gymn Digest Sun, 24 Apr 94 Volume 2 : Issue 113

Today's Topics:
(spoil) 2nd day, all scores
Belenky and Boginskaya
horse specialists
Men's AA (2 msgs)
Men's AA & Women's EF Comments
Milo's Dance, Dawes' BB, etc etc
Mo's UB Trick (3 msgs)
More comments (2 msgs)
NCAA Women - event finals
NCAA women - event finals - complete scores
NCAA Women - Team finals
Oh One Last Thing...
Video Taped?? PLEASE!
Women's AA comments (2 msgs)
Worlds results now at PSU

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

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Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 12:14:32 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: (spoil) 2nd day, all scores

Scores via AP:

MEN

Vault
1. Vitaly Scherbo, Belarus, 9.674 points.
2. Li Xiaoshuang, China, 9.618.
3. Yeo Hong-Chul, South Korea, 9.600.
4. Ivan Ivankov, Belarus, 9.481.
5. Yoo Ok-Ryul, South Korea, 9.356.
6. Masanori Suzuki, Japan, 9.275.
7. Murat Canbas, Turkey, 9.225.
8. Grigory Misutin, Ukraine, 9.187.

Parallel Bars
1. Huang Liping, China, 9.775.
2. Rustam Charipov, Ukraine, 9.612.
3. Alexei Nemov, Russia, 9.575.
4. Evgeni Chabaev, 9.550.
(tie) Ivan Ivanov, Bulgaria, 9.550.
6. Vitaly Scherbo, Belarus, 9.525.
7. Jung Jin-Soo, South Korea, 9.487.
8. Lee Joo-Hyung, South Korea, 9.450.

Horizontal Bar
1. Vitaly Scherbo, Belarus, 9.687.
2. Zoltan Supola, Hungary, 9.537.
3. Ivan Ivankov, Belarus, 9.550.
4. Chainey Umphrey, United States, 9.487.
5. Csaba Fajkusz, Hungary, 9.450.
6. Aljaz Pegan, Slovenia, 9.275.
7. Boris Preti, Italy, 9.225.
8. Jari Monkkonen, Finland, 8.950.

WOMEN

Balance Beam
1. Shannon Miller, United States, 9.875.
2. Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukraine, 9.737.
3. Oxana Fabrichnova, Russia, 9.712.
4. Nadia Hategan, Romania, 9.687.
5. Lavinia Milosovici, Romania, 9.675.
6. Dominique Dawes, United States, 9.650.
7. Qiao Ya, China, 9.212.
8. Julia Stratmann, Germany, 8.650.

Floor Exercise
1. Dina Kochetkova, Russia, 9.850.
2. Lavinia Milosovici, Romania, 9.837.
3. Gina Gogean, Romania, 9.762.
4. Shannon Miller, United States, 9.687.
5. Yelena Piskun, Belarus, 9.675.
6. Dominique Dawes, United States, 9.662.
7. Mo Huilan, China, 9.462.
8. Svetlana Chorkina, Russia, 8.487.

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 16:52:31 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Belenky and Boginskaya

>Aw, heck, Susan. That's not love--that's HORMONES! ;-)

I never said it was "love" just a crush....and what guy (stuck in the middle
of nowhere - or 45 minutes from Moscow, it's roughly the same thing - working
out 8 hours a day) wouldn't get into a hormones twitter with Bogie around
esp. comparing her to the other "little girls" running around Krugloye. She's
the closet thing gym has to a sexpot... (and Julia Volpe) :-)

Thanks for your support even if you don't always agree with me (it would be
soo boring if everyone did!!)...Actually, "gymn" has been very nice to me.
I've gotten so used to being verbally beaten up at meets ("Hey Commie that
Russian Girl took a hop"...actual quote from '92 Am. Cup about Kozlova vs
Zmeskal...of course Kozlova did a double but hey who's to nitpick?). I was
actually smacked with a flag in Indy for refusing to give Kim a standing O
for her team FX (those pointy eagles on top hurt!). God Bless America...land
of the closed minded. Yeah I'm bitter and cynical...but those are my GOOD
points!

Susan

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 18:46:42 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
Subject: horse specialists

Does anyone realize that in 1981, Doug Keiso (Northern Illinois) won NCAA
horse without dismounting to a handstand. He was the last champ to do
this until last night.

WHAT A MEET!!!

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 18:53:20 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Men's AA

Scattered impressions:

Scherbo falls once, screws up rings and still places 3rd? (Nice middle pass
on FX, though; at least some variation on the front tumbling theme)

Front tumbling sux (well, cheap overrated front tumbling does; double fronts
or double twisting layout fronts are ok).

Fashion no-no's: the Christmas look from Ivankov, Scott Keswick's parachute
shorts.

HB compulsory: wrong-grip Endo, Kovacs, layout double-double

Belenki's V, almost off the podium: I've seen people fall off the podium
twice, and I hate to say it, but it's kind of funny.

Do men ever get deducted for bending their knees at the start of a tap on HB?
I found the routines generally kind of sloppy.

Maybe part of the reason men's gymnastics can't shake the "wus" or "fag"
image in the US is the Soviet men kissing each other on the lips.

Why does Bart C. pronounce planche "plange"?

Chechi is God (on rings anyway!).

I loved the part of the '50 Worlds when they said gymnastics is about "well
mannered muscles." How apt! :)

-- Gimnasta

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 21:13:04 -0400
From: <***@wam.umd.edu>
Subject: Men's AA

Just wanted to say that I did not agree with your comment on Soviet
men kissing each other on the lips.....that is common place for that
country

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 20:09:55 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Men's AA & Women's EF Comments

In 37 minutes of Men's AA coverage they showed almost twice the performances
of the Women's AA which took up 54 minutes. More people and more interesting
routines were shown (though Voropaev and Ivankov could have been featured
more since , they did after all, go one two). Ohmygawd Alexei...what have you
done to your hair? Did he lose a bet? Men shouldn't have bangs as a general
rule anyway and it's particularly sad considering he is SO good looking as a
general rule. Also, in the really bad leos department... Ivankov's red pants
(they blinded the judges and his PH was the best we saw). The guys should NOT
wear colored pants as it totally distracts from their line. Igor
Korobchinskii get's "cutest gymnast" award even though at one point he used
to be able to do the most stunning p-bars and now he crosses his feet during
his Healys though the routine was awesome in content at least (major run on
sentance). Also, Ukraine finally got a leo that wasn't electric in
nature...Yippie! Sorry, about my earlier post that said Voropaev's
Kovacs-hop-Kovacs was in combo...only repeating what Nance said...must have
misunderstood her. Overall the men looked pretty lackluster...very
depressing. The fact that Scott bombing as usual placed that highly is proof
enough of what a bad men's meet this was.

Oh wow does Russia own the rights to the layout Pak Salto or what?
Fab...Khorkina is such a giant...great line. Luo Li is definitely not "Lu
Li". Will the Chinese never cease coming up with better and more interesting
UB sets? She blew my mind (as did Mo). Too many cool things to mention
individ. Kochetkova has the greatest double layout (and that Pak Salto I
mentioned earlier). Standing on bars is BAD!!! Svetlana you're 5'4" why the
cheap transitions?

Miller was clean but her difficulty was only so-so...esp. since we know what
she can (or could) do. She was the only one to stick though & I hate how much
that seems to be worth nowdays. No one is more extended than the Pod!
Fabrichnova grew what 8" in the last year? I barely recognized her! I can't
believe that she can still fit all that stuff on the beam. The cradle is so
cool. She get's the fastest layouts award...they were a blur. Very clean,
very extended... overall the Russian girls are miles ahead (as a team...there
are other good indivds) of anyone else in the form & overall presentation
department...something that was not true last year. They look way more "Sov"
now. <big sigh of relief> Milos may have the ugliest composition ever on her
BB set though her line has improved (but that's thanks mostly to a growth
spurt) her choreography is atrocious! She's tall enoughthough for her middle
pass of FF layout FF layout to be very impressive. The last layout is almost
a Gainer. Yet another Chinese (split leap punch front...awesome) won this
event but for the fall...Li Li fell of on some dumbass thing like a full in
qualifying.

Milos has the best tumbling of the meet (she flips, she twists, she does
foreward landings, and puch fronts)... Dawes' does have good tumbling passes
but the "dance" (I HATE to call it that) is such an insult to "Carmen".
She's so spassy. Jumping and bouncing like she's got a bee up her butt with
no apparent notice of her music what-so-ever. Just drives me insane (gee
could you tell?)! Shannon's routine was so simple (even those relatively
simple passes are not well done like at least she did the easier stuff on
beam well) and it's just getting so old... I hate to think what would have
happened if she hadn't gone OB. ..a medal for that would have been real sad.
Only when you're 14 and 4'3" can you do Mo's dance...cute as a button...and
I'm not a big fan of "cute". Also the most difficult Chinese tumbling I've
ever seen (even if she didn't hit it here). News flash...Piskun got a good
leo! She & Dina were the only one's to have 4 passes and Dina's double layout
was super clean. Her (Kochetkova's) dance was awful..good form, great double
lay, bad dance...gold medalist...I just don't know...if only Milos landings
had been cleaner. No one really impressed me here.

How come when Dawes misses a vault it's "bad luck" and when a gymnast from
another country makes an error it's due to "lack of concentration"?

I wonder what national anthem the Belarussian team had this time?
Did you know that the one we heard so much of (with those weird flitty
sounds in the middle - 7 of 'em we counted) in Barcelona was NOT the one used
in 1993 when Scherbo won (he didn't really seem to notice)...

Okay You can Let Me Have It Now,

Susan

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 16:53:06 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Milo's Dance, Dawes' BB, etc etc

When I said that Milos was better in dance I meant than Shannon (and the few
others we saw) and her own past sets. She's at least trying to be
artistic...she IS Romanian so that's pretty darn tough. I saw Yulia Yurkina
go up after Dawes (BTW they use the same FX music only Yulia can dance her
brains out...tumbling on the other hand is kinda a problem...but she is
stunning!) so she was there. Poor Yulia not even the top 30!! Ah the horror.
A double layout mount (esp. from someone as old and tall as Milos) with a
triple twist dismount and a 2 1/2 to punch front middle pass is way way WAY
more impressive than a pike full-in, front full front punch front etc set.
A short landing on a double layout should be worth as much as a stuck landing
on a double pike due to the difficulty diff's. I'm so sick to death of seeing
our beautiful and complex sport being reduced to nothing more than "stuck
landings." It's the bow on top not the entire present! If they have a fab set
and stick...awesome. If they have a fab set and throw every trick in the book
and take a step...just as awesome. C'mon, Shannon is a good gymnast (as is
Gogean) but B-O-R-I-N-G! Her tricks are pretty hard and done with reasonably
good form but two minutes after she's done you're going "What she do?" She's
utterly forgettable. She has zero presence and personality (see "IG" diary
from last year...and that was after they asked her to spice it up!!!!!!).

I don't have major probs with her winning (though I can't fully say
considering we didn't see the bronze medalist but if her other sets were
anything like her bars...). Milos was gifted on BB and her UB's were just
so-so. Miller was handed vault & FX scores on a silver platter it's 6 of one
half dozen of the other if you ask me...though what Milos did well she did
better, or at least with more emotion, than Miller.

Dawes vault...Yeah I know a fall and roll is still only a .5 dyed. (I also
know that judges don't get paid it was a snide remark on my part as to how
much the US is bribing them). There should be additional deductions for form
breaks and loss of control...at least those things used to count. Dawes BB.
Thank God, she didn't get the gold!!!! Her content is good but her
form...Ohmygawd...It couldn't be worse if she tried (at least I hope not!).
Never a pointed toe, or a moment on revele (up on her toes), never a
straight leg (those flip-flops!!!! You could drive a semi between her
legs...) I know I've said this before, and I will undoubtably say it again,
where the hell are the form deductions?

Oops, looks like my prediction came true and Pegan missed his Gaylord Barani
out. What is in the water in Slovenia (besides asbestos)? These are guys are
nuts. First the guy in '92 with the Kovacs full (no really) and now
Alejaz...what he was too scared to go backwards?

Yeah, Brett and I noticed right off that Gogean has recycled Silivas's
routine down to the dance (not there was any of that in Daniela's sets)

Trivia fact...did anyone else that get's "Technique" notice that they had a
section called corrections and they spelled "corections" wrong. (create your
own snide comment here...it's just to easy to waste my considerable talent at
put downs on)

That's enough for now...I'm sure after EF I'll be ranting again so look
out...

Susan

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 16:51:50 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Mo's UB Trick

Hey, it's a Gaylord not a Kovacs. A Gaylord is a double FRONT over the bar
and a Kovacs is a double BACK over the bar. Did anyone else notice that she
also managed to POINT HER TOES!! To see an outstanding new skill like that
done is incredible but to see it done so well is beyond belief!!!! As for her
connections...They're probably harder for her than the Gaylord what with her
being 4'3" and all (and I thought Lu Li's Hecht was the highest I'd ever
see!). I have no problem what-so-ever with her score. In comparision to
everyone else she was starting from a 15.0 and they deducted accordingly!

Also on the subject of UB connections...I noted that last year many otherwise
amazing UB workers were using a stand on the low bar to make their HB
transition. I know it's legal and all but it sure is ugly!!!!!!! Kotchetkova
has no excuse anymore either since she's grown so much since last year. It
really kills an otherwise awesome bar set!!

Susan

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 17:17:18 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: Mo's UB Trick

Susan (and Gimnasta) pointed out that:
| Hey, it's a Gaylord not a Kovacs. A Gaylord is a double FRONT over the bar
| and a Kovacs is a double BACK over the bar. Did anyone else notice that she

Sorry...

For those new to Gymn, just thought I'd note that Mo's been throwing
her GAYLORD on bars for a little while now... she introduced it
internationally at the Jr. Pacific Alliance, in Australia (hmmm...
guess she defies the reputation of "down under"), in December of last
year. (It was December, right?)

This Lu Li looked to be a different Lu Li from the Olympics, but I
couldn't quite tell. What's the verdict?

| Also on the subject of UB connections...I noted that last year many otherwise
| amazing UB workers were using a stand on the low bar to make their HB
| transition. I know it's legal and all but it sure is ugly!!!!!!! Kotchetkova

I remember Fabrichnova in particular using this transition. I don't
like the skill particularly either, but I still really liked
Kotchetkova's routine. Yeah, there were form breaks, but it was just
so different from all the rest that it was a really nice treat.

Rachele

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 19:13:05 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Mo's UB Trick

>This Lu Li looked to be a different Lu Li from the Olympics, but I
couldn't quite tell. What's the verdict?

Looked like a different Luo Li to me. Also, the routine was 99% different
than the other Lu Li's. Stobi, any comments?

Mara

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 15:20:29 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: More comments

Lori:
>BTW - Does the Yurchenko half off - layout front vault seem like a
much easier way to earn a 10.0 start value than a double twist?
>It seems everyone is using it.

Yes. Make that YES. You can always tell the easiest way of scoring as high
as possible by noting how many gymnasts do a skill.

Rachele:
>How
in the world can a judge afford to take a week off and judge a Worlds
>if she doesn't get any compensation for it?

Federations do pay for travel, and maybe some can do more to help their
judges attend. I don't really know (haven't judged anything I had to travel
to yet; I'm only a baby judge <g>).

On more of Rachele's comments, I too thought there were a lot of
less-than-clean-sets (including Kochetkova's bars, however. I mean, I did
like her, but she wasn't totally clean, and she does that horrible transition
standing on the LB, which I *despise*). And the supposed artistry is just an
embarrassment around real dancer types.

I'd like to agree with all those who said Milosovici looked uninspired on
floor.

I'm acquiring a new appreciation for the fact that Shushunova landed a
Yurchenko 1-1/2 regularly.

Robyn (and Rachele):
> Kovacs (is that the right name?)

Actually, it's a Gaylord (a Kovacs goes the other direction, out of back
giants).

More later (after TV)!

-- Gimnasta

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 18:20:29 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: More comments

gimnasta said:

>and she does that horrible transition
standing on the LB, which I *despise*)

I agree completely!!! It's bad enough watching 10 year olds do it, but a
world bronze medalist??? It should be banned unless a skill of value is done
immediately out of it (Rhonda Faehn did a stand on the hb to an immediate
double-twist off).

Mara

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 10:37:40 +0800
From: ***@Eng.Sun.COM
Subject: NCAA Women - event finals

Ahh, a much more satisfying evening. The soccer fans for the
most part stayed at home, and the format and ambience were very
conducive to watching some good gymnastics. Seeing how everyone
competing was by default a specialist (or incredibly lucky),
pretty much everything you saw made you say "Wow!" (just like
John Tesh ;^)

Vault

1 Jenny Hansen (Kentucky) 9.9375
2 Suzanne Metz (Utah) 9.8000
3 Agina Simpkins (Georgia) 9.7875
3 Katie Freeland (ASU) 9.7875
5 Tina Brinkman (ASU) 9.7750
6 Chasity Junkin (Alabama) 9.7625
6 Kim Kelly (Alabama) 9.7625

Never mind that Simpkins and Freeland both had nicer vaults than
Metz, Jenny Hansen clearly deserved to win this one. Her two
vaults (HS front tucked with 1/2, HS front piked with 1/2) were
head and shoulders above everyone elses. That piked vault looks
pretty tricky, by the way. And, even though some might argue (me
included) that it's harder to land a front, than to twist, a HS
front with a twist sure is nicer to watch. For this reason I'm
glad she chose to twist both of them.

Bars

1 Beth Wymer (Michigan) 9.950
1 Sandy Woolsey (Utah) 9.950
1 Lori Strong (Georgia) 9.950
4 Kim Kelly (Alabama) 9.900
5 Kristen Guise (Florida) 9.875
5 Aimee Trepanier (Utah) 9.875

Three-way tie for first. The three all had very nice bar sets,
but scoring everybody high shows its weakness here. Surely
somebody had a nicer set than the rest. But If everybody is
saturated at the top, and you're afraid to give out tens because
that would make the scoring look too easy ;^), well, what do you
get? A three-way tie for first. Strong, to me, showed the best
form of all (although she took out the "Strong" for reasons she
described in the press conference. It's pretty obvious, really:
it's kind of risky and she could substitute other stuff in to
keep the starting value a 10.)

At any rate, they were all nice routines, and the winner would be
the one who the judges thought made the fewest bobbles and/or got
full value for their elements. Everyone was happy (especially
Beth Wymer, who was the defending champion with Agina Simpkins of
Georgia). My favorite dismount is the laid-out double, which
Strong does. The full-in may be just as hard, but it looks kind
of busy.

Kim Kelly's mount (back somi over the low bar to grasp) was my
favorite mount and made everybody go "Ooooh".


Beam

Such a scary event, especially to music by James Taylor ;^)

1 Jenny Hansen (Kentucky) 9.975
2 Beth Wymer (Michigan) 9.900
3 Kristen Guise (Florida) 9.875
4 Agina Simpkins (Georgia) 9.825
4 Traci Crover (OSU) 9.825
4 Chari Knight (OSU) 9.825

Jenny Hansen didn't give the judges any choice but to give her
the gold. She went up first and nailed it without a hitch. If I
had been one of the others I would have refused to go up (I think
Deep Purple did this when Led Zeppelin opened for them in '68.
Where was I?) At any rate, the scores were all nicely
differentiated. It's very easy to see any bobble on beam when
it's the only event and everybody's watching you perform to James
Taylor. Chari Knight was probably the sentimental favorite, this
being her last beam (weep). She had some trouble on her dismount
and had to take a step or two. Still, I tried to soak it all up
to make a tape loop in my mind for when I want to envision beauty
or don't have anything better to do ;^)

Floor

1 Hope Spivey-Sheeley (Georgia) 10.000
2 Kim Kelly (Alabama) 9.975
3 Tina Brinkman (ASU) 9.950
4 Becky Ervin (Auburn) 9.925
5 Jenny Hansen (Kentucky) 9.900
5 Suzanne Metz (Utah) 9.900
5 Aimee Trepanier (Utah) 9.900
5 Megan Caudle (Utah) 9.900


I had the feeling that if Hope nailed her set she would take it.
She did and did. Then she got a standing ovation and started to
cry. It's really sad seeing a lot of these women leave. But
what are you going to do?

Chari Knight (9th, 9.850) had the unenviable task of going first
after having gone last on the event before. She was still
breathing hard before her routine. Kareema Marrow (12th, UCLA,
9.400) had the only fall, which is a pity, because she is one
excellent tumbler (*Beautiful* double layout mount, full-in,
double back piked dismount, couldn't quite pull it around.) Man,
it takes guts to try to pull that pike around at the end when
you're breathing heavy. I could kind of tell on her approach
that she didn't quite have the speed to pull it off. Still, it
was one of my favorite routines.

Tina Brinkman, wow, she is crazy. Tons of difficulty and you get
the impression that she may be a little crazy, which is scary.
Hide the kids! She might tumble on them! Suzanne Metz, in
contrast is very precise and incredibly elegant. Kelli Wolsey
has Shannon Miller's floor music, which is disconcerting because
it's just a *little* different in spots.

And that's about it!

-George

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 10:39:52 +0800
From: ***@Eng.Sun.COM
Subject: NCAA women - event finals - complete scores

Vault
1. Jenny Hansen, Kentucky, 9.9375.
2. Suzanne Metz, Utah, 9.8.
3. Agina Simpkins, Georgia, 9.7875.
3. Katie Freeland, Arizona St., 9.7875.
5. Tina Brinkman, Arizona St., 9.775.
6. Chastity Junkim, Alabama, 9.7625.
tie Kim Kelly, Alabama, 9.7625.
8. Amanda Turko, Oregon St., 9.6625.
9. Karen Nelson, UCLA, 9.5375.
10. Missy Wells-Taylor, Utah, 9.425.

Uneven Bars
1. Beth Wymer, Michigan, 9.95.
tie Sandy Woolsey, Utah, 9.95.
tie Lori Strong, Georgia, 9.95.
4. Kim Kelly, Alabama, 9.9.
5. Kristen Guise, 9.875.
tie Aimee Trepanier, Utah, 9.875.
tie Kara Stilp, Alabama, 9.875.
8. Kelli Wolsey, Utah, 9.825.
9. Amy Myerson, Florida, 9.725.
10. Renee Runyon, Oregon St., 9.2.
11. Tina Brinkman, Arizona St., 9.175.

Balance Beam
1. Jenny Hansen, Kentucky, 9.975.
2. Beth Wymer, Michigan, 9.9.
3. Kristen Guise, Florida, 9.875.
4. Agina Simpkins, Georgia, 9.825.
tie Traci Crover, Oregon St., 9.825.
tie Chari Knight, Oregon St., 9.825.
7. Missy Wells-Taylor, Utah, 9.775.
8. Aida Canovas, Louisiana St., 9.6.

Floor
1. Hope Spivey-Sheeley, Georgia, 10.0.
2. Kim Kelly, Alabama, 9.975.
3. Tina Brinkman, Arizona St., 9.95.
4. Becky Erwin, Auburn, 9.925.
5. Jenny Hansen, Kentucky, 9.9.
tie Suzanne Metz, Utah, 9.9.
tie Aimee Trepanier, Utah, 9.9.
tie Megan Caudle, Utah, 9.9.
9. Chari Knight, Oregon St., 9.85.
10. Meredith Willard, Alabama, 9.825.
11. Jennifer Wood, Louisiana St., 9.55.
12. Kareema Marrow, UCLA 9.4.

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 09:46:22 +0800
From: ***@Eng.Sun.COM
Subject: NCAA Women - Team finals

A million apologies if this is not timely. The computer I was using
in Utah crashed sometime Friday morning. Still down. Had to wait
until I got home to gain access to a computer. The miracles of the
information superhighway!

Ahem, at any rate, here are the team standings:

Place Team Vault Bars Beam Floor Total
1 Utah 49.525 49.325 48.300 49.250 196.400
2 Alabama 49.050 49.350 48.950 49.000 196.350
3 Georgia 49.325 49.275 48.075 49.175 195.850
4 Michigan 49.125 48.400 48.950 48.675 195.150
5 UCLA 49.350 48.250 48.450 48.925 194.975
6 Florida 48.775 48.275 48.975 48.825 194.850

Given the intensity of the scene at the Huntsman Center on the
Utah campus, it was hard to focus on good gymnastics. However,
here are a handful of

* Highlights

Alabama's UB - Highest bar score of the night. They looked to be
kicking butt over there, sticking everything in sight. Stephanie
Woods' set was especially beautiful; long and elegant, fully
extended on her giants. Kim Kelly's (remember her?) was equally
graceful. And she was like glue on her piked double dismount.

Utah - The women smelled the comeback trail. Even though they
clearly had the fans and momentum (and, some might argue, judges)
in their corner, it takes a lot to stick after coming so close to
elimination the night before.

Florida's Beam - Highest beam score of the night, as was the case
the night before (48.875). I didn't realize they were such a
good beam team.

UCLA & Michigan - To come in 4th and 5th in the nation is sweet.
UCLA is starting to show consistency from year to year. And for
Michigan to waltz in off the street to take 4th at nationals is
phenomenal.

And these two teams were really having a good time. They weren't
expected to take first so they could just go out there and
concentrate on hitting their routines. That's the way it should
be in the first place.

Georgia - Defending champion is an unenviable position.
Especially competing in "enemy territory" (Utah will surely feel
this next year.) Georgia had some trouble on beam and had to
count two falls. That was it right there. It pretty much came
down to that. Seeing how it was their last event, and Utah was
on floor, well, you can just imagine what that scene was like.
Factor in the nagging feeling that some of the judges seemed to
have it in for the team, and it's amazing that they came so close
to winning at all!

Which is a perfect lead in for

* Lowlights

The crowd - As Gomer Pyle would say, "Shame shame shame!" What
an ugly crowd on Friday. It was a football crowd, not a
gymnastics crowd. There's no excuse for cheering when somebody
falls off beam (Leslie Angeles of GA.) What an embarrassment.
It makes me glad that men's gymnastics is "unpopular" if
popularity means packing the auditorium with a bunch of people
that neither know nor care to know anything about gymnastics.
That's the sort of attitude to expect when people get too into
the scoring. "Only a 9.95? Get a life, judge!!" A National
championship would be a perfect time to highlight the beauty of
gymnastics, the tremendous virtuosity and skill. Not cheering
when someone from another team falls off beam! I thought that
the Utah crowd would have been above that sort of thing.

The scoring - Can't really point fingers here. I guess it's
inevitable. There really is such a thing as a home court
advantage. Judges are human and they tend to be influenced by
crowds and conditions. It might have been the same way had the
championships been held at Alabama or Georgia. Last year's in
Oregon had the advantage that the home team didn't make finals,
so things were pretty neutral. This year, the Utah scores seemed
consistently high (now, mind you, I'm no judge, but I know
something about the code of points.) The scoring for the rest of
the teams seemed pretty good, except Georgia's, which always ran
lower than I anticipated. A tenth here and there. It adds up.
When the championship is determined by .05, well...

Speaking of scoring, why have a ten point scale if you're only
going to use 1.5% of it? I thought the new rules were supposed
to fix this. It's crazy. They've got to do something about NCAA
women's scoring.

Oh well, enough about that. I congratulate this year's NCAA
women. They're all winners. I'm in the midst of some fine
gymnastics. Saturday's session promises to be very rewarding.

Yours in Gymnastics,

-George

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 17:03:56 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Oh One Last Thing...

As for "the common folk" really enjoying ABC's coverge. I contend that if you
don't know anything then you'll be just as happy to see whatever they show.
If you don't know about Olga or Kim or anyone then you won't miss seeing
their flashbacks. No country but ours deals in such high production values
when it comes to sports and the rest of the world seems to roll along just
fine. In Japan, the most technologically obssessed country in the world, the
occasional interview and replay is the extent of "sidebars" and these always
occur AFTER the comp. has concluded. They get to see just about everybody on
just about every event and usually it's live or as close to it as they can
get due to time lags. That way you can judge, with all the facts, who should
or shouldn't have won and how fair it is or isn't. The ABC coverage is geared
towards making the ignorant believe that the US is the greatest thing since
sliced bread when it comes to gym and they only show things that coincide
with that view. They believe (I hope wrongly) that American's will not tune
into a sport that they're not the best in...I hope that they're
underestimating our intelligence (if not our - my - ability to spell)

Susan

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 16:37:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: ***@sas.upenn.edu
Subject: Video Taped?? PLEASE!

My TV reception for the ABC world's is TERRIBLE! I can make out a giant
here and there, and thats about it. Is there ANYONE out there who has
recorded the worlds (Both days)? I will be more than willing to send a
video tape, pay the postage and all that, I just am asking for you to dub
it for me. Please, I finally get to watch some professionals in action and
all I can make out are that some things are less fuzzy than the others.

Desperately,
GLENN

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 12:39:12 +0800
From: ***@Eng.Sun.COM
Subject: Women's AA comments

Rachele writes:

I'll bet that's the first time that many Gymners have seen Olga's
full routine (only the second time I have, the first time being on
the ABC tape).

What a bunch of young whippersnappers you are! I remember seeing this
on ABC way back when they first brodacast it! It's what got me into
gymnastics (apparently a lot of other people, too.) I remember right
then and there jumping into my horse and buggy and riding into town
so I could spread the news...

;^)
-George

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 18:43:05 -0400
From: ***@cykick.jvnc.net
Subject: Women's AA comments

George writes about Rachele's observation that yesterday's ABC's coverage
may have been the first that many have seen "Olga's full routine":

>What a bunch of young whippersnappers you are! I remember seeing this
>on ABC way back when they first brodacast it! It's what got me into
>gymnastics (apparently a lot of other people, too.)

I remember it too - and what ABC showed yesterday was NOT the "full
routine." There were actually one or two tricks before "the big moment"
where ABC picked it up yesterday.

BTW, I've never received an answer to my long-held question, "Whatever
happened to Gordon Maddux?" Is he still alive??? For those who don't know
but watched yesterday, he was the one who replied to Jim McKay's question
"has it been done by a girl before" exclaimed: "Not by any HUMAN!"

Helena

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

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 13:31:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: <***@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: Worlds results now at PSU

I've put all of the results from the latest Worlds on our ftp/gopher
site. Sometime later today or this week I will do the same for the
NCAA scores...

Rachele

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

End of gymn Digest
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