GYMN-L Digest - 17 Jun 1995 to 18 Jun 1995

There are 11 messages totalling 800 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Introduction (2)
2. US vs. UKR Results M&W (2)
3. Budget Invite - Scores
4. Budget Invite - Medida Day & Women
5. European Cup EF (M/W)
6. Lilla Podkopayeva (2)
7. Budget Invite - Mens's meet
8. Scores

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

Date: Sat, 17 Jun 1995 23:25:47 -0400
From: ***@UMICH.EDU
Subject: Introduction

Hi my name is Ameera and I am a junior at the Universty of
Michigan. I am a CMB or bio major. I have never been in gymnastics but I
have always wanted to be a gymnast. I enjoy watching gymnastics on
televison which is very limited. I dislike the commentaries of Bart
Conner. Actually I dislike Bart Conner very much. I also dislike Dick
Buttons (skating) and the other has beens. These people try to make
themselves sound important just because they won a medal. They are all
has beens and want the exporsure. But I would rather have them than
someone who knows nothing at all. I mean a lot of the commentators do
not have any class. Take basketball. I like Dr J. Julis? Erving because
his voice is cool calm and collected. He tries to give the player the
benefit of the doubt. People like Dick Vitale and Bill Walton irk me.
They are famous because they have big mouths and no class.(The good old
American way) That is why they are so popular. Anyways back to
gymnastics. Why is that in rythmic gymnastics girls are swtiching around
on the apparatus. I remember that at the Commonwealth games there was
only the hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon. Why are the girls using the rope?
I know of the five membered team but what are the official apparatus for
rythmic. I think that reason why the United States is not known for its
rythmic gymnastics is not because of the so called non physical aspect
but because ballet is not our forte and neither is grace. Europe is very
old. Their for people believe that all of the social graces come from
there. Spain,Romania, Bulgaria, Hungry, and Russia are rich is the
romantic period. classical music and ballet are king. It is very hard
for an American to be considered a true classical country. we are not
like Europe. Therefore the true meaning of rythmic gymnastics and skating
is lies over in ocean. Americans may be brash and power hungry but when
it comes to a true culture i.e classical paintings we are ignorant,
except for a few people but they end up being labeled as abnormal. Our lost.
Also what ever happened to Drew Durbin,Brian Yee, Rob Kieffer, Paul
O'Niel?,Richard Grace and Josh Stein. I am sorry but the men's team is
pitiful. There should be more meets in the United States were the men do
not win just because they are Americans. Because of our xenophobic
society we think that the All American golden boy is going to win. If a
certian person keep on sliding of the apparatus and careens across the
judges table i don't think American will when a medal. I read that this
person was Scott Keswick and this happened at the Nationals last year. I
read this in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Did this happen? I
also saw the Canadian men. They have developed some depth at their
nationals. I saw Richard Ikeda do a nice move. It began with a t. It
was on p-bars and he did a handstand after doing a swing. The commentator
said that the coaches could hold on to the other bar( the one he was not
standing on). This was the only time when the coaches were allowed to
touch the apparatus (So said the commentator) From what I have seen on
gymn about the US men, the Canadian men are better. What the men need to
do is to get off their high horses, deflate their swell heads, and learn
the basics. The basics are what counts. If they fell confident about
that then start throwing the tricks. I have seen and heard too many
gymansts missing the basic moves. Basic moves are important. The NCAA
should also allow the men to adjust to international rules and moves.
It is self defeating to a gymnast when you are doing "the best' but
realize that your best is just a pipe dream. It would be nice to have a
center in each region wear a person can fine tune their skills or even
have a camp once a year. I think that the olympic camp is too close to
the olympics. is it weird that the American men are good on high bar but
not good at any other apparatus. I thought the Olympics consisted of six
apparatus. It does not make sense to be okay on one and suck on the
other five. The women are terrible on beam. Why? It is good to be
strong on the four or six events than to be okay on all of them and never
make it or okay on one and poor on the other. Since the men do not have
depth which men would you have kept off of the Dortmund worlds. Which
men (if any) show any consitancy John R. and Scott Keswick have bad
attitudes> The men need some muscle and discipline. Look at the Chinese
men's bodies and our men's bodies. Their bodies are sleek and firm. The
US is very inconsistant is terms of line. Oh well ****Also are there
any moves that gymansts( male and female) have that were not named after
them but were a signature piece that every gymnast started to
copy?*****For example Did Dominique Dawes start the trend for women to do
more than 2 tumbling passes just because she was doing them so often in
her routine? If she did should she get acknowledement from
commentators. And one more question. The 1996 olympics are in Atlanta
Georgia. Why is NBC only having 180 hours of televison when other
countries have far more. Canada is having 460 hours. Why the slow
commitment from NBC. I do not want to watch friends or seinfield or hope
and gloria or basketball or golf. Golf is not a sport. I hate the
following the above shows. I hope Amornthrep Valsang from Thailand
competes. According to IG March 95, his ring set is worth a G and F. Oh
well. I am sorry for the long message. Coverage of gymanstics is
nonexsistant in Michigan. I would of love to see worlds and the
different meets. I hate golf and hockey. Katie Teft is nonexsistent in
Michigan, even though she is from G6rand Rapids. Detroit's newspapers
only show gymnastics once in a blue moon. I hate espen. They never have
the right ionformation. I know of five slots in their shedule where they
could have shown gymnastics. The ignorance of America continues. Yes
Virgina their are real sprots out their besides fishing, extreme
games??(Generation X), golf world , and auto racing. Yes Virgina their
are other countries in the world who are not afraid of the foriengn
market. One more thing. Hollywood has created a monoply and has a hold
on the FCC. So does Coca-Cola and McDonalds and the other corporations.
So all the good commercials and sports from Europe will never play here.
unless we demand it. I had to say all of this becuase I have been trying
to reach gymn for a month . ***@.umcih.edu

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 02:31:50 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: US vs. UKR Results M&W

GYMNASTICS: UKRAINE-US GYMNASTICS RESULTS 6/17/95

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Results Saturday in the Budget Rent-a-Car Gymnastics
Invitational:

WOMEN

Vault--1, Dominique Dawes, USA, 9.825 points. 2, Amy Chow, USA, 9.750. 3,
Oksana Knizhnik, Ukraine, 9.700. 4 (tie), Tatiana Malaya, Ukraine, and Mary
Beth Arnold, USA, 9.675.

Uneven Bars--1, Dominique Dawes, USA, 9.900. 2 (tie), Amy Chow, USA and Mary
Beth Arnold, USA, 9.850. 4, Anna Mirgordskaya, Ukraine, 9.750. 5 (tie),
Yelena Shapornaya, Ukraine, and Viktoria Bourban, Ukraine, 9.650.

Balance Beam--1, Amy Chow, USA, 9.775. 2, Anna Mirgordskaya, Ukraine, 9.675.
3, Oksana Knizhnik, Ukraine, 9.650. 4 (tie), Mary Beth Arnold, USA, and
Svetlana Zelepoukina, Ukraine, 9.575.

Floor Exercise--1, Dominique Dawes, USA, 9.850. 2, Amy Chow, USA, 9.800. 3
(tie), Alexis Brion, USA, and Gail Kachura, USA, 9.750. 5, Svetlana
Zelepoukina, Ukraine, 9.700.

All-Around--1, Amy Chow, USA, 39.175. 2, Dominique Dawes, USA, 39.100. 3,
Anna Mirgordskaya, Ukraine, 38.400. 4, Mary Beth Arnold, USA, 38.300. 5
(tie), Yelena Shapornaya, Ukraine, and Svetlana Zelepoukina, Ukraine, 38.200.

TEAM USA 193.575. Ukraine 191.100


------
MEN

Pommel Horse--1 (tie), John Roethlisberger, USA, and Igor Korobchinski,
Ukraine, 9.500. 3 (tie), Yury Yermakov, Ukraine, and Josh Stein, USA, 9.400.
5, Oleg Kosiak, Ukraine, 9.200.

Still Rings--1, Oleg Kosiak, Ukraine, 9.600. 2, John Roethlisberger, USA,
9.550. 3 (tie), Igor Korobchinski, Ukraine; Yury Yermakov, Ukraine, and
Vladimir Shamenko, Ukraine, 9.450.

Vault--1, Igor Korobchinski, Ukraine, 9.600. 2, Alexander Bogulia, Ukraine,
9.450. 3 (tie), John Roethlisberger, USA, and John Macready, USA, 9.300. 5,
Vladimir Shamenko, Ukraine, 9.250.

Parallel Bars--1, Oleg Kosiak, Ukraine, 9.500. 2, Valery Goncharov, Ukraine,
9.450. 3, John Roethlisberger, USA, 9.400. 4 (tie), Igor Korobchinski,
Ukraine, and Vladimir Shamenko, Ukraine, 9.350.

Horizontal Bar--1, Miahi Bagiu, USA, 9.550. 2, Igor Korobchinski, Ukraine,
9.500. 3, Vladimir Shamenko, Ukraine, 9.450. 4, Oleg Kosiak, Ukraine, 9.400.
5, John Macready, USA, 9.300.

Floor Exercise--1 (tie), Alexander Bogulia, Ukraine; Igor Korobchinski,
Ukraine, and John Roethlisberger, USA, 9.450. 4 (tie), Vladimir Shamenko,
Ukraine; Miahi Bagiu, USA, and Josh Stein, USA, 9.400.

All-Around--1, Igor Korobchinski, Ukraine, 56.850. 2, John Roethlisberger,
USA, 56.350. 3, Oleg Kosiak, Ukraine, 55.900. 4, Vladimir Shamenko, Ukraine,
55.600. 5, Miahi Bagiu, USA, 54.650.

TEAM Ukraine 279.850. USA 276.600

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 09:09:52 -0700
From: ***@ENG.SUN.COM
Subject: Budget Invite - Scores

Hey, Gymners,

Here are some scores to the budget invite. I wanted to put them out last night
but got home way too late. I'm working on a report and shoult get it out in an
hour or so. Meanwhile:

USA/UKR 1995 Budget Rent A Car Invitational

# NANE NAT SCORE

1 Amy Chow USA 39.175
2 Dominique Daves USA 39.100
3 Anna Mirgrodskaya USA 38.400
4 Mary Beth Arnold USA 38.300
5 Yelena Sharpornaya UKR 38.200
5 Svetlana Zelepoukina UKR 38.200
7 Jamie Dantzscher USA 37.875
8 Tatiana Malaya UKR 37.400
9 Viktoria Bourban UKR 36.950
10 Oksana Knitzhnik UKR 28.975
11 Alexis Brion USA 28l850
12 Bail Kachura USA 28.250
13 Kinsey Rowe USA 19.125
14 Lyubov Sheremeta UKR 9.500

1 Igor Korobchinski UKR 56.850
2 John Roethlisberger USA 56.350
3 Oleg Kosiak UKR 55.900
4 Vladimir Shamenko UKR 55.600
5 Miahi Bagiu USA 54.650
6 Josh Stein USA 54.600
7 Kip Simons USA 54.200
8 Jay Thornton USA 53.950
9 John Macready UKR 53.850
10 Alexander Bogulia UKR 46.250
11 Andrey Stepanchenko UKR 45.050
12 Yury Yermakov UKR 37.300
13 Valery Goncharov UKR 36.650
14 Rob Kiefer USA 0.000

Yours in Gymnastics,

-George

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 10:21:54 -0700
From: ***@ENG.SUN.COM
Subject: Budget Invite - Medida Day & Women

Notes notes notes - Half of which I left at the arena...

A whole lot of gymnastics. My head is swimming. The meet (like
pretty much all the international meets I've been too) was a
nonstop party, and now I'm exhausted! (Just think how the athletes
feel...)

At any rate I should tackle these illegible notes. (They really are -
I've often considered suing my grade school over my handwriting.
Sister Mary Gregory - It's *her* fault...) Wish you could have been
there, but I'll try to give you a flavor of the meet.

I say "wish you were there", but a lot of you were. My God, the place
was crawling with Gymn subscribers! It's kind of scary. Rachele and
Robyn, what have you done? ;^)

First off let me thank the staff at USAG, especially Ramonna Robinson,
for their coordination. Little things like credentials, instructions,
food, score sheets, that all worked out great. If you ever cover a
low level meet that doesn't have anyone acting as a coordinator you'll
realize all the things that need to be done that you don't notice
until they aren't done, if that makes any sense at all.

Friday - Media Day

Got to the Arena in time to watch the girls work out. Then there were
interview opportunities afterwards. (Interviews will be under
separate cover as will scores.) The first thing I noticed was how
many US coaches there are. The place was crawling with them! It was
almost scarier than the number of Gymners at the meet! ;^) For each
practice rotation there must have been 3 or four coaches watching each
girl. In contrast, the Ukrainians pretty much worked out by
themselves. Every now and then a coach would walk by, then bail. It
was most noticeable on vault. I don't think I saw a coach anywhere
near vault, just the girls running down the runway and doing
Yurchenkos.

Media day was great in that it gives you a good idea of who's performing
what skill. You could pretty much write a report from this. It
certainly tells you what to watch for.

After the girls were done, they went away and the guys came out.
There aren't nearly as many US guy coaches and they pretty much just
went about their business.

Big Treat - For some odd reason, the guys had a compulsory meet after
practice. I think compulsories are cool, and it's probably about the
last time I'll get a chance to see them live. I guess they just
wanted the practice, since the scores didn't count in the final meet
score. It's been a while since I've seen the guy compulsories. The
last time was back in '93 when they were new. I remember lots of
falls, especially off of highbar (Wylar kip). Both the Ukrainians and
the US were a lot more polished on them this time around.

Saturday - The Meet

The girls competed first, in the afternoon. The guys competed at
6:30. The turnout for the girls was peculiarly low: The arena was
probably less than an eighth full. This is surprising since this was
an international meet and the U.S. had a local girl (Amy Chow)
competing. Maybe it wasn't advertised very well. Oh well, a lot of
people missed out.

By the 2nd vault I knew the scores were going to be way screwy, so
let's get that out of the way right away. In my opinion the scores
were kind of slanted in favor of the U.S. a bit. I know the new code
doesn't really reward things like execution, how well you really do a
skill, so maybe it was working the way it worked. But no way was the
UKR team 2.4 points behind the U.S. (Whoops, forgot the team scores:)

Women Men

USA 193.575 UKR 279.850
UKR 191.100 USA 276.600


The Ukrainian women did the little things so well: block extension,
dance, basic execution. Not to slight the U.S., who were really
throwing some difficult skills and who aren't slouches form wise. But
there was a clear difference to me in the things that I think really
matter, like the basics. A case in point was the vault. The
Ukrainian women really flat out *charged* the vault, neck veins bulging,
eyes glaring. It's kind of scary. When they block, toe point and
extension are a given almost. Really beautiful. A lot of the U.S.
girls sort of approached the vault with more trepidation, but they
were sticking the landings more and were getting higher scores. I
think for one the judges cared a little too much about landings and
not enough about what led up to it. But who cares what I think,
anyway?

Okay, so the women's scoring was screwy. We're now free from
considering it!

Highlights - Women

Yelena Shapornaya's double barani out dismount on UB and charge down the
runway on VT - Her barani out was way cool. She really waited on the
half twist so it came as a complete surprise to me. And her charge
down the runway on VT would have made me give her a 10 no matter what
she did once she reached the vault. The girl should be a track star!
She has such a smooth, quick gait. And that look!

Anna Mirgrodskaya's Cuervo VT - Beautiful. I hope they show some of
this on TV.

Amy Chow's salto between bars on UB - I love this transition between
bars and Amy has great form on hers. I think a couple of other girls
did the same trick, but I can't recall exactly who. Amy has an
incredible amount of difficulty in her routines. And her dancing has
improved from what I remember from TV. If she tightens up her form a
bit she'll be an incredibly polished gymnast.

Anna Mirgrodskaya's UB set - She does a german to a Tkatchev which is
way cool. Only a couple of girls do these kind of weird things, but I
hope it catches on.

Kinsey Rowe - Okay, she's gorgeous, and I thought her UB set was
really nice to watch. Not the most difficult set, but well executed
and her form lends itself well to UB. I saw her warm up on FX, but
she must have scratched or something.

Oksana Knizhnik's BB - Best trick of the night on BB: A needle scale
while she's lying on her back.

Mirgrodskaya's BB mount - Handstand to weird planche. It's kind of
hard to describe. Help me out, knowledgeable Gymners! Hope they show
it on the highlight tape, but I bet they don't

Anna Shapornaya's FX - Nice 2 1/2 twist to punch front and Rudi to
punch front. Anna is cool. I hope I get to see her again.

Dominique Dawes - I like the fact that she keeps changing things and
seems to be such a happy camper, She changed her floor, which is
which is pretty polished at this point. She didn't whine a bit over
coming in 2nd and seems to be looking to '96. If she makes it she'll
definitely be one of the team leaders.

NBC - For having the courage to broadcast the women's meet highlights
only and the entire men's meet. It will air June 25th 3-5 pm EST.

Yours in Gymnastics,

-George

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 14:18:34 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Introduction

<<The (U.S.) women are terrible on beam>>

Have to disagree here! In the last four world championships, an American
woman has medaled on beam, three of them outside of the U.S.:

1991- Betty Okino, bronze
1992- Kim Zmeskal, gold
1993- Dominique Dawes, silver (should have been gold!)
1994- Shannon Miller, gold

Ann Marie

P.S. I do agree about Bill Walton--what a jerk!!!!

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 19:39:37 BST
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: European Cup EF (M/W)

European Cup 1995 Rome, Italy 16-18 June, 1995
=================


Event Finals Results
--------------------

Mens
====

Floor
-----

1. Alexei Nemov (RUS) 9.750
2. Grigori Misutin (UKR) 9.675
3. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) 9.600
=4. Yuri Chechi (ITA) 9.400
=4. Aleksej Demjanov (CRO) 9.400
6. Vitaly Rudnitski (BLR) 9.375
7. Valeri Belenki (GER) 9.150
8. Jurgen van Eetvelt (BEL) 9.100

Pommel Horse
------------

1. Valeri Belenki (GER) 9.737
2. Alexei Nemov (RUS) 9.725
3. Grigori Misutin (UKR) 9.675
4. Evgeni Chabaev (RUS) 9.662
5. Yuri Chechi (ITA) 9.600
6. Vitaly Rudnitski (BLR) 9.525
7. Jesus Carballo (ESP) 9.450
8. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) 9.425

Rings
-----

1. Yuri Chechi (ITA) 9.862
2. Aleksej Demjanov (CRO) 9.750
3. Dan Burinca (ROM) 9.662
4. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) 9.650
5. Valeri Belenki (GER) 9.600
6. Rustam Charipov (UKR) 9.550
7. Grigori Misutin (UKR) 9.537
8. Vitaly Rudnitski (BLR) 9.450

Vault
-----

1. Alexei Nemov (RUS) 9.625
2. Evgeni Chabaev (RUS) 9.500
3. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) 9.406
=4. Flemming Solberg (NOR) 9.400
=4. Valeri Belenki (GER) 9.400
6. Aleksej Demjanov (CRO) 9.300
7. Boris Preti (ITA) 9.137
8. Rustam Charipov (UKR) 9.037

Parallel Bars
-------------

=1. Alexei Nemov (RUS) 9.687
=1. Rustam Charipov (UKR) 9.687
=3. Jesus Carballo (ESP) 9.562
=3. Boris Preti (ITA) 9.562
5. Yuri Chechi (ITA) 9.550
6. Valeri Belenki (GER) 9.500
7. Evgeni Chabaev (RUS) 9.175
8. Ivan Ivanov (BUL) 9.000

High Bar
--------

1. Rustam Charipov (UKR) 9.612
2. Evgeni Chabaev (RUS) 9.600
=3. Boris Preti (ITA) 9.575
=3. Yuri Chechi (ITA) 9.575
5. Jesus Carballo (ESP) 9.512
6. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) 9.500
7. Aleksej Demjanov (CRO) 9.487
8. Valeri Belenki (GER) 2.000


Womens
======

Vault
-----

1. Simona Amanar (ROM) 9.787
2. Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) 9.768
3. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 9.762
4. Yelena Piskun (BLR) 9.699
5. Gina Gogean (ROM) 9.693
6. Adrienn Nyeste (HUN) 9.618
7. Monica Martin (ESP) 9.478
8. Vassou Tsavdaridou (GRE) 9.425

Uneven Bars
-----------

1. Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) 9.862
2. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 9.850
3. Gina Gogean (ROM) 9.837
4. Yelena Piskun (BLR) 9.825
5. Simona Amanar (ROM) 9.800
6. Dina Kochetkova (RUS) 9.787
7. Irina Boulakhova (UKR) 9.787
8. Maya Shani (ISR) 9.537

Beam
----

1. Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) 9.737
2. Yelena Piskun (BLR) 9.675
3. Simona Amanar (ROM) 9.487
4. Irina Boulakhova (UKR) 9.475
5. Vassou Tsavdaridou (GRE) 9.437
6. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 9.187
7. Cecile Canqueteau (FRA) 9.037
8. Olga Yurkina (BLR) 8.825

Floor
-----

1. Simona Amanar (ROM) 9.825
2. Dina Kochetkova (RUS) 9.812
=3. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 9.787
=3. Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) 9.787
5. Gina Gogean (ROM) 9.737
6. Cecile Canqueteau (FRA) 9.725
7. Vassou Tsavdaridou (GRE) 9.637
8. Yelena Piskun (BLR) 9.225


Bits:
-----

- EuroSport only showed the top few routines from each apparatus
so I don't know what happened to some of the routines with the
low scores. I do know that Valeri Belenki only scored 2.000 on
the high bar because he only got up on the bar, did a Stalder,
and dismounted (for some reason).

- Top performer of the day was Alexei Nemov who won three golds
and a silver. In the womens the four golds were shared among
Lilia Podkopayeva and Simona Amanar with two golds apiece.

- The womens beam wasn't of much quality, Amanar scoring 9.487 was
enough for a bronze! The uneven bars, however, was of very high
quality.

- Yuri Chechi scored the highest score of the day with 9.862 on the
rings, and of course he won that apparatus by a mile. Lilia
Podkopayeva also scored 9.862 on the uneven bars (which was
surprising since that had always been her worst apparatus!...
still split legs on her Geinger though)


The Rhythmic European Cup will be on next weekend! (and I'll be
going there!) :-)

Sherwin

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 13:44:26 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: Lilla Podkopayeva

I was so happy to see Lilla winning medals at the European Cup!

She is great and I bet she'll be a front runner at Sabe.

BTW: Has anyone heard of this Romanian Simona Amanar? Any bio information about
her status in Romania? Is she really better than Gogean, the current
European Champion?



Oh yes, I figured it out. Lilla was in Rome, so that is why she could not
be in San Jose.


Jeff

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 19:57:06 BST
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: Re: Lilla Podkopayeva

> Has anyone heard of this Romanian Simona Amanar? Any bio information about
> her status in Romania? Is she really better than Gogean, the current
> European Champion?

She looked very sparkly at this European Cup meet and the commentator said
she is the top Romanian now. Gogean actually didn't look too bad herself
(apart from the fall off beam) but her scores were just lower than it was
same time last year. If Gogean and Milosovici are on the "downward slope"
then Simona Amanar will most probably the one who will be top of
Romanian gymnastics.

Sherwin

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

Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 12:33:39 -0700
From: ***@ENG.SUN.COM
Subject: Budget Invite - Mens's meet

Here are the guy team scores:

UKR 279.850
USA 276.600

The men's meet didn't seem as controversial to me. I think maybe it's
harder not to be objective with the men's code of points. It's hard
to say. At any rate it was fun to watch the gymnastics and the different
styles. I talked about Media Day in a previous post. So let's get
right to the meet.

Unlike the girls, who had two squads of mixed team members, the guys
ran their meet like a true team competition. This made it a lot
easier to watch. I don't know why they ran the two meets differently
like this, but I think I remember them doing this at some other meet.

Rob Keiffer had to scratch, so the U.S. was left with only 6 gymnasts,
a definite disadavantage. I'm not sure why he scratched, though I
think I recall he had an injury.

The place was crawling with cameras. Four on floor at one time. It's
interesting to watch the mix up on the monitor and see which camera
they decide to make live any given time. The big boom camera is
pretty cool, although I could see how it could get out of hand if
somebody got too artsy with it. As it was I think the TV coverage
will look great. For those of you that won't be seeing it on TV,
and who want to hear about the actual meet:

The Ukrainian Team -

The Ukrainians are a very solid team. Igor Korobchinski in particular
is a lot of fun to watch. Some of the highlights of his sets are:

FX - Laid out full-out (mount?) Japanese Handstand (I think he's been
doing this for a while.) Double layout dismount. He had a couple of
steps here and there, but man does he get height.

PH - Coolest dismount: Kind of a laid out backwards with a 1/2 twist
as he's falling. He also does these one-handed loops of sorts that
are neat. Not sure if that's the right word for them.

SR - Great form on these. Not much ring swing at all.

VT - Tsuk w/ 1 1/2 twist. Bit of a hop I think, but, you know, I kind
of like hops on the landing if it's because the gymnast has too much
power coming off the horse!

PB - Took quite a few steps in the middle of his set. Did something
interesting at the very beginning of the set, but I can't remember
what it is. I'll have to catch it on TV.

HB - Nice laid out Tkatchev to straddled Tkatchev.

Other than Igor, here are some of the UKR highlights:

FX - Lots of front layouts from the Ukrainians. Sometimes four in a
row. This was a pretty standard mount for them. Elexander Bougulia
had a nice whip to full-in, and I Oleg Kosiak's laid out double mount
was nice.

PH - Lots of falls on pommels. They don't call it the men's balance
beam for nothing! Yuri Yermakov had what I thought to be the highest
flairs.

SR - Yury Yermakov did some impressive cross-cable work. Oleg Koiak's
piked half-in half-out piked dismount was pretty. I'll have to watch
his mount on TV, since I remember it as being really nice, but I can't
really describe it. It starts with a front roll and ends I believe in
a handstand. Watch the TV make a liar out of me...

VT - I really like the vault that starts with a half twist before the
block. I thought it was a HS front with a full twist, but the half
twist does come before the block. Omeliatchik? Alexander Bogulia did
one, afterflight is piked. I think Yury Yermakov does it too.

PB - There was quite a bit of double saltoing between the bars.
Valery Goncharov and Alexander Bogulia both did double back *and*
double fronts. Andrey Stepanchenko did tow giant Diamodovs, which
looked great. It's almost like watching high bar.

HB - Alexander Bogulia - nice double double well stuck. Oleg Kosiak
did a Kovaks to hop full. To get to the invert position he did what I
think is called an Ono (kind of a pirouette and you roll the other
wrist so both your shoulders are dislocated.) Somebody correct me if
this isn't an Ono. At any rate I like it when guys get to the invert
some other way than a jam dislocate every now and then.

The U.S. Team -

The guys had a pretty smooth meet. I thought formwise the U.S. guys
were a lot closer to the Ukrainians than the U.S. women were. It
seems like what decides a men's meet are mistakes and maybe a little
difficulty. But the guys pretty much all have a lot of difficulty in
their routines.

I thought John Roethlisberger was very smooth today, also. He had
some trouble on highbar. (Fell on his one-armed Tkatchev.) Other than
that he seemed rather consistent. He had a bit of a struggle at the
end of his pommel horse set, but pulled it out. His pommel horse set
appears to have a high degree of difficulty, but he does it very
smoothly, with just a slight muscle on dismount. Looked to be on on
his rings. His Pbar set was smooth and does a nice kip on to press
(parallel to bar) and double tucked dismount I believe. On highbar,
as I mentioned before, he lost it on his one-armed Tkatchev, but hit
his other one-armed release. By the sixth rotation I was zoned and
wrote something incoherent regarding John's floor routine. Maybe I
can scan it in and let you try to decipher it! John was at the press
conference, which I'll transcribe tonight sometime.

John's highbar routine is new. Maybe I'll describe it when I see it on video.

Aside from John, here are some of the U.S. highlights -

PH - Jay Thornton is huge. He has very fluid circles. Josh Stein was
also on. His form is incredibly clean. Miahi Bagiu was going great
until he took a tumble. I love his flairs and single pommel work.

SR - Josh Stein has a very pretty ring routine. I'm pretty used to it
from seeing him compete for Stanford. It's great to see him competing
on the U.S. team. The guys with long arms (Miahi, Jay Thornton) can't
really do too much strength stuff on rings, it doesn't appear. I
don't remember Jay's ring work specifically, but Miahi's inverted
cross is a little short. I'd be afraid to even try one for fear of my
shoulders popping out of their sockets.

VT - I think Kip Simons had pretty good extension on his vault, but a
bit of a labored block. Josh messed up his steps and had to bail.
Jay Thornton slipped on the vault and came up pretty short. Could
have been a lot worse, actually!

PB - Really liked John Macready's Healy twirls and Stutz. Did a
double off piked. The pike looks a lot cleaner than a tuck, but I
guess it takes more energy so it's riskier. Josh Stein does some cool
Stutzs that end up 1/4 turn off (onto one bar). He also does a
straddled front and a double pike dismount. Nice routine. And I like
Kip Simons' mount: Kind of a back cast then hop to handstand
(changing grip from outside the bar to inside.) Miahi did the only
Manna I remember seeing for the day. He also does a double front
between the bars.

HB - Josh Stein did a nice laid out Tkatchev/Geinger combo and stuck
his triple dismount. Nice work from a boy from the Farm! Kip Simons
missed his Gienger after his Tkatchev, which was too bad. Nice double
layout, though. Jay Thornton's double double was too close for
comfort. He almost ate the bar! John Macready stuck his laid out
full (out?). Only had one relase skill that I can remember, though.
Miahi Bagiu did both a Gaylord II and Gaylord I. The Gaylord II is
neat, and it always fakes me out, since I don't see it very often. I
always think it's a mistake until the gymnast regrasps the bar. Then
I recognize it as a Gaylord II.

FX - Miahi Bagiu did what I remember to be the only flairs on floor.
He also does a nice manna. Josh Stein's double back to 1 1/4 punch
front is smooth. And Kip Simons did the only straight-legged planche
I remember from the meet.

Okay, time to see the sun...


Yours in Gymnastics,

-George

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Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 16:26:14 -0700
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject: Re: US vs. UKR Results M&W

When will this be on TV???

Laura :)

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Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 22:32:06 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: 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.
Anne =)

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 17 Jun 1995 to 18 Jun 1995
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