gymn Digest Sat, 25 Jun 94 Volume 2 : Issue 139

Today's Topics:
Brandy Johnson returning? (2 msgs)
Canadian Tumbling and Tramp Natl's televised
Charlotte, NC Sale
Hi guys! (2 msgs)
NBC on US vs Romania
tramp and tumbling nationals
Women's Team Trials Info...

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

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Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 20:18:32 18000
From: ***@freenet.scri.fsu.edu
Subject: Brandy Johnson returning?

At gym practice today a coach told me that Brandy was making a
comeback.I REALLY don't know if this is true,but I'll be going to Brown's next
Wednesday.I'll find out what is or isn't happening.Has anyone
else heard about this?

Thought you might want to know,

Billy

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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 06:48:03 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Brandy Johnson returning?

Not to argue with my dearest Billy (He gets so huffy when I do ... And what
*are* you doing up at this time young man? Don't you have a job or
something? Aren't you supposed to be making me tapes?) since he's only
repeating what he heard but Brandy's done this one before. It's one of those
things that sounds like a good idea until she realizes the problems involved.
Her age, lack of training, etc. In early '92 she got inhalfway decent shape
and did some exhibs and then thought "Gee this is fun maybe I'll get back
into it." Once in the gym she realized that it wasn't really such a good idea
after all...too much work to do in too little time with too old a body (for
Int'l class gym that is). Brandy and Wendy have remained close friends from
what I understand and I assume this idea comes from the time both have
recently spent in the gym. I doubt that anything will come of it. Of course,
Wendy came back from injury in '92 to be better then she ever was before
(though as I stated at the time of Kim's announcement injury comebacks are
far different then coming out of retirement in my book). After seeing her
miserable performance in the American Cup that year (I lived in FL at the
time and she was being heavily hyped as the hometown gal for months
beforehand). I predicted that she would never make the Olympic team. At the
trials it appeared my prediction would come true when she came off beam on a
tour jete; a move she missed far more than she ever made and she didn't
really need in the set so why the hell she ever had it in was beyond me. I
did root for her there (far better her then Amanda) and she came back
powerfully on floor to make the training team and I knew they'd take her over
Kelley (Kim apprently was the only one on Earth that was unaware she had a
snowballs chance in hell of making that team) at least as alternate. She'd
get to move mats, see Spain, and call herself an Olympian...a pretty happy
ending considering her career as a whole. Then, as we all well know, Campi
pulled out...Wendy was suddenly in (much to Bela's chagrin I think and
anything that makes the big guy squrim is a-okay in my book though I'm a big
Michelle fan) and she hit cold...quite easily having the meet of her life at
the best possible moment. Almost all her scores counted (even on beam!)
towards the team bronze and no matter what Tim and Elfi said - they were
unduly harsh - (yes *I* Susan just accused someone of being too harsh...the
irony kinda' gives you chills doesn't it?) Wendy was one of the brightest
spots on the US team. She easily had the best form and overall body line on
the team not to mention one of the best and seriously underscored FX compo's
of the games.

Brandy is my favorite ever US gymnast (Michelle's great but she's just never
been able to get out there and show her stuff fully). The poor girl (Brandy)
was cursed with a body far below her skills and form (too stocky) but she
produced some great stuff for the US...the '89 silver vault medal being just
a part of it. She's probably the only ever US vs USSR American AA winner that
I could make even half a case for her actually deserving it. She even
overcame her horrible disco floor music (and total lack of flexibilty) to be
a pretty decent dancer. At least she didn't use her power to quite trying to
be stylish. Despite her lack of consistancy in important meets I'd say that
she was under-rated internationally or maybe just under-hyped nationally (she
had the wrong coach...silly girl...what was Kevin thinking wasting valuable
media ranting time working on her form, presentation, and gymnastics
skills?). Her 10th place AA at the Olympics in '88 was not only well deserved
but unfortuantely totally overshadowed by Pheobe's less amazing and slightly
default (IMHO) beam bronze. I'd say that Brandy's acheivement was a far
greater one overall but hey that's me.

Anyway, was there a point to all this? I don't really remember...it's *very *
late...or maybe just really early...you decide...Oh yeah...

Wendy and Brandy were true assests to US Gymnastics. They were that very
rare quantity ... classy American gymnasts. It would be a shame to see them
humiliate themselves in unsuccessful comeback attempts that would only serve
to tarnish the memory of their previous acheivements.

Goodnight, Good Moring, Goodbye...
Susan

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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 16:56:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: ***@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu
Subject: Canadian Tumbling and Tramp Natl's televised

In a TV Guide I saw a listing for SaT. afternoon CBC coverage of the
Canadian tumbling and trampoline nationals - June 25. I believe it's at 4:30
EST. I shall post again early on Saturday to confirm this time.
Cara

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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 03:36:31 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Charlotte, NC Sale

Found this on the wire services in case we have any NC gymners who may be
interested (never fear Rachele this is only an excerpt from the complete
article)...

Spectator Sports Services, a five-year-old Charlotte screen printing company
licensed to sell souvenirs for all NCAA championships, does most of its
business at game sites outside Charlotte.

But this weekend it's coming home with its first ever tent sale, 8 a.m.-5
p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, at its offices in Merovan Business
Center, 5029 W.T. Harris Blvd., between I-77 and I-85.

Charlotte sports fans will get a crack at buying marked-down T-shirts,
sweatshirts, polo shirts, hats, visors and other souvenir merchandise from
some of the more obscure championships among 21 NCAA events.

How about snow skiing, water polo, fencing and gymnastics? Men's and women's
Final Four items will be available, but, heck, you can find those just about
anywhere.

Susan

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Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 23:30:46 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Hi guys!

It's me! I'm not resubscribed :-( ; just posting some news.

Nationals here (Puerto Rico) are this weekend. The boys do compulsories
tomorrow (Fri) but I'm not going to that. Optionals are Saturday. The girls
aren't doing compulsories any longer b/c it doesn't look like they're going
to be needing them before 1997, when compulsories cease to exist. In other
words, they aren't going to Dortmund, Sabe, or even Argentina for PanAms.
The precipitous decline of the girls' team continues and looks like it'll
hit rock bottom right around '95-'96 by which time the current seniors will
have retired. The EF Worlds hit town Apr. '96, so maybe that will help as
the '79 PanAms did (having had the '93 Central American-Caribbean Games here
may help as well; it's a little early to tell). The boys are doing fine, but
it's a lot of the same ol'; I don't know whether there are any good prospects
for the future (I hope to find out Sat.).

Onto more exciting news... a men's qualifier for Dortmund will take place
here the first week of July, before the PR Cup. Maybe everyone already knew,
but I just found out yesterday. The US has its slot, so the competition for
the remaining four will be Canada, Cuba (if they show, and if they don't the
whole thing will be moot, I guess, unless the newspaper misreported
something, of which there is a high probability), Mexico, Puerto Rico, and
Argentina. I'm under the impression that this qualifier is being held as a
consequence of some controversy, but I'm unclear as to what that was or how
it originated (what I was told was premised on some assumptions that
apparently have turned out to be wrong, for example, that there were only
four slots for everyone including the US, so I won't say anything further
until I find out exactly what this was about. Maybe the paper was wrong and
it's just 3 slots besides the US. ? ).

I'll post Sunday if anything interesting happens Saturday.
:)
Adriana

PS
Hope everyone's well. I'm fine. My job's fine. I'm not thrilled to death
(except on payday), but it's interesting.

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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 07:00:08 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Hi guys!

>I'm under the impression that this qualifier is being held as a
>consequence of some controversy, but I'm unclear as to what that >was or how
it originated

I think it was that the Dortmund Worlds started out to be a little worlds
...6 teams qualifying in via continental quailfiers but they never took
place. Next idea...they then thought that they would take the top 12 teams
from Indy...Another no no with no more CCCP. Now we're looking at 24 teams
with the top 6 going into finals (god knows how that's being done but I'm
sure it will be totally unfair as eliminating any team on the basis of compo
or optionals alone is a travesty of justice). Only at the last FIG congress
(April) were all the plans finalized and agreed on more or less and many are
still unknown to us teeming masses. Though the ultra organized DTB can
probably handle it better than anyone else.

Susan

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Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 02:34:01 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: NBC on US vs Romania

I found this (well Debbie found it first by the looks of her post :-) on the
AOL gymnastics board and thought I'd pass it along. David Michels is the guy
who produces all gymnastics features for NBC...including the Barcelona
Olympics (I had a friend who worked there and said all those John Tesh
"little girl's from across the ocean come to dance in the Olympic games"
intros were his idea) ...

Just checking in with you online maniacs regarding TV coverage of the US vs
Romania meet on June 19. I have always enjoyed online criticism of our
attempts to televise gymnastics.

Having produced the gymnastics in Barcelona and every NBC event since, I am
curious about what everybody thinks.

Remember, we are not responsible for any actions taken by ABC.

Thanks,

David Michaels
NBC Sports

Posted by Susan

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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 15:18:26 -0600 (EST)
From: ***@indiana.edu
Subject: tramp and tumbling nationals

Is anyone following the Trampoline and Tumbling National Championships?
If anyone who reads this lives in the Moline, Ill., or Davenport, Iowa
area and gets the newpaper or watches channel 8 news, could you please let
me know if there is an article in the Moline paper or coverage on the news.
My daughter is competing there and she said she was interviewed on T.V.
and had her picture taken for the newspaper. Unfortunately I couldn't
go. (had to work). She's a level 9 gymnast (U.S.A.G.) but her friend
wanted her to compete A.A.U. Tramp and Tumbling for fun this summer.
Her name is Jessamyn Salter, she's 10 years old, competing in the advanced
division and they are wearing bright pink, long sleeved leos. If anyone
sees the picture in the paper, I would get a kick out of having a copy.
(will gladly pay postage) Thanks in advance.....lisa

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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 03:36:44 EDT
From: ***@aol.com
Subject: Women's Team Trials Info...

Stuff gleaned from another newswire story (again only excerpts though quite a
few of them)...

NationsBank today announced that it is bringing the U.S. Women's Gymnastics
World Team Trials to Richmond this fall.

The "1994 NationsBank World Gymnastics Team Trials" will be held Oct. 15-16
at the Richmond Coliseum and feature the 16 best American women gymnasts and
top hopefuls for the 1996 Olympic Games. From this competition, seven
athletes will be selected to represent the United States in the 1994 World
Team Championships in Dortmund, Germany.

"As a sponsor of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games and 1996 U.S. Olympic
Team, NationsBank is proud to continue to bring Olympic-related events to the
Richmond community," said Randolph W. McElroy, president of NationsBank in
Virginia. "We are also hopeful that this event will boost our city's effort
to bring the Olympic Festival here."

The gymnastics trials are expected to feature two-time and current World
Champion Shannon Miller, who won five medals at the 1992 Olympic Summer Games
in Barcelona, the most of any U.S. athlete. Challenging Miller will be
Maryland's Dominique Dawes, 1992 Olympic Bronze Medalist and 1993 World
Championships Silver Medalist.

Also, Amanda Borden and Larissa Fountaine, members of last spring's World
Championships Team, are expected to compete.

Both days of competition will begin and end with exhibitions by 1976 Olympic
Gold Medalist Nadia Comaneci, 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist Trent Dimas and 1984
Gold Medalist Bart Connor.

Tickets for the event will go on sale Monday, Aug. 22, at the Richmond
Coliseum box office and at all TicketMaster outlets. Ticket prices are
$12.50 for single day tickets and $22.50 for two-day books. NationsBank
customers can purchase single day tickets for $10.50 and two- day books for
$18.50.

A portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales will go to support Richmond's
Olympic Festival Bid.

Susan

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End of gymn Digest
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