GYMN-L Digest - 13 Apr 1995 to 14 Apr 1995

There are 11 messages totalling 398 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Picks
2. Hilary Grivach (2)
3. team 96 predictions
4. The Gymn Guru
5. nice Vaults I'ld like to see.
6. World Cup of Gymnastics
7. Springtime/ Guru
8. 1987 USA v. USSR video
9. subscription
10. Need Trivia Qs By Today (Fri) 9PM!!!

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 00:29:59 -0400
From: ***@TIGER.HSC.EDU
Subject: Picks

I hate to ask this, but why does J. Thompson's name keep coming up? She
certainly has the tricks but will she have the form in the next year? [Ok,
ok..we all remember Chelle Stack's beam.....] Amy Chow has tricks that are
just as big.

It is true that no one is a lock; the presence of Miller, Dawes, and/or
Borden can only help in the name recognition sense. All three have established
international reputations. [And any advantage we can get would be surely
appreciated.] I'm not saying that unknowns won't score. Didn't 7 of 8 of M.
Campi's acores at '91 Worlds count towards the team total? And who had heard
of her before the trials? (14th at US Nationals?) However, a name certainly
helps!

What about Jaycie Phelps? If she hits her new skills, watch out. She has 3 E
tumbling passes!!!!! (And they are 'real' E moves. Double front, 3/1 full!)
Plus a couple of D+D dance elements with decent/good
form. 3 layouts of beam, though she is still a little tentative on a couple of
skills.

'96 is still quite far away. The best indication of the Olympic team will be
the '95 World team, and we will see that group in a couple of months.

My only major comment: I hope that everyone has a good couple of meets and
that the US is able to send its best team. People will be disappointed, yes,
but let's hope that there is not the controversy that existed during the last
Olympic selection process.

[My apologies to the gym members from other countries. I'm not sufficently up
to date to comment on the gymnasts from the other countries.]

Julius

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 10:53:26 EDT
From: ***@LEO.VSLA.EDU
Subject: Re: Hilary Grivach

>While Hilary was competing I must admit I thought of her as
>sort of a poor man's Kim Zmeskal. You know in mathematical
>terms she is (Kim Zmeskal) - (whatever redeeming qualities Kim
>might have), like I think once Kim tried to straighten her legs
>or point her toes.. and well, Hilary never did.

>However, since Hilary retired I have begun to see her in a new
>light. SHe was quite the originator. While others tried to
>hide or mask their weaknesses, Hilary flaunted hers. HOw brave
>she must be. While others tried to pretend they were better
>than average, Hillary was strong enough to wallow in mediocrity,
>daring people to find something in her worth watching. Hillary
>was gutsy enough to show us that sheer averageness can almost
>make the Olympic team. What a model for us all.

Hilary was not a perfect gymnast, but she is a human being who
worked hard and was consistent enough to be among the top US
gymnasts a number of times. And yes, I'd like to have a
national team so good that only people with perfect form, lots
of difficulty and originality, plus consistency, could make it;
unfortunately, this is not the case.

There is something seriously wrong with the prevailing attitude
that denigrates efforts that do not reach the top. Every
gymnast starts from a different place, with their own strengths
and weaknesses: physical, social and emotional. How can
anyone but the gymnast know how much effort and sacrifice he or
she has put in to training? If anything less than perfection is
failure, gymnastics will never be a positive experience.

In my opinion, Hilary Grivich had a style and personality, unique
enough to show through mediocre choreography. I enjoyed her
gymnastics, in spite of her weaknesses.

Patrick Kilmer

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 08:18:50 PDT
From: ***@SOL.METAWARE.COM
Subject: Re: Hilary Grivach

> While Hilary was competing I must admit I thought of her as sort
> of a poor man's Kim Zmeskal. You know, in mathematical terms she

I read this group for information, scores, insight, etc. I do not read this
group for completely uninformative and rude comments like this. Please think
twice about filling our mail boxes with this kind of junk mail.

Robin

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 10:38:57 -0500
From: ***@MAIL.COIN.MISSOURI.EDU
Subject: Re: team 96 predictions

> i find it interesting that everyone is 1) prediction the team so early and
> 2) you are all predicting more 'veterans' than 'little' girls. Personally
> i think that the younger girls will by far surpass the older girls within
> the year, and also i think that the 'veterans' shopuld almost give the
> others a chance to be on the team-i mean they have already been there and
> done that-let someone else have a turn!

In regards to that opinion, I feel that predicting the '96 team may be a
little farfetched, but like I have said in the past, it is fun. Who cares
if the ones that are picked make it or not? One can always hope.

Will the younger girls surpass the older ones? Who knows. The older
athletes are more experienced, have been in more competitions, and in
some cases, more mature. IMHO I feel that if an older gymnast such as
Bogie or Zmeskal can outdo a younger one, so be it. The Olympic team is
to be composed of the country's best gymnasts, not necessarily the youngest.

IMO, I would rather see Zmeskal or even Bogie win the AA because they
have been unable to do it in past Olympics. I don't wish to take away
from younger gymnasts; they are the future of the sport. But the thought
of it is pretty cool.

--Michael

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 10:38:01 -0700
From: ***@ENG.SUN.COM
Subject: The Gymn Guru

Hey, I haven't posted this puppy for a while...

-George

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NOTE: This is intended to be satirical and a take-off of the popular
"Emily PostNews" UseNet article. Please realize that this is meant to
highlight what *NOT* to do, and is intended to be educational, yet
^^^
entertaining. And who on Gymn doesn't like to be entertained?

"Dear Gymn Guru"
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Q: I want to unsubscribe? Should I send my request to gymn-l@psuvm.psu.edu?

A: YES!!! Make certain that everyone on Gymn knows that you will be
unsubscribing; we'll all appreciate it. If you send your request to
listserv@psuvm.psu.edu, and include "unsubscribe gymn-l" in the body of the
message, everything will work as it should. You'll probably be unsubscribed
promptly without the whole known universe hearing about it ad nauseum. And
what fun would *that* be?

Q: I sent a post to gymn-l@psuvm.psu.edu, but it bounced back. Do I need
to resend it?

A: As soon as you can! The bounced msgs that you receive when you post
mean that a tiny handful of people did not receive your msg. It's
worth posting to Gymn again and again to make certain that they get it --
the other few hundred won't mind getting the same message repeatedly,
especially if it's a flame...

Q: Somebody just flamed me. What should I do?

A: Why, flame them back, of course! "Flame on - full power"! And the sooner
the better. If you let them have the last word, what's to keep them from
walking all over you? Next thing you know they'll be driving off with your
car and wearing your clothes.

Q: Are there any etiquette guides to follow when engaged in a flame war?

A: I can tell you are an especially insightful reader and appreciate the
subtleties of a good flame war! Flame wars are similar to a good mud fight:
A group hug that keeps us together as one big happy family! And, like
Winston Churchill once said, "The family that flames together stays together!"

The best guidance I can give about flame wars is to keep them going as long
as possible. When the flames start to die down, fan them again. Pick up on
a minor nuance that may have annoyed you awhile back and publicly chastise
the author for it. When all else fails, simply ridicule an elite gymnast,
former gymnast, or coach. Don't worry about hurting their feelings, for
they'll surely never even hear about it...

Q: O Wise Guru, no one really reads Gymn, so it doesn't matter what I
post, right?

A: No one on Gymn really gives a sow's ear what you think, so post away!
We're all here just to blow hot air -- we don't actually LISTEN to each
other; we've got better things to do! Gymn is composed entirely of
people who know beans about gymnastics, so you can pretend to know
everything and get away with it. Gymnasts, coaches, and judges never
EVER read the forum.

-- The Gymn Guru

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This article was based on "Emily PostNews", a UseNet article written
by Brad Templeton which appears on news.announce.newusers,
news.answers, or new.misc. It can also be found via ftp at:
<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/usenet/emily-postnews/part1


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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 15:28:21 -0400
From: ***@PRISM.GATECH.EDU
Subject: nice Vaults I'ld like to see.

Random thoughts about vaulting:


I have to ask this since someone said that there are no moves in the
COP that have not been done. So, I am wondering about the hecht back
vault. This vault was in the COP for along time. I remember seeing it in
the 1979 version! Has anyone seen someone do the Hecht-back salto vault?
I would love to see that, since it might be very inetersting to see.

It's amazing that the hecht can be performed on many events, such as
the bars and h-bar, and people are starting to add saltos to it, but I have
yet to see the hecht back on the vault. It must be a 10.0 value vault.
and it would be a nice departure from the overly abused RO variety and
the newly repopular handspring front vaults.

BTW: More vault trivia. Someone meantioned that they liked
Davidova's "korbut" vault she performed at the Moscow Olympics and the following
Worlds ('81). The last time I saw a female perform this vault was Ma Yahong
in Los Angeles, '84 ( I believe she got a 9.7 due to a slightly wild
landing) and I saw a male soviet gymnast do this at US vs. USSR (1985)
in Worcester, MA. I was not that impressed with this vault as others may
be, since neither of the above gymnast really got much height. Maybe
Yelena Davidova's was different.

I know that some gymnast have done the handspring double twist off. Again,
not much height.

As for interesting other vaults, I really would like to see the
DOUBLE Yurchencko. I haven't; has anyone?

Vault seems to be the one event which lacks originality. It apparently
takes a long time for someone to try something very new.

As for K. Zmeskal, she has done some excellent vaults (Layout fulls),
but I am much more impressed with Gina Gogean's vaulting. She has
power and can do different vaults, as can her countrywoman Milosovic.


Jeff

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 16:24:38 -0400
From: ***@PRISM.GATECH.EDU
Subject: World Cup of Gymnastics

Could someone tell me what happend to the World Cup of Gymnastics,
that nice , every four years competetion. Was there any reason
why it was stopped or is that professional competition that Reese's
sponsors still the same thing. I missed this meet last year.



Jeff

P.S. When are the Europeans suppose to air in the US? Is it early
May? Are they still holding them with the Men and Women at the
same host city?

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 16:09:38 -0700
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject: Springtime/ Guru

Spring has sprung !
The sunshine reflects brightly on the water de-ionization plant,
and the water steams as maintenance scrubs the grids from the air filtration
system's electrostatic precipitators.
Ah, the sweet aroma of isopropanol and acetone.
Through the decontamination chamber comes a fresh supply of glacial acetic acid.
A truly beautiful day down here on the semiconductor fab line.

I was totally shocked to see that indeed George DOES have a sense of humour!
You mustn't keep it bottled up inside you, old boy !

I laughed so hard, I put an elbow through the side of my "Bunny Suit".
Its almost as good as the one about "safe fax" !
Both are true classics !

I MUST take exception to his kidding about a serious issue like flaming.
Flame wars have been a part of the net since the old ARPANET days.
Flaming is TRADITION !
As the DoD say "Live to flame, flame to ride"

Now, in the same spirit of silliness, I have designed a piece of ASCII art.
While waiting for my system upgrade to run, surely a brilliant work.
I have redesigned the gymnastics logo to reflect the true nature of us out here

Arent we all sick and tired of these cute, perfect little 10 scoring brats ?
Since the bulk of us out here on the net are less than perfect
(smoe even less than the rest of us !)
and worse yet -human !
Its about TIME we had a logo for all us REAL people...

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# THUD ! #
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SODA everybody !
And say "ACK" to the /etc/ethers bunny!

Your frindly neighborhood, wacked out UNIX guru,
face down, 9 edge first, roadkill on the information super data highway

-texx
(Brain fried, core dumped)

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 17:28:58 -0600
From: ***@HARRIER.SASKNET.SK.CA
Subject: 1987 USA v. USSR video

Hey everyone,

Anyone out there in the Colorado area or who went to the '87 USA v. USSR
have good video coverage of the meet? I have ABC's coverage but would
like to see all the other routines, in particular Olga Chudina's.

Please email me if you can help, thanks.

Happy Easter,

Dory

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 17:02:13 -0700
From: ***@LAFN.ORG
Subject: subscription

hello :) I'm an eighteen year old x-gymnast who competed in the
sport for a good nine years, three of which I was a member of the JO
National Team. Although my fire to work out in the gym every single day
has burned out. I would still like to keep in touch with the gymnastics
community. I would love a digest subscription please... Thank you
-Adam

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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 20:33:18 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Need Trivia Qs By Today (Fri) 9PM!!!

Just a reminder. If I don't get a bunch more questions, it'll be a pretty
darn sorry trivia set.

Topic: NCAA Championships (Team)

Mara

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 13 Apr 1995 to 14 Apr 1995
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