The Simliarities Between Gymnastics and Ballet

Ok, I'm sure we all see the obvious connections between ballet and gymnastics.












This is a sad, pathetic excuse for a blog, but I'm trying to encourage myself to write. I've had writers block for quite some time now.

A Little Red, White, and Blue..........

OK, so now with all the president elections and other elections (by the way, no on Prop 8, Californians!) I'm getting a bit patriotic. Here's a blog to our gymnastics history from the beginning, to the present.......


Cathy Rigby, 1970. OK, you can say many of our gymnasts, past and present, were/are stiff and unartistic, and maybe unpolished, but you can NOT say that about Cathy. Seeing as she is our first medalist internationally with a silver medal on beam, that is one impressive first medal for it's time. She was graceful, but daring. Yes, I know, that stuff woud be a joke if done today at the World Championships, but the credit it deserved for it's time was quite a lot.



Kathy Johnson, 1978. Another first medal. Being the most artistic US gymnast EVER (in my opinion), Kathy is also my favorite USA gymnast ever. Why, you ask? She was graceful, balletic, polished, light on her feet, and had nice lines. Like I said, if you'd given her a Russian name everyone would believe she was Russian. While her tumbling was rather easy, even for it's time, it was more that made up for with her dance. Her other events weren't anything to sneeze at either.

Oh, and another reason to love her. She used Dark Eyes as her music here (and attempted a triple twist, a very risky move then)





Mary Lou Retton, 1984. 'Till this day there's still the ole arguement of who should have won these Olympics. I agree with the people woh say that Mary Lou wouldn't have won if the Soviet gymnasts had been there, but I do think she deserved it more than Ecaterina Szabo. Why? Well, let's see.....

1. Szabo fell in Team, and we all (should) know what that meant in those days.
2. Mary Lou had more difficulty. I mean DOUBLE LAYOUTS amd full-twisting Tsukaharas. Enough said.
3. Some say she wasn't very artistic, but I think Mary Lou was like Elena Shushunova. Artistic? Yes, just not the classical style.

Moving on.

Kim Zmeskal, 1991. I know alot of people said she shouldn't have won these Worl Championships, and I agree Boginskaya probably should have won, but Kim's routines were greatly entertaining in 1990 and 1991. We may have some "HugoBossSuperModel"s going around saying she wasn't captivating, but, oh, she was. I mean, she did three whipbacks to a double back for cryin' out loud. Once, she did FOUR. 'Nuff said. I think my favorite routine of hers was actually in the 1990 Goodwill Games. I thought it was very European-ish. Diffirent style for her. It's too bad that 1990-91 was her peak in gymnastics, I don't like her performances from 1992 and up. She had rather cheesey choreography in Barcelona. Rather very cheesy, but we'll still remember her for being America's first world champ!!!!



1992, Shannon Miller. Okay. I know I hate her floor music. I nkow I don't like her style. But you can't deny how great she was. She's oe of the most achieved American gymnasts, and she's many's personal favorite. Like the Mary Lou Retton/Ecaterina Szabo squabbles, many argue about who should have won the AA in Barcelona. Honestly, I think "Right medal to right people" again. Also, Shannon became world champ in 1993 and 1994, which is quite impressive for an American gymnast in those times.

Even if I don't like her style, that beam routine in the Atlanta finals



was great. It was a mix of everything: grace, difficulty, originality, and artistry.



Magnificent 7, 1996. This team inlcuded Amanda Borden, Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Jaycie Phelps, Dominique Moceanu, Amy Chow, and Kerri Strug. There is people saying Russia should have won instead, and that the crowd interrupted other gymnasts' routines, but I don't think so. Well, I think they deserved to win, but I also think the crowd's level of noise wasn't fair. Poor Roza Galieva had her floor performances disrupted by the crowd, and I think a few fell off beam, too. Plus, we gotta give Dominique Moceanu props for her music selection.



Carly Patterson, 2004. Ugh, I am not gonna comment on this one. Instead of ranting on about how Queen Khorkina should've won instead of her, or how she doesn't have a dash of artistry, or how her singing goes in the category that the Jonas Brothers are in, I'm gonna find some things I DO like about her.

Well, let's see............

She was graceful on beam. I don't think most of her skills were anything special, but you could barely even here her on the beam. And that dismount was breath-taking.

Sorry, but that's all I like about her gymnastics.



Team, 2007. This was a very deserved medal! One of our best teams, even with a lack of artistry (except from Ivana and Shayla) but nonetheless a great team. We had the power from Alicia, Shawn, and Sam, the grace from Nastia and Ivana, and the quirkiness from Shayla. Execpt Ivana, all contributed quite well in difficulty, and all had good execution.




Shawn Johnson, 2007. Most of us may (or may not) know I can't stand Shawn's gymnastics, except her double-double on floor. The following photo is one of the reasons why.





..................................................................................


..................................................................................

BUT, she really deserved to win that year. She was much better than many of the gymnasts at those championships (at the time). And she did quite will on all the events in the all-around.



Nastia Liukin, 2008. I am so happy for Nastia! Yes, I don't think her execution is as splendid as everyone claims it is, and yes, I think her "dance" is just poses, but this was something she REALLY deserved. Like, really really deserved. Jiang Yuyuan fell on vault and hiccuped on floor, Yang Yilin als made mistakes on floor, and some also o balance beam, snd Shawn should NOT have gotten any credit on her vault. A blind person could probably judge that vault better than those judges.

Anyways. Nastia also had deductions, yes, (like her horrible double front) but I still feel she deserved the gold.

Olympic Thoughts........

Who I wanted to win (realistically)

Team

G: China
S: United States
B: Russia

All-Around

G: Jiang Yuyuan
S: Daria Joura
B: Ksenia Semenova

Floor

G: Sandra Izabasa
S: Jiang Yuyuan
B: Daria Joura

Beam

G: Li Shanshan
S: Nastia Liukin
B: Anna Pavlova

Bars

G: He Kexin
S: Nastia Liukin
B: Beth Tweddle

Vault

G: Cheng Fei
S: Hong Un Jong (did I get it right?)
B: Oksana Chusovitina or Alicia Sacramone


The final results:

Team:

G: China
S: United States
B: Romanian

Yay China!!!!! Yay USA!!!! Nooooo Romania! Why didn't Russia get bronze? Meltdown?

All-Around:

G: Nastia Liukin
S: Shawn Johnson
B: Yang Yilin

OK, so now that Jiang Yuyuan turned into the Mo Huilan of this quad, at least Shawn didn't win. She really only has difficulty. Well, I'm veeeeeeeeeeery happy for Nastia. Yang Yilin is diviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine

Floor:

G: Sandra Izbasa
S: Shawn Johnson
B: Nastia Liukin

Sandra! I wanted to jump up and down when she won! I SWEAR I heard a "Dammit" when her score came up. I'm looking at you Chow. Shawn should have been fourth if you ask me. Nastia should've taken silver. And Jiang Yuyuan bronze. Or silver. No gold. Gold belongs to Sandra.

Beam:

G: Shawn Johnson
S: Nastia Liukin
B: Cheng Fei

I can't say I like the fact that she won, but she deserves it. Nastia was amazing as usual on beam and Cheng Fei had Anna Pavlova's bronze around her neck. I think Anna's routine was better, and they both had mistakes.

Bars:

G: He Kexin
S: Nastia Liukin
B: Yang Yilin

HE KEXIN!!!!!! I feel bad for Nastia, but hey,she's

1. OLYMPIC CHAMPION
2. Not as exciting to watch as He Kexin

Yang Yilin was near perfect, but I still think her bronze was the right medal

Vault:

G: Hong Un Jong
S: Oksana Chusovitina
B: Cheng Fei:

So sad for Cheng. I really, really, REALLY wanted her to win. Well, Un Jong and Oksana deserved their medals. And even if everyone whines about Cheng falling on her knees, I think she deserved her bronze.

OK, biggest let downs were

-Anna Pavlova messing up twice on floor. Her routine is the most beautiful of today.
-Cheng Fei falling on vault (boooo!) and on floor. =[ She actually cried! More amazing, I almost cried!
-Jiang messing up on vault and floor in AA. Again, she turned into 2008's Mo Huilan :'-{
- Alicia's performance in TF. So sad! And no it's not her fault USA lost.

Biggest coincedence (actually, only coincedence)

Last year, Ekaterina Kramarenko of Russia made a silly mistake on vault and got a 0.000
This year, Anna Pavlova of Russia made a silly mistake on vault and got a 0.000!