GYMN-L Digest - 18 Jun 1995 to 19 Jun 1995

There are 12 messages totalling 422 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Mirgorodskaya (3)
2. Budget Invite - Women's Press Conference
3. Euro Cup (Kochetkova and Gogean)
4. Scores (2)
5. Introduction
6. elodie lussac (2)
7. intor
8. Romanian comp.

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 00:06:56 -0400
From: ***@MAGNUS.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU
Subject: Mirgorodskaya

George is right - Anna Mirgorodskaya is one impressive gymnast! Her beam mount
is a jump into a split handstand and then she does a Shaposhnikova planche.
It's really beautiful. And as George said, her bar routine with the inverted
giant into a reverse hecht is really cool. During an interview, she agreed that
bars is her best event, but said she's scared of her difficult elements. You
sure can't tell when you watch her, though! She's coached by her dad Anatoly,
which she admitted was hard at the beginning, but she's used to it now. One
thing I thought was interesting was that her dad wanted her to be a rhythmic
gymnast, so that's what she started out as. But she said she didn't like it,
and so stood up to her father and took up artistic instead, which everyone now
agrees was a good decision. :) One of the Ukrainian men, Vladimir Shamenko, is
also coached by his dad (he coaches the whole men's team). Vladimir also said
it's kind of hard and he feels like his dad is tougher on him than on the other
guys, but that papa is a good coach. At the meet he was a judge, but this
didn't stop him from cheering loudly for the UKR men. And evidently he has a
fixation for the score 9.5, which he gave for nearly every performance that
didn't have a mistake in it! Anyway, that's just a few "tidbits" of info from
the meet. Everything we learned in interviews was for NBC, so I don't want to
post more - the good stories and quotes should be on the broadcast. If not, and
if NBC says it's okay, perhaps Susan and I can post some of the funnier quotes
from the interviews. All in all, I have to say that these Ukrainian gymnasts
and officials were the most cooperative, friendly, patient, pleasant and sweet
ex-Soviet or Soviet athletes I've ever dealt with. Seems the breakup of the
USSR has really loosened them all up. It was great to see so many smiles from
them all (with the exception of Yermakov, who avoided interviews like the
plague, so we couldn't find out too much about him. But maybe he was just
having a bad day). Everyone else, although they may not have been thrilled to
be interviewed, was talkative and full of smiles, laughter and even jokes
sometimes (but perhaps they were just laughing at me and Susan...). In any
case, they were a great group and seemed to be having a wonderful time,
especially at the banquet. That goes for the US girls too. As fellow Gymner
Alix very aptly put it, Joan Ryan should have been there to see that. These
girls (Ukrainians and Americans) were having a great time exchanging gifts
and getting out on the dance floor, etc. They did not look like tortured
unhappy little girls to me, that's for sure!

Beth

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Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 22:26:37 -0700
From: ***@ENG.SUN.COM
Subject: Budget Invite - Women's Press Conference

Attendees - Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes

Q: Dominique, could you assess your performance today? Tell us about the
things you wanted to work on?

DD: I felt really good about my second vault. That was one of my best
vaults in a long while. I needed to get a new vault in there. Bars
were a little shaky. I think that my Endo was a little close. Beam I
had quite a little bit of errors and didn't do my real dismount, so I
lost a little bit there. And that was the first time I ever completed
floor. It felt pretty good but I need a little bit more performance.

Gymn: How long have you been practicing your new floor routine?

DD: I guess when I first came off my injury, that's when I started my
new routine and that was about the end of February.

Q: You need a little more "performance" on the floor?

DD: Yes. Meaning like smile more?

Q: Were you nervous doing the new routine?

DD: I was a little bit but I need to just go out there and try my
best. I enjoyed it.

Q: How come you weren't smiling?

DD: I don't know. I guess because I never smiled at all in
Maleguenia. I haven't really smiled at all in two years. And it felt
as though I was smiling, but I guess I'll have to work on that.

Gymn: Amy, did you feel any added pressure with the meet being here
in San Jose, or was it just another meet?

AC: It was a lot like Oakland, where everyone was cheering for me.
(Couldn't make out the rest.)

Q: Did that affect your performance either way?

AC: Um, no.

Q: Maybe you can give us a quick rundown like Dominique did about how you
felt your strengths and weaknesses were on various events.

AC: Well my first vault wasn't too high but my 2nd vault was a lot
better. And I have to work on the landing. Bars were pretty good.
Beam I had one wobble. Floor some of my passes were short.

Q: What do you think did it for you today? Was there one event you felt
really good on and (something)?

AC: (Pause) No. (Laughs)

Q: This was a new floor routine for you as well? How long have you been
working on it?

AC: A few months.

Q: You had no trouble smiling?

AC: No. (Laughs)

Q: You've been doing gymnastics since you were three. Does it feel like
a long time that you've waited to showcase your talents? (Can't make
out the rest of the question.)

AC: Well my goal here was to hit all my routines.

Gymn: Question for the two of you. Do you feel the pressure of '96
coming along? (Can't believe I can't make out the rest of my own
question.)

DD: Not really. Right now my goal is to do well at Nationals, USA
Championships. So really I don't feel any pressure from '96 right
now. I'd like to go in trying a lot harder since now I'm in 2nd going
into Nationals and Classics. So now I have to work a lot harder.

AC: Not really. I'm trying to take it just one step at a time.

Q: How did it feel performing in front of your home town crowd? Were a
lot of your friends here?

AC: (Laughs)

Q: It sounded like it.

Q: Amy, was this not your first all-around title?

AC: As a senior...

(Ramonna answers away from the microphone.)

Q: After the first event did you feel that it was going to come down
between your to already? You came on elbowing each other. Did you
feel that that was the way it was going to stay all day? Did you
sense something like that, that it was going to be a battle to the
end?

DD: Well, I went into the competition thinking and knowing this was
about winning against Ukraine and not competitors in the U.S. That
this was an individual and also a team competition. But, I enjoy team
a lot more, putting the team first.

Q: Dominique were your wobbles on beam, was that just concentration?

DD: I think it was. I was having a little bit of trouble with my
series. Double turn and my leap pass in the workout a tiny bit and I
think I just wasn't concentrating and focusing as much as I should
have been.

(Question about whether Dominique was nervous or relaxed during the
floor.)

DD: I was trying to act as if I was really relaxed but I went into
that routine pretty nervous.

Q: And Amy your floor routine was new. How new is it? Was it something
you got together over the last couple months?

AC: Yeah, the first time.

Q: The first competition for it? How was that? How did you feel?

AC: I think it went pretty well. I still need to improve some of my
dance.


-George

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 09:40:25 BST
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: Euro Cup (Kochetkova and Gogean)

Just for completeness, I've found out Kochetkova's scores at
the European Cup womens AA:


Pos. VT UB BB FX Total
9. Dina Kochetkova (RUS) 9.643 9.800 9.350 9.775 38.568


- Gogean's fall off beam was actually off a jump after a front somi.
One of her foot just slipped off the side. Her flick series on beam
was only a flick into layout. Think she didn't do the second layout
ever since she hit her head on the beam at Dortmund.

Sherwin

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 08:17:03 -0400
From: ***@PHARM.MED.UPENN.EDU
Subject: Re: Scores

I think the lowest score ever thrown at a meet was a 0.00. It was at the
Farmingdale Invite in Dec. 1986, for Marcelo Ribero, (brazil). He went to
do his vault, and ended up standing on it, then he proceeded to jump off.
Very strange indeed.

Mayland



>It was mentioned in the E. Cup EF that Belenki scoed a 2.000 on high bar.
> Does anyone know the lowest score (besides a zero) ever earned in
>gymnastics? Did Belenki get it? Thanx.
>Anne =)

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 08:18:56 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Mirgorodskaya

> As fellow Gymner
Alix very aptly put it, Joan Ryan should have been there to see that. These
girls (Ukrainians and Americans) were having a great time exchanging gifts
and getting out on the dance floor, etc. They did not look like tortured
unhappy little girls to me, that's for sure!

I doubt she would waste her time on anything that didn't fit her preset
hypothesis.

Mara

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 07:57:01 CST
From: ***@CCLINK.NET.UOKHSC.EDU
Subject: Re: Introduction

Dear Ameera,

I know you have a right to your opinion, and I am not the one to try
to change it. But I will not stand and let you talk about Bart the way
you did.

Bart might not be competing in gymnastics but he is not a has-been. He
performs in shows all over the world, granted that high difficulty is
not there, and people pay to see him.

Bart remains the most condecorated man in USAs gymnastic history, he
didn't win a medal. Bart won many medals in Olympic, World,
International, and National competitions.

Besides gymnastics performance and competitions, Bart has a gym (The
Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy) that trains all levels of gymnastics,
from recreational to high level gymnastics. Many of our male gymnasts
have graduated from high-school with gymnastics scholarships to
colleges around our nation.

Bart has remained level headed, he treats people with respect and
kindness, and he is great with children. And children like him very
much. Bart always has a smile for everyone and he has a great sense of
humor.

My son started gymnastics when he was 5 years old and he approached
Bart and told him that he wanted to be better than Bart. Ever since
then, my son and Bart had a very nice relationship that helped my son
grow up to be a great kid (he is now 16). When he quit last year, Bart
and Paul (Bart's coach) were quite concerned, together with me and my
son's life coach. Now that we came to the realization that my son is
not coming back to gymnastics, they still welcome him and are very
supportive of the new sport ventures my son is trying.

I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like a has-been to me.
It sounds like a great human being to me.

Now you have the right not to like him, and I'm not trying to change
that. I just thought I'd let you know that he is better than most
people I know, even if he had not won any medals.

Ligia.

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 14:38:51 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Mirgorodskaya

The Ukrainian gymnasts I thought were very nice! They were willing for a time
to sign autographs and while the mens competition was going on I was lucky to
be sitting right behind the Ukrainian womwns team! They were very supportive
of their teamates. I thought they were great but were at times underscored.
Emily

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 18:58:10 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: elodie lussac

I was just wondering what has happened with Elodie Lussac. Her name used to
be mentioned all of the time, and now I never see it in IG or anything. Is
she injured or just not doing as well?
Courtney

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 09:21:37 -0400
From: ***@TSO.CIN.IX.NET
Subject: Re: intor

Hi there!
While I do agree with our newcomer that most commentators on Sports coverage
tend to sound like babbling idiots, I disagree on a few of them. Bart Conner
is one of the few comentators (male and female alike) that can call most
of the skills, competitors, and coaches with some measure of acuracy.
Personally Cathy Rigby is the one I found most irritating. I mean really,
to end her speech of every routine with "You can't get much better than that!"
as the gymnast stumbles back a few steps, does tend to grate on my nerves.
Bless the inventor of the "mute" feature. As far as Dick Button goes, he
does a very good job with what I believe is the only comentatitng he does,
which is skating. If he has ever comentated for gymnastics, I have not seen
it.
Just my opinion.
TTYL,
Liz

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Date: Tue, 20 Jun 1995 01:53:11 BST
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: Re: elodie lussac

> I was just wondering what has happened with Elodie Lussac. Her name used to
> be mentioned all of the time, and now I never see it in IG or anything. Is
> she injured or just not doing as well?

According to _Gym Stars_, Elodie was complaining about a sore back at
the Dortmund Worlds. After she returned to Marseilles,she was diagnosed
to have a compression fracture of the vertebrae, and had to be put in
plaster. She was supposed to wear a back brace until April (This was the
March issue) and will need a further two months of rehabilitation before
she can return to gymnastics full time. We will have to wait and see whether
she makes the French team for the Sabae Worlds.

Sherwin

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 20:55:22 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Romanian comp.

What was the name of the 3-nation competition held in Romania this past
weekend? I found these results in the sports dept. on AOL:

W AA
1) Alexandra Marinescu
2) Lavinia Milosovici
3) Nadia Hatagan, Andrea Cacoveanu

W Team
1) Romania
2) Australia
3) Britian

Sorry if info was already posted--I checked back mail but couldn't find
anything.

Ann Marie

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Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 21:24:16 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Scores

>It was mentioned in the E. Cup EF that Belenki scoed a 2.000 on high bar.
Does anyone know the lowest score (besides a zero) ever earned in
gymnastics? Did Belenki get it? Thanx.<

At Pan-Am Games in 1987, I *think* I remember a US gymnast (Kevin Davis?)
scored something like 0.5 (or maybe it was 1.5) on FX. I think he just did a
ro ff (he had an injured ankle). Maybe someone with IG's handy can check
that.

:)
Adriana

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 18 Jun 1995 to 19 Jun 1995
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