GYMN-L Digest - 3 Aug 1995 to 4 Aug 1995
There
are 13 messages totalling 414 lines in this
issue.
Topics of the day:
1. THREE PER COUNTRY RULE
2. Nationals
3. OK, here goes! (2)
4. Rhythmic in
Midwest?
5. Gymnastics
books
6. And now for something
completely different.
7.
University of Utah Women's GYMNASTICS
8. Request For Trivia Questions; Subject: "He/She
should have but for..."
9. world championships
10. Japanese Gymnast Re-Arrested
11. Three per country rule
12. Bela's Book
"Feel No Fear"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 09:39:38
CDT
From: ***@UA1VM.UA.EDU
Subject:
THREE PER COUNTRY RULE
It's easy to trash this rule, however the US
wasn't the gymnastics power it
now is and this
rule allowed for more diverse representation. I think that
it helped to do that. You have to consider the historical
and political
context in which the rule was
established. It was also the cold war, too.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 14:37:12
-0400
From: ***@ZEUS.TOWSON.EDU
Subject:
Re: Nationals
The
Georgia Dome is a very large place indeed.
I saw a Falcons
game,
and it is a quite impressive structure.
Gymnastics is not the only
sport happening
there. The Dome will be split in
two. The other half
will showcase the current Dream Team in Men's
Basketball.
> I bet that they will be using the whole floor. You
know, the OLympic
> Gymnastics will be held in
the "Georgia Dome" where I believe they
> will
be using the whole floor. (Dome was where Super Bowl was played a
> few years ago and is where the Atlanta Falcons play, in case
you were
> wondering about how big it
was.)
>
> Jeff
>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 14:41:40
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
OK, here goes!
Greetings fellow Gymner's.
I have only been
around this sport for three years professionally, I am
a
working photojournalist, a coach in training, parent of gymnasts both male
and female. I have had the priviledge
to photograph, interview and socialize
with some
really neat people.
I must finally say though that
"gymnastics is more political than politics"
I have already
been
included in some of the gossip and other stuff that seems to follow
every young athelete from gym to
gym....You know, telegraph, telephone, tell
a
gymnast! Yes, it's true I am a
journalist, I have taken those hard core
shots of burning human beings, dead bodies etc. I'm a
photojournalist........but, No it's not true that I have a hidden
agenda,
and I am getting ready to launch yet
another blow to this sport.....again I
am not
writing a book, or selling images to those that are.......I take
gymnastics photos because I like to!.....It's a
challenge...and I even helped
create a board so
that others may enjoy my artwork..........
I don't,
can't and wont stand up for those who have came before
me.......I too,am hurt by the
constant attacks by the mainstream media.
I
honestly feel that this sport should be
reported with one thing in
mind.......These atleletes are the kids next door, the ones who are
"self"
sacrificing, honest, loyal,
highly talented young people, that have dedicated
themselves
to something that they believe in....gymnastics..............
I also want to say that I
have personnally never met a former gymnast
that was so up-set over their experiences that they talked
about things like
abuse, blamed this sport for an
eating disorders, or acted in any way other
than a
positive manner. This leads me to
believe that there has been a lot
of stories
sensationalized by all, both media and those of us in the sport.
. I think if we try we can repair the
damage that others have
caused........We could
open a line of communications by reminding all gym
owners
and parents that the press will write what you tell them..and If you
supply them
with positives, sooner or later those positives will be reflected
in their articles.
I am not writing this post
as an attack on anyone that has posted their
opinion on this board either........This is a good
forum.......This forum is
an example of how we can
further the publics knowledgw of our sport. I post
this
because of the distrust that has developed between the gymnastics
community and the public.........We have to improve this
relationship......If
we don't who
will?....................The press will probably continue to
publish those stressing shots of our gymnasts.....but we can
help by showing
that we are a open and these
stories, if not down right false, are not
examples
of the sport as a whole.......
Lori and I have started PunchFront Magazine on-line and we want your
opinion as to what we can do to better the
sport?...................We have
no hidden
agenda...sure we would like to make a living but who doesn't? We
can only publish what you tell us......If the doors are shut
before they ever
open then its not only us who
lose but the entire community............
Thanks for the time........
Yours in Gymnstics,
Jim.......
.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 15:44:43
-0400
From: ***@FREENET.CARLETON.CA
Subject:
Rhythmic in Midwest?
Does anyone know of any rhythmic gymnastic events
coming to the
midwest? I am in St. Louis and would like to
attend one.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 15:57:00
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Re: Gymnastics books
The book about Kim Zmeskal
is a biography, meaning someone else wrote it
about
Kim. As far as I could tell, Kim
had no involvedment in it. It is
called
"Kim Zmeskal: Determination to Win", and is
written from previously
published articles and
interviews. It is basically one big
footnote with no
new info. However, it is a nice thing for us Zmeskal fans to have, as it is
a
very complete record of her career and has some good pictures. My copy was
backordered
by the company, so I got one autographed by the author.
Bela's
book, "Feel No Fear," is good, too, but it's not the kind of thing
a
lot of bookstores have on hand (at least not
where I live), but you can
always order it. I had to, but it was worth it!
Ann
Marie
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 12:33:10
-0700
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject:
Re: OK, here goes!
>
> Greetings fellow Gymner's.
>
{...}
>
> I am not writing this
post as an attack on anyone that has posted their
>
opinion on this board either........This is a good
forum.......This forum is
> an example of how
we can further the publics knowledgw of our
sport. I post
> this because of the distrust that has developed between the
gymnastics
> community and the public.........We
have to improve this relationship......If
> we
don't who will?....................The press will probably continue to
>
publish those stressing shots of our gymnasts.....but
we can help by showing
> that we are a open and
these stories, if not down right false, are not
> examples
of the sport as a whole.......
>
> Lori and I have
started PunchFront Magazine on-line and we want
your
> opinion as to what we can do to better
the sport?...................We have
> no
hidden agenda...sure we would like to make a living but who doesn't? We
>
can only publish what you tell us......If the doors
are shut before they ever
> open then its not
only us who lose but the entire community............
>
> Thanks for the time........
>
> Yours in Gymnstics,
>
> Jim.......
.
Nice idea, how bout styarting with
debunking the myth that mens gymnastics
is a "pansy" sport ? Mens
gymnastics will never get far til we outgrow
that
bad image. Mens
gymnastics will always be the first mens sport cut
until
it gets a decent image, meets draw better
crowds, people demand the sport
more (they will if
it had a better image) and last of all for the spoorts
directors to realize that a gymnast who has had his sport
cut and is pissed
enough, couls
actually rip the innards out of the athletic director just as
fast as a pissed football player.
My only concern
is that being an online thing, most of your readers wopuld
already be sympathetic
to the sport, and that it might not reach the people it
needs
to in order to save our sport in this country as we know it.
Good luck !
-texx
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 16:19:14
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Re: And now for something completely different.
If a country has 4 of
the top five gymnasts in the world, why should number 4
be
subordinated to number 25 from another country? Is this affirmative
action for gymnastics? Reducing the field of excellence to
make it "fair"?
Do
you agree with lowering the SAT scores to reflect more "diversity"
among
those with a perfect score also? Is the
purpose of "world" and "Olympic"
competition
to pre-craft winners by having them compete against a "fixed"
playing field, or to showcase the world's best, most
accomplished athletes?
This limiting the field is a way of thinking
that transends competition into
a preconceived ideology, and is not suited for true
competition at world
class levels.
Thanks
for the soap box!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 16:27:34
-0400
From: ***@YFN.YSU.EDU
Subject:
University of Utah Women's GYMNASTICS
Does anyone know anymore about
this poster? My sister Kathryn
wrote to the UofU, but received no
reply.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hey,
if you like girls gymnastics, I have access to the #1 team in the
U.S. University of Utah. Talk about erotic. A billboard of one of the
girls was actually banned in Utah. Truth.
---------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 15:50:53
-0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject:
Request For Trivia Questions; Subject: "He/She
should have but for..."
I am soliciting trivia questions for
another trivia quiz. The subject, which
i have selected solely for interest and novelty, is
"He/She should have but for
...", which reflects the dissappointment
of a gymnast who should have finished\
higher ion
the placing, or won, had she/he not had mad a mistake. We
hear about these all the time, so lets test our knowledge.
Example questions
are as follows:
1)
When she hopped her double twist FX dismount out of bounds, this
gymnasts
hopped right off the 1988 Olympic
Team. Who is she?
Ans: Kristie
Philips
2) When she lots her grip on bars at the 1979
worlds, she also fell out of the
medals into
fourth place. Who is this gymnast?
Ans:
Maria Filatova.
I hope these questions
give you an indication of what I am looking for in the
trivia
quiz. Please send me all questions with answers. I wil
post these
as soon as possible depending on the
volume of responses I get.
Thanks.
Jeff
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 17:43:19
-0400
From: ***@PHARM.MED.UPENN.EDU
Subject:
world championships
Hello
I threw together a quick homepage, still have a few wrinkles to iron out,
but the information is available. Rachele has
not linked Gymn to it, but I
have
linked it to gymn, so..., and it is not registered or
anything like
that, but here is the URL if you
want some info.
Personally, the best part was just having a map to see
where the heck Sabae
is
located, and it is up there.
http://www.med.upenn.edu/~pharm/worlds95.html
Mayland
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 18:52:32
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Japanese Gymnast Re-Arrested
The following (severely edited) was
reported today by the Japanese Kyodo News
Service:
"Former
Olympics gymnast Satoko (Okazaki) Eto,
34, has
been arrested for
alleged possession of illegal
stimulants . . . police said Friday . . . one
month
after she was convicted of using illegal stimulant drugs at a friend's
home and sentenced to a suspended 18-month prison
term."
The News Service indicated that Eto
confessed the stimulants belonged to her.
It went on to say:
"She
became the first junior high school student to win the national
championship in vault competition. At age 15 she represented
Japan at the
Olympic Games . . . in 1976 but
retired . . . two years later."
posted
by Mara
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 18:42:36
CDT
From: ***@UA1VM.UA.EDU
Subject:
Three per country rule
First of all, is there someone who subscribes
to this list who is old
enough to accurately
recapitulate the events that led up to the institution
of
this rule? I know this rule was not in affect at the '74 Worlds in Varna
but was in effect at the '76 Olympics onward. Second, does
that make the fact
that Linda Methany
was fourth on beam in the '68 OLympics and Cathy
Rigby won
a silver medal on the beam more relevant
that the bronze medal won by Phoebe
Mills in the '88
Olympics? Third, does this mitigate the fact that Shannon
Miller won
the silver all-around in '92? I always had a hard time with the
constant trumpeting that was done after Mary Lou won the
Gold in '84. Only
after I saw her in exhibition
did I finally feel maybe she would have had
some
kind of impact if it was a non-boycotted Olympics? Does anyone have an
opinion. Finally, Does anyone know whatever happened to
Natalia Kuchinskaya.
She first made an appearance in the '66 Worlds at
Dortmund. I think she was
second all-around, third
all-around at the Mexico City Olympics, and I never
saw
mention of her again. I saw a note that she was struck at the peak of
her career. At an '89 exhibition, I put this question to one
of the Soviet
coaches and he had no answer. Does
anyone? (Struck down at the peak of her
career due
to illness)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 18:54:57
-0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject:
Bela's Book "Feel No Fear"
Since
the topic has popped up again (and we have so many new members since
last year), I thought it might be an interesting idea to
re-post my 'review'
of Bela's
book "Feel No Fear."
Enjoy!
;-)
Mara
***********
Date: Mon, May 16, 1994 11:49 PM EST
From: MaraEL
Subj: Book
Review: Bela's
Autobiography
To:
gymn@mit.edu
I got my hands on a copy of Bela's
book, "Feel No Fear," and have been
reading
it. Some of it (in terms of his memory) is unbelievable. According
to
him:
Mary Retton barely edged out a Sov for 85 Am Cup (the Sovs
skipped Am Cup
that year)
Kim Zmeskal was the 1991 DTB Cup AA Champion (I thought she
skipped 91 DTB
and was 5th in 1990)
Zmeskal was the 1990 Paris winner (wasn't she 2nd to Bogie?)
Kerri
Strug came to train with him just after the 88
Olympics, and (implied)
he developed her. The
"6-pack" of 1989 was Strug, Zmeskal, Grivich, Uherek,
Scherr, and
Stokes. Apparently Kelly Pitzen did not exist.
The Romanian girls won the
1972 Friendship Cup (Team). A
picture *in the
book* contradicts this, showing
the Romanians second to the Soviets
Brandy Johnson
retired/accomplished nothing after she left him in late 1988
(apparently a
World silver medal doesn't count)
Kristie Phillips was being coached
by Don Peters at the 88 Nationals where
she
"was disasterous" and placed 9th (she had
been back with Bela for 3
months
by then - he coached her at the US Classic 6 weeks before Nationals
and claimed to have gotten her back into form - I attended
that meet).
The US *led* East Germany after compulsories in 1988. The business with
Rhonda Faehn on the podium occurred during *optionals*
Zmeskal and Betty Okino finished
on *vault* at American Cup, both scoring
10s. KZ *first missed* on beam, then came
back on floor and *vault*
He knew immediately (1977) that Silivas would be a star (just how old was she
then, anyway??? <g>)
Okino's 1990 Goodwill Games vault that was given a 0.00 was
in the final
event of the AA and dropped her from
1st to 4th when *she was given 2
re-vaults*????? and scored 9.65 and 9.7 (the 0.00 was in the team and
she
counted a 9.8, she never led the AA and had
hit her foot on UB in her first
rotation)
The
Romanian Gymnastics Federation withdrew the team from 77 Euros, while
Bela was begging them not to
Bela's
only goal in the unselfish betterment of his athletes, with no
personal gain for himself. He illustrates this by describing how he
refused
a 10% commission off Retton's
earnings as a motivational (???) speaker.
------
Granted,
there is some interesting and (my opinion) valid stuff in the book
(I agree
with his opinion that Rhonda Faehn belonged on the 88 Olympic team
more
than MM), the Audrey Schweyer/Don Peters business,
etc. Still, his
memories seem quite inventive...(I think soon we will see
Hyperion Books
hiring a new fact checker - well,
maybe not, they did a Tonya/Nancy book
too).
Would
like to hear other opinions.
Mara
------------------------------
End
of GYMN-L Digest - 3 Aug 1995 to 4 Aug 1995
***********************************************