusovitina and Hambüchen

2009-01-20T15:49:00.000Z

Chusovitina and Hambüchen have both been awarded to highest German Sport's Award in recognition of their respective medals in Beijing.

And quite rightly so, in my opinion!

Full Story

And a Short Extract in English

More on AYOF

2009-01-19T21:07:00.000Z

krrustgym has uploaded some videos of the second day of event finals.
Beam champion Wu Liufang showed a nice set with a lovely Yang Bo jump. Other than that it's a typical Chinese beam set with great form and solid acrobatics.

Tan Sixin showed a nice ff-ff-lo-korbut combination but fell on her head on her double tuck dismount to finish in second.

Danusia Francis had a good set, with better form than some past Brits. She had a good 2.5 dismount. I'm looking forward to seeing her turn senior and I'm sure the bronze here will be a great confidence boost for her!

Emily Little fell on her ff-lo combination to land in 7th and Natalia Joura continued her streak of bad luck with a fall on her front aerial and double tuck dismount as well as some big wobbles elsewhere. Clearly, this was not her weekend.
Things aren't looking so peachy for the Aussies!

Chachakid has some footage of the floor finals.
Cui Jie's gold medal routine had great dance and some solid tumbling including a double arabian, 2.5 twist and a stuck double pike

Danusia Francis impressed again with double pike, tuck front into double twist, 2.5 twist and a very well controlled double spin with leg at horizontal. Most of the tumbling looked easy for her. I'm sure she can (and will) upgrade.

Wu Liufang also had a nice set with clean form but nothing spectacular (yet).

BGtv

2009-01-19T20:04:00.000Z

The British Gymnastics website has a fairly new feature- BGtv. Coverage includes some interesting footage of some of the UKs top clubs, the national training centre and some of the major competitions in the UK (Acro Worlds 09, Glasgow Grand Prix, GB vs FRA, GB vs CZE, WAG, MAG, Trampoline & Rhythmic (Oh Dear) Nationals.

BGtv at British Gymnastics

Australian Youth Olympic Festival

2009-01-19T15:29:00.000Z

The competition concluded yesterday, with some interesting results for Great Britain and Japan, but some disappointments for the host, Australia.

Yesterday's event finals were dominated by China and Great Britain (looking great for 2012!)

Beam
1st Liufang Wu -China (15.600)
2nd Sixin Tan -China (14.675)
3rd Danusia Francis Great Britain (14.575)
4th Natsumi Sasada Japan (14.350)
5th Yoshino Taniguchi Japan (13.700)
6th Nicole Hibbert Great Britain (13.250)
7th Emily Little Australia (13.175)
8th Natalia Joura Australia (11.925)

I'm presuming that Cui Jie didn't qualify to this final after her fall in the team competition. A shame as the massive 16.100 she scored in the all around final would have blown the field away here.

Floor

1st Jie Cui China (14.825)
2nd Danusia Francis Great Britain (14.025)
3rd Liufang Wu China (13.875)
4th Nicole Hibbert Great Britain (13.750)
5th Natsumi Sasada Japan (13.725)

I'm not sure why there is only 5 competitors listed here, anyone any ideas?

Here's the results from Saturdays finals, in case you haven't seen them yet:

Uneven Bars

1st Natsumi Sasada Japan (14.350)
2nd Jie Cui China (13.925)
3rd Nicole Hibbert Great Britain (13.775)
4th Yoshino Taniguchi Japan (13.675)
5th Liufang Wu China (13.225)
6th Danusia Francis Great Britain (13.150)
7th Emma Collister Australia (12.275)
8th Britt Greeley Australia (12.150)

Vault
1st Emily Little Australia (14.700)
2nd Britt GreeleyAustralia (14.450)
3rd Yoshino Taniguchi Japan (14.150)
4th Pangbo Fu China (13.775)
5th Jie Cui China (13.700)
6th Natsumi Sasada Japan (13.700)
7th Nicole Hibbert Great Britain (13.525)
8th Lani HohepaNew Zealand (13.200)

Some great results for GB and Japan here, I'm really hoping they can stay up at top teams for 2012. Some of the British juniors are really impressive!

An Introduction to Rhythmic

2009-01-11T15:27:00.000Z

If you're new to rhythmic, then i highly recommend watching the 2007 Worlds All Around Competition on YouTube, supplied by the YouTube God, Lyssenk0. Yes, it is 6 hours long, but it is very much worth the time. A fair amount is skippable breaks.
The commentary is very good and gives a real insight into the sport. Jessica Howard does a great job of explaining the scoring, the difference between the ranks. The coverage shows every routine (yes, every single one), so you can really get to know rhythmic!
Caution: This coverage got me hooked!
Anyway, here's part one:

Jessica Howard was the three-time US national champion in rhythmic gymnastics back in 98-01

A Tribute to the 06 -08 Code

2009-01-06T21:47:00.000Z

The last code of points was responsible for some shocking results, here are the worst of them

At the 2006 Common Wealth Games, Hollie Dykes finished in bronze position in the all around ahead of Imogen Cairns. Hollie fell on every apparatus to finish .05 ahead of Cairns.
Vanessa Ferrari took the 2006 world all around title despite a fall on beam, ahead of Jana Beiger, Sandra Izbasa and Steliana Nistor who performed cleanly. Vanessa Ferrari managed to finish on the all around podium again at the 2007 World Championships despite a fall on bars. Jade Barbosa tied for bronze despite a fall on floor.

Cheng Fei didn't live up to expectations when she fell on her 'Cheng' vault, however she was consoled with a bronze medal, ahead of Alicia Sacramone. In my mind, this medal belonged to Anna Pavlova

Nastia Liukin, He Kexin and Beth Tweddle all qualified to the bars final in Beijing, despite all falling in prelims. Personally, I think Yang Yilin deserved gold, having qualified without a fall.

Let's hope the next code is an improvement!

The Year After the Olympics....

2009-01-06T13:21:00.001Z

It's always an exciting time, with new crops of seniors mingling with established super stars. Who will carry on their reign? Who will establish themselves amongst the seniors? Who will do better than last time? Who will burn out before their time? Let's have a look back at previous years!

2005
-Nastia Liukin, one of the USA's most promising juniors hit the senior ranks with a storm, taking her first national championship title and four world medals.
-Chellsie Memmel and Alicia Sacramone improved on their previous years as seniors. Chellsie Memmel took the world all around title along with two silvers, while Sacramone took two world medals on floor and vault. China's Cheng Fei improved on her Olympic performance with a gold medal on vault at worlds. Monette Russo also moved up with a bronze medal in the all around.
-Oksana Chusovitina continued her success with a silver medal on vault.
-Golden girl Carly Patterson quit whilst she was ahead. Also exiting the gymnastic scene included Svetlana Khorkina, Oana Ban, Annia Hatch, Terin Humphrey and Courtney Kupets.

2001
-Katie Heenan burst on to the senior scene with a surprise bronze medal at worlds in uneven bars. Russia's Natalia Ziganshina also made her senior debt with a bronze medal in the all around
-Oksana Chusovitina re-entered the world of gymnastics with a silver medal on vault at worlds.
-Sveltana Khorkina improved on her 2000 Olympic performance, taking three world gold medals along with a silver and a bronze.
-Andrea Raducan continued to impress, with three golds and two bronze medals.
- Taking the fast road out of elite gymnastics included Simona Amanar, Maria Olaru, Liu Xuan, Yang Yun, Yelena Produnova1997
-Simona Amanar continued her success with two gold medals. Sveltana Khorkina also continued to impress with two golds and three silvers.
- Gina Gogean improved her performances with three golds and a bronze, Produnova began to make an impact after missing the olympics and failing to impress in 1995, she took bronze in the all around and on floor exercise.
- Bowing out gracefully included Lilia Podkopayeva, Lavinia Milosovici, Mo Huilan and Kerri Strug1993
-Shannon Miller improved on her Olympics, taking the all around world title along with two other golds, Gina Gogean impressed with a silver in the all around along with two other medals. Tatiana Lysenko also moved up in the ranks, taking a bronze in the all around. Dominique Dawes did better than in 92, with two silver medals.
-Lavinia Milosovici continued to do well, with a gold and a bronze medal at worlds.
- Leaving gymnastics included Tatiana Gutsu, Henrietta Onodi, Kim Zmeskal, Lu Li and Cristina Bontas.

Those Other Romanians...

2009-01-06T03:05:00.000Z

I don't know about you, but I consider myself a fan of Romanian gymnastics. However, I have to admit that other than the stars Steliana Nistor and Sandra Izbasa, I don't know an awful lot about the Romanian gymnasts of this quad. So the next few posts, we will take a look at them, namely Olympians Andreea Acatrinei, Gabriela Dragoi, Andreea Grigore and Anamaria Tamarjan and other national team members Daniella Druncea and Cerasela Patrascu.

Firstly, let's take a look at Gabriela DragoiGabriela began gymnastics at the age of four, and was the only gymnast from her club (Buzau Sports Club) to be invited to the national team. She joined the national team in 2005. Her first major competition was the 2007 European Junior Olympics, where she qualified to the floor exercise finals with a score of 13.8, in the finals she finished 6th.
However, it floor exercise was not to become her best event. At the 2007 Romanian Nationals, she was noticed for her excellent work on beam, in particular her good form. She scored a very respectable 15.4 on beam and 58.150 in the all around.
In 2008, Gabriela represented Romania at the Europeans and was part of the gold medal team. In the team final she competed on uneven bars and vault. At the 2008 Nationals, Dragoi surprised her team mates by defeating all of them including Steliana Nistor, to become national beam champion with a score of 15.625.
Dragoi was named to the Olympic team. In qualifications she competed on beam, bars and floor exercise. She continued to surprise qualifying to the beam finals ahead of her team mates Nistor and Izbasa with a score of 15.450. In the team finals she contributed to the teams bronze medal on uneven bars.
In the beam finals, she improved on her qualification score with a 15.625 and finished in 5th place. Here's her routine:

Dragoi is certainly a very promising gymnast and is only 16 , so I hope to see more of her in the future.

Merry Christmas Montage

2008-12-24T20:33:00.000Z

Check out this montage by fb07montages for festive!

Happy Christmas Everyone! :)

We have a tie!

2008-12-17T16:37:00.000Z

Well, my 'Favourite 90s World Beam Champions' has ended with a tie! Shannon Miller and Mo Huilan tied for first place with 30% of the vote each. Nipping in third was Dina Kochetkova with 12% of the votes.Five great things about Mo Huilan....

1. That amazing one armed handstand lower to staddle! I can't even imagine how many hours she spent perfecting that!

2. A sky high layout!

3. Gorgeous leaps in combination. I loved her stag leap.
4. She was just so adorable, how could anyone not love her?

5. Like all the Chinese, beautiful polish and flexibility.Five great things about Shannon Miller...

1. Beautiful handstand positions
2. Her two layouts in combination without a hint of the bent knees we see so much of today

3. She was so consistent and barely ever fell4. A difficult and stuck dismount

5. Like Mo, she had a beautifully polished routine with permanently pointed toes

Lilia Podkopayeva - 1995 World All Around Champion

2008-12-09T10:53:00.000Z

Honestly, I thought that with such a vast number of readers being from the US, that Shannon Miller would win my 'Favourite 90s All Around Champion' poll.
Personally, I did vote for Lilia but I thought I would be over ruled! It turns out I was wrong, with Lilia storming the competition with over half the votes. Shannon Miller came in second with 20%, while Kim Zmeskal snatched third with 11%.
So, why is LiliPod so endearing?

First off, she was tremendously talented, taking five European and World medals prior to the 1995 World Championships. Throughout her career, she took 17 World, Olympic and European medals!

She was a true all arounder, with no weak event. Throughout her career, she earned medals on all the apparatus individually at either Worlds or the '96 Olympics.

She invented a number of fabulous skills, including a Double front with a half twist on floor and her very own Podkopayeva vault.

She was modest and gracious, even when she didn't win. Leonid Arkaev named her as the gymnast he would miss working with the most!

She was the full package, powerful and yet beautifully balletic.

She made you smile when she came out onto the floor with her charming routines!

At this competition, she was widely considered an underdog, but remained consistent to beat the favourites Lavinia Milosovici and Svetlana Khorkina.

British University Gymnastics

2008-12-08T10:31:00.000Z

As I'm constantly hearing about NCAA gymnastics in the USA, I figured I would shed some like on the world of University Gymnastics within the UK.

All University sport in the UK operate through an organisation called BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport). BUCS ranks Universities overall and for individual sports on a points base system.

In gymnastics, the points are decided at the annual BUCS competition. (Yes, just one competition and that's it!). Although there are a couple of other competitions in the year. Gymnasts can compete in Grade 1 or grade 2.

Grade 1

Grade 1 operates under the FIG code of points and gymnasts can only enter individually (there is no team event). Gymnasts compete on all four events and only all around medals are awarded. There are no individual apparatus finals. Last year, four gymnasts entered into the women's category, while eight entered into the men's category.

The women's champion was Nina Dearman of Manchester University, who finished with a score of 53.500. Nina is also a member of the English National Squad. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any recent pictures or videos of Nina!

In 2005, Beth Tweddle was the all around BUCS champion!

The men's champion was Steven Jehu, of Leeds Met University who finished with a score of 86.400, who went on to represent Britain at the World Student Games in Bangkok. Steven has now graduated and hopes to compete in London 2012, so look out for him!

Grade 2

Grade 2 operates under a modified version of the difficulty+execution code of points. Only skills of B value or under count towards the final score. B skills are awarded a value of 0.5, A skills 0.3 and some Uncoded skills, 0.1. There are also special requirements on all apparatus except vault, which are given a value of 0.5. There are no connection values and only the top 8 skills are counted on beam and the top 9 on floor or bars.

Gymnasts compete on three apparatus only and all around, apparatus and team medals are awarded. Gymnasts competing in grade 1 must also compete in grade 2 to represent their team but are not eligible to win individual medals.

Last year, the winning team on the women's side was Loughborough, the all around champion was Vikki Johns of Leeds University.

Here are some example routines from grade two from the girls at Leeds Metropolitan University

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ulHzxvTFOXs

The vast majority of gymnasts compete in grade 2, with 68 entries last year, including 14 teams. Sadly, gymnastics in Universities is very badly funded in most universities, with the vast majority not having their own gyms. The only Universities with their own gyms (that I know of) are Loughborough, UWIC and Leeds Metroploitan (correct me if I'm wrong). Further problems include a lack of sponsorship, scholarships and publicity.

Loughborough Gymnastics Centre

Vanessa Ferrari

2008-12-07T19:05:00.000Z

'I was ready to compete against anyone. I am not afraid of anyone and I will win'
(when asked how she felt when she heard Chellsie Memmel had
withdrawn from the 2006 world all around competition)

... I guess she was right!

10 Reasons...

2008-12-05T16:55:00.000Z

Why Steliana Nistor is my favourite Romanian of the past quad.
10. She always looked well turned out but not overdone. Very business like.

9. Personally, I really liked her floor exercise, in fact it was one of my favourites in Beijing, including choreography and tumbling

8. For me, Steliana had a great body type, not all skin and bone, but not over the top muscle, just right!

7. Steliana was the oldest Romanian on the team, but remained their brightest all around stars for the entire quad. Even when she was injured, she wasn't beaten to the all around finals by a younger member of the team.

6. She was the leader of the Romanian pack and the one who was full of personality.You could tell by the way she interacted with them, she's a bit of a chatter box.

5. The girl had guts! She fought through many injuries to be at Beijing because the team needed her there, and she gave it her all. I was so glad when she and the Romanian's got bronze because to see all Steliana's effort go unrecognised would have been heart breaking.

4. Unlike most of the Romanians, she was an all around gymnast that was solid on all four events, including uneven bars.3. She is clever too! She taught herself English and took her exams just before Beijing, attaining very good results. I can't imagine preparing for my final year whilst also preparing for the Olympics! Madness!

2. You could see her attitude in the way she performed, even if she was having an off day, she would not be beaten. Her routines all showed her personality and were unique just in the way she delivered them

1. Most likely arriving from the point above - her consistency. Pavlova could learn a thing or two from Nistor, she barely ever fell! In fact, I can't remember the last time she did fall.

Here's to Stela!

Romanian Gymnastics

2008-12-05T16:45:00.000Z

I recently stumbled across this documentary, aired just after the 2008 Europeans.It includes many Romanian gymnasts including Izbasa, Nistor, Patrascu, Druncea, Grigore, Tarmijan etc. It talks about the environment at Deva as well as the girls individually. Check it out, it's worth a watch. It's in Romanian with English subtitles.
Here's part 1:

1993 World Qualifying Competition

2008-12-01T21:14:00.000Z

I've been watching the 1993 World Qualifying Competition...
Here's some of the highlights:

He Xuemei's Balance Beam Routine.
She mounts with a press to handstand into a heely turn and goes on to perform a straight back with a full as well as a (very high and straight) straight back. She does a beautiful jump into scale and like all the Chinese, shows great flexibility and control. She qualified to the beam finals but unfortunatley fell on her full twist and stumbled back on her dismount.
She competed in the 1992 Olympics but sadly didn't qualify to any finals. Apparently, she moved to Japan and competed for them at the Asian Games in 2006 aged 29 (!) under the name Setsubai Takaseki.

Mini Lilia Podkopayeva's Floor Routine
Sure, she fell, but there was definatley an air of what was to come here. She already had nice dance and clean lines.

Luisa Protocarrero's Beam Routine
This was jam packed with interesting and beautiful skills. I loved her flexibility. Unfortunatley, she seemed to be having an off day with quite a few wobbles and thus, didn't qualify for the beam finals. Here she is in the all around final, where she performed better:

Shannon Miller.. On every piece of appratus.
She really was on form here. I wish we still saw execution like hers. I was less impressed with her in 92 and 96, but here she was beautiful, a truly deserving world all around champion.
Here she is on floor:

There's also a few interviews and training footage, it's worth a watch

Who's Your Favourite?

2008-12-01T16:52:00.000Z

1991 Kim Zmeskal
Shannon Miller - 1993/4

Lilia Podkopayeva 1995

Svetlana Khorkina1997

Maria Olaru 1999

Be sure to vote!

Top Gym

2008-12-01T10:04:00.000Z

Well, Jordyn Weiber wiped the floor with the other competitors at this weekends Tom Gym tournament, winning the all around, bars and beam titles. Past champions from the USA to make a splash at top gym include Shawn Johnson, Ivanna Hong and Carly Patterson. In 2005,Shawn took the all round, vault and floor titles while Ivanna Hong took beam and bars.
In 2000, Carly Patterson took silver in the all around and bronze on the balance beam.
It looks like we may be hearing much more about Jordyn Weiber in the coming years.Larisa Iordache also made a splash, with this floor exercise, look out for the third pass!

Olga Mostepanova and the 1984 Alternate Olympics.

2008-11-30T17:07:00.000Z

In 1984, there was a Soviet led boycott of the Olympics in LA. Other notable gymnastic countries that boycotted were Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.
At the world championships in 1983, the Soviets finished first, East Germany third, Bulgaria 4th Czechoslovakia 6th and Hungary 9th. The Olympics went ahead with half of the top ten countries boycotting!
Instead of the Olympics, the Soviets held games in a number of different locations. The gymnastics branch of the friendship games was held in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia. The women competed in the usual format.
The team results were: 1st-Soviet Union, 2nd East Germany, 3rd Czechoslovakia. If all the countries had competed together at the Olympics and been given the same scores, the results would have been as follows: 1-Soviet Union, 2nd East Germany, 3rd Romania. I'm sure you'll agree that a lot of the talent was obviously missing from the 1984 Olympics. Probably the most talented gymnast missing from the games was Olga Mostepanova, although the 1983 world champion, Natalia Yurchenko was also absent.At Olomouc, Olga has an outstanding competition, finishing first in the all around with a perfect score of 40.00.Undoubtly, Olga would have finished ahead of Mary Lou Retton had she been present. In fact, given the scores from the friendship games, if all countries were present in LA, Mary Lou would have finished third, also behind the Czech gymnast Hana Ricna.

Olga also won gold on vault beam and floor. She finished with a perfect beam score of 20.00 after having scored 10 for every beam performance of the games. Here she is on the beam:

Olga competed at the 1985 world championships and won gold with the soviet team, however shortly afterwards she disappeared from the gymnastics scene.

Is It Just Me.....?

2008-11-25T15:05:00.000Z

Or has Fabian forgotten something?
I have to say.. he's a lot more attractive sans glasses, he looks a bit like a mouse, no?

Anna Pavlova - Our Heartbreak Heroine

2008-11-21T19:16:00.000Z

Well, it looks like the winner of my veteran poll is Anna Pavlova. Anna is known for her amazing combination of grace and power. Personally, I love her dance and find her name fitting (after the famous ballerina).

Anna began gymnastics because her parents ran a gym. She is still coached by her mother.

Let's take a look back at her time on the gymnastics scene. Anna first burst onto our screens in 2000, when she competed in the Junior Europeans, Gymnastics Challenge and Russian Championships.
At the Europeans, Anna and the Russian team bagged gold, while Anna placed 5th in the all around and 1st on uneven bars. All at the age of 12! Below is her winning bar routine, look how tiny she is!:

In 2001, Anna competed in the Goodwill Games, winning silver on balance beam. She also competed in the European Youth Olympics Games, where she finished second all around and first on balance beam.
By 2002, Anna had become a big fish in the junior pond. She placed 1st all around at the Europeans, as well as taking the gold on vault and with the team. She polished off the event with a silver on balance beam. Here she is. Just look at those bangs!In 2003, Anna joined the senior ranks and made the Russian team for worlds. Individually, Anna qualified for the all around, vault and floor finals. Here came the first hints of her consistent inconsistency. In the floor final she stumbled out of her tumbling and finished 7th, in the vault final she finished 5th and in the all around, 10th.
In 2004, 1st place finishes on beam and all around at the Russian Championships helped her on her way to being named to the Olympic team.
At the Olympics, Anna won bronze with the team and vault, whilst finishing 4th in the all around and on balance beam. Below is her beautiful beam routine from the all around final:

Anna competed at the world championships on 2005 and 2006 continued to give heartbreakingly just outside the medals performances with a number of 4th 5th and 6th place finishes internationally. Within Europe and on home turf, Anna did better, with a gold and three bronze medals in the 2005 Russian Nationals and two silvers and a bronze at the 2005 Europeans.
For the majority of 2007, Anna disappeared from the world stage. The only competition she competed in was the Shanghai World Cup event. I'm not sure why, perhaps injury. Anybody know?
Wherever she was, she was back with a vengeance in 2008. In my opinion, she looked stronger than ever and had begun competing her (beautiful) double layout again.She helped the Russian team to a silver medal at Europeans, while finishing 5th on floor and vault.
Pavlova made her second Olympic team as team captain and I, amongst many others I'm sure, was ready for her to do well. Pavlova performed beautifully in qualifications and made the all around, beam, vault and floor finals.
Unfortunately, in the team finals, things started to go wrong. Anna fell to her knees on her double piked dismount on floor exercise, this combined with mistakes from her team mates left the bronze medal out of their reach.
Below is her beautiful floor exercise from the all around final:

In the vault final, Anna vaulted before the green light and scored zero. Without the mistake, she would have had a very good chance of a bronze medal. Her zero vault was beautiful and it was so sad that she didn't get the reward she deserved. Still unsettled by this, Anna went on to perform badly on floor and thus finished outside of the medals. Below are her vaults:

By the beam final two days later, Anna was performing better but missed out on bronze by 0.05 in another heartbreaking 4th place finish. Personally, I think she deserved bronze.

After the Olympics, Anna moved onto the World Cup competitions. Currently, Anna is ranked 3rd on vault and beam and 13th on floor exercises. She will be invited to at least two world cup finals. However, Anna will be unable to attend as at her last world cup event she injured her knee. Later reports confirmed that she had torn a ligament in her knee.

I'm crossing my everything that she doesn't retire!!!!
Here's to Anna!

Unusal Cool Skills

2008-11-19T10:04:00.000Z

Don't you just love it when people come up with really unusal things to include in routines? Here's some of my favourites.

Elena Shushunova 1988 Floor Routine

You have to watch very closely to catching this one, but her second tumbling line includes a backhandspring using her knees. Crazy!

Jana Bieger 2005 Balance Beam

Speaking of knees... Jana Bieger completed a back tuck to one knee into front tuck to knees. How did she even think of it? Unfortunatley, Jana no longer competes it.

Yelena Produnova 2000 Floor Routine

She was awesome for a lot of reasons, but here in her floor exercise check out her straight front into double front combo. Also, on the originality front, her split leap withalf turn, half turn to splits on floor, windmill to splits (I think that's what it is... just watch!!)

Svetlana Baitova 1987 Balance Beam

Svetlana used a similar mount to canadian junior Peng Peng Lee. I believe she was the first to use seperated leg flares to mount the balance beam

Beth Tweddle 2008 Uneven Bars

Her new combo, which I think would be a toe on Tkachev with half turn, half turn into pak. Very cool, amongst the other great things in her bar routine

Elvire Teza 1997 Balance Beam

Check out her full twisting yurchenko loop to a back hip circle. Also, don't miss her sideways Yang Bo jump. This girl was just brimming with originality.

My Favourite Gymnastic Commercials

2008-11-17T14:32:00.001Z

Over the years, gymnastics has been used to advertise many products, from tyres to laptops, here's my top five:

5. Pneu Egger
This one makes me giggle.

4. Nickelodeon 1992
I'm not sure who the gymnast is in this advert, but I like it because it's old school:

3. Bonaqua
This advert features Belarussian rhythmic gymnasts Inna Zhukova, Svetlana Rudalova, Liubov Charkashyna and Valeria Kurilskaya as well as some clever computer graphic:

2. Adidas Commercial- Nastia Liukin & Nadia Comaneci 2004
This was shown during the 2004 Olympics, when Nastia was still 'the next big thing' I love how they've been brought togther in a way that seems so real.

1. Audi Commercial 2008
The first time I saw this advert, it was ...wow. Plus, it ran in the UK and we don't get a lot of gym ads over here. It's really clever too, making it my favourite gymnastic advert. It features a group of Hungarian gymnasts, imitating the motions of a car engine:

A Brief History of Vaulting

2008-11-13T21:23:00.000Z

The first Olympic vault champion was the Soviet gymnast, Ekaterina Kalinchuk. Unfortunatley, I couldn't find any footage of her, or infact, any refrence to her other than she won the medal by 0.1 with a 19.20. She scored a 9.70 in the compulsory vault, and a 9.50 in optionals.

The first vault champion I could find (decent) footage of was Vera Caslavska, a Czech gymnast (who is very well documented, by the way), in 1968:

She scored 9.90 for this vault and won with a total of 19.775
This was her second vault gold, with the first coming in 1964.

In 1976, the vault was won by Nellie Kim. She finished with a score of 19.8, 0.35 ahead of the field including Nadia Comaneci.

I'm sure we can all see the improvement in difficulty between 1968 and 1976.

In 1980, the Soviets won vault again with Natalia Shaposhnikova, who is more well known for her uneven bars element.

At this point in time, gymnasts were allowed two attempts and the best score was taken.

Two years after the olympics came the debut of one of the most famous vaults, the Yurchenko:

This became a staple vault for gymnasts and still is today, all be it with a bit more twisting. In fact, every olympic gold medalist on the vault since 1988 has used a yurchenko vault. In 1988, Sveltlana Boginskaya was the vault champion using Yurchenkos, a tucked full and a straight full. In 2008, Hong Un Jong became vault champion using a 2.5 twisting Yurchenko.

There has been a lot of fuss recently about the Amanar vault. First performed by Simona Amanar at the 2000 Olympics, the Amanar is a 2.5 twisting yurchenko and notriously difficult. Here's its debut:

The yurchenko made the path for other vaults using the round off entry, the Podkopayeva (A roundoff, half on, front pike with a half twist off), the Khorkina (round off, half on, tucked rudi) and more recently the Cheng (roundoff, half on, straight rudi). Here's the most difficult of these, the Cheng:

Remember this?

2008-11-13T18:20:00.000Z

I have to admit, I'd forgotten about North Korea's previous vaulting achievements...

Kang Yun Mi won the silver at 2003 worlds and qualified to the 2004 Olympic final in second place.
Here's her Amanar from Qualifications:

Remember The Name

2008-11-10T09:16:00.000Z

The history books are full of names that we all remember; Nadia Comaneci, Olga Korbut, Svetlana Boginskaya. But what about the other amazing gymnasts that are less well remembered? Let's take a look at a few, see how many you remember..

Elivira Saadi completed for the Soviet Union between the years of 1967 and 1976, earning two Olympic and four world medals. In 1973, she was the top soviet, winning the balance beam, floor exercise and all around title at national championships. She was beautifully graceful, elegant and danced like a woman instead of a pixie. Her more old fashioned gymnastics and taller, less child-like looks, meant that she lacked the wow factor for the judges. Take a look at her floor routine, look for the turns in attitude that we were all so impressed by this Olympics:

Rodica Dunca was a Romanian gymnast. She was a member of the 1979 world team that lead Romania to their first victory over the soviets. In 1980 she earned the all around title at Champions All. She was also a member of the 1980 Olympic team and placed 7th all around. In 1981, she earned a bronze medal on balance beam at Europeans before retiring in 1982. Here's her balance beam, the apparatus she was best known for. She has a traditional Romanian style, with beautiful long legs. Look for the impressive back sumi to scale:

Simona Pauca placed third behind Mary Lou Retton and Ecaterina Szabo at the 1984 Olympic games. Another Romanian, she also earned a gold with the team and on balance beam. After the Olympics, she disappeared from the world stage. Supposedly a fight occurred between her parents and the coaches and she was forced to move back to her home club. She kept training until 1986 when she retired. Here's her beam:

Olga Mostepanova never made it to the Olympics, because of the 1984 Soviet Boycott. However, at the friendship games, she almost completed a clean sweep, winning the team, all around, floor, vault and balance beam. During the competition she was given twelve perfect tens. In her time she also won five world medals. Here's her floor exercise, for some reason she reminds me of Lili Pod:

It strikes me that East Germany created many amazing, yet little remembered gymnasts. One example is Dagmar Kersten, who won a gold on uneven bars at the 1985 world championships, as well as a bronze at the 1988 Olympic games. She added this to her haul of 2 Olympic and 5 world medals. Here's her bars. I love the dismount.

Silvia Mitova was a Bulgarian gymnast. She competed at the 1992 Olympics and probably would have been a bigger deal if she'd been a Soviet. Such a shame about the fall in event finals or i believe she could have medaled, she certainly deserved to. Here's her floor exercise, just look at the first pass!

So, who do you think from the current scene could fade into the background? I always seem to forget about Chellsie Memmel...

No olympics would be complete without.... A gymnastics scandal!

2008-11-09T18:01:00.000Z

Lets take a look back at the Olympic scandals of the last twenty years...

2008- I'm sure you all remember this one. The age old age debate. I won't go into details, this topic has been done to death

2004 saw Paul Hamm awarded the Olympic gold medal, however after the competition it was reported that the winner should have been the Korean Yang Tae Young due to an incorrectly calculated start value. Medals were not re-awarded and Yang Tae Yound had to settle for bronze.

2000- We just couldn't get enough scandal in the Sydney Olympics, we saw Andrea Raducan win gold in what was said to be a 'tainted' all around competition with many falls resulting from the incorrect height setting of the vault. Of course, no one was happy with this but we were even more unhappy when the medal was later revoked in a drugs scandal!

1996- The noise in Atlanta supposedly led to poor performances from some gymnasts who were unable to hear their music. Most notably was Roza Galieva who had been removed from the all around 4 years earlier.

1992 -Speaking of Roza Galieva, she was withdrawn from the all around competition with a 'knee injury' in order to let her team mate, Tatiana Gutsu, compete. Tatiana fell from the balance beam during the team optionals and thus finished as only the fourth highest Soviet, not qualifying for the all around. The Soviet coach felt that Tatiana had a better chance at gold- and he was right.

1988 - The USA finished just out of the medals after a 0.5 deduction after enforcement of a little-used rule. The team alternate, Rhonda Faehn remained on the podium whilst a team member competed.

My Favourite Olympic Moments 2008

2008-11-08T19:21:00.000Z

10. Not really a moment, but the venue really made this Olympics special. The vibrant colours just made it all seem magical and almost made up for getting up at 5am to watch!

9. Sandra Izbasa’s floor exercise gold. Not necessarily for the performace (although it was fantastic), but for keeping alive the Romanian flame.

8. On that note, the Romanian bronze. Although I am a big fan of Russia, it was nice to see Steliana Nistor to be rewarded for all she’s gone through for the team over the past couple of years.

7. He Kexin’s awesome release move combos and that amazing laid out jaeger. Sure, the rest of her routine wasn’t perfect, but she certainly had the wow factor, so credit where it’s due.

6. Semyonova’s floor exercise and overall all around performance. Before the Olympics, I’d only really seen her on

bars and beam, but she certainly proved that she could be an all around force for the future. Her floor, like Anna Pavlova’s, was beautifully danced and reminded me of the old soviet gymnastics. I especially loved the turns in attitude.

5. Daiane Dos Santos’ amazing tumbling. This girl deserves credit. If only she could clean up, she would be an unbeatable force.

4. Nastia’s vault in the all around final. Unlike some, Iam not bewitched by the American media into thinking that all nastia’s performances are perfectly executed (or anything close to that, in fact), but this vault was special and deserved higher than a 9.5 in execution.

3. Li Shanshan’s beam in qualifications was breath taking. Difficult and beautifully performed. It’s performances like that that make me wish the perfect ten was still around, because it was truly deserving.

2. Anna Pavlova’s beautiful floor routine. She truly is an amazing gymnast and just watching this routine when she did it as well as we all knew she could was special. It’s such a pity that she didn’t go home with a single medal.

1. China’s team gold. I was rooting for them, so my reaction was somewhere along the lines of Cheng fei’s. You could tell that it meant so much to her and that really added to the moment. Age debates aside, Cheng fei and the rest of the team thoroughly deserved this gold and the moment will stick with me for a long time.

Unhappy Olympic Endings

2008-11-08T16:00:00.000Z

It seems today that the slightest slip can be taken by the media and turned into the unhappiest of endings, but a look back at gymnastics history can reveal times when a sad ending was far more than an unexpected slip from the balance beam.

The first women’s gymnastics Olympic team event was held at the Amsterdam Olympics of 1928. The home nation of Holland took the gold. Today, an Olympic gold medallist can rely on a comfortable life post Olympics. However, Helena Nordheim, Estella Agsterribe, Anna Polak and Judikje Simons (all members of the gold medal winning team), and their coach Gerrit Kleerekoper, were all killed in gas chambers 15 years later. The only Jewish member of the team to survive world war two was Elka de Leve.

In 1948, the Olympics were held in London. Czechoslovakia were dominant in the team competition, which is surprising due to the late injury of a team member. After arriving in London, 22 year old Eliska Misáková became ill and was assigned an iron lung. On the day of the team competition, she died of paralysis.
When the Czech flag was raised at the medal ceremony, it was decorated with a black ribbon.

In Mexico City, 1968, the soviet women took their fifth team title. Years later, in 1994, a member of the team (Olga Karasyova) appeared on German television, claiming that she and the whole team had been forcibly impregnated prior to the games to raise their levels of male hormones. Girls without a boyfriend or husband were forced to have sex with their coach. Ten weeks later they were given abortions.

One of the most political gymnastic figures is Věra Čáslavská, who famously turned her head down away from the soviet flag during a medal ceremony. However, she paid for this act of defiance as the authorities made sure than she remained unemployed for the years after the Olympics. Every year she appeared at the office of the sport minister requesting a job, for seven years she was refused.

The favourite to win the 1980 all around title was defending world champion, Yelena Mukina. Sixteen days before the Olympics, Mukina broke her spine during practice. She was unable to speak for six months and was paralysed until her death in 2006.

Many would say that an Olympic medal isn’t a matter of life or death. But after Svetlana Boguinskaya came third in the all around at the 1988 Olympics, this was such a disappointment to her coach that it reportedly contributed to his suicide three days after the games. Sveltlana went on to win the all round title at the 1989 world championships and dedicated her medal to her former coach, Lybov Miromanova.