Men's and Ladies' Gymnastics | Page 10 | Golden Skate

Men's and Ladies' Gymnastics

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
We won't spoil it for you!

When you watch, be sure to let us know your reaction. I think there's more tonight, as well. They didn't show all the pieces of apparatus last night.
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Oh I watched that too, was so entertaining, and very cute to see what was done 40 years ago compared to the craziness of today's gymnastics. He form was so perfect and I love her smile, a true entertainer, she totally changed gymnastics.

I caught that segment, too and found it very interesting. I was only almost 6 in 1972; so, I don't recall watching at all. My 1st memory of Olympic gymnastics was 1976 with Nadia's 10's. By then Olga was the 'old one' and she seemed dour - to me. Seeing yesterday's segment on Olga was very enlightening and made me see her contributions to gymnastics and how delightful she was.

As someone else mentioned, the floor routine to music made a lot more sense back then. Today's routines are so jam packed that the dance moves seem more like throw aways while before hand they enhanced the routine.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
I caught that segment, too and found it very interesting. I was only almost 6 in 1972; so, I don't recall watching at all. My 1st memory of Olympic gymnastics was 1976 with Nadia's 10's. By then Olga was the 'old one' and she seemed dour - to me. Seeing yesterday's segment on Olga was very enlightening and made me see her contributions to gymnastics and how delightful she was.

As someone else mentioned, the floor routine to music made a lot more sense back then. Today's routines are so jam packed that the dance moves seem more like throw aways while before hand they enhanced the routine.

I remember seeing Olga back in '72. She not only broke down barriers for American's perceptions of Russians but she succeeded in charming most of the world able to watch the Olympics on TV.

The best moment for me on the NBC tribute ...besides her delightful routines ......was the meeting with Nixon. He called Olga "a little girl" and Olga said right back "you are a "big boy." Priceless :)

Olga's impact on USA and gymnastics can never be overstated.
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
I started updating from men, I just saw men rings, Zanetti was such surprise:eek: and how happy he was:biggrin: I m happy for Brazil!!!
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Brazil medaled? Terrific! I can't wait to see it.

Heyang, I can understand how you had a different view of Olga if the first time you saw her was in Montreal. I remember how used-up she seemed there. One of the side-effects of the new style of gymnastics was that it used up athletes pretty quickly. No more long lifespans at the top.

But Olga and Knysh, her coach, were the ones who started the whole ball rolling in 1972 in terms of making gymnastics more athletic, more daring, and more appealing to audiences. If you look at the medal-winning routines of Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia just four years earlier, you'll see how dainty and ladylike the routines were, though they were thrilling for their time. Then along came Olga and changed everything. People who were new to gymnastics and knew only Olga and the ones who followed wouldn't have been interested in Vera's routines at all if videos had been shown of them at that time. Suddenly they looked like a horse-drawn carriage next to a race car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ch-lNNNZjs

Here's Caslavska's floor exercise, to the Mexican Hat Dance (the Games were held in Mexico City)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NTFHb4r-oY&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Caslavska was a noble athlete, who was an outspoken supporter of Alexander Dubcek and the Prague Spring of democratization in her country. When the Soviets marched in to put a stop to things in 1968, , she had to practice in basements. After the Olympics, she was made a nonperson by her country's new puppet government, forbidden to travel and forced into retirement.
 
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skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Yeah, M.Trankov called judging in gymnastics summer figure skating ("летнее фигурное катание") :laugh:. The dude is right aftherall seems to me.
um please translate the russian to english as we have no clue. thanx.
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Just finished watching ladies vault and UB, what to say, vault seemed cursed, it looked it affected all ladies, I m sorry for Maroney, that was bad luck..she should have gone for imperfect landing better, her first vault was dreamy, i hate that she is the best by far and didnt win the gold medal. Chussovitina is a legend, her story and her child story is inspiring.
Uneven bars, Mustafina was surreal:love:
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
You must watch the men's vault finals, it is the most exciting, brilliant event for gymnastics at these Olympics! Every single competitor nailed at least one vault brilliantly. Many nailed two! Two competitors attempted vaults of staggering difficulty! The ambition, the form, the scores just kept going up and up, and rightfully so. Both the vaults of the silver and bronze medalists were particularly Herculean. But then there were the two vaults of the winner. Even with all the great vaults going around, these were in a class by themselves. The first vault got the highest single score given to a gymnast at these events, a record that stood for a few minutes when it was shattered later by the second vault. If you're in the US, NBC will likely show this relatively late at night. Try to catch it!
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
um please translate the russian to english as we have no clue. thanx.

To clarify what let's talk already wrote in his/her original post:
The translation of "летнее фигурное катание" is "summer figure skating."​

And ... changing the subject - for those who had doubts about the sportsmanship of McKayla Maroney ‏@McKaylaMaroney, please read her tweets:

For anyone who thought I didn't want to hug Maria and Sandra that's not the case:) They are my friends, and I'm proud of them both!
6:15 PM - 6 Aug 12

I wasn't thinking straight and I totally forgot what to do, but don't worry.. I gave them both hugs after!! <3
6:21 PM - 6 Aug 12

Sportsmanship is so important to me and I hope you know i would never do that intentionally!! Please forgive me!!
6:24 PM - 6 Aug 12​
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
You must watch the men's vault finals, it is the most exciting, brilliant event for gymnastics at these Olympics! Every single competitor nailed at least one vault brilliantly. Many nailed two! Two competitors attempted vaults of staggering difficulty! The ambition, the form, the scores just kept going up and up, and rightfully so. Both the vaults of the silver and bronze medalists were particularly Herculean. But then there were the two vaults of the winner. Even with all the great vaults going around, these were in a class by themselves. The first vault got the highest single score given to a gymnast at these events, a record that stood for a few minutes when it was shattered later by the second vault. If you're in the US, NBC will likely show this relatively late at night. Try to catch it!

Holy hat, SB, you were right. Even I, knowing relatively zilch about men's vault, was transfixed. You've described it pretty aptly. How lovely when athletes have the night of their lives right there in the Olympics. The rings event was pretty amazing, too. I'm thrilled to see that two relatively unmedaled countries earned golds.

One thing that impressed me was how the guys all congratulated one another. Even the guy who expected to win at rings (the winner was a pretty sizable surprise to many) went over with a smile to embrace the gold medalist. In the vault, the other competitors all greeted the winner warmly. I wish the ladies had been able to manage that level of cordiality. I wonder why there is such a difference. Is it the relative age of the men vs. the "women"? The fact that men's careers seem to last longer than the girls' careers, so that the guys feel they have more chances? Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
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Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
I am aghast that NBC didn't show half of the vaulters, including bronze medalist Igor Radivilov who had two absolutely fantastic vaults with a difficulty of 7.0 each. Even the guy who finished in last place, Britain's Kristian Thomas, had a fantastic run on his first vault, which has a 7.0 difficulty value, with just a tiny hop on the landing. The roof plain exploded when his score of 16.366 came in. He did sit down on the second vault, sending his score to the bottom. Kristian's vault is particularly interesting because I think he's one of the tallest male gymnasts at these games at 5 foot 11 (180 cm), compared to the gold and silver medalists who are both 5 foot 3 (around 160 cm). Seeing him nail a vault is just something else.

Spanish gymnast Isaac Botella Perez did two vaults that were worth "only" 6.6 (all the other gymnasts attempted at least one vault that's 7.0), but he had beautiful, balletic form in the air. It was worth seeing just for the grace of it.

NBC also should've done a better job of pointing out how nutty the difficulty attempted were. Denis Ablyazin attempted a 7.2 vault, and of course, Hak Seon Yang did his 7.4 vault. Near as I can tell, this is the highest combined difficulty attempted by the podium finishers at an Olympic/World Championship vaulting event.

Although, NBC's nationalistic focus on Samuel Mikulak did show me how generous of a sportsman he is. I didn't realize just how much cheering and love he gave to all his competitors. I did see him hug Hak Seon Yang on the BBC feed, but not the rest. Mikulak is a class act.

As for whether the ladies congratulate each other as much, maybe not to the same degree of ra-ra enthusiasm and chest-bumping like the men, but I have definitely seen female gymnasts of different countries hug and congratulate each other. During the NBC feed, you can see He Kexin of China go up to Mustafina to hug and congratulate her. I think men, at least in gymnastics, are given to a more boisterous kind of celebration that leads to noisier and more public displays of congratulations and friendship. Female gymnasts, for all their incredible strength, are perhaps still expected to be demure, so their camaraderie is less noticeable.
 
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brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Girls like crying, what can I say? :rolleye: I give them a pass. They're 14-18, still in high school. They're emotionally stunted because elite gymnastics is all they know. If they lose, it's completely devastating. The men are 20+ and have gone to college and have a bit of perspective.

Besides, not all men are perfect sportsman. I remember the brown gymnast (sorry don't remember his name) pouting under his starry blanket during the team finals.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Girls like crying, what can I say? :rolleye: I give them a pass. They're 14-18, still in high school. They're emotionally stunted because elite gymnastics is all they know. If they lose, it's completely devastating. The men are 20+ and have gone to college and have a bit of perspective.

That was kind of my conclusion also. Mostly age, but also as you say a completely circumscribed life. Added to that, can you imagine how much harder it is for girls in countries where they don't even live at home or with host families but all live in a barracks in a training center?

SB, thanks so much for letting us know what went on that we didn't get to see. (And for your extra insight on the girls' behavior to one another.) Shame on NBC for not spending the few extra moments to show the bronze medalist. I agree that it's amazing to see a tall gymnast do well on things like vault. It was one reason Khorkina was so fascinating to watch among the ladies. These days, the skills for women depend on their having no bodies either vertically or horizontally.

And I agree about Sam Mikulak. What a breath of fresh air he is. Hope he stays on for Rio. Is it likely?

By the way, have the rhythmic gymnastics events occurred yet? I hope NBC will show some of that sport, which in many ways is my favorite aspect of gymnastics. There's an American contending (I don't know what her chances are), so I hope NBC will deign to show us five minutes of this splendid sport. Maybe they can show Michael Phelps as the guest commentator.
 
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janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Uneven bars, Mustafina was surreal:love:

I agree and love her bar routine.

Since this is a skating board we all are aware of the knee injury Dai suffered.
Mustafina is only just back from reconstructive knee surgury and so nice to see her take the Gold after what she has been through.

I really :love: this girl
 

snowflake

I enjoy what I like
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Girls like crying, what can I say? :rolleye: I give them a pass. They're 14-18, still in high school. They're emotionally stunted because elite gymnastics is all they know. If they lose, it's completely devastating. The men are 20+ and have gone to college and have a bit of perspective.

I don't know how old they are, but both Powell and Tyson Gay cried after the 100 m final :biggrin:

Actually there has been a lot of crying at this olympics, both of sadness and of joy.

Felix Sanchez and Jenn Suhr cry tears of gold

Brigitte Foster-Hylton
tripped on a hurdle and screamed-cried for a long time hammering on the ground like an angry child, rejecting her rivals comfort hugs.

Lots of material to make an emotional London OG video :laugh:

Anyway what's wrong with crying? I find it a natural reaction after you have been under pressure mentally and physically for a log time.

Now women's beam :eek:
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
I don't know how old they are, but both Powell and Tyson Gay cried after the 100 m final :biggrin:

Actually there has been a lot of crying at this olympics, both of sadness and of joy.

Felix Sanchez and Jenn Suhr cry tears of gold

Brigitte Foster-Hylton
tripped on a hurdle and screamed-cried for a long time hammering on the ground like an angry child, rejecting her rivals comfort hugs.

Lots of material to make an emotional London OG video :laugh:

Anyway what's wrong with crying? I find it a natural reaction after you have been under pressure mentally and physically for a log time.

Now women's beam :eek:

I think you are 100% right about this. :yes:
 

SGrand

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
To clarify what let's talk already wrote in his/her original post:
The translation of "летнее фигурное катание" is "summer figure skating."​

And ... changing the subject - for those who had doubts about the sportsmanship of McKayla Maroney ‏@McKaylaMaroney, please read her tweets:

For anyone who thought I didn't want to hug Maria and Sandra that's not the case:) They are my friends, and I'm proud of them both!
6:15 PM - 6 Aug 12

I wasn't thinking straight and I totally forgot what to do, but don't worry.. I gave them both hugs after!! <3
6:21 PM - 6 Aug 12

Sportsmanship is so important to me and I hope you know i would never do that intentionally!! Please forgive me!!
6:24 PM - 6 Aug 12​

This makes my eyes well up, to think this poor girl, who is a professional athlete and was expected to win gold by EVERYONE, is/was getting hammered by everyone for not hugging a fellow medallist, it's just sad. I know what I saw and what it looked like, and can totally see why there would be a reaction, but come on, we have no clue what is going through her mind at the time and everyone deals with circumstances differently all of the time (and if she is a poor sportsman, so be it, I can live with that, and it looks like she came around anyway). I have learned not to judge someone I have never met or know by only seeing them on TV. These athlete's compete under such immense pressure and the girls are girls, let them cry if they want, it's their time and they've worked their whole lives toward this, something I don't think a lot of us can really say. So let the men sulk too, whatever gets them through it, I'm sure I'd be devastated too and while I'd like to think I'd be like Sam was after his great vaults (was completely refreshing to see someone so supportive and enthusiastic!), I really have no idea how I'd act unless I was in those exact circumstances. Let's give them a break and just cheer for them all! :)
 

snowflake

I enjoy what I like
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Another change of medalists. Both with the same score. Congrats to Raisman sorry Ponor :cry: I think they should give divided bronze in the future. They do in wrestling.

Anyone from Netherlands here? Epke Zonderland horizontal bar gold :clap: Has it ever happened before? Great final.
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Raisman deserves one after the mess last week and the crappy way it was explained to her (by the media, NOT by FIG or American coaches who didn't know the answer), but sorry for Ponor
 
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