Men's and Ladies' Gymnastics | Page 13 | Golden Skate

Men's and Ladies' Gymnastics

Victura

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 8, 2012
Except for NBC who did not fluff her nor show her on vault...it boggles the mind.:eek:hwell:

Have not been a fan of NBC's gymnastics coverage overall, but to their credit, they did show Chusovitina on vault. There may not have been a full fluff piece (those are mostly reserved for Americans), but there was mention of her story and how historic it was that she was competing in her 6th Olympics. Her first was in 1992, which was before most of the other competing gymnasts were even born.

There's also the Bulgarian Jordan Jovtchev who was competing at age 39 (with gray hair, no less) and made it into the still rings finals.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Yeah, I saw him with his gray hair. A delightful moment! I can imagine him at dinner parties: "What do you do for a living?" "I'm a gymnast." "No, really, what do you do?"
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
They did show Jordan in the still rings final. Another amazing athlete!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yordan_Yovchev

In the past, he has won 3 bronzes and a silver in Olympic competitions (floor, rings), and has won 4 gold medals (2 in floor, 2 in rings) at Worlds.

He was elected the president of the Bulgarian gymnastics federation...and he is still competing. Amazing.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Was wondering about a difference I see between gymnastics and figure skating standards of excellence.

Both are using a CoP scoring system but I think gymnastics recognizes athletes can't be as generoulsy rewarded for botched elements the way we see in skating.

A gymnast can do an incredible move but if they fail to complete it or fall it seems they pay a penalty befitting their mistake.

Can anyone imagine Ally falling on a tumbling pass or stepping out of bounds 3 times on one routine and still winning?

Of course not.

Maybe this is not a good comparison and I shudder when a girl falls off the beam.
But I would shudder even more if she won gold after such a major mistake.

Why does it seem that "almost" is not going to cut it in gymnastics but the status quo in skating?

Is it just a matter of different sports?
 

MoonlightSkater

On the Ice
Joined
May 17, 2011
Was wondering about a difference I see between gymnastics and figure skating standards of excellence.

Both are using a CoP scoring system but I think gymnastics recognizes athletes can't be as generoulsy rewarded for botched elements the way we see in skating.

A gymnast can do an incredible move but if they fail to complete it or fall it seems they pay a penalty befitting their mistake.

Can anyone imagine Ally falling on a tumbling pass or stepping out of bounds 3 times on one routine and still winning?

Of course not.

Maybe this is not a good comparison and I shudder when a girl falls off the beam.
But I would shudder even more if she won gold after such a major mistake.

Why does it seem that "almost" is not going to cut it in gymnastics but the status quo in skating?

Is it just a matter of different sports?

In gymnastics if you incur enough deductions on a single skill, you can lose credit for that skill. Also, as in skating, if you underrotate by a significant amount, the skill is downgraded. Falls result in a 1.0 deduction, as in skating, but for a much lower over all score. Skating would have to take ten points off per fall in the long program for their fall deduction to be the same proportion of the final score as it is for gymnastics. Falling has never been as bad a thing in skating as it is in gymnastics, though.

Really, the gymnastics code has always been more quantifiable than the skating code. As much as I am not a fan of the current IJS judging, I have to admit that I do like that the technical score has specific components and deductions now. It bothers me when I have to compete in the 6.0 system and I don't know what my scores or ordinals mean exactly, but that could be the former gymnast in me speaking. When I did gymnastics I always knew exactly where and why I lost points and what I needed to do to fix it. Even under the 10.0 system gymnastics had specific faults and deductions, with only about .3 for artistry. Everything was quantifiable.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
In gymnastics if you incur enough deductions on a single skill, you can lose credit for that skill. Also, as in skating, if you underrotate by a significant amount, the skill is downgraded. Falls result in a 1.0 deduction, as in skating, but for a much lower over all score. Skating would have to take ten points off per fall in the long program for their fall deduction to be the same proportion of the final score as it is for gymnastics. Falling has never been as bad a thing in skating as it is in gymnastics, though.

Really, the gymnastics code has always been more quantifiable than the skating code. As much as I am not a fan of the current IJS judging, I have to admit that I do like that the technical score has specific components and deductions now. It bothers me when I have to compete in the 6.0 system and I don't know what my scores or ordinals mean exactly, but that could be the former gymnast in me speaking. When I did gymnastics I always knew exactly where and why I lost points and what I needed to do to fix it. Even under the 10.0 system gymnastics had specific faults and deductions, with only about .3 for artistry. Everything was quantifiable.

Thanks for your reply.
Am curious about this since I have read multiple posts here wondering where Mikalya's deductions came in the team event vault.

Is this quantifiable....and as even Olga Korbut mentions in her interview with Dominique do we know which judges marked her down?

We don't know......or am I wrong? Does "quantifable" mean no mystery? Or is that just CoP talk geared at fooling the public?

Judged sports can never be perfect IMO.
NBC has run a commercial over and over with Nadia's bar routine from the '76 Olympics.

It is perfectly clear to anyone watching that Nadia took a little hop on her landing. Forty years later in her remarks to Dominique Olga remembers this :)

Watching Mustifina on bars the other night her routine was not only great....but holy cow did she stick that difficult landing. :yes:
 
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DianaSelene

Medalist
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
They did show Jordan in the still rings final. Another amazing athlete!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yordan_Yovchev

In the past, he has won 3 bronzes and a silver in Olympic competitions (floor, rings), and has won 4 gold medals (2 in floor, 2 in rings) at Worlds.

He was elected the president of the Bulgarian gymnastics federation...and he is still competing. Amazing.

You should see this hilarious picture of him trying to balance training and being the president.
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&h...w=172&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:79
 

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Have not been a fan of NBC's gymnastics coverage overall, but to their credit, they did show Chusovitina on vault. There may not have been a full fluff piece (those are mostly reserved for Americans), but there was mention of her story and how historic it was that she was competing in her 6th Olympics. Her first was in 1992, which was before most of the other competing gymnasts were even born.

There's also the Bulgarian Jordan Jovtchev who was competing at age 39 (with gray hair, no less) and made it into the still rings finals.

Oh, I stand sadly corrected. I am guessing it was late nite coverage, as I am pretty sure I saw most of what NBC covered in ladies gymn, so it had to be an off time or pretty late when I could no longer sit up. I am happy she got the coverage she deserved. I just don't get why NBC chooses what it does when it is the marquee sport. It is just like figure skating coverage. It makes no sense that we saw so little of the the most popular sport in summer or winter. It makes me really aggravated. I saw nothing of equestrian as I sleep in the am, or at least I was. So I think it was live. I saw no equestrian coverage in prime time. It is so exciting a sport. What other Oly sport has the marriage of man and beast competing at high level? And this year there was the royal connection. A lot of horse lovers really would like to see Zara Phillips compete, and their team was a gold contender, finishing with silver. A sport with danger, excitement etc deserved a lot of prime time coverage. I would be interested to know how they decide prime time coverage. I hope given that Chusovitina is not a big deal for Americans that someone will post her (even a hand cam) vaults on Youtube. I am sure NBC will go after any renegade Gabby videos but why should they care about those who did not even medal? Anyone with a link please post it as I'd love to see her vault. She is one of the greatest female gymnasts of all time with her record, and they should give more coverage.

I just saw coverage of some sport where the women were kicking each other. New to Olympics? It was not wrestling, not judo, allowed no hand contact, so not boxing. Beach volleyball isn't the most boring sport, but way too much of it. Could it be possible America would rather see Misty mae a dozen times, but not be fascinated by gymnastics coverage and equitation? These are sports that take years and years to get to any level of competition, and really rare people to be in the top 25.

There is no accounting for taste and intellect in American TV programming. I just get angry at having to pay so much for cable, having no choice in apt bldg at to what I can get, and then be insulted by whats on TV now. Garbage.
 

snowflake

I enjoy what I like
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
I just saw coverage of some sport where the women were kicking each other. New to Olympics? It was not wrestling, not judo, allowed no hand contact, so not boxing.

I guess you mean taekwondo which has been an olympic discipline since Sydney 2000. Originating from Korea. Don't know the rules exactly, but you get certain points for kicks on the upper body and on the head where you have guards.

Looks like the sport is popular with muslim girls. Maybe because the competitors are fully covered.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
What a great question!

I do have a vague memory of a gymnastics exhibition during one of the Olympics. Man, if they do one this year, I hope they include the rhythmic gymnasts. People will not believe how they throw and catch the apparatus upside down, without looking, while flipping...amazing.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Fortunately, because it is not a prime time sport, quite a lot of the rhythmic gymnastics qualifiers were shown on nbc daytime :love:

Both Gabby & Aly said in an interview that they were going to be part of a tour of champions, so there are going to be exhibitions, whether there are any at the Olympics themselves or not.

This youtube post says it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrCUFNKbqQs at the Olympics.
 
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janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
What a great question!

I do have a vague memory of a gymnastics exhibition during one of the Olympics. Man, if they do one this year, I hope they include the rhythmic gymnasts. People will not believe how they throw and catch the apparatus upside down, without looking, while flipping...amazing.

I only remember this exhibition from the'96 games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MphhI0gL6ao

It was pretty cheesey but the crowd loved the Magnificent 7 so much they even roared with delight during the"Macarena" routine :eek::


I do remember Khorkina said the crowd was cheering so loudly during the team finals she thought a few of the girls might get blown off the beam.

And then she said she wished she could have heard such loud cheering even once from a Russian crowd. :cool:
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
My goodness, Janetfan. What an amazing, touching thing for Khorkina to say. Yes, I think this is the exhibition I remember.

I think there was once a time when Russian fans cheered loudly for gymnasts. I recall hearing years ago, when gymnastics was barely a blip on Americans' radar, that three-time Olympian Ludmilla Tourischeva, who had an all-around gold from 1972, would be mobbed like a movie star on the street. At that point the only gymnast Americans knew in the whole world was Olga Korbut; there were no American stars except Cathy Rigby, and most people probably didn't know who she was.
 

Buttercup

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
I was browsing Olympic stuff online and came across this article about 10-time Olympic medalist Agnes Keleti (competed for Hungary, later moved to Israel); she won multiple medals at the Melbourne games, when she was 35 (!). I didn't know much about her, and it sounds like she had a very eventful life. Ms. Keleti says she watched the gymnastics events at this year's Olympics and that she would never have been able to compete in the current version of the sport.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. She seems to be in very good shape! BTW, she is one of the gymnasts in the portable apparatus video that I linked to in another of the Olympics threads.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Gabby will be on Leno tonight, the other guest listed is Michelle Obama....also a performance by Norah Jones.
 
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ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Both Gabby & Aly said in an interview that they were going to be part of a tour of champions, so there are going to be exhibitions, whether there are any at the Olympics themselves or not.

I think the tour has been well-publicized by now, but in case anyone is wondering:
All of the Fierce Five are going on tour (along with other female and male gymnastics stars, incl. other Olympians).
Their 40-city national tour will kick off in San Jose, California on September 8, 2012.
http://usagym.org/pages/events/tour/cast.html
http://usagym.org/pages/events/tour/

-
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
I think the tour has been well-publicized by now, but in case anyone is wondering:
All of the Fierce Five are going on tour (along with other female and male gymnastics stars, incl. other Olympians).
Their 40-city national tour will kick off in San Jose, California on September 8, 2012.
http://usagym.org/pages/events/tour/cast.html
http://usagym.org/pages/events/tour/

-

Thanks for the heads up.

I remember before the CoP when figure skaters used to do similar tours in USA after the Olympics.
 
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