gymn Digest                 Fri,  5 Aug 94       Volume 2 : Issue 162

Today's Topics:
                             AAU results
                     Classic meet in Palm Springs
                         GG: Arkaev interview
                              GG: M, EF
                           GG: M EF part ii
                          GMA- Henrich story
                                Hello!
                              Men's AA
                        NPR report on Henrich
                            Rudi (2 msgs)
                         russian sportmanship
                           Shannon & vault
                          Sports Illustrated
                      Sports Illustrated Article
                        Texx's Chinese 'Studs'
                           ukraine (2 msgs)
                      Women in Men's AA (2 msgs)

This is a digest of the gymn@athena.mit.edu mailing list. 

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Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994 07:59:18 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: AAU results

Over the AP wire.... results from the AAU Jr Olympics in Cocoa Beach,
FL:

 Girls 12-14

    Floor Exercise-1, Carly O'Brien, Vt., 9.25. 2, Jessica Buck,
 Miss., 9.25. 3, Stephanie Robinett, Wash., 9.10.

    Vault-1, Jessica Buck, Miss., 9.15. 2, Lana Carder, Ind., 9.10.
 3, Jayne Finst, Fla., 9.05.

    Uneven Parallel Bars-1, Erin McWatt, Miss., 8.80. 2, Jayne
 Finst, Fla., 8.55. 2, Stacey Watson, Miss., 8.55.

    Balance Beam-1, Jayne Finst, Fla., 9.00. 2, Kristin Rosella,
 Miss., 8.90. 3, Jennifer King, Fla., 8.85.

    Uneven Parallel Bars-1, Aronda Primault, 9.30.. 2, Cammie
 Krusoe, 9.10.. 3, Kimberly Krusoe, 9.00.
[I do not know why they list bars twice.]

    All-Around-1, Aronda Primault, Canton, Ohio, 37.30.. 2, Cammie
 Krusoe, Tampa, Fla.. 3, Lindsey Wright, Tampa, Fla., 36.40.. 4,
 Julie DeVaty, 36.10.. 5, Kimberly Russo, North Andover, Mass.,
 35.95.. 6, Brooke Cazeaux, Kennesaw, Ga., 35.85.. 7, Nicole Walsh,
 Tampa, Fla.. 8, Carly O'Brien, Shelburne, Vt., 35.40.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 17:11:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: ***@netcom.com Subject: Classic meet in Palm Springs
To: gymn@MIT.EDU

> | without traveling thousands of miles. (Why do the big meets avoid CA?) :(


Patrick !
Now now now now !

You forget, your very own Standford hosted the PAC 10 2 years ago !
That was a great meet !  I had a blast there. 

Under what rock were you hiding ?

Rachele Irene Harless

> 1995: American Classic, Oakland
>
WHERE in Oakland ?
Details ?
Details ?
Details ?
Details ?

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994 08:14:31 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: GG: Arkaev interview

>From a pretty good story from Reuters...

Voropayev, re Dormund: "No one else has a chance apart from Russia and
Belarus. The others might as well stay home."

Arkaev: "I have great hope for the future and the championships. You
saw how our top four men performed -- we also have good reserves...
They are very reliable -- I think we'll succeed in putting together a
team which can compete for medals."

-a quote from Reuters about Arkaev losing Scherbo when the Soviet
Union broke up: "Arkayev then had to stand by as Valery Scherbo, [yes,
Valery] winner of six Barcelona golds, went off to compete for his
native Belarus."

Reuters makes a comment about how Arkaev has been "in the job for 24
years" -- I suppose that would be the job of National head coach.

Re losing Scherbo and other athletes like Podkapayeva: "I don't
despair now and hope I won't despair in the future. Today we're
somehow keeping our heads above water and hoping for better times."

Arkaev: "We always had money problems. And when they gave us money
before we were under their control, which made it even worse. At least
I'm freer now."

-"The Russian coaches have managed to maintain the national training
base at Krugloe Ozero, a resort just north of Moscow, in virtually
pristine condition, where 20 to 30 gymnasts are training at any one
time."

Arkaev: "A lot of them [special training schools] are short of money
and are not doing very well. But we are trying to look forward and are
gathering 12-year-old girls to prepare for the 2000 Olympic Games in
Sydney."

Arkaev re Nemov: "He has very good potential. If he does all he is
capable of doing he can beat Scherbo. I expect a lot from him. He is a
real candidate for victory."

Arkaev re Ivankov's win at Worlds (Ivankov is another athlete Arkaev
"lost" during the breakup of the Soviet Union): "I was proud when he
won the world championship because it shows my work is still bearing
fruit."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 17:51:50 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: GG: M, EF

(I got it right this time, Susan)

>From Reuters... (details later)

     Floor
  1 equal. Alexei Nemov (Russia)                  9.750
           Grigory Misyutin (Ukraine)
  3. Dmitry Vasilenko (Russia)                    9.650
  4. Vitaly Rudnitsky (Belarus)                   9.525
  5. Takashi Shinen (Japan)                       9.100
  6. Paolo Bucci (Italy)                          9.000
  7. Andrei Kan (Belarus)                         8.900
  8. Drew Durbin (U.S.)                           8.700

     Pommel
  1 equal. Nemov                                  9.700
           Misyutin
  3. Alexander Shostak (Belarus)                  9.650
  4. Yevgeny Shabayev (Russia)                    9.450
  5. Durbin                                       9.400
  6. Giovanni D'Innocenzio (Italy)                9.300
  7 equal. Kan                                    9.100
           Cristian Leric (Romania)

     Rings
  1. Dan Burinca (Romania)                       9.800
  2. Alexei Voropayev (Russia)                   9.775
  3 equal. Scott Keswick (U.S.)                  9.700
           Vasilenko (Russia)
  5. Misyutin                                    9.600
  6 equal. Rudnitsky                             9.575
           Bucci
  8. Chainey Umphrey (U.S.)                      9.550

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 18:16:46 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: GG: M EF part ii

>From UPI:

-Burinca showed "two solid crucifix moves" and nailed his landing on
rings to win.

Burinca: "I expected to win today because I'm the best."

-Nemov had a SV of 10.0 on floor in finals.  He had "spectacular
flares" (their misspelling, not mine), but however had an
"uncharacteristically shaky leg-balance."

-Misutin, who tied Nemov for gold on floor, had a SV of 9.9.  His
routine had a "powerful horizontal-to-vertical hand balance."

-UPI, re Nemov on pommels, again remarked about his high "flares".

-Both Nemov and Misutin had a SV of 9.9 on pommels.

Misutin: "This is a good day for me. It's the first time I've won on
the (pommel) horse in my life and I'm glad the Ukrainian national
anthem was played twice."

-Shabayev apparently had to muscle his way through the dismount, which
cost him a medal.

-The last three event finals will be tomorrow.


>From Reuters:

-Shostak is recovering from knee surgery.

 (Other than that, they have nothing to add to the UPI story, and the
AP hasn't even put one out yet.)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 5 Aug 94 9:18:34 EDT
From: <***@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: GMA- Henrich story

     All West coasters! ABC's Good Morning America today (Aug. 5) has a segment
on Christy Henrich in the 8-8:30 slot (eastern time - I don't know if that's
the same for pacific time). It's a good piece, with gym footage, BRIEF
interview with Christy from last year, some pretty scary footage of her at the
fund raiser, and a very good interview with a psychologist. They don't bash gym
(except for maybe that judge who made the callous remark to Christy in '88 -
but that is well-deserved bashing). If you're up, get your VCRs ready!
     For everyone else, sorry I couldn't let you all know too. I didn't know it
was going to be on until a coworker called me at 8 (waking me out of a sound
sleep!) and told me. But I got it all on tape, and can make copies for anyone
who's interested.

Beth

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 05 Aug 1994 02:34:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: ***@delphi.com
Subject: Hello!

Well, glad to find a place with some interesting conversation, USA on Delphi
is pretty poor. Anyone else wonder why the entire Women's team at GWF was
from Dynamo? Steve made some cute comments to the press along the lines of
"we're all set for the '96 games, all I need to do is find 2 more gymnasts
to fill out the team." Incredible.
And I believe the proper term for a 3 1/2 twist forward is an Andy (the full
names for the twists being rudoulph, randolph and adolph for 1 1/2, 2 1/2,
3 1/2 respectivly.) Never heard of a "raymond". I tried to look this up, no
luck.
I believe a "jonah" is a tramp term for a jump to 1/2 turn and back flip,
similar to a cuervo. I also believe the convention is:
for a front flip, turn in the first 1/4 of rotation = jonah
                  turn in the second 1/4 (head going down now) = barani
                  turn after the second 1/4 = front 1/2
Thats how I remember it.
Schedule for US Classic:
Thursday 8/4  training
    11:00am - 5:00pm    regions 1-8
    5:00pm - 7:00pm     International AND National Elites
    7:30pm              Coaches meeting and competitive draw

Friday 8/5 Compulsory and training
    8:00am - 10:00am    Open training, Sr. International
    10:00am - 12:00pm   Open training, Sr. National (warm-up gym)
    12:20pm - 2:05pm    Jr. International Compulsory
    4:35pm - 6:20pm     Sr. International Compulsory

Saturday 8/6 Optional and training
    8:00am - 10:00am    Open training, National Elites
    12:20pm - 2:05pm    Jr. International Optionals
    4:35pm - 6:20pm     Sr. International Optionals
        (Times may change if 3 sessions are needed)
Sunday 8/7 Optional
    11:20am - 1:05pm    Jr. National Optionals  
    3:35pm - 5:20pm     Sr. National Optionals
Kerri competed at our zone meet last month and looked GREAT. She also had
her own coaching staff, Murial, Geza, and Artur. Since when did the National
Coaching Staff start taking on private students? I realize that Kerri is a
valuable member of our National Team, etc. BUT doesn't this raise some
serious questions about affiliation of the National staff with a single
gymnast?  If these people are her "coaches" now, does everyone here believe
she will actually be treated the same as other athletes on our National
Team? I think this sets a dangerous precedent, the potential for bias seems
pretty obvious. And please don't tell me she is coached by the staff at Gym
World, they didn't even bother to send a coach. I liked the idea of a
National Staff that was unaffiliated and there to help coaches and their
gymnasts, not a staff out coaching their own gymnasts. Hmmm... Am I being
paranoid?
But she still looked GREAT!!! Round off layout 1/2 vault, drilled into the
floor, stuck solid. 1 1/2 piroutte to piked Jaeger and full out, double
layout on floor, beam was conservative (3 layouts, double back) in WU she
threw more. Great physical shape.
Catch you all after US Classic. Great conversation here,

And I find the "hostility" somewhat refreshing, at least people are not
afraid to speak up here.
Ben Corr
BJCORR@Delphi.com   

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 17:45:49 EDT
From: <***@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Men's AA

Well I am majorly bummed. I wanted Misyutin to win SOOOO bad. Or at least
to medal. Shabayev is my favorite Russian, but I thought Misyutin was cleaner
overall and deserved the bronze. Just what is it with Grigory and these
bizarre falls from p-bars (remember Birmingham)? Well, I hope he doesn't get
discouraged and will be in Dortmund and Sabae.

Beth
>
> You had better hope for more than just Misutin to clean up, but that there
> is a team, since Dortmund is a team competition and they won't be letting
> individuals in.
>
>    Yeah, I know, but surely Ukraine can field a team, don't you think? I
mean, they still have Korobchinsky, Sharipov, Marinich, Shamenko and Yermakov,
plus Misyutin, so there's 6 right there, and I'd guess there are others we
don't know about. I was thinking that maybe the reason they didn't send a full
team to Goodwill is $$$. Plane tickets within the ex-USSR cost the average
citizen about 3 months' wages! We know the Ukrainian Federation is in a lot of
trouble financially, so I'd think if they had to choose between Goodwill and
Dortmund, they'd save up for Dortmund. Maybe they kept the other guys home so
they could work on training and nurse some of their injuries. I don't know who
the head coach for the men is (I think Ostapenko has taken over the women's
program), but I think the coaches should follow Arkayev's lead and get Reebok
or some other big company to sponsor them. I would really hate to see Ukraine
disappear from int'l gymnastics, since it has so much talent on both the men's
and women's sides.

Beth

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 16:09:03 EDT
From: <***@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: NPR report on Henrich

     This morning no fewer than FIVE coworkers independently told me that
National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" had a short commentary on Christy
Henrich's death, sports and eating disorders. I, of course, didn't hear it,
since I don't get up at 6 am! But evidently they said Christy was 55 pounds
when she died, and there was some kind of analysis of how the average weight of
gymnasts has decreased drastically between the 1970s and now. Anyway, I called
NPR and it is possible to get tapes and transcripts ($12.50 and $10,
respectively - and transcripts are available on Nexis). So if anyone is
interested, call NPR at (202) 414-3232 and tell them you'd like the "Morning
Edition" for Aug. 4. If you specify that you're mainly interested in the
Henrich segment, I think they'll send you something about where to find it in
the cassette or transcript.

Beth

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 17:26:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: ***@netcom.com

Subject: Rudi

>
{...}
> I have never heard of a name for a front with four and one half twists.


Its called "WHOA ! AWSOME !"

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994 10:30:12 -0500 (EST)
From: <***@indiana.edu>
Subject: Rudi

On Thu, 4 Aug 1994, Texx wrote:

> >
> {...}
> > I have never heard of a name for a front with four and one half twists.
>
>
> Its called "WHOA ! AWSOME !"
>
I think we should call it a Rufus.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 17:23:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: ***@netcom.com

Subject: russian sportmanship

The chinese have been giving us a good runn lately.
So their guys blew it this time !
So WHAT ?

I was MOST disapointed in the Russioan's remark about "weak teams".
Hey, he should be glad the Chinese didnt send a herd of "studs" to
blemish the record of "soviet technique"....

Really, I thohgt the Russians were better sports than that.

Chinese have been kicking our butts for a couple years.
Sooner or later their studs were gonna age out of the sport leaving them
with a "greenhorn" team.  It happens and not only in sports.

YOu have a magic chemistry on a team, be this sports, scouts or even business.
Sometimes the mac~ric core all retires at once and the rest of the team has to
make up for this vacum.

I cant believe the Russians couldnt see this and breathe a sigh of relief
that they will have a year or 2 before the chinese become a problem for
them again.


INDEED !

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 22:38:56 BST
From: ***@ic.ac.uk
Subject: Shannon & vault

 
> My reference was to Piskun's *very* blunt, very public assessment of Steve
> pulling Shannon from vault finals.

I see. I've got the quote on my wall (That IG article is currently a poster
on my wall). 'We know Shannon was out because she does not have a good
second vault. They just wanted to keep her name up in the winners category.'

It seems that Nunno is still using the same tactic if he's going to pull
Shannon out of Dortmund...

Sherwin

< Piskoun is so cute >

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 22:10:33 EDT
From: <***@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Sports Illustrated

     First, thank you Debbie for the info! SI has been so bad about covering
gymnastics that it never would have even occurred to me to look at it. (Am I
mistaken, or did they totally ignore the Brisbane Worlds?) It really is a shame
though that it took a death for them to pay attention to gymnastics...

Beth

------------------------------

Date: Fri,  5 Aug 94 00:24:00 UTC
From: ***@genie.geis.com
Subject: Sports Illustrated Article

The current issue of _Sports Illustrated_ (Aug. 8) has an article entitled
"Dying to Win", which covers Henrich's career and battle with anorexia.
Quite a sad story, with everyone blaming everyone for her death.
 
Debbie
 

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 05 Aug 94 01:52:46 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Texx's Chinese 'Studs'

>Sooner or later their studs were gonna age out of the sport leaving them
with a "greenhorn" team.  It happens and not only in sports.

>I cant believe the Russians couldnt see this and breathe a sigh of relief
that they will have a year or 2 before the chinese become a problem forthem
again.

I was under the impression that the Chinese 'studs' were home preparing for
the Asian Games...

Mara

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 17:49:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: ***@netcom.com
Subject: ukraine

Elizabeth spoke of the expenses involved in the Ukraine fielding and moving
a team.

Things in the Ukraine look bad.  Ever heard the expression
"Left holding the bag " ?  Thats their predicament.

Read the current national geographic about the ukraine and the legacy
of sickness & death left by the USSR via pollution.

The Ukraine inherited Chernobyl.  They are really cash strapped.
The legacy of Chernobyl costs 40% of their anual national budget.

USSR was rather casual about where they dumped their poisonous trash.
Be it radioactive or just toxic chemicals.

Ukraine has far worse problems than fielding teams.

It will take them years to clean up just the chemicals left behind.
The concrete holding up the protective shield around the destroyed
chernobyl #4 is crumbling.  If it falls, the shield will collapse
and the radioactive dustcloud will poison the area all over again.
The lid of #4 is tettering on the edge (yes the reactor is still wide open the
explosion blew it is up in the air) and if it falls, it could cause the rest to
cave in.  We now know that #4 really did do a full fledged melt down.
Units 1,2 & 3 are timebombs waiting to go off.
(#2 is offline right now due to nasty fire awhile back)

Energy needs are so severe they must risk another explosion just to keep the
nation running.

Bu it is to "HOT" to go in there and fix the supports eitjher.
Some of the engineering magazines around the house talk alot about it too.
(3 civil engineers in the family is wild)

Im getting away from gymn here, but Ukraine has BIG trouble on their hands
and I highly doubt they will be able to afford to continue much of any
sports program if things get any worse.  They have 1 advantage & 1 only.
Life there has always been tough, and they are tough enough to plug along at
their problems no matter how long it takes.  Someday they will suceed.

They can use all the best wishes for success that you can muster.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 22:24:40 EDT
From: <***@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Ukraine

     Texx is definitely right about the economic problems being caused by
Chernobyl. But I THINK it will be receiving economic aid from international
agencies and other countries to make sure the radiation can be contained. After
all, it is in MANY countries' interests not to allow another nuclear accident
to occur there. Radioactive dust and fallout does not stop at national borders.
In fact, even though the Chernobyl accident occurred in Ukraine, Belarus
actually suffered the worst radioactive contamination. I believe the Mogilev
area (hometown of Svetlana Baitova and newcomer Rudnitsky) was one of the
hardest hit. Minsk was also affected. Kiev actually fared much better than many
Belarusian cities because of the way the wind was blowing. Before the USSR
broke up, there was a nationwide program to help clean up Chernobyl. I think it
still exists. Russia is not doing so well economically itself, but it provides
Ukraine and Belarus with economic aid.

Beth

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 22:57:11 BST
From: ***@ic.ac.uk
Subject: Women in Men's AA

I was watching the Men AA and noticed the following things regarding
the female gymnasts in this event, don't know if you guys saw these...

- Shannon Miller and Jennie Thompson were sitting in the stands,
  wearing NBC T-shirts and chewing gums and shouting 'Go USA!',
  looking very relaxed.

- Dina Kochetkova and Oksana Fabrichnova were looking rather silly
  waving those mini Russian flags around. Dina had her hair down
  which was a sight I always love to see of any gymnast! They were
  looking so normal sitting in the crowd which reminded me that they
  are human after all...

- Grosheva was sitting with Kochet and Fabs but later went to chat
  up some Russian guy after they'd finished their routines (Nemov?).
  They seemed to be discussing their trouser wear...

- Piskun and Chusovitina were engaged in quite a involved discussion...
  Piskun especially was waving her arm and hand a lot, trying to make
  her point on something.

- Bican and Loaies were sitting together watching the meet... well
  they just sat there really, not very interesting at all...

- Khorkina was wearing a jazzy black top, looking rather groovy.

Just some bits.

Sherwin

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 04 Aug 94 18:41:22 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Women in Men's AA

>Grosheva was sitting with Kochet and Fabs but later went to chat
  up some Russian guy after they'd finished their routines (Nemov?).
  They seemed to be discussing their trouser wear...<

Actually Grosheva was sitting with that mysterious 5th Russian boy (anyone
got any clues?) who had been on the floor during team comp. and they looked
rather cozy eh? God I feel old. Nemov came up to talk to them after he was
done with FX and knew  he'd won.

Susan

------------------------------

End of gymn Digest
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