Sick of seeing hilariously Russian biased comparisons against the US, like
this one and that other one on tumblr that I can't find now? Introducing, a US biased version! The point is, it's extremely easy to do (though it is tough to find a bad picture of
Viktoria Komova), and highly inaccurate to pit one nation against another in this way, especially when the worst example of one side is taken, versus the best or one of the best of the other. Or you know, not even the same skill. Apologies that they're not formatted brilliantly, or at all, but you get the idea. In the last one, the point is back flexibility, though yes
Maria Kharenkova's hands and arms are nicer.
Disclaimer- This is pretty much a joke post, though not without a valid point- how easy it is to skew something. Also,
Viktoria Komova does not know how to do a bad leap, correct. She is obviously not near her apex, and nor were the photos of
Simone Biles featured in both of the other comparison posts.
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| Maroney- source- justjared.com |
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| Nabieva- source- stillsport.com |
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| Maroney- source- lazygirls.info |
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| Nabieva- source- spannysbigfakesmile |
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| Sacramone- copyright- AP |
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| Mustafina- source- sportskeeda.com |
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| Finnegan- copyright- Melissa J Perenson |
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| Komova- copyright- Alexandr Wilf/Ria Novosti |
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| Ross- source- coolspotters.com |
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| Shelgunova- copyright- MINKUSIMAGES |
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| Key- copyright- USAG/John Cheng |
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| Kharenkova- copyright- Thomas Schreyer |
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| Kocian- copyright- USAG/John Cheng |
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| Mustafina- copyright- Xinhua/Shen Bohan |
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| Ernst- source- gymnastike.org |
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| Kharenkova- source- ffgym.com |
That site was Russian so of course they're going to be biased can you blame them? They're human we're all human if you don't like seeing it then don't click on it because chances are fans will never stop making them. It just like NBC comparing Maroney's height to Uchimura's. Did they use the vault champion for the men who was more appropriate to use? nope and now I hear them saying that Maroney goes higher than the MEN. When was that established? Did they compare her height with every other male gymnast particularly the vault specialists? That has yet to be confirmed. Anyways only people who don't know anything about gymnastics actually buy into "Russians have better form" or "Americans have better form." Truth is that both sides have good and bad form it all depends on the skills and the apparatus. We all know Musty's twisting is terrible and we all know Aly cant keep her toes pointed to save her life so what? If people want to delude themselves into thinking the other side is worse let them or in your case join them.
ReplyDeleteCan I blame them? Yes. Just like I can blame the US for being biased for thinking Gabby stood a chance at winning a medal on bars last year. It's fun to poke fun at bias. Do you think I spent hours on this carefully comparing angles or something? It was fun to do, and to show how easy it is to create a bias. End of. Please, there are more serious things to care about.
DeleteMy point is you're demanding that people be unbiased which in my opinion is asking for a miracle. And I'm pretty sure it was easy to find a not so flattering picture of any gymnast. But instead of joining and making fun as you say wouldn't the unbiased thing to do be to actually compare good form of both sides or bad form of both sides? Just a thought. I consider myself unbiased and when I see posts like that I usually just don't pay them any mind. They're not going to go away not with all the Russian and American stans out there.
DeleteOh and I don't think NBC was biased last year in thinking Gabby stood a chance of winning. I think in that case it was more like wishful thinking. They've said much worse to show they're biased.
DeleteI don't expect people to be totally unbiased, of course not. There's a big difference in favourtism and then things like showing fantastic Russian form, and then a photo of Biles far from the apex of her leap. It is petty, and inaccurate. There was another post, much of the same, on tumblr- which is not in fact Russian. So yeah, I can poke fun at it if I want. I'm not invested enough to make a bunch of comparisons, this one was easy to do as the exact opposite. And so what?
DeleteI get that you were making fun it would just have been nice to show comparisons of both of sides being good or both sides being bad but I guess that wouldn't have been fun. I too am tired of the comparisons I guess. I know tumblr isn't Russian but its still full of Russian and American stans who can sometimes make you dislike the gymnasts they're rooting for.
DeleteYes, that would be the logical thing to do, rather than the unfair one in the first place. This one was just meant to be a direct 'answer' to it. I'm not sure you can ever really fairly pit one country against each other, moreso gymnast against gymnast...doing the same skill, in the original this is not the case. But I'm done with this I think, finding copyrights is a pain in the ass.
DeleteI'll never understand people who go for the 'everything sucks so let's not try to change any of it' argument. If one person learns to question bias from looking at these photos (not just bias in gymnastics-media but anywhere) then it's a success. And if any one person gets a bit of a laugh from it, like I did, then it's equally successful in another way :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. Nabieva is such a goldmine, isn't she?
DeleteI think all these gymnasts have some flaws but neither the Russian nor the American fans are willing to admit them. I noticed that the Russian article only used Biles for comparison with the exception of the last two. I think this shows that they had more of a problem with Biles winning at the World Championships instead of the U.S. in general, maybe. I don't know; I could be wrong. Also, the Russians only pointed out small errors (lack of toe point, leg separation, slight knee bending, etc.) while you pointed out visible errors (Nabieva's vaults, Mustafina's twisting, Shelgunova's Pak Salto).
ReplyDeleteBias/favoritism will always be present in gymnastics no matter what nation we're discussing. If we all set aside our differences, then there will be no arguing, which will be boring if you think about it.
Because it was evil and fun to use things like Nabieva's vault, that's why. At least almost all of these skills are the same (can't vouch for Asac and the split leap one) whereas the Russian one went out of its way to pick different skills, or taken at different times ie. One is in handstand, the other about to straddle for a giant. A toe shoot to high compared to a tkachev is not fair, or a pike jump compared to one. This isn't an article in a newspaper or anything, it was just a direct reply for fun.
DeletePicking a picture of Komova in the middle of a leap and comparing that to anyone is false advertising. Kyla isn't always clean either
ReplyDeleteBecause- that is exactly what both Russian ones did, that was the point. As for Ross, I know that, but the Pak here is a big improvement on Shelgunova's, woudn't you say? It's not meant as a deep assessment of form.
Deletei can't believe people are taking this so seriously. a great idea for a post.
ReplyDeletei really don't like bias - i don't like when russia cries foul, i don't like watching the american commentators on NBC calling the russians "divas", i don't like hearing nellie kim give backhanded compliments and basically comparing artistry and power pitted against each other like two competing concepts, i don't like the internal politics that every country undoubtedly has in this sport, and i don't like people being unsportsmanlike, racist, unfairly judgemental or so consumed in themselves or a certain ideal that they can't congratulate their competitors (ahem i think we all know who i mean) on their hard work... while it absolutely IRKS me and irritates me as i find all, i don't like fans who get their knickers in a knot over lighthearted commentary such as this.
i find this hilarious (as a would a similar spoof with other nations, or reversed nations) as a sit back and watch from a country that didn't even BOTHER to send a team(!) and i wish people who were so against this type of thing would dedicate their passion to a worthy and deserving cause. like achieving world peace or stopping world hunger. seriously.
Poor Australian girls, I doubt it's escaped their notice that not one of the beam medallists reached the Aus standard of 6.2! Sorry Kyla, sorry Aliya, no worlds for you!
DeleteHaha yes, I think Russian gymnastics is an emotive topic, criticise in any way at your peril...
I loved this!!! I'm a huge Russian gymnastics fan and not so much a fan of US gymnastics though I respect the crazy skills they can throw and the depth of their team, but this US vs Russia and power vs artistry thing is just a crazy waste of time. You are right, it's so easy to pick random bad photos of either team's gymnasts and mostly hilariously biased.
ReplyDeleteNabieva's block and the shelgu-pak are hysterical. I will say- as a fan of everyone including US- that the US generally don't throw skills they can't do (ahem, unless your name is Bross or Ohashi) and they tend not to have major form breaks like the above. Lots of little things instead. Yes, a Romanian one would be easy too...but China, now that would be impossible.
DeleteRomanians would be easy, they don't have a lot of the polish that the Russians or Chinese do because of less dance training I think, so lots of flexed feet especially, also leg separations and so on. I agree amongst the top flight international Chinese you'd be hard pressed to find anything more than a small leg separation here and there.
DeleteHave you heard anything concrete about Ohashi, by the way? I heard rumours she was dropping to L10. If this is so, it is such a waste - she had loads of talent, completely wasted by Valeri in peaking in a year she couldn't even compete, and missing Worlds this year which would've been absolutely perfect for her as a bars/beam specialist... not to mention the insane difficulty she was throwing, and her bars routine which must have been really hard to execute with a dodgy shoulder.
I think people are a little unfair towards the Romanians form-wise - they're not as precise as the Chinese maybe but some of the juniors have the most beautiful leaps I've ever seen, and Larisa really does have gorgeous toe-point on floor (no, really!).
DeleteI like gymnastics. So I enjoyed all the pictures. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt has been very interesting to me to read people's commentaries after these worlds though. I can't believe how heated it gets, and how willing people are to whine publicly, and place blame. I think if you are someone who is more a fan of great gymnastics - rather than the nationalistic side of things - you really suffer less and can just enjoy these big events more. I loved watching worlds - every bit of it. I was just so thrilled to see gymnasts from Iceland and Egypt, and have so much great, new gymnastics to watch every day. Worlds was like heaven for me.
Anyway, my perspective probably reflects my flying trapeze background, where you more do it to achieve your personal highest level, than to beat someone else...
Yes I'd be confident there's an attitude of I want to do my best, hopefully get on the medal stand, do my team/country proud. Not, I want to crush my enemies and see them cry! That is how some fandoms see it sadly. Yes, I really enjoyed being a neutral fan. A favourite falls, and it sucks, but it's not the end of the world.
DeleteInteresting background!
To the person asking about ohashi, she is back in the gym but a specific level has not been decided yet. Right now she is mainly conditioning, sadly it looks like level 10 will be the path since she plans on NCAA and does not want to risk anymore injury. If she decides the elite route, don't expect to see her full force next year, she would defently not be doing bars which is one of her stronger events. Good news though, Finnegan, who we thought at one point would not be doing elite again, seems to be aiming for nationals next year with Sabrina vega!
ReplyDeleteThanks, rather a pity for Katelyn who seems like a great person with plenty of talent, but it may be the smarter move to take a full scholarship for NCAA with the amount of talent there is in the US. Really excited to see Finnegan again, I like her style, though I find Vega rather blah - she's clean but not really elegant or a natural dancer and her difficulty is nothing special either.
DeleteThis was hilarious! I loved this post! You were able to make it funny, while showing how bias can affect the comparisons. It would be hard to do a Chinese one. All I can think of is Shang's switch ring, some small leg separations, and leaps that aren't at its peak.
ReplyDeleteIf possible, it would be nice if gymnastics fans could be less biased. But the thing that bugs me most is the horrible things they say about the other teams they are biased against! Horrible, awful stuff! We fans have some work to do...
ReplyDelete